I had a really interesting ride on that bus. At first I was a bit upset that the guys were charging so much and taking so many people, not because I had to pay an extra dollar since that’s not much to me, but because the ladies who were coming back from the markets to their smaller towns could really use that money. Then we must have gone through at least 5 or more “security checkpoints” which are just groups of policemen with their AK-47s stopping cars on the road. For us to pass each time, the driver had to give one of the officers a bribe. That’s nothing new or unusual, but it was getting dark and I wanted to be able to see when I was walking back to my room so I got a bit frustrated with the whole thing. Then I remembered that I shouldn’t get too angry with the policemen. Sure some of them are just crooked, but some of them have kids to feed and send to school and life is tough in Nigeria, so I don’t like to get too angry. After that I started thinking, since the drivers of the buses know that they will have to pay the policemen, they will naturally have to make their fares a bit higher. The guys taking me were still being exorbitant, but I realized that at least partially, because the government makes life so difficult, everyone seems to pay their own tax to each other to make sure things can still run somehow. That is, the policeman takes bribes, the bus man charges some more money so he can pay the policeman, the ladies at the market will raise their prices a bit so they can pay the bus fare, etc. That’s pretty typically of Nigeria, patching up whatever it is that you have been given and making it work somehow, even if it’s not correctly.
At any rate, I had gone to Ibadan to visit Kyle on Saturday morning to see how he was doing, which was why I was coming back last night. I think I’ve gotten really comfortable with transportation in Nigeria; I knew not to get on the bus going to Ibadan right outside of campus because they charge a bit more, and as an Ijebu man (the Ijebu are the sub-group of the Yoruba that my family comes from and are particularly tight with money) I couldn’t do that on principal. So I took another bus into town, to a place called Mayfair and then walked around the roundabout to the cheaper bus, which really only saved me a few cents, but it made me feel a lot better about myself which I decided made it worth it, even if I hadn’t saved more money!
We had a pretty good time at UI, we played soccer with a bunch of little kids who of course had all given themselves names of professional soccer players like Benzema, Walcott, John Mikel Obi, etc. The guys were pretty good, but Kyle and I had fun dribbling around them and juggling over them until we were all tired out. Then we crowded into the same sweaty room as last week to watch two English Premier League matches, but I’d rather not talk about them. More interestingly, I told Mrs. Biksin who runs a campus convenience store that I would come visit her next time I was there, so I made good on my promise and stopped in to greet her. I’m not sure why she likes Kyle and I so much, but she was so glad to see us! She asked us if we would go to a birthday party with her the next day, and I said as long as I could leave early enough to get back to Ife that would be fine. So on Sunday after eating some breakfast and watching more soccer, but in an air-conditioned, much less-crowded room I showed Kyle how to wash his clothes/sheets by hand and we went to the party with Mrs. Biksin. Unfortunately I think we had to leave before things really picked up, but her family was really nice to us and gave us some rice and juice to take with us back to school.
Today I was planning to start working with the Awise of Modakeke, the Babalawo who is going to be reciting the Ifa verses for me, but if I knew how to do Ifa divination myself I would have known it wasn’t going to happen! After my Yoruba class with professor Ajibade I went to the bank to try to set up my bank account, which meant going to the bank, getting passport photos taken and printed out, filling out 4 forms, and getting two people who also have accounts t the bank to fill out reference forms as well. Needless to say that took quite some time, and in between I met a really nice man from Cameroon, Dr Saah. Since I hadn’t practiced French in so long, I thought I would just take a few minutes to talk to him, but the five minutes turned into maybe an hour or hour and a half! When I finally did get back to the bank they said one of my references had the wrong kind of account, and since I didn’t feel like fighting or bribing I decided to come back later.
On the way out I ran into another pastor who stopped me and tried to convince me that I need to come to his church. This has happened just a few too many times for my liking since every other guy you meet is the pastor of some church somewhere, and they are incredibly persistent in recruiting you for one ministry or the other. I had asked Dr. Ajibad for directions to the Awise’s house, and he told me how I could take a bus to get close and that everyone there should know where he lives if I just ask or take an Okada (motorbike). I already knew how to take the bus, but when I got off and asked around, nobody seemed to know where it was, even after talking to him on the phone, so after spending a bit more money and time than I would have liked I just decided it wasn’t worth forcing it today. Fortunately for me, I have no set schedule so if things aren’t working, I have the luxury of adjusting my plans accordingly. I just wish my water supply was as flexible, I haven’t had running water for a few days and I just did laundry so I need a bit more water before I can take a shower and it’s raining now, so I’m going to go put a bucket out...
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