This Thanksgiving, we did things a little differently. We passed on the traditional turkey dinner and headed up to Minna in Niger state with 12 other friends. Minna is about 3 hours northwest of Abuja and worth the drive.
We stayed in the ex-military ruler's, Abdulsalami Al-haji Abubakar, villa. The villa sits up on a hill, overlooking the vast African landscape. It was a such a peaceful, quiet place...much different from the life of Abuja.
The villa was equipped with a huge kitchen (by Nigerian and American standards), swimming pool, a tennis court, pool and snooker tables, foosball, five suites, and a small mosque (just in case you need it). The boys also rented three motorcycles for the weekend and enjoyed riding around the bush.
A little mishap with our volleyball net.
We learned, after three times, not to spike if you think you might pull the net on your way down.
(the umbrellas were our poles)
Some of the gang watching the sunset
Last year when Brian was here, he took pictures of the village people in the area. This time, he brought back prints to share with them. So, on Friday, a group of us trudged out into the bush to visit these same villages. We left early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. Unfortunately, the heat turned out to be too much for Jess and wiped her out for the later part of the afternoon. Here are some pictures from the hike.
This particular village was unable to communicate with us. They couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Hausa. But through common hand motions and friendly gestures, we were able to communicate enough to learn about their customs and daily chores.
We had such a wonderful long weekend. It was nice to get away and bond with new friends. As we were leaving, we vowed to do this a couple times next semester. Hopefully, we all keep our promise because it was a weekend to remember!
Such a rough life :) Looks awesome!!!
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