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!"