The 278th good thing about Lagos: market shopping in Abeokuta

Abeokuta is known for its indigo dye pits and fabric design.  We had a nice walk through the fabric market and fabric dying area.  Lots of fabric was laying on the ground or hung on lines in various stages of the dying process.  Tubs of indigo dye were all over the place and the draining furrows in the ground were stained blue. 

 I loved the painted illustration on this maternity home.

 The market area of town was busy on this holiday.  Of course, we couldn't get away without buying some fabric!

 I couldn't get to my camera fast enough to get a close up of the lady in this next picture, but she has quite a load of plastic ware on top of her head, plus a baby on her back.  I'm always amazed at what they can balance!

 On our drive out of town, we had to stop after we passed our church's building in Abeokuta.  We were kind of envious looking at this building that looked like an oasis in the bustling, ramshackle city.

 We wish our church building was like this one!

 On the drive home, I had to stop and buy another yam pounder.  One really isn't enough!

The 277th good thing about Lagos: Independence Day trip to Abeokuta - great day to climb Olumo Rock

It was the 51st anniversary of Nigerian independence on October 1st.  Because it fell on a Saturday, the following Monday was designated the vacation day. We were invited by friends to join them on a day trip to Abeokuta.  We had been there in the spring of 2009, but were happy to experience it again.  It's always great to get out of Lagos and see the countryside and something different.  And the nice thing about travelling on a holiday is that the traffic is very light.  When we got to Abeokuta, we took the scenic route around town.

We arrived early to Olumo Rock, which gave the city its name, which means "under the rock."  In the "early days" -- I think our guide said it was the 1700's, a group of Egba people came to escape the Dahomey invaders (that kingdom is mostly in what is now the Benin Republic).  They hid out under the rock for 3 years.  Now it is a genuine tourist site.

It has a grave, shrines,

 

and the remnants left from the years of use as a hideout.

I hope they were shorter back then, because it would be very difficult to spend 3 years hunched over like this!  Hopefully they were able to get out from under the rock frequently!

Our friend Norm is more nimble than the rest of us, and he took the ancient route to the top, which used ladders to get up this crevasse and then he scrambled up the rock. 

We took the stairs, but had the same great view at the top of the rock.

This is St. Peter's church, which they said was the first Christian church structure in Nigeria, dedicated
in 1844.  We were questioning this, as the Portuguese presence was much earlier in Nigeria and certainly they had some kind of churches.  But maybe it's the oldest Christian structure still existing.

We felt "on top of the world."

The 276th good thing about Lagos: Cultural Day at the American International School

I always enjoy getting over to the American International School on their cultural day.  Most of the students and teachers dress up in Nigerian clothes, there are activities and demonstrations teaching Nigerian culture, and they prepare Nigerian food for the students.  It's an exciting day for the students.

The school was decorated for the event.

 There were performers.

 You won't want to miss this riveting action video.  The shells are alive!

 

They are periwinkles -- they boil the shells and then the bright periwinkle colored animal that is living in the shells comes out, cooked and ready to eat.  I didn't taste it...

 There's always a lot of interesting food displays.

 And the best thing is the shopping -- they limit the prices so the students can get some good deals -- and the parents and other visitors enjoy the great prices too.  I always get baskets here, because there are such great deals.

 I haven't ever bought a palm leaf hat, but they are popular with the students.

The 275th good thing about Lagos: Giving laptops to Nigerian scholarship students!

At the end of September, the American Women's Club held the first event of the fall season, the Membership Tea.  The US Consul General's wife was so gracious to hostess the event at their residence, which has a beautiful back yard on the water.

 I had a display table telling new members about Community Services.  Scholarship students stayed by the Scholarship table to tell about the AWC program of offering scholarships to Nigerian students.

 There was food, informational speaking and greeting friends.

 My personal highlight was the gift of a laptop computer to each of our scholarship students.  We had a generous private donation that was designated for education, and the AWC board decided that this would be a good use of the money.  Our students were so excited to have their own laptop, which will help them so much in their studies.

I mentor two students, Samuel and Victoria.  They are wonderful people and good students and I was so happy that they were able to receive this gift!



The 274th good thing about Lagos: long summer breaks

I've been on a long blog-cation and I've been telling myself for a while that it's time to get back to posting, as the post backlog is growing.  I've been back into Lagos for just over a month now and have been keeping busy and having fun, and I'll get to posting about that soon.  But first, a summer review:  I'm really spoiled here, as because my husband is the one tied down to work, but I am free to take a longer break in the summer.  Brent made it to the States for a couple of weeks, but I took a full 3 months of life in the States.  It was great!  I got acquainted with Mason, my newest grandchild, who was born in May. He is a cutie with a great disposition, a wonderful smile and even a dimple!

 We went to Colorado for a reunion with my family.  Here the two newest grandchildren met for the first time.

And their older brothers and sisters, the cousins, had a fun time together. 

Brent really enjoyed being with his grandkids!

 Here's us with children and grandchildren

 And the big group -- my parents, their 5 children and most of their grandchildren.  We had a wonderful time together and we are all so grateful to my parents for making this happen every other summer.

 Then some of us were able to go directly to Utah for my niece's wedding.  Ally was a beautiful bride -- best wishes to Al and Jack for a joyful life together!  It was wonderful to be here for this special event.

 Of course, before and after these events, there was time in Houston -- for fun in the pool and park with grandkids who live nearby.  And always lots of jobs around the house to take care of.  And some not so fun stuff this summer -- my first ever ambulance ride after I tore my calf muscle on the tennis court, which injury triggered a case of shingles, and then yard work got me an exposure to poison oak.  I felt like I had aged 20 years with all these physical complaints.  But going home is still very worth it!

I extended my summer vacation a bit so I could take an end of summer trip to Boston to help our youngest son, Jordan, get settled into a new life.  He left his job in California, drove cross country and started law school at Harvard.  We're very excited for him and proud of him.

I made great use of Craig's List, which is great in Boston, especially at the end of August when so many students are at the end of their housing contract and there's a lot of furniture free for the taking.  While Jordan was involved in orientation, I went around collecting furniture.  I spent a total of $5 on their furniture for this room -- everything was free except for one table.  The bedroom furniture was only slightly more.  The leather chair and ottoman in the corner was like new -- it was the best find!

 And the extra bonus of going to Boston was spending time with our daughter, Lindsay, and her family.  Austin sharing his popsicle at our picnic and concert in the park.

 We visited a farm and the boys got into sorting the eggs in the chicken house.

Beautiful baby Natalie!

Summer was great!