Lisa and I went to the salon last week.  It is called Sari’s, and is owned by a Lebanese man named Sari.  It was my first trip to have my hair done in Nigeria, and I found it to be a fascinating experience.

The salon itself was fairly small, only four chairs and a lot of people!  Lisa and I were the only two western faces, apart from Sari and his partner Sami.  While Lisa patiently waited her turn for hair color (which turned out fabulously), I had the opportunity to people watch.

Many Nigerian women have long, flowing hair, and I always assumed they wore wigs.  I’ve heard about extensions, but I thought they were just done in braid form.  Wrong.  I observed a young woman having her hair done, and she was kind enough to let me take a few photos.  Then I badgered Miss A. (my assistant) with questions about it the next day.

So, this woman’s natural hair was tightly braided into cornrows.  Then, the wig pieces (as Miss A. calls them) are sewn onto the cornrows.  The wig pieces are long strips of fabric (some sort of nylon, I think) with hair attached.  The hair can be natural (more expensive) or synthetic.  They start the fixing at the base of the neck and work their way to the top of the head.  It is tightly sewn with a thick, coarse thread.  The fixing can last for months.  It can be washed and blow dried by the wearer, or it can be removed, cleaned by the salon, and then reattached.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours to have the fixing done.  The client brings the hair/wig with them, and it costs about N2,500 or about $16 to have it fixed to the head.

 You can see the fixing taking place, one layer at a time.

When finished, her hair will look like her friend in the blue dress.

According to Miss A., this is the preferred method of the younger generation.  The fixings can be quite fancy, or the regular looking hair that we are used to.  Miss A. prefers an actual wig.  She says it is much easier and she likes being able to take it off when she gets home.  Wigs range in price from N30,000 to N60,000 ($180-$350), while some very wealthy women will pay up to $1000.  The wigs are fitted to the wearer.  A man came into the salon to pick up his wife’s wig.  Sari told him to have her try it on and make sure it was a good fit.  If so, bring it back for styling, and if not, then she needed to come in and they would refit it.

All in all, a very interesting time at the salon!

My hair when I got home.  Miss A. said I could get extensions too, but I think not!

It has been a very busy week for us at AISL.  It is our last week of Online Learning, so we’ve been busy preparing for the children to return to school tomorrow.  We are so excited!  That being said, I’ve just spent the last two hours in my classroom, preparing my Online Learning for the two students who won’t return to Lagos until mid-October.  It’s a lot of work, but I’m sure the families appreciate it.  🙂

We began our weekend with a trip to the GQ with the Patton family.  The kids played in the pool while we sat and chatted over beer and frozen margaritas.  There was a cool breeze blowing and it was a lovely way to end the week.  We went inside for dinner and the kids shared their own table.  They were quite excited about that!

 Chris always forgets his sunglasses on Friday afternoons, but Lisa always has a spare pair.  Sorry Chris, but these look much better on Lisa!

Saturday morning brought a big storm to Lagos.  That means flooding playgrounds, which meant a lot of fun for the children!  Laryssa spent most of the afternoon playing in sand and water… and she had a ball!

We went to a local hotel to change money.  Everyone entering the premises has their temperature taken, as a means of controlling Ebola outbreaks.

 This lovely woman leans in and takes everyone’s temperature. I think she should also wear a mask.

While waiting for Lisa to change money, I had a look around.  I am easily amused.

I love the sign: Parking attracts a fee…

 The money changer.

    

 The statue is birthing…

Lisa and I continued our Grocery Tour.  It’s amazing how many foreign-owned grocery stores there are in our area!  Yesterday we went French.  First, to La Pointe, and then to L’ Epicerie.  They were both pretty good, though we preferred L’Epicerie.  They had nice music playing and African shopping baskets.  Both shops were stocked full of imported goods.  It was fun to read all of the labels.  I ended up with ham and a baguette, which made a delicious sandwich when I got home!

The walls at La Pointe are nicely decorated with old crates.

Lisa at L’Epicerie.  The straw basket is the shopping basket.

Of course, that rain we had in the morning made for an interesting drive in the afternoon!

We’ve spent so much time telling you about where we buy our food, that Chris thought we should take a few photos to show you what we do with it.  Bon apetit!

Lisa started a blog when she arrived in Lagos.  I’m attaching the link here, because she posted a video they took of our ride to the GQ on Friday.  It will give you some idea of what life is like here.  http://roadbe4us.blogspot.com/

A few random shots of our weekend:

We had a breakfast guest on Saturday morning.  After eating, the girls got dressed for an imaginary adventure.

Our plants are loving this weather.  That’s me reading outside this morning, as I procrastinate and don’t get any work done!

Shopping in Lagos… last week I told you about our great vegetable find at Delis Supermarket.  We continue to go there each Thursday, when the fresh veg arrives, to buy things like peppers and spinach.  For our other vegetables (zucchini, pak choy, mint, cilantro, onions, etc.) we go shopping Under the Bridge.  No, not the name of a store.  It’s an actual location… the market set up under the bridge.  The first venture under the bridge is, of course, the most interesting.  However, I’ve been coming here for some time now, and each time I find it to be a fascinating place.  Vegetable stalls, fruit stalls, fish, prawns, shellfish, giant snail shells… it’s an assault to the senses.

It’s loud, as we are, after all, under the bridge.  The traffic alone is enough to deafen you.  Add to that the calls of “Hey, momma!  Over here!”, the boats, the cars coming in and out of the narrow passage… it’s an adventure every time.

It’s smelly.  Fishmongers are chopping up fish for patrons, and you need to watch where you’re going, otherwise you could end up covered in fish bits.  There’s the huge pile of rubbish over there, out of the way, close to the water.  A good place for it, don’t you think.  NOT!

It’s colorful, a feast for the eyes.  The vegetables seem especially bright here.  I think it’s the contrast of the surroundings… all the mud, garbage, cars, fumes…

The most interesting, I find, are the people.  They know us now, and always seem happy to see us.  The guy we go to (next week, I’ll find out his name) is friendly and is very accommodating.  If he doesn’t have what I need, he sends someone to get it.  His face is a wonder on its own.  He bears scars, which I’m told are tribal, and he also has little tattoo markings.  One day, I’ll work up the courage to ask him about it.  For now, he remains the interesting vegetable guy.  Their greeting of respect is “Hey momma!”.  In Singapore it was Auntie, here it’s Momma.  Not sure which I dislike more.

A few shopping photos:

 The vegetable display at Delis.  Just like home, only smaller.

Under the Bridge

The next photos are completely unrelated to shopping under the bridge.  Laryssa hosted a movie night for the kids on Friday. We had twelve children watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Good times had by all.

Chris has found some golfing buddies.  They’re practicing on the athletic field.

Our place is where the kids like to hang out.

Online Learning continues at AISL for one more week.  Our Back to School date has been set for September 22. This is what Online Learning looks like:

This is one of my students, hard at work:

And now… off to the pool for some Sunday morning activity and dose of vitamin D!

We managed to begin school on August 25, after the delayed start due to Ebola.  By noon on the 26th, the government had shut us (and all schools in Nigeria) down.  Since then, we’ve been offering virtual school to our students.  It’s been quite the learning curve for most of us, and we’re making the best of an awkward situation.  There are rumors floating around that we may begin on September 22 (instead of the Oct. 13 date we were previously told), but we’ve yet to have confirmation of that.  So, we continue to grow as learners and are rapidly expanding our use of technology!

  First day of school, August 25th.

The teachers’ children have been rotating to different classrooms, while we take turns supervising and overseeing the online assignments for the kids.  It’s not ideal, but we’re making it work.

Lisa and I have been making good use of our new car (a Toyota Sequoia) and driver, Mr. Samuel.  We’ve been touring all of the grocery stores in our area (many new to me, since we didn’t have a vehicle last year) and have found a few good ones.  We really like Delis for their fresh produce.  It arrives each Thursday from Belgium, and looks as good as what we’d get back home.  My new favorite seems to be spinach, which I’m eating in the form of salad at least three times a week.  Never mind that it costs about $7 for a small tub… I’m worth it!  😉  Chris picked up some baby asparagus last week.  At $11 for a small package, it isn’t something we’ll do often, but it is a nice treat.  Again, it’s healthy, and we need that!

    Yes, about $11 for this small package of asparagus!

 

We continue to have an active social life, despite the constraints of Ebola threats.  We went to the GQ (American Club) for dinner on Friday night.  I worked out for a bit in their gym, the kids swam, and the adults chatted, and then we enjoyed dinner by the pool.  Not a bad life.

Last night we had friends over for dinner, and if there was any doubt about how small the world is, it was confirmed during our conversations.  In attendance were Mark, Lisa and Finn, Donny, and Teri.  Now, Mark and I arrived in Turkey at the same time, while Lisa had already been there for a year.  She had come over from the U.S. with Bernie, the superintendent.  (I remember the conversation when Lisa confessed her interest in Mark; they’ve been married 11 years now!)  When Mark and Lisa moved to Guatemala, I went to Pakistan to work with Bernie at his new school.  It was there that I met Donny.  Donny had worked in Kuwait with Bernie’s sister.  The next year, Donny brought Teri to Pakistan; they had worked in Kuwait together.  In the meantime, Lisa and Mark moved to Singapore.  We moved to Singapore too, though we worked at different campuses and didn’t see each other very often.  (We’re making up for that now!)  So, all of our dinner guests have someone in common.  As the conversation progressed, it seems that Mark and Lisa also knew someone in Guatemala that Donny and Teri had worked with in Kuwait.  Talk a little more, and we discover that almost everyone here at AISL knows someone in common.  Small world?  Oh yeah.  Six degrees of separation?  More like two in the world of international teaching!  Since our dinner guests all had Bernie and his wife Martha in common, we put together a little video for Martha’s birthday next week.  You might almost think we planned to do that when planning our guest list, but we didn’t.  Here’s the link if you’d like to take a peak: http://youtu.be/1-49T6m6zdg.

Until next time… have a great week!

 Sunday morning play.

  Laryssa and her friends playing dress up and other fun games!