Sunday 23rd May 2010

My first night sleep wasn’t too bad, disturbed only by the unfamiliar noise of the air con and the fact that the same two text messages came through about five times each. Angela and the children were up early to be at church for around seven. I was going to go to the second service and Angela would come back around ten to take me (the thought of rising at six for church was a little daunting).

As I laid on my bed thinking about getting up and ironing my clothes, NEPA (Nigeria’s electrical network) went down, so no electricity, no lights, no fans, no air con, no iron! I was able to have a warm shower although the power was low, but in the humid heat drying wasn’t a simple task, even my fine hair remained damp. Just about ten o’clock and NEPA was up, I turned on a fan (good job the house was empty as I danced in front of it drying my hair).

Angela came back to pick me up and we drove the 15 minutes to her church The Redeemed Christian Church of God, The Life Spring. In comparison with other churches I have been to in Nigeria this was quiet small, but very friendly and I enjoyed the service. The theme was on having to give some things up so God can give us even more, like Noah, Abraham & Hannah. It also reminded me that Angela was giving up a lot to take me a stranger into her house and blessing me, so I in turn can bless others here in Lagos.

Whenever I have been to a church here, they always ask who has come for the first time, being that I have been to a different church every Sunday I always have to say yes (there is no way of hiding this fact as I’m the only white woman there). I then go off to a side room and get fed, this time a hot dog and fruit juice and also generous gifts, a mug, pen and a book. All we give at home is a cup of tea :-)

Returning home the children (Bola, Sola, Nimi) one by one join me in my room and ‘we’ do homework (they did it all by themselves really if Angela is reading this), it’s like being at home with Beth, trying to get them to concentrate on what they are doing. Children wherever they are, wherever they are from can be so similar in so many ways.

Femi came over in the afternoon and took me to see a friend, Gloria (Angela’s sister that showed me around on my previous visit). We drove to Festac, where I last went for Angela’s wedding. The okadas, taxis, buses, cars, people all jostling for spaces on the roads, I had to get back into non panic Nigerian mode. We stopped to buy fruit from the market - there were yams, carrots, tomatoes, pineapple, bananas, melons, mangos and some things I have never seen before. I just love the hustle and bustle that surrounds these places. The discarded fruit and rubbish was all in the open gutters and rotting, not the most pleasant of smells.

After our visit we headed back stopping to pick up some roasted corn by the road side, I also tried a fruit that I did not recognise, Femi also didn’t know it. It was mauve/ black and tasted like nothing I have had before, quite tart in taste but green like avocado in texture. We headed home past Oshodi and Mafoluku, can’t wait to get back there tomorrow.

When I got back Damola had returned home, Angela cooked dinner it was delicious. I asked what it was and she informed me it was egg and corned beef... well anyone that knows me knows I wouldn’t go near corned beef with a barge pole, I hate it! It was a good job I tasted how nice it was before being told. I will take the recipe home for Tony who is a fan! I was joined for dinner with a family of cockroaches in my bathroom, six in varying sizes and states of coma, Angela promptly sprayed them and swept them up, even though she was more bothered by them than me!