We arrived to Ijeoma’s house, where she and here family lives. There house is a large, two house. Ijeoma’s father built the house himself. The picture I have here is the only one that I took, of the house itself. But it gives you an idea of what interior looks like as well. However, Mr. Nnochiri decided not to paint most of the interior of the house. So the walls are still bare without paint. Guess he didn’t feel the need to paint it. I went inside the house where I met her mother first. We greeted each other. Then they showed me to my room downstairs where I would stay for my entire visit. I was in Nigeria for about one month.
The house was not lavish or anything inside, because they did not want it to be so. There were two big living room couches a table in the middle of the living room, and a lounge chair. This is where we gathered together almost everyday to chat and conversate. Many times we ate dinner in the living room too.
I introduced myself to Mr. Nnochiri on his patio outside the living room. We shook hands, and he offered me a beer. They have Lager beers in Nigeria that have a very unique taste. We chatted about many things. I mostly told him about myself. I spoke about things that were happening here in the States at the time. He talked to me about the condition of Nigeria’s economy. Stating that the economy is bad, due to a lot of corruption in their government. Nigeria is a major oil producing company, among other things. However the people of Nigeria don’t see any changes or improvement because of the corruption, or shall I say past corruption. The job market there is far worse than in the United States. Nigerian people a very intelligent. Many of them are university graduates (Ijeoma and her brother have degrees), but don’t have or cannot find steady jobs. There is one top mathematician and computer scientist who came here from Nigeria, that most people never heard of. His name is Phillip Emeagwali.
Many of the people I saw there, earned by whatever means they had. Alot of people created there own methods to sell any and everything, from fruits and vegetables, to cds and bottles of water on the sides of the roads. But still there still was a job market there, mostly due to there own efforts to do business for themselves and become self-sufficient. A lot of people there use their mopeds and motorcycles to taxi people around town to earn money. And there were plenty of cars too, but mostly older cars. I saw some newer ones too. I saw a few Mercedes. I even saw a yellow Hummer, blasting loud music. That was a surprise!
Because of a lack of funding, many of the roads that I saw were unpaved dirt roads, with ditches along the sides of the road for water to drain when it rained. Despite the economy, they still have some nice areas where you can go and shop or browse. They had several areas with shopping malls. I went to a couple of internet cafes on my first or second night there.
My first night I was introduced to African food. The foods were both very unique and some very similar in taste. I ate some food that is traditional Southern food here in the United States. I ate greens (similar looking and tasting to collard greens). I ate rice and black-eyed peas as well. As for the Nigerian foods, I don’t remember all the names of the dishes, but you will never taste anything like it here in the U.S., unless you find a African restaurant.
One type of food I had to get used to the taste obviously because I never tasted it before. To me it looked like a combination of grits and oatmeal. But I got used to the taste after a while. Mrs. Nnochiri thought I did not like her cooking. Not true! My pallet had to just to the texture and taste. Also, they have a bread they make looks to me like a pancake, but it tasted very good.
Nigeria reminded me a little of the South. And I know what the south looks like because as a child I lived briefly in Alabama and in a part of Georgia that I remember having many local dirt roads. I don’t consider Nigeria to be a third world country because they have everything we have, except take away job availability and outdated roads and highway systems.
Ohh, and there police system is more corrupt than the U.S., for the most part. The police there have what look like check points. Only they stand on the sides of the roads, in groups of maybe three or more. If you are driving along in your car, they can wave and have you pull over for questioning. One time, me Ijeoma and two of her brothers were stopped in his car. One of police asked where we were going,and what we were doing, in the Nigerian language. And then the officer asked Lucky if he had any money! Sometimes the police will ask you for money. And if you don’t have anything to give them, then they can find a reason to further question you, and maybe even find something wrong with your car to give you a ticket.
The Nigerian currency is called Naira (pronounced Nira, N+ the word ira ). Pictured below is five Naira that I kept as a souvenir. Currently, 1 U.S. dollar is the equivalent of 116 Naira. So the Naira has very little value, compared to the U.S. dollar, then and now.
Many of the people I saw there, earned by whatever means they had. Alot of people created there own methods to sell any and everything, from fruits and vegetables, to cds and bottles of water on the sides of the roads. But still there still was a job market there, mostly due to there own efforts to do business for themselves and become self-sufficient. A lot of people there use their mopeds and motorcycles to taxi people around town to earn money. And there were plenty of cars too, but mostly older cars. I saw some newer ones too. I saw a few Mercedes. I even saw a yellow Hummer, blasting loud music. That was a surprise!
Because of a lack of funding, many of the roads that I saw were unpaved dirt roads, with ditches along the sides of the road for water to drain when it rained. Despite the economy, they still have some nice areas where you can go and shop or browse. They had several areas with shopping malls. I went to a couple of internet cafes on my first or second night there.
My first night I was introduced to African food. The foods were both very unique and some very similar in taste. I ate some food that is traditional Southern food here in the United States. I ate greens (similar looking and tasting to collard greens). I ate rice and black-eyed peas as well. As for the Nigerian foods, I don’t remember all the names of the dishes, but you will never taste anything like it here in the U.S., unless you find a African restaurant.
One type of food I had to get used to the taste obviously because I never tasted it before. To me it looked like a combination of grits and oatmeal. But I got used to the taste after a while. Mrs. Nnochiri thought I did not like her cooking. Not true! My pallet had to just to the texture and taste. Also, they have a bread they make looks to me like a pancake, but it tasted very good.
Nigeria reminded me a little of the South. And I know what the south looks like because as a child I lived briefly in Alabama and in a part of Georgia that I remember having many local dirt roads. I don’t consider Nigeria to be a third world country because they have everything we have, except take away job availability and outdated roads and highway systems.
Ohh, and there police system is more corrupt than the U.S., for the most part. The police there have what look like check points. Only they stand on the sides of the roads, in groups of maybe three or more. If you are driving along in your car, they can wave and have you pull over for questioning. One time, me Ijeoma and two of her brothers were stopped in his car. One of police asked where we were going,and what we were doing, in the Nigerian language. And then the officer asked Lucky if he had any money! Sometimes the police will ask you for money. And if you don’t have anything to give them, then they can find a reason to further question you, and maybe even find something wrong with your car to give you a ticket.
The Nigerian currency is called Naira (pronounced Nira, N+ the word ira ). Pictured below is five Naira that I kept as a souvenir. Currently, 1 U.S. dollar is the equivalent of 116 Naira. So the Naira has very little value, compared to the U.S. dollar, then and now.
I will stop here, and continue with more pictures on the next part of the blog.
