Electricity and Cell Phone Service

I can't understand how I left this country almost a decade ago, came back, and we are still have electricity issues! I guess a lot doesn't always happen in a long time. It's mind bloggling. This past weekend, NEPA, or should I say Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (LOL, how appropriate), only gave us light for about 2 hours!! I know! Crazy! Sometimes people leave their generators running for days. It just doesn't make sense. Like someone said, in this country, you are your own Local Government i.e. you pretty much supply your own electricity, water, etc. Even if you have a generator, you still don't want them to "take the light", as we say, cos it's just stressful. You have to buy gas or diesel to power the generator and the sound produced by the generators is unpleasant especially when they run all night. Oh and they contribute to the pollution. Ah, Nigeria!

Man, I miss my contract cell phone service! T-Mobile! Where art thou! Ok, so, you can get a contract phone here but it's pretty expensive. The way cell phones work here is you purchase a sim card and then you "buy credit" as necessary. Once your credit expires, you can't make any phone calls!! Now, that's pretty scary! I know I used to complain about the 40 cents per minute that T-Mobile used to charge once you've exhausted your minutes for the month but man! what I would do to have that kind of security. Think about it now, if you run out of credit and need to make an urgent phone call, you can't! That's why you always have to have "emergency credit" in your wallet. Also, sometimes, if the "network is bad", you might not be able to "load" your credit. Geez louise! Now I understand why people have two or more phones! I used to think it was funny but it's quite necessary!

Holy Child College

I visited my high school for the first time in over a decade yesterday! Wow, has it changed for the better or what! First of all, the missionaries have taken over! You ask what that means, well, it means that the quality of education is probably better, the facilities have been and are being upgraded, etc.

When I walked in, I was shocked. It was quiet and the students were there. Lol. The roads were paved!!! It was clean. They now have a boarding school, which, back then we thought they never would. It now has junior and senior secondary schools. The uniform has chnaged, as in, if you're in the junior school, you wear a pinafore and if you're in the senior school, you don't. Pretty straight forward. Oh, yeah, the cap is still the same though. LOL. You have to see it to know why I'm laughing. Anyways, it was great to be back there, the place where a lot of things happened in shaping who I am today.

I'm Back!!!!!!!

Oh yeah!! I'm back and boy do I have a lot to say! Nigeria is crazy y'all. What?? Anyways, I know I was away from my blog for a while but I figured I have to get back otherwise I'll just keep making excuses about why I haven't blogged in a while.

Geez, where do I start? A lot has been going on to say the least. I was reading my blog the other day and I was like wow! what a JJC I was a few months ago! LOL! I can say I have adjusted to Nigeria but man, there are still some things I don't get. Ah, customer service? Non-existent! Driving situation, crazy as ever, actually, it's really the traffic that's MADD!! The air? LOL. Still different as in P-O-L-L-U-T-E-D. I was in a cab the other day and I had to video tape the fumes coming out of the truck in front of the cab (will try to upload it). It was insane and to think people have to inhale that everyday! Mad! Something needs to be done about that. I might have to write a petition or something to ban cars that emit a ridiculous amount of fumes. You should see how much fumes one small okada (motorcycle) emits all by itself. It's actually quite funny.

In Nigeria enh, you have to find a way around all the madness. Join a club of some sort or something (I've been salsaing by the way! So much fun!) otherwise you could lose it.

I'm so excited to be back to blogging!

Alrightie, Later :)

Homemade

So, I needed to buy some facial exfoliator/facial scrub. I checked the stores and couldn't find any that I wanted because the options were very limited. Ladies know that you don't joke with your exfoliator. It a huge part of the skincare regimen. So, needless to say, it was a bit frustrating. That is one item I did not stock up on!! It was an oversight!

Anyways, while making arrangements to have some sent/brought over, I had to improvise and yup! I made some myself! I rememebered that I had somewhere at some point learned how to make body/facial exfoliator so without further ado, I got in the kitchen and wala! I had my very own homemade exfoliator! Now, the true test was in using it -would it work or would I have break outs big time! LOL! Well, it worked!! Yay! I must say, I just might have to package that stuff and sell it! LOL! I just need to find a name for the skincare line....hmm...Anyways, as they say "desperate times call for desperate measures" and sometimes you don't know what's in you till you are in a situation and you have to figure it out...uh oh, now I'm preaching! :)

Alrightie, later :)

Top Ten Things You'll Notice About Abuja

10. The air is different. I can't really explain it but it's just different.
9. Everyone uses their car horns. Sometimes way too much. All you hear is "pe, pe, pe!!!" Quite irritating.
8. There are not many, if any, skyscrapers like you would see in other cities but there are a lot of pink roofs. It's kinda cute. LOL.
7. The roads are actually pretty ok.
6. There are a lot of bad cars on the road that emit A LOT of exhaust fumes. Probably what adds to the air being different. Essentially polluted.
5. When it rains, it POURS!
4. The food is great! It taste like real food. Not all that over-processed stuff. The plaintain is plaintain! ALL ORGANIC baby! LOL.
3. The drivers are CRAZY!
2. You can't really find everything you are used to seeing in the stores so come prepared i.e. stock up on goods.
1. Naija is home and regardless of its shortcomings, it will feel good to be home :)

Alrightie, later :)

The Driving Situation!

Driving in this country is truly mentally draining. It is irritating, frustrating, and annoying!Everyone seems to be in a hurry for no apparent reason! It gets worse when there are no traffic directors conducting the traffic or when the traffic lights are not working. Something NEEDS to be done! When driving here, you have to pay attention to EVERYTHING. I don't know how people talk and drive here cos that's hard to do!

Nigeria needs a traffic revolution! They need to create a Driving Task Force or something that would crack down on the crazy drivers! Seeing is truly believing and unless you come here, you can't fully understand the frustration with which I write this!

Having a driver (chauffeur) is NOT a luxury in this country o! It is a necessity if you don't want to have to deal with the craziness on the road! Pay someone to handle it. Although, I have to say that even when you are a passenger, you feel the stress and sometimes react because people really drive crazy!

Phew! Which way Nigeria! We have a long way to go! This traffic thing is truly a trip (no pun intended).

Alrightie, later :)

P.S.: Please feel free to leave a comment...I know you're out there reading this :) No pressure though :)

The Mall

I went to Ceddi Mall yesterday. You know, just wanted to check it out. See what's popping. Yeah, it was interesting. It's not a very big mall. Just three floors. Free parking. They have a Swatch store, Wrangler store (huh?), Nu Metro, Nike store, boutiques, accessories store, make-up store (where MAC eyeshadow is approx. 4300N = $35!!). Anyways, it's certainly a good start but there's always room for improvement.

Alrightie, later :)