Africa

As soon as my head hit the Emirates pillow flying from Bangkok to Dubai, I was asleep. It was 2:20am. I took 2 mersyndol, threw on my eye mask, the complimentary blanket and put my music on shuffle at a mild volume and was dead to the world before takeoff. I missed all meals (why does anyone need a hot meal at that time of the morning anyway?), missed the great selection of movies and missed landing in Dubai, which I hear is amazing. 

After all the hype, Dubai airport was a bit of a let down. There really wasn't anything special about it apart from the kids area. I took a nap sitting up on a bench for a couple of hours and thought I would cash in my free meal voucher from Emirates. 

It was still very early, around 7/8am local time. I looked around and decided on Cosi. I perused the menu  and decided on a gigantic looking banana muffin and apple juice. When I produced my meal voucher, they told me I could only order something from a special menu- the most lux of the items was a plain croissant, which turned out to be a croissant-shaped bread roll. It was a bit dry going down. 

I went to my gate (once it finally came up on the departures screen) and boy- did I feel WHITE and severely underdressed. 

Everyone was presented so well. I was in a sea of braided hair and brightly coloured and patterned suits and dresses. 

Once on the plane, I was asked if I could trade seats with a woman so she could sit with her little boy. No worries. I went from an aisle seat on one side of the plane to a window seat on the other. 

I slept for maybe an hour while taking off, then watched a movie (Spy- it was flipping hilarious!) and the flight map showed that we had barely begun our journey. Ugh, so disheartening. Anyway, I watched another movie (Tomorrowland- don't even bother) and did some crossword puzzles. Soon enough, we started to descend. I had my music on shuffle again and it gave me the best selection of songs to hype me up for landing, in particular, Hafsol by Sigur Ros. Get onto that song- it is perfect for getting you excited for something. 

I made friends with a Nigerian Londoner while we were waiting for her bags. In the airport, I have NEVER been so sweaty in all my life. I felt drops of water running down my leg under my lightweight trackpants and my back was sopping wet under my backpack. By the time I got out of the line of people to check me and my bags, I saw Lollie and Waz waiting for me and I ran into her squeeze with sweat and tears mixed together. The angel standing before me gave me a bottle of water and I teared up again. So tired and wet, we made our way to the car. The three of us got lost driving to a ministry centre to stay the night, which turned out to be the wrong one, after we lugged all bags and an esky up several flights of stairs. Down we go again, back in the car and the right place, thankfully, was not too far away. My bladder was feeling a little full, due to not wanting to step over two people on the plane to get to the toilet. I had a shower and got changed immediately before we left to go for dinner at Johnny Rockets, an American style 50s diner. IT. WAS. SO. COOL. Jukebox in the corner, waiters and waitresses in the cute little hats and when Warwick mentioned it was Lollie's birthday, the whole staff put on a routine for us! It was amazing! We filled up on burgers that looked exactly like the pictures in the menu and a celebratory sundae for Lollie, complete with South-American-style birthday candle blowing fire.

I slept so well. The next day we needed to go shopping in Abuja to pick up a few things we can't get in Jos. I started feeling really unwell and ended up having to lie down in the car with the air con blasting while Lollie finished the shopping. Apparently you're supposed to take malaria tablets with a big meal. I did not. 

The drive to Jos was absolutely beautiful. Everything is so green and lush from the rain. The trees are so great, mum! Palm trees, flame trees, cacti acting as a natural fence around properties. Men and women carry the heaviest loads on their heads on the side of the road, as if it bears no weight at all. People are littering the roads with things to sell, be it gadgets, handbags, fruits hanging from their arms and approaching the car, or set up stalls on the road side, with piles of fresh produce and the darkest honey known to man. 

There were lots of military men in uniform and armed with big guns. On our route, we had to stop at several military check points, weaving through the makeshift shickanes made of anything from tree branches, car tyres, rocks, nails in wood or old cars (basically whatever they can get their hands on), where we greet the man of authority and ask them, "How is work?", he would ask us about our journey and then we keep on going. It's hard to be scared of the military men when they are so smiley and friendly, even though the gun in their hand suggests otherwise. Warwick reckons they have seen this type of things in movies so they are copying that image to appear more powerful. 

We saw Nigerian men repairing the road along the way and we would throw money out the window at them, as they do not get paid for their labour. There were disabled men who were unable to work on the side of the road in town, so we would hand out small food bags to.

Nigerian tuk tuks (kay kays) were scattered all over the roads, among other funny sights, like a car being towed with a thick piece of fabric. 

Once in Jos, we picked up Scarlett from her sleepover and I was bombarded with thousands of gifts (miscellaneous pieces of drawn-on paper folded up and tied with curling ribbon) and cuddles. 

Lilly and Arin were waiting at the gate of the compound in the rain waiting for us to come home. Cuddles and exchanging of last year's Christmas presents and an accumulation of supplies and gifts were exchanged and loved. 

I cannot stop hugging my (not so) little girls- including my (little) sister ;). 

Feels like home. 

(Note: I'm having issues with uploading photos at the moment. Keep your eyes peeled.)