Random pictures of Abuja

As we get ready to leave Abuja for a couple weeks,  we decided to post the random pics we've taken since our last posting.  The rural pictures were taken on our way to Bwari Pottery, just an hour outside the city.  

The last pictures are of the downtown Abuja mosque.  It was built in 2006, but they ran out of money before completing the inside, so we've been told it's very bare inside.  Most mosques are well decorated and have great detail inside, but this is just a cinderblock room.  (Just an interesting side note)

Tis the Season...

...for gas shortages.  Since we have arrived in Abuja, we have experienced 2-3 small gas shortages which usually last no more than a couple days.  During these gas shortages, we've always been able to get gas and have never had a major problem.  This week, brings us new experiences.  On Sunday, Jordan went to get gas and realized there was another gas shortage.  The gas station was actually out of gas.  Before work on Monday, we went to a different gas station, but they wouldn't be open until 7, so we couldn't wait for gas.  Tuesday, on the way home from school, our gas light popped on.  We passed three gas stations, which all had a line at least 1/2 a mile long.  Not only was the line long, at the front of the line, cars were trying to cut in from different directions and there was a mob of people fighting over who was first.  We are now taking taxis to school and carpooling home.  The bad thing about taking taxis is that they have doubled their rates due to the gas shortage.  We have heard there is gas, but the government doesn't want to sell it yet.  They want to raise prices, first.  We've also have heard that the truck drivers are on strike.  So, who knows when this gas shortage will end.  Some of the teachers that have lived here a long time, say they've never seen a gas shortage this bad.  We might be taking taxis the rest of the semester!

Thanksgiving Break

We finally got a couple days off from school, so we made the most of our time.

Thursday:

A couple of us from school had some fabric that needed to get made into dresses and skirts, so Dusty Rose had her tailor come over and fit us.

For Thanksgiving dinner, all the staff made a dish and brought it over to the Saleem/Borodenko (Kristel, Khalid, Lauren and Chris) household. About 40 showed up, so there was quite the spread. We enjoyed eating and conversing. We thought we would be able to get a turkey from the US Embassy, but at the last minute they changed their minds and wouldn't let us buy one from them. So, instead of turkey, we had a lot of roasted chicken.

Friday:

Deanna, the other first grade teacher, and her husband Bruno, invited us to play poker at their friends house. For our first time playing poker, we didn't do so bad. We ended up losing $14 dollars or N2100.

Saturday:

The last Saturday of every month is Sanitation Saturday which means no one is allowed to drive from 6am to 10am. Once we were able to get out and drive, we picked Chris and Lauren up and drove out to Bwari Pottery. Bwari is a small village, 45 km outside Abuja. Bwari Pottery is known for having wonderful pottery. In fact, Katie, Jordan's CC advisor, knew about Bwari and had told us to visit whenever possible. We finally made it up there this weekend. Bwari Pottery is truely Nigerian. The clay and the paint pigments all come from the village. Chris and Jordan have been molding holds for the climbing wall, so we brought them and gave them to Stephen (owner of Bwari Pottery) to fire in the kiln.

Chris found his perfect drinking mug

The kiln

A potter's wheel

Later that night, Kristel, Lauren and I went to the Berger Bazaar.  We enjoyed shopping and eating bratwurst flown in from Germany.  The boys decided to skip the bazaar and stay home to watch Watchmen.

Sunday:

The last day of our Thanksgiving break was very busy. This break from school was also to celebrate the Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, so our friends, the Blazeks, were able to get some meat from a sacrificed ram. They invited us over to have curried ram. We were a little leary of the whole thing, but it ended up being a delicious meal. Sunday night, we invited Coach Emmanuel (the other basketball coach) and his family over for dinner. It's always nice to talk to local Nigerians. We always come away understanding a lot more about the culture.

We are back to work, but only three more weeks until we're home and on vacation!

Radomness

The sun during the Harmattan

Chris' birthday at Chopstix

Just finished his climb around the wall

 holes are filled in with big blocks of concrete

A Little Piece of Heaven

This weekend, we found a little piece of heaven...right here in Abuja!  A few of us decided to catch an afternoon movie at the new theatre in town.  Amazingly enough, Abuja has a couple movie theaters and they are not to shabby.   The movie theatre is located on the fifth level of an almost completed mall.  Once we arrived on the fifth floor,  we forgot where we were.  The Silver Bird looked just like Tinseltown...the crazy carpet, the smell of popcorn and even an arcade.  Khalid, Chris and Jordan decided to go see Inglorious Bastards  while Lauren and I went and saw Julie and Julia.  Even though Nigeria is known for their power outages, the movie was not interrupted once.  We all felt very rejuvenated after our stint at the movies. 

After the movie, we walked around the mall and we were amazed to come across a book store.  The best part was that is was open.  Abuja has no bookstores, so this was very exciting to us all.  The store was amazing.  It had a wide selection and had reasonable prices.  All it was missing was a coffee shop. =)  

The afternoon turned out be a very pleasant experience and left us feeling hopeful of Abuja's future.  

Out with the Rainy, in with the Dry

The dry season has come! We knew it was just around the corner, but we were still not ready for the heat. The harmattan, small grains of sand from the Sahara Desert, has come and the heat is rising. On Saturday, Jordan and I helped out at the school Halloween carnival. We were lucky enough to be stationed at a booth outside. When we arrived at the school it was 97 degrees with humitidy.

These pictures don't do the harmattan justice, but if you look close enough, you can tell that it is very hazy

Random Abuja 2

I am sorry to say, but posts will be few and far between! The past week, my camera charger blew up.  Since the voltage is inconsistent in Nigeria, no matter what precautions  you take(voltage stabilizers, regulators and convertors), you are likely to lose some sort of electronic devise.  Our friend Lauren's Mac charger blew up the first day they arrived and my Dell charger died about a month ago.  Luckily, the IT guys at school are wonderful and they were able to get me a Dell charger which is working for the time period.  But, until we find the correct camera batteries, which is easier said than done, I am no longer able to take pictures. Fortunately we have a video camera which we will start to use and post video clips.  If there is anything you are curious about seeing in Abuja, please let us know and we will video tape it.  We already know that most of you want to see the driving conditions.  

So, here are a few pictures...very random, but they show a little bit of our life.

These are my two first grade classes.  I love these kids, 

even though some of them are a handful. =)

Notice how the cars are not in one lane.  No, they are not changing lanes...this is how they drive in Nigeria 

Since there are no traffic laws, accidents are VERY common and are usually indescribable.  Sometimes we'll see cars on top of light posts, on top of concrete barriers and usually in a drainage ditch.  Once there is an accident, there's an immediate mob.  People will just stop their cars in the middle of the road and get out to take a look.  This accident was about 2 miles from our house.  This particular part of the road is a bypass over the Berger Junction.    A construction truck somehow drove off the interstate and almost fell off the bridge.  This is crane lifting the truck.  

Men selling water to passing cars and pedestrians.  Men and women carrying objects 

on their heads is a common scene.

Some of the art we have purchased so far:

John, a guard at our apartment carved this statue from one piece of wood.

Traditional African masks.  It is hard to tell, but there is a 

pounded metal on parts of the masks

Hopefully we can fix our camera issue quickly and continue posting pictures.