Thanks for reading and I'll post more when I return to Chicago!
*****
Last night, I fell asleep with excitement that I was going home! Don't get me wrong - I really enjoyed my stay in Nigeria. I had felt personally challenged and am going home feeling gratified about my experiences. I met many new friends and had first hand insight on Nigeria during a time of its all important elections. I liked the local shopping and even the local food (catfish!). The things I enjoyed far outweighed the things I didn't like (heat, African time, insects, dirty, poverty) but a month's time is a long time to be away from home from loved ones. There is nothing like home!
I had packed my luggage and was hopeful that the luggage didn't exceed the weight limits (50 lbs is like nothing!). Mayowa, Sope's nephew, was going to pick me up after the check out time from the hotel so that I won't have to pay a 1/2 day of hotel. Unfortunately, he got called into work on the Saturday and his younger brother, Ayo, picked me up and to my surprise, I was dropped off at his younger 10 year old brother's birthday party! Their younger brother had turned 10 on March 31 but because of elections, he couldn't have his big and fun birthday bash until today.
The party was quite lavish and big. Many children of all ages and many parents and adults present as well. The kids were pretty well behaved sitting and eating their food. They also stood in line quite well (and very patiently) to get popcorn, hot dogs and ice cream as snacks. They had a large inflatable jumping thingy (I'm not sure what this is called) to play in. What I thought was cute was that when the the emcee for the event (he was hired and had appeared to have hosted many a birthday party) told everyone to get ready to play games, he told everyone to sit down and put on their shoes. Lots of kids were running around in the dirt barefooted.
The main highlight of the event was the dance off between girls and boys. Here is a terribly cute boy that definitely had moves. He danced like a Michael Jackson to Justin Bieber. So cute!
The emcee orchestrated a dance off between the mommies of one of the girls and boys and then, the emcee had a dance off between the birthday boy's mommy and daddy and later on, their respective male/female friends. The birthday boy's mommy and daddy were very well natured to participate! The person with the best moves among this group was a 70 year old grand pa! He could bust a move!
They played a game where the men had to tie a gele for a woman. Hahaha. Most men couldn't do it!
Awkward moment of the birthday party was a woman asking me if I liked blacks. Yes, she asked me if I liked blacks.I had to leave before the end of the festivities but here is a picture of me with the birthday boy, Mayowa and their mom!
I picked up two gift bags to commemorate this important birthday to bring home for Sope's kids (the birthday boy's cousins). A yellow personalized bag with a thermos (personalized of course courtesy of mum and dad) and a bag of candy and snacks.Mayowa and Oyinda drove me to the airport. Of course there was a ton of traffic. In the airport, I got hassled a bit by the United rep about my book bag. She insisted it was too big. I had hardly anything it! I had my luggage hand inspected but the inspection was far from thorough.
On my way to the security line to clear immigration, I was "accompanied" by an airline rep who told me he was to help me get through security. Ahh.. yea? Sounded a little fishy. As it turns out, he put me in the fast immigration line and asked for "a token of appreciation" = BRIBE! He asked for $20 USD. I gave him a look and flat out told him I had not USD (which was a lie) and ended up giving him 400 Naira (= $2 and change in USD). I had finally paid my first bribe in Nigeria!
I had my carry on luggage xray scanned and hand inspected again at the gate in Lagos. The airline rep at the Nigerian gate took issue to the thermos and made me open them all up. The airline rep in Ghana (had a connection in Accra) took issue to extra batteries I had on me and my hairbrush. I relinquished the batteries. When I finally landed in the US, I crossed immigration pretty easily and Homeland Security took issue to the peanut butter and Nutella I had in my bag. I guess peanut butter and Nutella is considered a liquid. But whatever, I'm back home!
Thanks so much for joining me along my 1 month adventure in Nigeria. I appreciated all the positive feedback and encouragement esp as there were many days I didn't want to blog and certainly wanted to go home. It was nice to share my experiences and someday, I hope to return to see the progress and improvements that will happen.
I'm glad to be home and thanks for reading!
I'll post again when Eddy and I try on our matching outfits!
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