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| Something like this. |
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| They don't want you to get a summer body. |
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| Yesterday's summary |
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| Today's summary. Yay! I burned an extra calorie in less steps. |
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| Thanks Google Images |
I read this Bible verse for the first time today and it really spoke to me. So, I decided to blog about it. Plus I'm trying to procrastinate. It made me think about how we love to talk about our goals and sort of fantasize all while taking little or no action towards the said goals. We talk about getting that new job or even traveling the world but are you actually working towards it?
For example, I'm in drug school, innit? After I graduate, I want work somewhere in my field where the majority of people don't. And I talk about quite often and think about it a LOT but my plans for after graduation aren't even solid yet. I realize I need to make sure I'm adequately prepared to execute my plans after graduation. I don't want to be the student that manages to graduate and does just that or the one that ends up settling for something they don't even want to do.
So don't just talk about it, do something about it, ask a mentor about it or do some research about it. Work hard on it and see what happens.
Okay, my pep talk is over now. I truly missed this blog.
This is a multiple part series of my trip to Nigeria this summer. It's going to be a recount of my experiences as well as mini-reviews. I stayed in Ibadan and Lagos throughout my trip.I thank God for journey mercies I'm also grateful for the time I got to spend with friends and family. To see all the posts, click here.
I grew up in Ibadan before "porting out". So, I headed straight to my father's house after leaving the airport. Waking up in Ibadan wasn't quiet like I expected. I guess I remembered wrong. If dogs weren't barking, somebody's generator was on or construction was going on somewhere nearby. In this post, I will highlight the places I visited in Ibadan in chronological order. If you plan on visiting Ibadan soon, I hope this helps.
Heritage Mall, Dugbe
I went here to do some grocery shopping at the Shoprite there. It was a typical grocery store except for the sales people in your face trying to convince you to buy their brand. The annoying thing was that they were dressed just like the store employees so there was no way to avoid them.
The mall itself had a couple of stores but I didn't explore at all. The restroom here, however, charged ₦20* and there was a uniformed attendant there (with an office between the restrooms). Serious Business. My bladder decided to betray me here and I unfortunately didn't have any change on me, only big bills. The attendant didn't have enough change either so he let me use the restroom for free after much hassle.
Domino's Pizza, Bodija.
I went here with my good friend and it was totally unplanned. I had asked him to come pick me up to run some errands and on the way back he suggested that we go here. I had their pepperoni pizza because it was the only familiar thing on the menu and it was pretty good. Their "MEATZZA" also looked good and was similar Meatlovers pizza here. I think the medium box cost like a little over ₦2000*. We had the option of eating downstairs, upstairs or on the patio overlooking Bodija. We ate upstairs because it was more private.
Ventura Mall, Samonda (Very Close to U.I,)
I went to the movies twice here to see San Andreas and Pitch Perfect 2 with friends. I also went to the game room (yes I'm a big kid) to play Dance Dance Revolution and ya girl won both games! This mall is very nice in terms of aesthetics. There's an upscale restaurant, a bar, and the mall entrance on the first floor. On the second floor, there's the game room and stores and then there is a movie theater on the third floor. I really liked this mall. it was very clean. The bathrooms especially (I saw some HORRIBLE restrooms in Nigeria. If you will be visiting,make sure you have tissue paper/wipes on hand, just drink enough to stay hydrated and please pray your bladder will not betray you). The movie tickets were ₦1000* each and ₦1000* got us 7 tokens at the game place (1 token per person per game). I don't know why but I didn't take pictures except this beautiful fountain outside the mall.
Agodi Gardens
There's been a lot of buzz about Agodi since it was recently renovated. I was supposed to go here with a friend and his buddies but they changed the date which didn't work for me. Since I was determined to go since I saw it on Berry's blog, I went with my sisters. The gate fee was ₦500 (I think ₦1500 if you wanted to swim at the pool). Since we had no plans to swim, we opted for the basic ticket. There was a forest walkway sparsely lined with plants and trees which honestly didn't meet my expectations.
Next, we headed to the zoo. We were very skeptical going here because the walkway ended abruptly in front of a puddle just before the zoo area. As we got closer, we saw a bridge strewn with trash that we had to cross over and we were scared to go on as the zoo area looked deserted. We saw somebody walking by the animals so we assumed it was the zookeeper. When we got near the zoo though, the guy suddenly disappeared. Is this how horror movies start or nah? Then, we started yelling "Hello", "Excuse me" and nobody came out. As we headed back to leave, we ran into one of their nice employees who offered to show us the zoo even though he didn't work at the zoo. (We ended up making friends with him because we ran into him somewhere else in Ibadan. He's an engineer that designed their water slides.) The zoo didn't have a lot of animals in my opinion. They only had 2 lions, a couple of monkeys, an alligator and ducks. Our friend was telling us that they plan to bring in new animals as part of the renovation process.
Lastly, we went on the raft to explore the lake. We turned around right before the lake turned into a waterfall. It was ₦1000 for four of us. Our friend later told us it was supposed to be #400 (#100 each), so we got overcharged. Oh well.
Next Up is my Weekend in Lagos a.k.a. Lasgiidi a.k.a. Gidi a.k.a. Eko
* $1 = ₦215 (as at the time of my trip)
I grew up in Ibadan before "porting out". So, I headed straight to my father's house after leaving the airport. Waking up in Ibadan wasn't quiet like I expected. I guess I remembered wrong. If dogs weren't barking, somebody's generator was on or construction was going on somewhere nearby. In this post, I will highlight the places I visited in Ibadan in chronological order. If you plan on visiting Ibadan soon, I hope this helps.
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| Beautiful painting on a wall in Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan. |
I went here to do some grocery shopping at the Shoprite there. It was a typical grocery store except for the sales people in your face trying to convince you to buy their brand. The annoying thing was that they were dressed just like the store employees so there was no way to avoid them.
The mall itself had a couple of stores but I didn't explore at all. The restroom here, however, charged ₦20* and there was a uniformed attendant there (with an office between the restrooms). Serious Business. My bladder decided to betray me here and I unfortunately didn't have any change on me, only big bills. The attendant didn't have enough change either so he let me use the restroom for free after much hassle.
Domino's Pizza, Bodija.
I went here with my good friend and it was totally unplanned. I had asked him to come pick me up to run some errands and on the way back he suggested that we go here. I had their pepperoni pizza because it was the only familiar thing on the menu and it was pretty good. Their "MEATZZA" also looked good and was similar Meatlovers pizza here. I think the medium box cost like a little over ₦2000*. We had the option of eating downstairs, upstairs or on the patio overlooking Bodija. We ate upstairs because it was more private.
Ventura Mall, Samonda (Very Close to U.I,)
I went to the movies twice here to see San Andreas and Pitch Perfect 2 with friends. I also went to the game room (yes I'm a big kid) to play Dance Dance Revolution and ya girl won both games! This mall is very nice in terms of aesthetics. There's an upscale restaurant, a bar, and the mall entrance on the first floor. On the second floor, there's the game room and stores and then there is a movie theater on the third floor. I really liked this mall. it was very clean. The bathrooms especially (I saw some HORRIBLE restrooms in Nigeria. If you will be visiting,make sure you have tissue paper/wipes on hand, just drink enough to stay hydrated and please pray your bladder will not betray you). The movie tickets were ₦1000* each and ₦1000* got us 7 tokens at the game place (1 token per person per game). I don't know why but I didn't take pictures except this beautiful fountain outside the mall.
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| I love fountains. |
There's been a lot of buzz about Agodi since it was recently renovated. I was supposed to go here with a friend and his buddies but they changed the date which didn't work for me. Since I was determined to go since I saw it on Berry's blog, I went with my sisters. The gate fee was ₦500 (I think ₦1500 if you wanted to swim at the pool). Since we had no plans to swim, we opted for the basic ticket. There was a forest walkway sparsely lined with plants and trees which honestly didn't meet my expectations.
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Next, we headed to the zoo. We were very skeptical going here because the walkway ended abruptly in front of a puddle just before the zoo area. As we got closer, we saw a bridge strewn with trash that we had to cross over and we were scared to go on as the zoo area looked deserted. We saw somebody walking by the animals so we assumed it was the zookeeper. When we got near the zoo though, the guy suddenly disappeared. Is this how horror movies start or nah? Then, we started yelling "Hello", "Excuse me" and nobody came out. As we headed back to leave, we ran into one of their nice employees who offered to show us the zoo even though he didn't work at the zoo. (We ended up making friends with him because we ran into him somewhere else in Ibadan. He's an engineer that designed their water slides.) The zoo didn't have a lot of animals in my opinion. They only had 2 lions, a couple of monkeys, an alligator and ducks. Our friend was telling us that they plan to bring in new animals as part of the renovation process.
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Lastly, we went on the raft to explore the lake. We turned around right before the lake turned into a waterfall. It was ₦1000 for four of us. Our friend later told us it was supposed to be #400 (#100 each), so we got overcharged. Oh well.
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| Another fountain on the lake. Love them! |
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Next Up is my Weekend in Lagos a.k.a. Lasgiidi a.k.a. Gidi a.k.a. Eko
* $1 = ₦215 (as at the time of my trip)
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| If only my hair would do this. |
Sometime this week at work, a co-worker approached me to make small talk and she proceeded to converse about my hair. (I got Senegalese twists done on my trip to Nigeria.) She started with "Your hair!!" and asked me who braided it. I looked up at her, a bit skeptical about where the conversation was going. Then she continued, "How you wash it?" I went ahead to tell her that I don't usually wash my twists and her face gradually started to look mortified. So, I then went on to explain that if I were to wash my twists, I would only wash the scalp so the twists wouldn't unravel. She ended up looking even more confused and left with an "Oh..." I understand where she's coming from. Being Asian, she's probably washed her hair everyday of her life and cannot even fathom anything else. In that moment, I wished I was on of those "hair-conscious" people who could give her a whole lecture about black hair.
In other news, Happy Independence Day USA!
This is a multiple part series of my trip to Nigeria this summer. It's going to be a recount of my experiences as well as mini-reviews. I stayed in Ibadan and Lagos throughout my trip.I thank God for journey mercies I'm also grateful for the time I got to spend with friends and family. To see all the posts, click here.
On the plane, I was reminded of how uncomfortable airplane seats are and how nasty and uncomfortably small those bathrooms are. I wondered how bigger people manage to fit in those bathrooms. Must be a pain. A big step-up from last time I flew was that they had Psquare on the music playlist of the plane's entertainment center. They had no gospel though. A lot of people got drunk on the airplane liquor though including the guys behind me and had a loud conversation in Russian or Dutch the whole flight.
I have to say Nigerians are truly impatient by nature and I'll talk more about this in the rest of this series. Almost everyone on the plane got up as soon as the plane landed and were ready to be on their way off the plane. The pilot informed us that the gate wasn't working so our plane had to be towed to the terminal. While being towed, a discussion broke out on the situation of Nigeria and how President Buhari was the change Nigeria needs (this was a day before his swearing in). I couldn't help noticing the Caucasian expatriate beside me just shaking his head like he's heard this too many times.
We finally got off on the tarmac and had to take a flight of stairs up into the airport. Of course, the heat was like no other both outdoors and indoors even though multiple AC units were on. I was just glad to be home.
Getting to Naija
Going home, I was excited and dreading my long flight. I had a 7 hour stopover and I was traveling ALONE. Since I was alone though, I passed time by people-watching. I immediately recognized my Naija people and trust me, we were REPRESENTING!!!. I saw people looking like they shopped right of a catalog with Brazilian hair on fleek. Different designers logos were flying in my face. And of course most people had on obviously brand new things. I wonder how things like these contribute to the notion that "living outside Nigeria = automatically being made"
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| Airport Food is definitely betterthan the food on the airplane.This croissant was delish! |
We finally got off on the tarmac and had to take a flight of stairs up into the airport. Of course, the heat was like no other both outdoors and indoors even though multiple AC units were on. I was just glad to be home.
To be continued...
Happy Easter!! Halleluyah, Jesus is risen. And yes, I know I'm LATE but you will sha forgive me. This post was supposed to be up by Easter Sunday but school life got in the way. I hope everyone's Easter went well. For everyone that got a break, I'm so jealous.
My goal with deleting social media was to "guard my heart", spend more time reading the bible and just being in God's presence. I'll be honest and say I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked. Also, my Bible plan was on the book of Chronicles during lent which has a LOT of genealogy so it took a lot of time to get through. Overall, I'm glad I challenged myself and stuck to it and I ask for grace in the future to actually make the best use of the period of lent.
What did you give up for lent?
P.S. Follow my blog with Bloglovin muchos gracias
WHAT I DID
In preparation for Easter this year, I decided to participate in giving up something for lent. I am no catholic but I did spend my most formative years in a catholic primary/elementary school. So I decided to give up social media. Meaning no Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest for forty days!HOW I DID IT
I deleted the social media apps off my phone. I didn't have to block them on my computer because I rarely use it for social networking. I definitely got tempted though cause people decided to tag me, message me, like my pictures (I dropped one ghen-ghen picture on Facebook right before lent) and re-pin my pins. I only know they did because I got e-mail notifications. Also, I met this guy, we'll call him Kwame (hopefully I can do a post on him later). The day I met him, I searched up his Facebook profile (you guys do it too) but his profile was one of those you have to be logged in to view. So of course, I logged into my sister's Facebook and checked him out. Lastly, over spring break I went on my sister's account cause I was bored but she quickly told me to get off. Apart from those slip-ups, I did pretty good with staying off MY social media accounts.
AFTER LENT
What did you give up for lent?
P.S. Follow my blog with Bloglovin muchos gracias
C'est Fini!
Hey Guise!!!
So I just wrapped up my spring break. And no, I wasn't partying somewhere in the sun. I went home to EAT and SLEEP. I'm in school for something health related so I'm always studying and rarely sleeping. And of course, I'd missed my naija food. Man must chop na. Apart from stuffing my face and snoozing, I half-read A Different Sun by Elaine Neil Orr.
I found this book by searching the word 'Nigeria' in my public library's catalog. Yes, I said it. The book is set in the 1800s and is about an American missionary that ends up in the Yoruba part of Nigeria. I was interested in reading about Nigeria from a non-Nigerian's perspective* and I definitely thought the book was set in contemporary times when I picked it up. I usually enjoy those more. It was a good book but wasn't totally captivating. I plan on finishing it sometime in the future though.
Also, over the break, I was jejeli shopping for chicken gizzard in Walmart with my sister. She said she was looking for foil containers and we somehow ended up on the toothpick aisle. Then, I looked up for a moment and guess who I saw. I saw Foxy P a.k.a. Philo of Tout Kitchen and African Comedians. (If you don't know him or any of the touts, please check them out. They are hilarious!)
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| Me et The Fox Himself. Excuse my outfit, it was just a Walmart run. |
*I later found out that the author was born and raised in Nigeria so she's technically not "non-Nigerian."
