This past week I started working. The job was only supposed to be a couple of days, but turned into a week and now they want me to come back this week too. It is nice to go back to work! The most awesome part is that they are letting me work just while Mason is in school. So, I drop Mason off at 8:30, go to work, and am able to be back to pick him up at 3:30.
It has been hard getting other things though. I'm tired. My body is not used to being at work all day any more. Mason and I get home around 4pm. We have hot chocolate and talk about his day at school. We play for a little bit. At 5pm, he watches cartoons while I get dinner ready. Around 6:30 I've been giving him a bath and in bed between 7-7:30.
It is Efe's busy season, so he hasn't been around, which is what is making it the hardest. I'm still glad to have a job though. I love working again and it was nice to know that I didn't forget how to do it. I'm hoping they will keep extending my contract.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A New Year in Amsterdam
OK, I'm a little behind on my postings :) Last New Year's Eve, I followed my usual tradition and went to bed around 11pm. I was rudely awoken at 12am and had thought that The Netherlands was being bombed. It is definitely not the sound I wanted to wake up to. I jumped up and looked out the window. Instead of seeing bombs exploding, I saw fireworks going off in every direction. Families outside with their kids, old men and women, young singles, all outside lighting off fireworks. Down the entire street!
This year, we knew what to expect. Lots of people letting off fireworks from many dangerous locations. So, we went downtown to spend New Year's Eve at Roger and Lauren's apartment. They have a roof terrace, so at 12am, we could look in every direction and see fireworks above the city. What I think is cool is that it isn't the city lighting them off, it is a crapload of normal people outside their houses.
This video doesn't even come close to doing it justice. I wish I had a better video recorder, and could have recorded all sides. It was literally all around us.
This year, we knew what to expect. Lots of people letting off fireworks from many dangerous locations. So, we went downtown to spend New Year's Eve at Roger and Lauren's apartment. They have a roof terrace, so at 12am, we could look in every direction and see fireworks above the city. What I think is cool is that it isn't the city lighting them off, it is a crapload of normal people outside their houses.
This video doesn't even come close to doing it justice. I wish I had a better video recorder, and could have recorded all sides. It was literally all around us.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Nigeria Trip - Part 2
The second part of our trip took place in Benin City, where Efe was born! Shortly after we arrived, Mason was baptised.
I am aware that many people believe that Jesus looks very differently than what is depicted of him in pictures in Indiana, but I have to admit this is the first time I've ever seen an African Jesus.
Father Omesa (who baptised Mason) invited us over a couple days later for dinner. One very common food there is called "Ema". It is yams (though not the sweet ones that we know, they are more like potatoes) that are mashed and pounded. You then pull a piece off with your fingers, and dip it into some soup to eat the two together. They tried to get Efe to eat some, but he already knew he didn't like it. I gave it a try and it was pretty good! I went back for seconds and then they all teased Efe about me liking it because he didn't like it himself.
We went to meet Efe's grandmother (his Dad's mother). She was so sweet. She came out of her bedroom, hunched over with a cane. I saw her hug Maro and she just held on while singing a song. I thought it was so cute and sweet. Then, she did it to everyone, including me! :) Mason got to meet her for the first time.
A couple days later, it was a party at the Aghimien house. Efe's cousins came over and were up all night cooking traditional Nigerian food for the party. It was so nice of them and the food was great.
On our last day, we got a very special treat. We got to go to meet the King of Benin, or the "Oba". This was a rare honor, so I really didn't know what to expect.
We entered a room with blue walls and pictures of people that looked presumably important. On one side of the room were large chairs full with men in full-length white dress. On the other side were large, antique-looking chairs that were empty. Straight in front of us sat the Oba, wearing an all white, satin-looking gown with a cap.
We walked straight in and Efe's dad made a salute that I did not recognize to the Oba. We all fell to our knees. As I knelt, I waited to see what would happen next. The Oba made a motion telling us we could get up and sit in the empty chairs that were waiting for us. We all sat. I was nervous that Mason would not oblige, but he did well.
Next, the Oba asked Efe's dad something in Edo, a language that neither myself nor Efe understand. Efe's dad stood up and talked for a while. He then introduced each one of us, one at a time. After he was done speaking, the Oba gave us money! I was surprised and not sure why he was giving us money. Efe's dad later told us that he does give out money but I never fully understood why.
The Oba then told us that we could have a picture. We all walked up to get close. I guess I was getting too close, because one of the guards nudged me to back away. Even though none of us could touch him, he called Mason over and let him shake his hand. I don't think Mason knew how lucky he was.
To view all of our pictures from Nigeria, please click here
I am aware that many people believe that Jesus looks very differently than what is depicted of him in pictures in Indiana, but I have to admit this is the first time I've ever seen an African Jesus.
Father Omesa (who baptised Mason) invited us over a couple days later for dinner. One very common food there is called "Ema". It is yams (though not the sweet ones that we know, they are more like potatoes) that are mashed and pounded. You then pull a piece off with your fingers, and dip it into some soup to eat the two together. They tried to get Efe to eat some, but he already knew he didn't like it. I gave it a try and it was pretty good! I went back for seconds and then they all teased Efe about me liking it because he didn't like it himself.
We went to meet Efe's grandmother (his Dad's mother). She was so sweet. She came out of her bedroom, hunched over with a cane. I saw her hug Maro and she just held on while singing a song. I thought it was so cute and sweet. Then, she did it to everyone, including me! :) Mason got to meet her for the first time.
A couple days later, it was a party at the Aghimien house. Efe's cousins came over and were up all night cooking traditional Nigerian food for the party. It was so nice of them and the food was great.
On our last day, we got a very special treat. We got to go to meet the King of Benin, or the "Oba". This was a rare honor, so I really didn't know what to expect.
We entered a room with blue walls and pictures of people that looked presumably important. On one side of the room were large chairs full with men in full-length white dress. On the other side were large, antique-looking chairs that were empty. Straight in front of us sat the Oba, wearing an all white, satin-looking gown with a cap.
We walked straight in and Efe's dad made a salute that I did not recognize to the Oba. We all fell to our knees. As I knelt, I waited to see what would happen next. The Oba made a motion telling us we could get up and sit in the empty chairs that were waiting for us. We all sat. I was nervous that Mason would not oblige, but he did well.
Next, the Oba asked Efe's dad something in Edo, a language that neither myself nor Efe understand. Efe's dad stood up and talked for a while. He then introduced each one of us, one at a time. After he was done speaking, the Oba gave us money! I was surprised and not sure why he was giving us money. Efe's dad later told us that he does give out money but I never fully understood why.
The Oba then told us that we could have a picture. We all walked up to get close. I guess I was getting too close, because one of the guards nudged me to back away. Even though none of us could touch him, he called Mason over and let him shake his hand. I don't think Mason knew how lucky he was.
To view all of our pictures from Nigeria, please click here
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Nigeria Trip - Part 1
Our family trip to Nigeria was great. We did so many different things that I'm going to have to break it up into pieces so I can talk about them all.
We started off our trip by flying from Amsterdam to Lagos. Stayed the night in Lagos. We got up in the morning and went to the beach. This was definitely Mason's favorite part of the trip, and he asked to go back again for the whole rest of the trip.
The next day, we flew to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja, so that we could start the next part of our journey which was to see the Yankari National Park. From the airport in Abuja, we squeezed into a car. In the backseat was Efe, Maro, me, and Mason on someone's lap the whole time. And, no air conditioning! We were trying not to be whiny Americans. When we first got in, Maro asked her dad to see if we could turn on the A/C, as we were all dripping with sweat. The car didn't have A/C and he responded "Welcome to Nigeria!". Haha! It took us over 6 hours to get to the park, but we stopped to get gas and to eat some lunch.
It was definitely worth the sweaty drive! The park was amazingly gorgeous. We were only staying there for one night, so Efe, Mason and I got up at 6am to walk down to the hot springs that were running just behind the resort. We were the only ones there and it was so peaceful and beautiful. The water was the clearest and cleanest natural water I have ever seen, a wonderful bright blue-green color, and it had absolutely no odor.
It was actually cold that morning, probably around 55-60 degrees, which was the only time it felt cold the entire trip. So, it felt great to get into the water. It was so warm, and you could see steam rising from the top. The average temp of the hot spring is around 31 degrees Celsius, so it was about 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Very nice!
We were enjoying our peaceful swim when we noticed a couple baboons. If you look to the right on the photo below, you can see the first one sitting and staring at us. We didn't know how smart they were though. After a while, we saw some run around to the other side of us. Once they were in place, they all started coming towards us at the same time. They wanted our belongings and were looking for food! I grabbed my camera case and held it in the water, as I was guessing I would have more of an advantage over them if I were in the water. They kept approaching closer. Efe finally got out of the water and started flashing the flashlight at them and yelling at them to go away. Most of the fled, except for one who was obviously the dominant male of the group. He didn't look amused and I was wondering if he was going to challenge Efe. But, as Efe kept yelling, he finally ran off. The baboons all ran off toward the resort.
After they were gone, we saw a herd of wild boars go past us towards the resort. We realized later that they all go up to the resort to look for food in the early mornings before the tourists wake up. Walking back to our room, we saw one baboon steal a bucket from the back on someone's truck and run off with it. The man jumped out of the truck and chased him, but wasn't fast enough. Once the baboon realized there wasn't anything good inside, he dropped it.
Next, we went on a safari through the jungle. We saw several species of monkeys and some antelope. We were hoping to see elephants, as the park has the highest elephant population in West Africa, but all we saw were a ton of huge mounds of elephant poop.
We stopped during the safari to explore these caves in the middle of the jungle. They were built 8000 years ago, initially to live in. They were used again during the slave trade to hide the slave refugees.
After the safari, we made the drive back to Abuja to spend the night. On the way back, our car broke down when we hit a huge pothole. When we made it back to Abuja, we pretty much had dinner and went to bed. We had planned to drive to Benin City the following day, but we were tired of driving and decided to head to the airport and fly to Benin. I will continue with our trip to Benin later :)
We started off our trip by flying from Amsterdam to Lagos. Stayed the night in Lagos. We got up in the morning and went to the beach. This was definitely Mason's favorite part of the trip, and he asked to go back again for the whole rest of the trip.
The next day, we flew to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja, so that we could start the next part of our journey which was to see the Yankari National Park. From the airport in Abuja, we squeezed into a car. In the backseat was Efe, Maro, me, and Mason on someone's lap the whole time. And, no air conditioning! We were trying not to be whiny Americans. When we first got in, Maro asked her dad to see if we could turn on the A/C, as we were all dripping with sweat. The car didn't have A/C and he responded "Welcome to Nigeria!". Haha! It took us over 6 hours to get to the park, but we stopped to get gas and to eat some lunch.It was definitely worth the sweaty drive! The park was amazingly gorgeous. We were only staying there for one night, so Efe, Mason and I got up at 6am to walk down to the hot springs that were running just behind the resort. We were the only ones there and it was so peaceful and beautiful. The water was the clearest and cleanest natural water I have ever seen, a wonderful bright blue-green color, and it had absolutely no odor.
It was actually cold that morning, probably around 55-60 degrees, which was the only time it felt cold the entire trip. So, it felt great to get into the water. It was so warm, and you could see steam rising from the top. The average temp of the hot spring is around 31 degrees Celsius, so it was about 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Very nice!
We were enjoying our peaceful swim when we noticed a couple baboons. If you look to the right on the photo below, you can see the first one sitting and staring at us. We didn't know how smart they were though. After a while, we saw some run around to the other side of us. Once they were in place, they all started coming towards us at the same time. They wanted our belongings and were looking for food! I grabbed my camera case and held it in the water, as I was guessing I would have more of an advantage over them if I were in the water. They kept approaching closer. Efe finally got out of the water and started flashing the flashlight at them and yelling at them to go away. Most of the fled, except for one who was obviously the dominant male of the group. He didn't look amused and I was wondering if he was going to challenge Efe. But, as Efe kept yelling, he finally ran off. The baboons all ran off toward the resort.After they were gone, we saw a herd of wild boars go past us towards the resort. We realized later that they all go up to the resort to look for food in the early mornings before the tourists wake up. Walking back to our room, we saw one baboon steal a bucket from the back on someone's truck and run off with it. The man jumped out of the truck and chased him, but wasn't fast enough. Once the baboon realized there wasn't anything good inside, he dropped it.
Next, we went on a safari through the jungle. We saw several species of monkeys and some antelope. We were hoping to see elephants, as the park has the highest elephant population in West Africa, but all we saw were a ton of huge mounds of elephant poop.
We stopped during the safari to explore these caves in the middle of the jungle. They were built 8000 years ago, initially to live in. They were used again during the slave trade to hide the slave refugees.
After the safari, we made the drive back to Abuja to spend the night. On the way back, our car broke down when we hit a huge pothole. When we made it back to Abuja, we pretty much had dinner and went to bed. We had planned to drive to Benin City the following day, but we were tired of driving and decided to head to the airport and fly to Benin. I will continue with our trip to Benin later :)
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