Wanderlust...

Wanderlust : A strong innate desire to travel about
One of my top top favorite words! Right up there with happenstance.

Sometimes I'm scared I'll never find "home"...
The idea of home is a strange one. Is it where you've lived the longest; Lagos, or where you were born; New York, or where you first discovered who you were; San Francisco, or maybe where you realized you were enough; Florence,  or maybe It's where all the people you love are; Scattered all over the world. All I know is that I'm always longing for some place...

A couple of weeks ago I sent The partner a photo

Him :You look like the girl I fell in love with...

Me: O_o what does that mean? I'm no longer pretty ehn?

Him: No there's this radiance about you, you look happy, happier. Lagos took a lot from you and the stress got to you.

Me : Oh :(

 After the conversation I pondered over he said. I don't want to be happier here, I love the people in Lagos, my family and friends, and I love being in close proximity to them, but here I have easy access to the things that feed my creative energy and make me happy. The stress, the air and Lagos in general is too much for me and leaves me drained mostly.

Someone suggested I would Like Abuja, and I quite like Calabar . The partner says we should run away to Ghana. lol! Maybe I'll always be looking for home, at least I have someone who will wander with me...

Buon' Weekend!
Sabirah

A loss of Sorts

It's been a week since I last blogged shame on me.

My internet expired and since I'm a poor lowly teacher with no salary.... OK this is just an excuse, I ignore. I apologise for being a lazy blogger.

Anyways howdy and all that, hope you're well. (did I just type howdy?)

You know, living in Lagos is stressful; imagine something stressful... now multiply by 10, add heat and then add a good serving of disgruntled government workers. Luckily for me my state of mind helps me combat stress, I try to stay cool but the disgruntled government workers are a necessary evil. OK I shouldn't call them evil, some of them are my family members and maybe yours too. They probably have a lot to be unhappy about;  late salaries and the like, but we all live in Lagos and know how horrible it is, if we were a bit pleasant to one another maybe life would be a little better no?

Anyways I had to get my Nigerian passport renewed so I had to come in contact with these evil people, apart from being unbearably hot and everything being slow and people yelling at me "GO AND MAKE PHOTOCOPY" everything was going at snail pace smoothly. I came prepared, I had a book, I waited my turn even as they loaded other's files on top of mine, I was patient, like a good girl.

My turn came and I went to the photo area, pulled my hair back and smiled. *snap* that was easy... being  good girl pays. NOT!
"Madam, remove that earring!"- she yelled at me
"Erm I can't... it's it's.." I stuttered
"Why???" she bellowed
"Erm because it has a screw and.." I continued
"MADAM GET UP! GET UP! TAKE YOUR FILE AND LEAVE THIS PLACE" She yelled.
There are few things I hate more that being yelled at, tears formed in the back of my eyes as I picked up the rest of my dignity and walked out. I went to the car and removed my industrial piercing, over four years... I thought nothing as I walked back in and finished the passport process. Witch Lady had gone to lunch.

August 16th 2007 few days after I got it.

Fast forward to evening as I undressed to go to bed, I looked at my ears and freaked out.
My chest was literally hurting. I felt a deep sense of loss, I also knew that too many hours had gone by and putting it back in would be excruciating.
My mum said "Start of a new era, you're no longer a teenager"
Why do I still feel the dull ache in my chest?
Have you ever lost something you thought you wouldn't miss?

  

Out and About in Lagos

I'm really missing not having a camera :( I love to take pictures of new places, food, events everything, just for my personal records. Plus it's fun and I like photos. Anyways thankfully sometimes my friends are kind enough to send me their photos :) "friends" being most likely the man behind http://imperialmedia.shutterchance.com/ <---- check it out!! Anyways here goes some photos :)

Felabration (last year) - An annual event to honor the Legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti (if you know anything about me you know I'm a FAN)

So after uploading these photos I realized all the others from felabration would be inappropriate and unfair to the people I went with. lol Enjoy that beautiful sax though my fave afrobeat instrument.

Chef Fregz Special (last year): I had a really good time with my girl Simi who I miss sooo much! The food was delicious, I was surrounded by friends, conversation and laughter! Good day in all.

Simi and I, stunna shades on B)

nom

nom nom

nom nom nom

Tola and I

Simi is a happy camper!

Next installment coming up soon :)
Love and happiness,
Sabirah.

This Teaching thing...

Happy Sunday everyone!

Hope you've had a great weekend! I had a really fun time this weekend, I went to a live recording of Nigerian Idol to support my friend Diwari, PLS SEND 526 to 33680 if you're in Nigeria, she's really good! voting closes on Wednesday. Thank you :)

I also went to a birthday party my sister-friend/better half/best-friend threw for her boyfriend, spent most of the day helping her in the kitchen and getting ready (i'll probably do a post if I can get the photos) met some amazing people and had a great time. The partner and I have the perfect "we came together but we can mingle too" thing going on. It was such a big success! Well done Khaf!

So now to the actual post, Lots of people have asked how I got into teaching, what it's been like etc so hopefully I can answer all those questions here.

I've kinda always known that at some point in my life I would teach, at first, when I was on my PhD track, it was higher education that I was interested in teaching but I didn't know it would be so soon. When I made the decision to come back to Nigeria after college I knew that I didn't want to work in a bank or anything like that. I thought about my experiences, my strengths and how I could give back and of course teaching came up again. Being a teacher is such a creative environment which is exactly the type I thrive in.

I remember the first month of my arrival in Lagos I told everyone upon meeting them "Hey I want to be a teacher, if you know someone hiring let me know" It was my opening sentence to every interaction. Sure enough it paid off, about three different people contacted me about different opportunities. Since I
 hadn't started my NYSC, I decided it would be best if I just volunteered for a bit. At least to see if I would enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Thankful for my friend Ore who told me about Maroko high school and how they desperately needed some help with their SS3 class who were very far behind. Their exams were coming up and their teachers were over worked and spread thin. I really didn't understand the gravity of the situation till I took my first set of essays. I was almost discouraged, but I graded slowly and carefully leaving half a page worth of comments for each one.

It was worth it! My students are very eager to learn, sometimes restless and rowdy like teenagers can be but still eager to learn, show off their knowledge and then acquire some more. I haven't really had any disciplinary issues save for the boys in the back, all I had to do was split them up and then have a one-on-one meeting with them later. Maybe because my students are in SS3 they are more mature or maybe they just appreciate my being there but they are generally well behaved.

I haven't had any drama with the other teachers since i'm not full on staff, apart from an awkward moment when there was a teacher in the class during my period. Teaching is exhausting, physically and mentally. From preparing my lesson plan, to speaking loudly to a class of 75 students, to standing for hours in a room without a fan. But it is oh-so-rewarding, I really can't explain the feeling, when my students correct their own mistakes and see their improvement. It's all the payment I need.

Unfortunately my student's pride in themselves won't pay the bills so I had to start looking for a more permanent teaching job that actually pays. By word of mouth again I got called (thanks Khaf!). I had an interview at a private school last week Thursday, it went great and on Tuesday I'm going to sit in on a couple of classes. I'm excited! Wish me luck.

If you're interested in teaching in Nigeria, and you have time to volunteer I'll suggest going to a public school in your area and talking to the principal, they would be more than happy to have you! So that's it on my teaching experience so far, my long term goal is to go into education policy, but I need to know the system before I can fix it. I can't wait to see where this will take me.

Have a great week ahead!
Love, Sab.

Music | Lagoooos Jump!

Lagos has been interesting and I remember one of my concerns when I first arrived was not fitting in socially. The scene seemed different than I expected and there was this overwhelming sense of pretentiousness everywhere that I felt I didn't want to be part of.

Over the next couple of weeks I was occupied with catching up with friends, a heavy bout of Malaria which knocked me out for eight days straight and a couple of rather pleasant dates. I can't say the overwhelming air of pretentiousness faded away but I came to a realization that I wasn't and didn't necessarily need to try and fit into any social scene.

A lot of the type of events I used to go to in California like art exhibitions, book readings, wine tastings etc are open to every one but in Lagos while they are open to everyone it's obvious that a lot of people come not to enjoy the art but as some kind of status label. To be honest it's not my business, I've come to realize it's up to me to live and enjoy my life as I please.

Soon after this realization, I saw a flyer for an event "Ade Bantu Live @ The Life house" I was faintly acquainted with him and if you know me you know I LOVE afrobeat so I didn't need to be told twice. I decided to invite my parents, because they both love music and my Dad is the reason I love Afrobeat so much. Best decision ever!

Me dolled up for the show

Apologies for the bad quality but here's what I wore

My amazing parents who came separately and ended up matching! too cute. They had such a great time!

 Ade Bantu on the far right :)

The oh-so amazing drummer. peep the cool Fela painting behind. :)

Jamming!

dancing :)

It was absolutely amazing, I really can't explain it! The Bantu crew was just, sigh. Ade Bantu and his 12 piece live band gave it everything! considering the small space. I was too happy.

Some videos, although nothing can really come close to the live performance!

Love and afrobeat,
Sabirah

So I moved...

Hello anyone here?

You may or not already know but I moved to Nigeria about two months ago.... And it's been fantastic, hectic and crazy but I love it, in fact I wonder why I didn't make the decision earlier. There's much to say and write about, dating, working, adapting, re-connecting. I'm not quite sure where to begin.

I guess this is my way of breaking the silence, letting you (whoever you are) know that i'm alive and well and I will resume posting here now that I have stable internet. Unfortunately I have to go now as the power is off (Welcome to Nigeria) and I absolutely hate the sound of generators especially in the mornings. Here is to resumed regular posting!

Cheers!
Love and Happiness
Sabirah.