Today we didn't have to be in the office until 9am, but that didn't make any difference to me. At 6am one of the kids woke me up familiar sound of "Alex, uncle, Alex". I promptly said "No, go" and tried to go back to sleep. I then woke up properly at around 8ish and had my morning bucket shower. Then got ready to leave. We went around to another host home, as we agreed we would walk to the office together now as we live close together. It also gave me the chance to see their kittens which I am hoping to buy from the family, one because I love cats and two because our host home had rats, I have woken up with rat poo on my mosquito net a few times now. Samariah wasn't ready to go when we arrived, which made us late. When we got to the office, we all had to pay a late fine of 50 naira. The money raised from late fines goes to the social events and activities. We had a few hours of lessons again today, bringing in the rule of only speaking if you have your hand up. As the Nigerian counterparts and some of the English chose to shout pretty much all the time in discussions. After this finished a few of us including our project manager, Hassan went to the tailor’s house to watch the Argentina/ Iceland game. This was a fun break as it's the first time I have watched TV since being here! And in a room with a fan! A massive luxury for me. Strait after this we all moved onto a Birthday party that was happening at one host homes. It was the party of two twin girls turning 17. They were both dressed up and looked amazing. Along with the rest of the guests. After an hour of watching the girls have money thrown at them while dancing we decided to leave, the parents gave us all an orange milk drink and some jollof rice as a departure gift which tasted amazing. On the way back to our house we walked past a football match, me and Cosmas decided to join in. After picking sides, we got stuck into the game. Not trying to brag but I scored, and for anyone that knows me I'm not that good at football, so it's possible they were being polite. But the main outcome was I was extremely sweaty. Playing football in the Nigerian heat is knackering. Once home I went through the usual routine of shower, and food and spoke to the dad who said we could watch the football with him. When the time came to watch the game, he was nowhere to be seen. So, we didn’t get to watch the game. As I and Cosmas were settling down for the night, we didn't realise what was to come. First, I saw lightning in the distance, however no rain. Then the winds picked up! And a sandstorm hit the area, stupidly I decided to stick my head out the window, wanting to watch the sandstorm, this resulted in getting a face full of sand. As I came back in it was clear Cosmas, and I were not the only ones taking refuge in our room. A bat had flown in and was resting in my mosquito net. Looking back, I’m happy to know that the net would keep me safe from rabies and malaria. However, not being accustomed to this scene I metaphorically shat myself! Cosmas was ready at hand with his flip-flop ready to kill it, but I told him not to kill it. The kids rushed into the room hearing the commotion! At seeing the bat and me quickly exiting the room half laughed and the rest went into action mode to catch the flying mammal, I was out the door at this point but could hear Cosmas shouting at them to catch the bat not kill it out of respect for my wishes. They caught it and took it outside to release. What we didn't know is this little creature might have known more than we did. Within 10 minutes of releasing the bat, a massive tropical storm hit the town! I have never seen it rain this hard and I'm from England where we are very familiar with rain. The room began to leak under the door, so we had to quickly move everything into the next room. I'm writing this from that room now listening to the rain pound our house. Hopefully, this will be the end of a crazy night. The video's below are from the birthday party. Enjoy.
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AuthorThis blog is written by one of the owners of the site; Alex Hood. Currently studying English Literature at Brighton University and was given the amazing opportunity to work with VSO in Nigeria for three months over the summer. Archives
August 2018
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