So many places I go, I am welcomed. As I have walked down the streets in Kenya, Egypt, and Israel people say hello & ask where I am from. When I tell them I am American they normally stop and say a very strong “welcome.” When I walked across the border from Israel to Egypt in Taba the guard at the gate stopped me and verified I was American, even though he had my passport in his hand and told me that I was so welcome in his country and that he was extremely happy that I, as an American was coming into Egypt. When I got on the plane in Cairo to head to Nigeria a guy stopped me and asked where I was going. When I said, well this plane is going to Lagos & I am on it, so I am heading that way. A bunch of guys on the plane turned and gave me a big welcome and said that Nigeria welcomes me! It is so nice to be welcomed places!
It does not necessarily mean they will not still try to rip me off, but it is comforting to know I am at least welcome in their country. So many try to help me along my way and are great when I need directions or help with information. Some will tell me they do not necessarily like the US foreign policy, but they love Americans. It has been so interesting to me, I expected to have more hostility. I have even asked people who they prefer, Australians or Americans, and more times than not they prefer the Americans. This has been so unexpected. I expected the opposite. I find it nice to know that in Africa and the Middle East Americans are still welcome.
I am in Lagos, Nigeria now and have been throughly enjoying myself. I love Nigeria. I love the people here, I love the culture here, I love the atmosphere here, I just love this place. So many bad things are said about this place, but they portray a picture that is not reality here. Don't get me wrong, bad things do happen here, I have not seen any of it, but I have heard some stories. The thing is though that bad things happen across the world. The general person I meet here greets me warmly and wants to make sure I am safe, taken care of and am enjoying myself. ]
On Friday my friend Lola & I traveled through Lagos and went to the Nigerian museum, the beach and a few shops. We traveled by local transport and had a number of adventures along the way. We traveled on motorbikes, vans full of people that act as buses, taxis, by foot, and little vehicles that are similar to motorbikes but hold 3-4 people. Lagos traffic is the worse I have ever seen and drivers go all over the place. While coming home, what should have took us an hour or so took 4.5 hours. The motorbikes wind in and around the traffic, not bothering if it means heading into head on traffic. The roads are sometimes crazy dirt roads that most places would consider 4 wheel drive only, other times they are paved roads that are ok, but the most common paved road has huge potholes that could sallow your car. On our day trip, I loved the thrill of riding the motorbikes through town. At one point we were squeezing between a couple vans as normal, but this time my legs were brushing up against both of the vans. While we were literally squeezed between I thought I might get squashed between the cars! At another point the motorbike driver swerved out from behind a car into the on-coming traffic. I was used to this bit, but this time we were going across a bridge with concrete barriers on each side and there were too many cars, so I could not see how we would get out of the way and the cars were not slowing down. At the last minute, I am not sure how, but the driver found a way to avoid the on coming traffic & we continued on the way.
Today was beach day with a bunch of my friends here. There were about 16 of us that traveled to a lagoon where we loaded two boats which took us through the lagoon and high thick brush to a peninsula where we were able to cross over to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean. We spent the day playing in the water, eating lunch, playing games and just enjoying each others company. I am now a little burnt, but such a great day!!
While here I am staying at my friends house. There are seven people that live here including three super cute kids. It has been nice to be with a family again. I have been enjoying helping out with cooking and just around the house. With this they have been so good at teaching me different ways they prepare and do things here.
There is so much more I feel like I can tell you about Nigeria even though I have only been here a couple of days. I will stop here though so this does not get too long and will tell you more about it in my next blog post. I really do love it here and want to come back and see more of West Africa after I leave. I am even looking into getting some contacts to even work or move to Ghana sometime in the future.
~Laugh & Love Life~
