Brazilian show at the Consulate

We went to a Brazilian Show where we got to experience seeing the different dances or "Sambas" from Brazil which was put on by the Brazilian consulate at the Muson. We got to see the professional dancers that performed to the Brazilian music. The dancing got a little racy but it was entertaining. There was great food and drinks, the stage was beautiful with so many decorations. We all really enjoyed it.

Okadas

The mopeds are taxis called "okadas". The name comes from the Japanese distributor that first brought them to Lagos. People jump on them to avoid traffic jams and to carry things home from the store. They swerve through traffic and get hit by cars constantly. They are very good transportation if you are trying to skip traffic and go somewhere really fast. We saw one get hit today! All of the other okada drivers stop to argue with the car driver even though the okada was wrong.

Everything you can imagine is sold in the traffic: mops, books, waste baskets, toilet seat covers...

The waterway in the pics is the Lagos Lagoon flowing under the bridge that connects Victoria Island (where Consulate is) and Ikoyi Island (where we live). It's filthy: cans, garbage, human waste, you name it. Victor takes a ferry to work and everyone keeps their mouth closed so none of the water gets in by mistake. LOL

Amazing Colors

This is Jared, Adrienne and Maya at an Art exhibit where we learned hoe to tie dye

shirts and handkerchiefs. This also took place on Jared's birthday.

The workshop was held at the Nike Art Gallery. Nike is Nigeria's most famous artist and specializes in dyeing silk with indigo made in her village. We met her and she knows (and admires) Senator Bert Bryant!

Her website: http://www.nikeart.com/

The co-presenter is Betti-O, a Scott married to a Nigerian that also works with dye. She's in the picture above, with white hair. Her designs eventually became a successful store chain called "Ruff and Tumble", which is owned and operated by her daughter. The business story has been featured on YouTube:

Night Out Celebrating Jared's Bday

Movie Night and Cake at Emily's House. (Friend)

We went ot the Silverbird to see Eclipse and play games and then went to Dr. Jan's house. She's the Embassy doctor and her daughter is our friend Emily. We call her Lilo because she looks like the character from "Lilo and Stitch". We made the cake ourselves. Jared and Emily made the icing.

Silverbird is a shopping mall and theater. Their website: http://www.silverbirdcinemas.com

4th of July at Consulate General's House

We celebrated the 4th of July at the Consulate General's house. All of us were there and it was so much fun. It had great food and music and we volunteered doing different things. Jared helped with the games and Maya and Adrienne helped with the face painting.

The American Club on Saturday, July 3rd

This is Jared, Maya, Joshua and I having fun in the pool in the back yard of the house taking random pictures of us jumping in the air playing football. Then, there are the pictures at the GQ(American club) where we all went with Victor to play basketball, go in the pool and play tennis. We all enjoyed it, it had us completely tired after.

The drink is "The Chapman". It's delicious and tastes like iced tea + punch + Sprite.

Movie Night 7/2/10

From top: Niko, Idris, Jared, Victor, Maya, Emily, Adrienne and Samantha

Last Friday a couple kids came over to watch the movie The Wolf Man, and Shutter Island and eat pizza. Everybody was so confused on Shutter Island that we changed the movie to The Wolf Man. Everybody loved that movie. Our favorite part was when some guy was blowing a whistle then he gets tackled by the Wolf Man. Everybody was cracking up. But later on during on the movie people were hiding under the pillows *hint hint* Niko- the guy with the pillow in his hand. Ha ha

From Maya

Adrienne and Jared Volunteer

Pics of the school yard

Jared and Adrienne volunteered for four hours at St. George's Primary Boy's School which is the public elementary school on Ikoyi Island. There were 22 nursery school boys and one teacher with a long stick. When they got home I asked how it went and Jared said "It was okay. We got a snack" Auntie said that they are both very nice and she doesn't understand why I am making them work on their vacation. ~Nikki

Random pictures

Joshua & Francine

This is Joshua and Francine. She came over to visit her brother and we had a great time. She is a beautiful little girl and we all love her. She was talking to us in her native language and sometimes we had to ask her brother, Joshua to translate what he could. She is a very sweet little girl. We enjoyed her visit.

Nigeria National Museum

We went to the National Museum on Monday. It was very educational and the artifacts were interesting. It was about the culture of the three main tribes in Nigeria: Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. The guide was funny and really informative. We stopped at every display.

According to one internet site:

"The National Museum Lagos is now over fifty years old, having been established just before Nigeria achieved full independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. It has one of the most significant collections of West African antiquities in the world. Lord Cultural Resources was asked by the Ford Foundation to facilitate a retreat for the National Museum to identify the vision for a revitalized museum in terms of its role and impact in Nigeria, West Africa and the world at large. The visioning retreat resulted in a number of immediate changes to the programming of the Museum well received by visitors and a renewed sense of purpose among staff."

More information can be found here: http://www.e-nigeria.net/museum.html