Holiday, Paris and the Summary of 2012 Nationwide Strike

Happy New Year to you all! First of all I must warn you, this post will be heavy on pictures...very heavy on pictures. I usually never have time to blog during the breaks we have so the first post ends of being a bit much and to a certain degree, I don't look forward to just spewing tons of information so I beg your forgiveness if this bores you to tears.

Our little holiday started in dramatic fashion. No, not at the Lagos Airport (which was surprisingly easy to deal with this time both departing and arriving). In a previous post I mentioned that I would try to attend the NCAA Division II Football National Championship. Well, as soon as we got into town from the airport, I hopped into the shower, cleaned up and split by road (550+ miles) to Florence, Alabama. It was an awesome game between Pitt and Wayne State and the result was...well, I'll let the photo below do the talking.

#1 Pittstate Gorillas!

After the 7,000+ miles it took me to get there, a win made the trip worth it. No, a loss wouldn't have because in my opinion, when it comes to sports, there are no moral victories. I did get to finally storm the field like a college student and realized, man, I'm too old for this "stuff".

The Crew I hitched a ride with

The rest of the stay in the States was heavy on family (spiritual and natural) and light on everything else (well, excluding food). Did I just us a pun there i.e. heavy on food? Wow, it was unintended. Moving on...We were even privileged to enjoy a meal with Jonny, Kayla and their adopted son, Nigerian born Joseph who stayed with us while they fought for his adoption. It was great to see them again and doing well! Well, again, I'll let these few pictures do the rest of the talking.

H and D enjoying Aunty Amy and Uncle Ugo's gift to H

The gorgeous Adaora hanging with her favourite Uncle

Hanging out with Joseph at Jack Stack

Part of the Christmas gang waiting for the opening of the Christmas presents for the kids

Another Aunty Amy and Uncle Ugo special, this time for D

H enjoying his time with Bubble Mater

I don't mean to brag but I think our gifts to all the kids won best in show...well, except for maybe Anthony. He got movies and books which I guess was okay. But that's what he parents said we should get for him so I blame them :).

Sadly shortly after the New Year began, we said our teary goodbyes or "see-you-laters" and split town. To help ease the return back to our real life, we decided to swing by Paris on the way back. It was our Christmas gift to ourselves. Let me say that although I wasn't too crazy about going to Paris, the city managed to exceed every expectation I had for her. The sights were unbelievable and much cooler in real life. The people were much nicer than the stereotypes. And the city was so easy to navigate that less than 24 hours after we arrived, we were practically locals and got stopped numerous times for directions. We tried to go to every place we've seen in books, movies, other people's pictures. We got to go to the Eiffel Tower and it's summit which was great to be able to see the entire city! We went to the Louvre Museum which houses the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and a ton of other famous sculptures and art work. In spite of my whining, we went by the Paris version of the Statue of Liberty. We also visited the Arc de Triumph and Champ Elysses, one of the most famous shopping/fashion district in the world. Paris is really easy to navigate and if you've ever spent time in London, it's similar in the way the public transportation works except that it's in French. Enough said, pictures time.

Amy atop the Eiffel Tower

At the base of the Tower

Posing in front of the Arc de Triumph

The Notre Dame Cathedral

The Eiffel Tower at night

The most awesomest public restroom I've ever used!

Some Cupid Stature Sculpted by Michelangelo at Le Musse de Louvre 

Mona Lisa

A section of Paris as seen from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The Statuette of Liberty in the palm of my hands

I think this is how the idea of baseball came about

Massive crowd at the Metro during the close of business. It was a mess.

Arc de Triumph in the bright lights

So most of the pictures are out of order but you get the point. Paris is a fun, crazy, cool place to visit if you have a chance and it did help ease the break back to Lagos. Although shortly after we returned. We realize that we could have actually spent more time abroad. That's because we came back to a nationwide work stoppage organized by trade unions due to the removal of subsidy from petrol.

Now, I will stay away from all the politics of it because those are well covered in the news both locally and through foreign news outlets. I borrowed a few pictures for this one.

Protesters gathered en mass

The creativity of the public due to zero cars on the roads

Military used to clear the streets after the strikes were postponed

We are back to work now. The strike was called off after a deal between the Government and the Labor groups. Prices were reduced albeit to a level higher than the previous level. There are still some grumblings and disagreements but it does seem like life in Lagos is getting back to normal. Well, that's all for now. For those of you wondering, we didn't feel threatened at any point because we spent most of the time indoors. Thanks for your prayers and support. I will do my best now to give you regular updates on life here.

Pitt Stop! And Florence, AL for the Weekend?

Harmattan season is upon us and for those (most of you) who don't know what that is, just click on the link for more details. But basically, it marks the dry season which occurs between November and March. One of the trademarks is that its winds come from the Sahara desert and brings with it lots and I mean lots of dust. In the mornings, it looks just like fog but it is not. If you don't wash your car daily, it would look like you haven't washed it in days. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration but not far from reality. In the mid mornings, you can stare directly as the sun because there is a haze (dust) that makes it possible without hurting your eyes. 

The Sun behind the dust

A bit of haze overlooking the Loading Gantry

So I guess instead of a white Christmas, we get a dusty one. Speaking of Christmas, the countdown to departure continues and I am doing just about anything I can to prevent Amy from crashing her head into the ceiling in excitement and I am running out of options. I’ve tried bribing her, shame, bets…I just can’t seem to calm her down. But who can blame her really. The only thing I am not looking forward to is sub zero temperatures but I am good with just about anything else. All in all, I am ready for a Pitt Stop. 

While I’m on the topic of Pittsburg, I would like to give a big shout out to the Pittstate Gorillas, my alma mater! Our Football team is heading to Florence, Al for the DII National Championship coronation game. Unfortunately I missed all season in person although I caught a bunch of the highlights and watched them absolutely shred Northwest in the Quarter Finals! I had hopes for them after the first game of the season but Natl. Championship game? Consider me pleasantly surprised. It now leaves me in a bit of a conundrum. Do I make the trip to Florence? Or do I watch it on TV? I am yet to decide but it’s right now 50-50 and if any of the Chip Travis tailgate crew is planning a trip, I need informed ASAP. 

With that, I will leave you with a few pictures from my weekend...

Heading home for the weekend via my preferred route

Lagos (Nasty) Lagoon

Crashed a birthday party for a Lebanese guy

Many International Guests

Several roasted pigs. I missed out because I had to run...

Update! Looks like I have successfully made tentative plans to get to Alabama for the Game! I am excited about it and obviously being able to have a break with all my peeps in the 'burg!

Learning through Coaching

I don't think too much about being a dad someday. I don't think too much about it because I have never thought I'd make much of a good one plus the fact that I am unmarried makes the concept so foreign. I think about parenthood as a way that God shows you all your flaws in one instance but yet at the same time he shows you all the grace he has towards you...that is of course, if you serve him.

I have spent the last 7 weeks helping coach a group of 15 6th graders...well, 14 6th graders, and a 4th grader. I accepted Joey's job offer as an assistant coach because I wanted to show up the other teams with my knowledge of football. Problem is that no one told me that to be able to coach 6th grade football, I would have to attempt to understand 6th graders. No one told me that to understand them, I would have to put aside my own selfishness and sense of self worth. Well, we have played five and won a total of zero.

Now we did have a tie and last week, the team we played billed as the best needed a safety to win. On that play, we played with one less player than they did. Okay...that's getting me away from the point I am trying to make which is, we haven't won a game yet as the season winds down, I realize just how much I have learned from trying to teach. So what have I learned.

1. To be a parent, coach, friend, leader...half the battle is showing up...over and over again regardless of the results. They know you care when you are there.

2. 6th graders have the attention span of well...6th graders and it's about 6 minutes long so be straight to be point and quick about it.

3. 6th graders care just as much as I do about winning but they move on from losses a lot quicker.

4. You can go a longer way with an encouraging word than you can with a critical one. "You are playing hard but I need more out of you" sounds better than, "why did you miss that blocking assignment"

5. Coaching to their strengths is beyond just a talent issue; sometimes, it's more of a mental issue.

6. 6th graders can also be on emotional roller-coasters and it is okay.

7. Most times kids act up just for attention but sometimes that's why they try hard too.

8. Kids want you to be interested in other parts of their lives...yes, the one that you don't care about.

9. This generation of kids will be the smartest of all generations to date but if you don't do them right, they will turn out to be the laziest. They need mentors and fathers like never before.

10. Perhaps most importantly, I learned that there are much better fathers out there...Bob Romine has a way with them like you won't believe. Basically, you are never alone as a parent unless you want to be.

11. I also learned that I have a lot to learn...yeah, that's shocking, right?

At the beginning, I thought to myself that this isn't something I'd ever want to do again but I think I want to do it again next year. It's a sacrifice of time and energy but it's rewarding for the kids who have turned into my teachers.