long time no see?

oh, hi blog.  long time no see.  sorry friends for the break in updates - got busy/lazy...

things have seemed to slow down a bit, which is sometimes nice, sometimes a little boring.  it is nice to not have things to do every single day of the weekend and to have time to actually relax.  at the same time, there isn't much to do around/in our compound which can make for some boredom.  since i wrote last, here are some of the non-boring highlights:

• bombs: national nigerian day means a day off from work + parades, celebrations, parties, etc.  we were considering heading to eagle square where the biggest celebration would be, but heard that it got pretty ridiculous in terms of crowds.  one co-worker said that when she went last year, crowds of people would just surround them and stick their hands in her pockets/pants.  she advised that if we went to take nothing with us because we probably wouldn't come home with them.  in the end we decided to avoid the whole scene and lucky that we did, as a few bomb threats were made and then followed through with.  kinda scary... it ended up being a pretty quiet weekend for us as we didn't want to go too far and risk anything.  we heard of a few other bomb threats that week, but things have seemed to calm down since.
• national nigerian day: happy 50 years of independence, nigeria!  we had a celebration at school where we all dressed up in nigerian garb.  the kids put on an assembly showcasing nigerian traditions such as the pledge, national anthem, a naming ceremony, dancing, etc.  the PTA also brought in a dance group which did some neat dancing and crazy acrobatics.  the day ended with a food festival where we got to sample various traditional foods.  yum!
• tragedy: unfortunately, the week took an emotional dive as that same afternoon we learned that the elementary french teacher had been killed in an automobile accident.  i won't go into too much detail for various reasons, but i'll just say that it was a stressful week as i had to process the situation for myself, while also breaking the news to my students and helping them work through it.
• blake's lounge: that weekend we needed some fun after such a hard week.  saturday night leif, sara, catie & i hit a local outdoor nigerian bar/lounge which was a lot of fun.  there was live music and leif was pulled up onto the stage to sing/dance within our first five minutes of being there.  i guess we stood out - there were only two or three other non-nigerian people there that we could see... we ended up going again with a few other friends the weekend after that.  sara made her dancing debut on stage twice in one night. many of the nigerians recognized us from our first visit and are enjoying striking up conversations with us.
• fela kuti: fela kuti is one of the most well known nigerian musicians who was also very much involved in politics & human rights stuff.  yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the french cultural center in abuja to watch a documentary about fela and hear carlos moore read a portion of the biography he wrote about fela kuti.  he was good friends with fela and talked about some of his memories of them.  lindsay barrett was also at the event and he shared some of his stories about fela as he was a good friend who introduced fela to a lot of music that influenced him.  it was pretty cool to be at the event and hear about the guy, as he seemed pretty awesome/crazy.  it was also pretty neat because this is the first time the book has been published in africa.

those are the big things that have been going on.. other nights found us hanging out with friends/coworkers, taking late night swims, watching movies, etc.  sometimes it is a little tough because this is not a touristy area, so finding things to do can get tricky, but i suppose that's just part of the experience.  sara & i are thinking of possibly painting a mural on one of the walls in our living room if we are given permission to do so.  we also found legit brownie mix that wasn't too expensive (on nigerian standards) recently so that was a highlight.

since things have slowed down, i have been missing home more & more.  i miss how convenient life is in the states and am really excited to go home for christmas.  i'm also trying to figure out some travel plans for spring break/summer times.  that's it for now but until next time, let me know that someone is reading this and/or let me know if anybody is up for meeting up with me somewhere!  :)

first motorcycle ride

so this is a little delayed, as it happened last weekend and it is already the end of this weekend... but i need to write it down so that i don't forget!

last weekend was a super long weekend because of the eid [muslim holiday marking the end of ramadan] which went a little like this:
thursday - cleaning, errands, school work
friday - school work, more errands, poker night (i was always the last girl standing, and even won a little money the second game.. woot!)
saturday - some returning teachers (IT bryan, 5th grade lana, hs social studies jordan, 1st grade jessica, hs lit gordon, and hs math dusty rose) invited leif & i to take a little adventure with them.  they were doing research because they want to float down the benue (ben-way) river in a boat eventually.  this trip was purely for informational reasons to see if it was possible, how much it would cost, how long it would take, etc. and leif & i were just along for the ride and to see some more of outside-abuja-nigeria.  we drove through nassarawa and after about two hours could not drive any further because the rode was washed out.  the only way was to take a motorcycle/ukada?.  it cost us N1000 each way and we rode three people to a bike.  we were initially told it would be about a half hour ride, but that was a lie... so for an hour (each way) i sat squished between our nigerian ukada driver and leif which was interesting.  at least i was secure on there, but i was definitely sore the next day.  we drove through lots of areas that were just pure green, and also several small villages.  when we did arrive in loko, we saw the river which was awesome, and were also followed around the whole time we were there by literally at LEAST 50 children.  non-nigerians don't go through their village often i suppose, and one of the first things a man told us was that he would show us where one of "our" people were buried - the only white man who had lived/died in the village.  we also met the cheif and emir of the village which was interesting.  overall, the experience was really cool and i'm glad that i got to see more of the "real" nigeria as many people have told us that abuja is not really what the rest of nigeria is like.  eventually when we got home, leif and i went to the vlisco fashion show which was a fundraiser for our school.  sara and a few other teachers/parents were models in it, so it was fun to go support them.  have lots of pictures and ideas for some dresses that i want made now :)
sunday- 5th grade brian, another returning teacher, took us (sara, leah, matt and i) to gurara waterfalls which was about an hour away.  took a little hikey hike and ate lunch there.  was pretttty cool.

so many adventures and things seen in such a short time already!  love it. :)

the eid + JAILBREAK + rain

happy four day weekend to me!  it seems that some others back home also have a short work week between labor day and jewish holidays.  we celebrate neither of those here, but instead have time off because it is the end of the fasting period of ramadan.  eid al-fitr marks this time and we are lucky enough to get off from school for it!  yay for staying up late (we took a late swim last night in our pool) and waking up late.. 'happy sallah!' as they say for this holiday.

the eid also brings about the durbar which is a huge, regal celebration.  i just googled it to read a little more history wise and found this on someone else's blog who went to the durbar a few years ago [" Nigeria is roughly 50% Muslim, 50% Christian. The North is Muslim, the South Christian, cutting the country in half where the capital, Abuja, is located. Abuja is a new city, planned to be the capital and it reflects the complex challenge Nigeria faces concerning religious diversity. The National Mosque and the National Church are both grand and directly face each other in downtown Abuja.

Before jihad succeeded in the North a pagan festival to honor the town Prince developed entitled the Durbar. The people in the North, as many peoples from the Sahel region of Africa, were tradesmen and made their fortunes large in part due to the horses they owned. A display of vibrant costumes and horsemanship define the day-long parade and finale in front of the Emir's Palace. Today the festival coincides with the end of Ramadan and therefore has become interconnected with Islam in northern Nigeria. "]  durbars are held in several different locations at different times, and we had planned to leave at 5:30am today to travel to zaria, about 2 hours away, where one of the biggest and most authentic celebrations is held.  long story short, the embassy & high council said that we should/could not go for safety reasons as there was a jailbreak (eek!) tuesday night (see article)!  while that happened in an area maybe 5 or 6 hours away from where we are, following their advice and not putting ourselves in an area where we will stick out like sore thumbs and possibly be in danger is clearly the route to go.  as much as we'd like to just do as we please, it is always a reality check that we're living in africa where safety is a serious concern.  the school, embassy, and even just friends/coworkers in the area know best and are always looking out for us.  perhaps next year.

on a completely different note, i wore my rainboots for the first time this past saturday.  when i was first packing and heard about the rainy season i was completely convinced that i'd be wearing them all the time.  the daily rain showers have been heavy, but short-lived (10-15 min) from the time we arrived until about a week ago.  now they are heavy and last for awhile.  we were headed to a co-worker's flat to see pictures of places they've traveled and celebrate a birthday, and the rain was coming down so i slapped on the boots and out we went.  the security guards teased me, but they really loved my rainboots.. :)  weather has surprisingly been a lot cooler than i would have expected to the point where i can often be comfortable in jeans (usually during evenings), and have even worn some long sleeve shirts here and there.  i suppose the super hot weather will be when i return after christmas and the dry season comes.  i hear that during the harmattan i won't even be able to wear my contacts!

well.. some answers to questions and then off to do some cleaning and homework.  until next time...

men vs. women: both men and women are seen in the workplace and i haven't seen any type of treatment that has made me look twice.  as far as i can tell, things seem pretty fair between the two genders, but i am also in a city that i've been told is not like the rest of nigeria.  will keep my eyes and ears open, so stay tuned on that.

meat: meat is pretty expensive here if you want decent quality.  when we arrived there was some ground meat in our freezers for us which smelled like butt when we cooked it.. caused some concern haha.  i've had the chance to try a few of the traditional dishes here so far and usually they have some type of chicken.  whole fish is seen pretty regularly, or suya is common which is pretty much just meat on a stick.  so i guess in the typical nigerian diet it is available, but not as huge a focus in the states.

Corruption

so i've been thinking a lot about what i wanted to write next... and am leaning towards less of a "this is what i've done in the past week" and more towards a "this is what i think about the situation here"... and what i think is that this place is incredibly corrupt.  i know that things back home are corrupt, too, but i guess i'm just less used to / more aware of the corruption i see here.

i've read and been told by others about how nigerian politicians who are high up just find ways to launder ridiculous amounts of money - one guy was found to have four billion us dollars, but there's still a highway named after him here and the people are still outrageously poor.  also the first lady is currently under investigation for embezzling some fairly large amount of money when she was a governess.  what i see in abuja is not even the worst of the worst in nigeria, but there are just people all over the place scraping for everything/anything and it's sometimes depressing.  we've seen a lot of shanty towns when driving outside the city, but we've also seen our security guards and women right outside our apartment complex dumping out bags of garbage (sometimes ours) to look for who knows what - anything really, i guess.  the concept of official recycling does not exist here, but people have told us it's ok because anything you throw out will get recycled by people who go through your trash.

money also plays a huge role in how the police system functions which is a big issue here.  they make about $7/day and compensate for this by pulling over anyone they want.  they can often bully people into giving them money so the drivers don't have to go into the station or end up with a ticket.  they are also known to reach into your car through open windows, unlock/open the doors, jump in your car, and order you to drive places while figuring out what you have that they can take.  matt and leif both have cars here which has been the main mode of transportation for the five of us, and we have yet to be pulled over, but are making bets on to who/when it will happen first.  many people have advised making rolls of small bills to just throw out your window as far as possible so that they scramble for that while you drive away.  a bit intimidating, and it's come to the point of almost being an entertaining, but still nervous, guessing game for us.

i'm not really sure where i'm going with this, and i'm sure there are many other countries who faces similar, if not worse things... but it's just so seemingly blatant and out of control.  having people come up to us at markets on scooters because they are supposedly crippled (we've heard stories of them later getting up and walking around), or people with missing limbs banging on our windows while driving... i guess it just opens my eyes to how sheltered a life i've led.  it clearly makes me grateful for how and where i've been brought up... but now i am so ready to see more and other parts of the world and how they function.

i have a lot of other thoughts in my head about this, but am not necessarily sure how to articulate them so that will be that for now... but a few answers to questions that were asked from last time...

water: not supposed to drink.  have friends who went swimming in a lake and got parasites (eek!)  sara brought a filter to attach to the sink and we also boil our water.  lots of stores also sell bottled water.

weather: it's been surprisingly cool here - like.. jeans and a t-shirt is completely bearable.  it rains like crazy EVERY DAY and our power also goes out daily, but the heat is not bad at all.  there are air conditioners at the school/apts.  sometimes on weekends when we go out to markets and things it gets a little rough, but we are pretty spoiled in comparison to REAL nigerian life where they are too poor to have air conditions and generators.

bugs: not bad so far, but it's the wet season.  when the dry season comes around it will probably get a lot worse.  i've gotten a handful of mosquito bites, and there are lots of flies, ants.. to the point of being annoying, but not unbearable.

goodies: i could definitely use some goodies from the U.S., but everybody says you can't send care packages here without it costing an arm and a leg to actually get it once it arrives in nigeria, IF it arrives.  they put ridiculous duties on things and when you question it, they lower it.. so it's obviously not legit - just more people who don't make enough and trying to get by.  so thank you for the offer, but better not to waste the goodies/money.  just fill me up when i come home! :o)

faux pas: don't try and bargain or even converse with people before asking about their family and asking, "how was your night?"  to us it may seem intrusive and nosy, especially if speaking with a stranger, but it's considered rude to NOT ask (and even multiple times if you pass someone several times.. like in the 'halls' at school, which by the way are not hallways at all - everything is out in the open!)  even though things seem really run and down and dangerous here sometimes, people are actually very friendly and basically anybody will smile and greet you if you are smiling and greet them.  if you walk down a 'hall' at school and don't greet whoever else is walking past, it is considered rude.. which has been something to get used to while i'm still in my early morning sleepy mood/mode.

OK i feel like i've been typing forever.  comments, please :)  BYE!

Week One Done!

well, week one is over!  in the states, it's pretty normal to start with a 2 or 3 day week to ease the kids (and teachers) back into the routine, but we started on a monday... pretty rough haha.  i am lucky though that my schedule is pretty easy to get through - i teach for one period, have a break, teach for two periods, have a break, teach for two more periods, and then i'm basically done (all those breaks are kids going to recess/lunch/specials).  though it sounds easy, the actual teaching isn't so much so.  3rd graders are so very different from 7th and 8th graders... i already miss the ease of joking around and using sarcasm with the older kids and i have to be even MORE patient, explain every little detail, and answer a million questions about everything - but in the same way i do love their curiosity, eagerness to learn, and joy in pleasing me.  stickers, beads, and stamps go a lot further with 3rd graders than middle schoolers for sure :)  all in all, it was a pretty good week, but i've spent a good portion of this weekend lesson planning and all that kind of stuff.  blech.  p.s. that kid never showed up to school and then friday i finally got an email saying he's no longer enrolled in our school so it will remain a mystery on how to definitely pronounce his name, but i think one other teacher pronounced it 'ching-eez'.  but i also heard somebody else pronounce it differently than that, so who knows.....

so now that i've been here for almost two weeks, i guess it's pretty much reality that i'm in africa.  i really miss junk food.  at home it's so easy to just walk into your kitchen and snack on whatever you want that's laying around, or run out and buy something that you're really craving, but it's not like that here.  at all.  and now that i see everyone's posts on facebook about fantasy and football stuff, i'm pretty sad that i'm going to miss watching the giants with my dad every sunday.  we have no tv in our apartment, so it's not even like no football with dad.  it's like no football period.  i guess those are the things i miss most (i mean, besides the obvious family/friends/boyfriend bit)

something i'm really proud of is how much my friends and i have been cooking.  there are five of us [matt, leah, leif, sara, and i] that cook and eat dinner together basically every night.  our most recent success was oatmeal banana chocolate chip pancakes.  so good.  also, tonight was the first time that we all prayed together before dinner.  again, so good.

today we went to wuse market which is this huge area full of vendors selling all types of stuff.  it reminds me of super run down canal streets back to back like... times 100 - ok maybe not that much but a lot.. at least 30 or 40.  rows and rows of all these little wooden spaces on dirt paths selling anything they can.  barrow boys will come up to you with wheelbarrows asking to carry your purchased items hoping to make some money.  there are a few rows of single plastic chairs and umbrellas set up where women braid your hair or do your nails.  some shady areas behind trucks where there are crates of beer and soda stacked up 3 or 4 times beyond my height.  a super cramped farmer's market type deal where they sell fruits/veggies.  bartering is kind of fun, but also pretty scary at this place because the environment itself is just intimidating.  i did buy some awesome fabric since national nigerian day will be coming up (october 1st) and we all have to get traditional garb made.  pretty excited for that.  tomorrow we will head out to a dam nearby that we've heard is pretty awesome, and then to some rastafrian music picnic thing?  not really sure... haha

alright, this post was pretty all over the place but i just knew i needed to throw some type of update on here.  next time i'll try and organize my thoughts a little better.  stick with me here.  check out fb for some new pictures i posted earlier today.  hmm, what homework can i come up with?  that's how i got the most comments thus far.  HMMMM... leave me a question so i will know what you are all wondering about so i can guide my writing next time!  k thanks bye :)

You are Welcome!

Internet is finally running in our apartments!  We're still on a trial right now, as we've been speaking with several different companies, but so far so good.  I wish you could all experience Nigerian internet - 'fast' here would be completely unacceptable basically anywhere in the States.  I'm not complaining though - slow internet is better than no internet.  If I ever get cut off while gchatting or something like that, advanced apologies!

I did type up two entries while I was waiting for the internet - one is below and the other is about me eating peanuts so I'm going to wait awhile to post it so Mom and Dad don't freak out.. but don't worry - I'm fine.  :)

Things have been pretty busy recently.  Between adjusting to a completely new country, settling into a new home, and preparing for a new job - it's been super hectic.  I'll tell you a little about each of those things, beginning with adjusting to a completely new country.  "You are welcome" is THE thing to say here in Nigeria.  You will hear it anywhere and everywhere you go... it took awhile to get used to and my friends joked about how they never said 'Thank you".. but it is simply the Nigerian way to greet people.  Most people are pretty friendly, but it is a little intimidating when you are approached by the mobs of people on the street selling things.  Luckily, we are usually separated from them by the bus windows.  I'll write a bit more about this at another time, but the word 'desperation' just comes to mind - desperate for any money they can get to provide for themselves and their families.


So on settling into a new home, I'll be doing that again after just moving into this apartment a week ago.  I may have mentioned previously the massive apartment they supplied us with.  All the sounds I hear freak me out to the point of being scared... like for real scared.  One of the other girls, Sara, and I will be moving in together since neither of us are really used to living alone.  It'll be nice to have the company.  Otherwise, things have been going well - the people I spend most of my time with are Sara (third year 4th grade teacher from Iowa who just finished two years in Guatemala), Leif (first year music teacher from Minnesota), Leah (first year 4th grade teacher from Wisconsin) and Matt (first year - but has long term subbed - P.E. teacher from Wisconsin, engaged to Leah).  We cook and eat together (made homemade spaghetti sauce last night!) and really just get acclimated to our new lives together.  We're all pretty easy going and it's pretty sweet to have them around. 

Aaaaand lastly on adjusting to the new job... it is so crazy to be back in the Elementary land again.  After two years of teaching middle school, I really need to adjust my expectations of what knowledge they will have and what types of behavior I will encounter.  All these things are a work in progress as I plan out my first few weeks (ok.. maybe first few days - lesson planning takes forever....).  I'll be teaching Math and Science to all third graders, and Social Studies to my homebase class.  Molly (a [now un-]retired teacher from Washington, D.C.) will be teaching the Reading/Writing portion to both classes.  I have a teaching assistant named Ubon (oo-bahn) who will be in my room with me and has been a big help in setting up.  While he doesn't actually teach lessons, he'll be there to help with monitoring students, run copies, walk the kids to specials, etc.  Our room is coming together slowly, but surely.  I am very excited to meet my new students (a class of 17 - nice change of pace from the class of 31 lovely children in South River) and hope that they will be just as excited to get to know me.  I also hope they won't be upset when I slaughter their names.  Pictures to come - check Facebook for some recent ones!

Alright - time to head to a staff potluck.  Until next time - please comment and let me know how you would pronounce this student's name so maybe it won't be so bad on my first day on Monday.  He appears on my roster as 'Kiss, Dzsingisz'.  I'll probably be able to get the last name alright... phonetically spell out how YOU would pronounce that one.  :)

I'm Here!

7/8/10, 10:43 pm

so i am finally in abuja.  we arrived last night around 9pm after a long day of flying.  the flights were pretty nice with decent food and entertainment.  definitely fancier than any other flight i've ever been on.

i met one of my co-workers during a layover at frankfurt.  it was nice to have the company when figuring out the next steps.  after making it through immigration without any problems, we found the embassy worker who was waiting for us.  we gathered all our luggage (all my things made it there safe and sound, minus one squeezed to death and messy bottle of lotion... not everyone was as lucky as i) and met with the AISA director and elementary school principal.  unbeknownst to us, six or so of our other co-workers were on the same flight who we met shortly thereafter.  our luggage was put on a truck, we hopped in the school's bus, and started the 40-minute ride to our apartments.

while driving, it was slowly beginning to get dark, but we could still see a lot of things.  for example, the lack of lines on the roads, some small villages formed right off the highways, small street markets, and tons of people walking along the roads.  many women were carrying different types of loads on their heads... something i thought that i would always see in books, but never in real life.

while it is only one day in, the orientation & welcoming staff has gone above and beyond.  they supplied us with sandwiches and such upon arrival so we would not have to worry about dinner and also filled up our fridges a little bit!  we were shown our apartments, gathered our luggage off the truck, and began to unpack.  i have a tremendous place - 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, a dining room with a table for 6, a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and what they call boys quarters - a room accessible through, but not directly connected to, my apartment, if i choose to hire a cook, maid, etc. which i am probably not going to do.  the place is really too big for me - i've never lived alone alone and it makes me a little uncomfortable.  one other girl and i have talked about possibly moving into one apartment together, but we'll see how things go after a week or so.  surprisingly i slept relatively well last night in my "king-sized-or-maybe-just-two-twins-put-together" bed.  you can't even tell with the mattress topper and sheets on though so no complaints... although all my co-workers seem to have a single bed!

today was a pretty relaxed day.  in the morinng, the school took us to grand square which is like a department/grocery store type place.  bought a few necessary things, but we'll be visiting some more markets and shopping areas tomorrow as well.  the afternoon was spent cleaning and unpacking and then i had some friend-making to do.  all the other new hires who flew in yesterday with me are around my age which is pretty cool.  we've spent time in one anothers' apartments, and today was our first hang out - it was pretty cute.  we made dinner together and played bananagrams (thanks, sarah!).  then we walked around the complex to meet & welcome other staff members who arrived tonight.  it seems like we all get along pretty well together which makes me happy since the only friends i'll have here will be my co-workers as well.

in such a short time, it has already been a huge period of adjustments - living alone, black&brown outs, working in metrics, new currency, making new friends, no internet, not drinking the water, and the list goes on.  it is constantly crossing my mind that i won't be able to do this for two years, let alone until christmas time... but i suppose i'm the one who got myself into the whole situation.  i am still really excited for this big adventure, but it is pretty scary now that i'm actually in AFRICA.  this is super long.  pictures and apartment tour to come when the internet kicks in.  until then, i'll go figure out what to do with the regulator that i just blew out... oops?