More of my favorite things

And the list goes on...

• Camp reunions. OK, so maybe this is one of my favorite things anywhere in the world, but I really enjoyed the ECWA Camp Youth Alive reunion last weekend.
• The way Nigerians can double the capacity of just about any space. Think the taxi can only hold 5 people? Try 9. Truck bed only holds 4 big bags of rice, hahaha...more like 12. As long as the wheels can turn, you’re in business. The “25 seater” blue whale pictured above held over 40 people on all the shuttles I did with it for our camp reunion. Here’s the inside only ½ full:
• Driving ridiculously large vehicles. Check out this beast of a bus I drove last weekend!
• Being appreciated for trying to dress Nigerian. I may look ridiculous with a head tie on, but I get loads of compliments. So, I dress culturally in part to shamelessly boost my ego:)

Here the Nigerians had a timed head-tie wrapping contest at the camp reunion. When put to a vote, I won...but I think that’s just b/c they enjoyed seeing this gear on a baturiya’s head.

• Nigerian’s improv skills. I know I wrote this in my last newsletter, but I had to re-emphasize just how fantastic they are.
• My roomate, Corinne Gnepf!! I have been super slack about updating on my new living arrangement...and it's no longer news since I've been in this new apt for 3 months...but I really adore both the new flat and my flat-mate. She's wonderful, Swiss, and patient with me.
• Driving. Could be narcissistic, but it feeds my adventuresome hunger. See video a friend of mine took. When you get to minute 2.33, he’s driving right near my neighborhood. I drive/walk these streets every day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6M4-BwzIjw
• Speaking in Hausa to Nigerians. They are so freakin’ encouraging that I want to keep going. Especially during the Hausa church services I’ve been visiting to raise awareness for camp. As I walk up to the mic and everyone’s thinking, “Ugh, she’s probably going to speak in English and I’m not going to be able to understand her! Doesn’t she know this is a HAUSA service?!” And then, I bust out my Hausa and the entire congregation (usually well over 500) stares at me for a second, and then breaks into a huge smile. Inevitably, I invoke waves of laughter and hopefully, a little more interest in the camping ministry.
• Random statues. Enough said.
• Women throwing down some awesome beats on these snazzy drums. If I’m close enough to see them during a church service, I just stare and attempt to mimic one instrument at a time on my leg. Someday, I’m going to ask a lady to teach me. Heck, I already have the women’s fellowship uniform, right?
• packages from home. I let out a squeal of delight every time I get one, no matter what's inside. THANK YOU to all who've sent something!
• Swimming in potentially suspect water. Don't worry, this lake was tested...or so we hear.
• Talking to my dear boyfriend once a week when all the communication gods smile upon us and we have a clear connection. Even though long distance (Nigeria-Guinea) relationships could potentially make my list of "least favorite things," I'm super grateful for our almost weekly talks. And yes, I've gotta put a picture for this one b/c he's so great:

As you might be able to detect, this list could go on for a while. BUT, I'll stop now so I can get this one posted and move on to more challenging, perhaps thought-provoking blogs. But my last favorite thing of living here in Nigeria, is getting comments on my blog! So drop me a line if you read this thing and let me know YOUR favorite things about life right now.

A few of my favorite things (part 1)

Seeing as my last couple of posts have zoomed in a bit on some of the less pleasant things about life here, I decided to dedicate the next couple of posts to some of my favorite things. After all, as we all learned from “Sound of Music” if you remember what you like, the bad doesn’t seem so bad. You know, other individual almost as prolific as Julia Andrews, said it this way, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Phil. 4:8)

• reading a book on the couch, with every window open, during a rain/thunder storm.
• Only thing better than reading when it’s pouring outside, is playing in a muddy, puddle plentiful field with some friends. Soccer and Frisbee...heaven on earth, seriously...here are some pics from the other weekend with some buds:
  
  Kav, Corinne, Marc, myself and Kim in front
  
  
  
• Nigerians getting WAY too excited over English premier soccer league loyalties. No better way to get a group of people rowdy than to shout “Man-U!” or “Chelsea for life!”
• Watching kids faces change from a nervous stare to a beautiful bright smile when you look them in the eyes and greet with a smile.
• Plantains-At first they were my guilty pleasures b/c I had only eaten them fried. THEN my neighbor accidently bought them for me when I asked for big bananas. I experimented with more heart/hip happy approaches to cooking them AND upon researching their nutritional value, found out they are SUPER healthy for you. More vitamins and nutrients than his sister (gender allocations completely random) the banana.
• Mangoes- cut in cubes or gnawing on the pulpy seed, crunchy from being a bit too ripe or mushy, in smoothies or with granola, doesn't matter...absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite fruit.
• Picking mangos and avocados in my back yard...and then eating them! What a deal! Mom, better go ahead and plant both a mango and avocado tree b/c I’m quickly becoming addicted!
• Amazing flowers bursting out of trees with incredibly vibrant colors.
  
• Rat poison. In Hausa it’s called, “shayin bera” = “rat tea” Come on you nasty little vermin...come take your tea! Revenge is sweet (see "pestilence and midday strikes" if you have any inkling of sympathy for this guy).

And those are just a few...

Ku ma Allah ya albarka ceku = "May God bless you as well!"

Got gas?

I'm completely oblivious as to what the gas situation is in the US right now, but I can guarantee by the end of this post, you'll be slightly more content and grateful. First off, let's have a vocabulary lesson:
gas = diesel fuel -> used in some vehicles but primarily for generators
petrol = petroleum ->used in most vehicles and motorbikes
kero= kerosene ->used with some stoves and lanterns; also helpful in starting a fire to burn your trash.
foil (pigeon english of fuel) = usually referring to petrol. However a "foil station" could have gas, petrol, and kero

Now, for reasons that I’m still trying to figure out, fuel has become scarce in Jos lately. This is quite ironic because Nigeria is the 6^th largest exporter of crude oil in the world. Problem is, there aren’t refineries, so most of the oil goes out to other nations who can refine it and make it available for all those wonderful SUV’s. Not going there. Anyways, fuel’s not easy to come by. I start to notice the lines at the fueling stations are getting long but I don’t think about it early enough one day and by the afternoon, my needle was dipping pretty low. Thankfully, there are these delightful men along the side of the road who sell foil in small quantities...this is the black market. Certain fueling stations mysteriously always have foil, but they charge more have a bit of a sketchy nature, and are termed “black market” as well. Not sure what the most moral thing would have been to do, but I bit the bullet, stopped at one of these places and paid 600 naira for a gallon of petrol on the black market. Normal prices are 70 naira/liter so that's over double regular price (4 liters in a gallon = 280 naira). With $1=N117, we're talking $5.13/gal! Feeling better yet? Let's keep going... I wouldn't want to deprive you of more joy :) Fueling at the black market looks like this: Dude fills up his 25 litre jug from a big barrel. Then he sticks a hose from the jug into my tank. THEN he covers the mouth of the jug with HIS mouth, blows into it, and thus creates the needed pressure to run the fuel into my truck. I watched as this man had a ring of petrol around his mouth and thought to myself, “Kai! How many times does he do this a day?? That CAN’T be good for him!” After that, I didn’t feel AS bad about paying N600/litre.

Well, I didn’t fill up so the next morning I made plans. I got up at 6am, thinking I'd get towards the front of the line at my favorite foil station so when the gate opened @ 7, I'd be in and out. The line was already 2km long when I got there @ 6:30 (see above picture taken while driving past it). Rolling the dice, I continued driving up towards the next town, Bukuru, hoping people weren't early risers there like they are in Jos. Indeed, I found a station who’s line was still mostly contained within its gate. I still turned around a couple times to figure out where the entrance and exit were, but eventually secured my spot in the que. Not to be one to waste time, I bought 2 books and my journal along with me. Almost more entertaining than these were the people I observed while in line. This one dude, we'll call him Mr. Grumpy Gills (that's for you, Kari), woke up on the wrong side of the bed and thus, yelled at nearly every customer that came in. At one point, a car came in the wrong way and wouldn't back up and Mr. Grumpy Gills said, "If you don't go back I will take the air out of your motor!" (I think he meant out of the tires...that's be interesting to see him take the air out of the whole car...) The driver, in typical Nigerian stubornness, refused to budge, incurring more threats from Mr. Grumpy-"I will remove your engine" and lots of angry waving of his hands, which happened to hold a wire fashioned into a whip. Seriously, I'm not making this up. Well, then there was Mr. Peacemaker, Mr. Grumpy's co-worker, who came over and mangaged to calm Grumpy down with the reasoning, "Look, if Mr.Stubborn doesn't want to move, he'll just have to sit in line and then we won't serve him when he gets up to the pump." SO Mr. Grumpy resentfully walks away yelling over his shoulder, "I will make you suffa when you reach here!" Meanwhile, this baturiya is scoping out the best way to escape should a fight break out. Apparently, the volatile personality of NIgerian men have sometimes given way to riots in the fueling stations. Then some genius will decide to strike a match...like I said, I planned my get-away early on. I'm happy to report the station did not go up in flames, although I'm not sure what became of Mr. Stubborn b/c I was in front of him in the que and took off as soon as I could.
Ahh...life in Nigeria.