merry christmas and a happy new year!

within the few days of being home, i've already had many "you should write more often!"s so here i am.  i am going to TRY.  :)

i left abuja on monday night, and was supposed to land for a layover in frankfurt at 6am but due to snow, they had closed the airport.  we landed in zurich and were not allowed off the plane, and didn't get to frankfurt until several hours later.  at least it gave me some time to catch up on movies!  once in frankfurt, i found out that my flight was canceled so stood in a re-booking line for 4.5 hours (fun!... they did give out free kitkats though haha) and luckily did not have to spend the night in germany as many others did, but got one of the last seats back to newark.

it was still mid to high 90s back in abuja, so yes - the weather is cold, but i am making do and have not gotten sick yet!  the snow is nice, but also foiling plans to see friends in the short amount of time i have back in the states.  a lot of people have been asking if i have any special plans, but really i have just been, and plan to continue, enjoying the conveniences of life here in the states.  the one out of the ordinary thing will be seeing the broadway musical 'fela' with my family, which is based around fela kuti, a nigerian musician who pioneereded the afrobeat movement and was also very present in human rights & politics.  this is the same guy whose book publishing/reading i attended while in abuja, so it is very fitting! :)

hoping everyone had a very merry christmas, as i did, and that everyone will have a happy new year.  2010 is ending, and so it this post so to end, here is a list:

10 things i will enjoy doing at home because such activites do not exist in abuja

1. seeing friends, fam & adrien!

2. going to target, shoprite, ac.moore, and other such shops

3. watching football w/ my poppa bear

4. eating reasonably priced ice cream and stocking up on goodies you can't get in the buj like chocolate chips!

5. going to a restaurant and not having to wait an hour after i order to get my food

6. having a VARIETY of GOOD restaurants to eat at!

7. getting a hot shower EXACTLY when i expect/want it

8. driving civilly (although it makes it seem a bit boring at times...)

9. plugging things straight in the wall without having to worry about blowing anything/one up/out

10. drinking and cleaning fruits/veggies w/ tap water and not having to have miltoning (veggie santizier) parties...

these are just some of the things that i have taken for granted before experiencing this completely different lifestyle.  i think i may even miss it a bit and will be ready to return to nigeria when the time comes, but am definitely enjoying these two weeks at home with loved ones and simple pleasures. 

happy thanksgiving!

this year marks quite an occasion... this was the first thanksgiving in my whoooole life that i wasn't home with my family to celebrate.  it was a little bit weird/sad, but i had a good weekend regardless.  i am pretty jealous of my friends back home who all have off from and work and get to hang out together.  i miss them.  i also am not home for adrien's birthday (which was this past friday)... boo.  happy birthday, love!

anyways, this weekend a group of 14 of us went out to minna, nigeria which was about 3 hours away driving.  we left early thursday morning and hit a few obstacles along the way in which one car's serpentine belt (?) didn't make it out alive so we had to squish from our pack of four cars to three, but we did make it to minna without too many other hitches.  we stayed at the old presidential villa which was beautiful...

the place had a huge kitchen, nice swimming pool, tennis courts, snooker & ping pong tables, several bedrooms and animals hanging out on the grounds everywhere (peacocks, bunnies, deer/antelope looking things that we were quite sure of, a dikdik which is an african animal of some sort and the pronunciation of that animals name is debatable...)  the place was pretty removed from the main roads which meant there wasn't much to do in minna (in terms of touristy type things) which was really nice actually.  we had a nice break away from the city where we just hung out.  lots of swimming, playing, talking, drinking, eating.  we split into groups to take care of meals since there was nobody cooking for us / no restaurants.  the night i cooked with my roommates, we made chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and lemon bars.  yum :)  leif also made stuffing but it got left in the car overnight so we didn't want to risk that... especially when you live in africa and "left in the car" equates baking, where as at home it would be more like keeping it cool.  oops.  we also had plenty of room to take walks & runs.  a couple of us took a 3 hour walk into the bush and went through several small villages where we met a lot of fulani and gwari people who were excited to interact with us.

overall it was a really great weekend away from the city.  missed my family back home, but thankful to have a second family in abuja to spend it with.  i am VERY ready to come home to see friends and family and indulge in all the things that makes life in the states so easy.  three weeks to go... will be trying to distract myself with projects until the day comes to fly home!  :)

i'm really bad at updating this :)

so nearly a month later.... sorry :)  how are things going?  things are going...

school: this past week i had two formal observations in one week.  not something i'm used to (to have two so close to one another), but they both went well as far as i can tell.  tried to do pretty regular lessons, nothing over the top.  in our quick post sessions my principal didn't really have anything negative to say and said the lessons were fun and i should be happy with how i did.  we will see how the more in-depth post-observation goes which will probably happen sometime next week.

teaching 3rd grade has been pretty great so far, but i don't think i am going to teach it forever.  i really miss my middle schoolers and being able to throw my sarcasm at them all the time.  dealing with "he doesn't want to be my friend" and "he said the s-word (i am thinking a curse word, while they are thinking 'stupid')" is really exhausting for me.  it's so trivial to me in the scheme of life, but so real for them at that age and while i can usually work the situation out temporarily, it just keeps coming back.  AHHHHHHHHH just be nice to each other, please.

luckily the next two weeks at school will be pretty easy.  we go to school this monday, but then have tuesday and wednesday off for the muslim eid holiday.  then we have thursday and a half day friday to do curriculum work.  the week after we have three days on, and then two off for thanksgiving.  not too shabby...

outside school: things seem to go through a period of having lots to do and not lots to do which i guess is fine and i'm getting used to it.  to fill some of our time and cure the our-walls-are-so-sterile-and-not-welcoming feeling, my roommate and i started painting a mural in our living room which took about a week, working a few hours each night afterschool / on the weekend.  we found a bunch of images we liked online, projected them onto the wall, traced each piece that we liked to compile it, and then started painting.  for not being huge artsy people, we are pretty satisfied with how it turned out... looks better in pictures so you can't see all our imperfections.  we always tell people to not get too close :)

our mural.  we made those pillows too! :)

safety here has been on my mind lately, and i won't share too many details here to spare my mother's well being, but it's always a reality check when you hear about some of the things that happen here and sometimes to people you know.  my roommate and i did get a bit freaked out the other night so i will share that part because from the outside it's probably silly sounding and amusing how ridiculous we are.  our compound-mates had filled us in that there were armed guards walking around our compound and we later discovered that someone either from the school or compound had requested additional security for whatever reason (i have felt pretty safe within our gates up until then).  anyways, i took out the garbage when it was dark, and kept looking over my shoulder because i was afraid they might shoot me by accident.  anyways, so we are in our living room now and watching a somewhat serious portion of a show, and our air conditioner starts making all these sounds and i honestly thought like a rat or mouse or lizard or some type of creature was going to come flying out of there at us.  well it died down but then it started happening again.  and then a few minutes later we hear BOOM.... BOOM.... kinda sounded almost like gun shots maybe and THEN.. two seconds later our power went out.  in retrospect we were probably just really on edge, but we were freaking out.  haha.  ugh.

anyways, on to less ridiculous things. today we are going to this art & craft bazaar at the school which is typically a big hit among the expats/teachers i hear.  maybe i will find some good christmas presents to give when i'm back home.  also for thanksgiving weekend, a group of us will be traveling to minna, a few hours away to stay at an old presidential villa.  it is supposedly pretty decent and will be a nice way to get away from the city and just enjoy the outdoors.  i'm excited for it!

home: i miss home and just how convenient life is in the states.  already in such a short time i've experienced life in a whole different light which which has been really great, but i do miss target, shoprite, costco, and not having to go through a 15-minute sanitizing process before eating my fruits/veggies.  i'll be home the 21st of december and am really excited for it.  i've tried to keep myself from creating a countdown just yet, but i am eagerly awaiting the end of this semester so i can see all of you and go back to the spoiled life.

ok that is all.  i will try to update again before a month passes.  :)

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!