Christmas on the beach...

I had a lovely Christmas with 5 other vsos on a beach in Lagos. It varied from the stressful (travelling there) to the wonderful (christmas dinner of jollof rice and sand on the beach), from the madness (being invaded by bats as we tried to open our Secret Santa presents) to the sublime (bonfire on the beach at dusk). Will fill in the blanks in Jan, but first we are off to meet most of the other vsos for the new year. This volunteering lark isnt as difficult as you may have been led to believe...

Top 3 okada passengers...

Ive been very proud of myself recently because Im amnt quiet as terrorised on the okadas anymore! I realise that its really a pretty safe way to travel especially in Minna where life is really pretty mellow. But my smugness has been dented by those around me - the wonderfully dignified women who glide past without a care in the world, the fathers and 2, 3, 4 kids all sharing an okada, the mothers with infants strapped to their back as they travel. But my top three okada passengers to date are:
3... the man with a live chicken in his arms (well it is that season)
2... the man with a fridge (albeit a half fridge!) on his head
1... the woman driving her own motorcycle with a bag of groceries in one hand

Girl about town...

Im really beginning to feel at home in the past few weeks because more people seem to be recognising me now! My first few weeks in Minna involved looking into one shocked face after another. But the cries of 'oyibo' (white person) are now interspersed with calls of 'shiroro' (the name of my hotel) from okada drivers wanting the fare back! Its kinda nice to feel part of the place!
The shouts of oyibo are funny because quiet often they are shock-induced. There isnt too much tourism here and so visitors are rare or city-bound. So oyibo is a greeting, an exclamation, an invitation to purchase and a question often all at the same time! Im lucky to have the chance to experience all this before Nigeria becomes old and tired with tourism...

Still not a morning person...

The workday here starts at 8am rather than 9am and anyone who ever worked with me knows how much I like that! But my Muslim neighbours have an even earlier start with first prayers before 5am (before sun up). The Mosques here call their followers to prayer by megaphone (kinda like church bells) but they are very loud and usually in competition with one another! It was a bit of a shock in the beginning but I've gotten so used to my wake-up call that I forgot to mention it til Nor asked... either thats a very good sign or a very scary one!

Mrs Doyle Syndrome...

Its funny but after awhile of noticing the differences in another culture the oddities in your own become more obvious. I have this horrible Irish tendancy to say no the first time someone offers me something. I cant help myself its a reflex. But the Nigerians dont get it. They just assume (understandably) that I dont want to eat their food or take their drink. When in fact Im just waiting for the 'ah, go on...'
When I got my Hausa language book I checked out the obvious phrases first - hello, please, thank you... But the Nigerians have no place for the over-polite nicities that Im used to. They are welcoming to a fault but I still havent found the Hausa for please. Its just a surplus word here, all a bit unnecessary...

The Abuja plan...

I was reading this week about plans to ban okada drivers from Abuja, the capital city here. The okada drivers are the motorcyclists who transport thousands of people around the city each day for about 1/3 price of their car-driver counterparts. The okada drivers are a crazy bunch but there is almost no public transport so they keep the city moving.
Its a little like the mass demolition of Abuja that seems to be going on at the mo. The city is full of makeshift stalls - selling food, phone cards, washing powder and anything else your heart desires. They accommodate tailors, printers, electrical repair men and a world of other entrepreneurs. The demolition men just come and destroy all this (illegal) industry because of zoning laws. Abuja is a planned city and the actual people seem to be ruining the plans.
The life and character of the city is being washed away...

Christmas approaching...

I went to my first Christmas party on Saturday at PW, an Irish construction company here in Nigeria. PW are legendary for their hospitality to the Nigerian VSOs.
I got a lovely surprise last week when I got back to my hotel and the Christmas decorations were up - including a singing Christmas tree! After a lifetime of complaining about the commercialism at Christmastime, it was lovely to be excited about a few decorations. Finding Christmas cards is proving a bit tricky though, hence my DIY efforts this year...

Cometh the hour, cometh the dust...

Harmattan is truly seting in now. This is the season when the temperature drops (sometimes as low as 15 degrees!) and the sand travels south from the Sahara. The mornings and nights are noticeably cooler now, adn a coat of dust settles on everything - in your shoes, in your teeth, in your hair. The only hint of a colour I'm getting is from the orange dust! I'm happy though and I'll carry half the Sahara on my person if it just stays this cool for awhile...

The Subsaharn tiger...

Nigeria is one of the world's most populated countries with estimates of 150 million people living here. It's a pretty big place but all the same that's alot of people...
The sheer numbers of people are very evident in most places because there always seems to be more workers than work. Local shops have more shop assistants than customers, buying a phone card tends to involve a seller and a couple of his buddies, getting a taxi often involves a series of people pointing the way... it's a rare sight to see a Nigerian sitting alone. If Ireland really is over-populated (and it was in my civics school days) then Nigeria is positively heaving. The potential of this country is phenomenal - if Nigeria received the type of investment in education and employment that Ireland got over the past 20 years, this country and it's people could change the face of Africa.

A different kind of flattery...

The family unit in Nigeria is a really interesting thing - aunts are called mothers,nephews are called sons, and everybody are brothers and sisters! It is a really lovely thing to be called someone's sister because you go to the same church or live in the same compound. However I'm finding it harder to adjust to being called mummy and auntie! These terms of endearment are very genuine on behalf of the local children, but they still catch me by surprise every time. I guess Western culture values youth wheras here people respect age much more. I'm lucky enough to live in interesting times!
Oh and, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Noiriiiiiiiiiin, happy birthday to you xxxxxxxx