All creatures great and small!

Welcome, once again! This week has been quite eventful, and I thought I would start by telling you a little about a Christening I went to on Saturday.

It was held at a large Methodist church and was very interesting. The baby was christened Chukwuma Tochukwu Eninnaya Ugochukwu….a very big name for such a small boy! Thankfully his parents called him Chucks!! It was wonderful to be a part of such a happy event. All the ladies wore their Sunday best outfits and looked very colourful in their long, fitted dresses and large headgear. The service itself was very loud, and we all joined in the clapping, dancing, singing and processing around the church! (It reminded me a lot of the African weeks at school!)

Now onto some of the creatures that I see each day. Have I told you about the nests that we have on our balconies? They belong to tiny finches, and there are about 9 or 10 tiny nests squashed into a tall cactus we have growing in a pot at the side of our front balcony. The best time to see the birds is just before dusk, when they all gather on the railing and try to squash into their nests. I think there are about 12 birds that manage to cram into a very small space. Also, there are lots of turtle doves, one of which made a nest and hatched a chick on one of the windowsills!
I also see beautiful white egrets on the school field opposite, sometimes hear and see various brightly coloured parrots that seem to nest in the trees near the river out the back of the apartment. There are also HUGE eagles or birds of prey that circle around, high in the sky. At about 6pm, there are also flocks of very large fruit bats that come over from Aso Rock group in the large tree opposite and then fly over the apartment.



I also see some beautiful and very large butterflies and there are always lots of brightly-coloured dragonflies around the pool. I have seen some very large beetles, like the one in the photo, which is about 10 cms long and the antennae are probably about 20cms!! There are unwelcome creepy crawlies too, like mosquitoes and huge biting red ants that sometimes make their way into the kitchen.



By far the most common creature you see here is the agama lizard.These are of varying sizes, and can grow up to about 50cms long. During the breeding seasons, when the males are trying to attract a mate, they are a vivid blue and red. At the moment they are duller, and are not a threat, as they tend to scuttle off as you approach! We have some geckoes that live in the apartment too. These are funny little lizards that have suckers on their feet. They often live behind pictures or wall hangings and do a good job catching all flying nasties!


Thank you for your comments, especially Class Two who told me all about your Working Together Week. I can’t wait to see all your artwork displayed in the hall!

Thank you Jodie for your questions. There is a village just outside Abuja, which is made of very traditional mud and grass, which I have driven past, but not visited yet. Yes, it is still very hot (very different from what you are having now!) Luckily, we have not had too much dust yet, and some days are beautifully clear and bright. I am not doing very well with the language, as most people here speak English. My house girl, Lydia, speaks Pidgin English when she returns to her village, and I am hoping that she will teach me some words!
Please keep your comments coming…I still have had no ideas for a name for the blogsite. Remember, there is a special African prize for the winner.
Take care all of you! Don’t forget that Grace would also love to hear from you.

See you soon!
Love Mrs Sanchez

Grace's Day

Hello, again. I thought that I would tell you about a day in the life of a typical Nigerian schoolgirl.

Remember in my last letter I told you about Lydia, our house girl who lives with her younger sister, Grace. Well, I thought that I would talk to her and ask her some questions about her school. This is what she said,

‘My day starts before 7 o’clock. I catch the drop taxi at 7 o’clock, and the journey can take up to half an hour. When I arrive at school I go into the classroom to find my friends. Then Aunty will come in and will start lessons. I have to put my hand up to answer questions, and if I don’t know the answer I hope that others do!

We work through the morning, and then we have a break for lunch. I take some money to school to buy a snack. Then we have more lessons, and we finish school at 1.30. On a Friday we finish early at 12 o’clock

We do a lot of different lessons; mathematics, English, social studies, home economics (which is about cleaning and washing, but not cooking), agricultural science (which is about planting crops), elementary science, drawing and painting.

I have a little homework some days. I like school and I have lots of friends there.’

As you can see from the photo, Grace has to wear a uniform. Lydia has to buy this, and other sportswear. Lydia also has to pay for any books that she uses.

A lot of Nigerian children do not go to school because their parents cannot afford the money for the uniform or books. Grace is one of the lucky ones.

She is in Primary Five .Usually when the children reach Primary Six they take an exam to see if they can go on to secondary school.( She calls her teacher Aunty, although she is not really her Aunty!)

Grace does not do any singing or dancing or PE in her school, and there are no computers. They have a party at the end of each year where they have singing and music and dancing.

Grace loves school, and she says she works hard!

Quite a lot of differences to your day at school, don’t you think?

The following are photos of the school opposite us which is very similar to Grace's school.




Please don’t forget to write comments on the blogsite. If you want to ask Grace any questions, then I will get her to reply to you. I think that I have answered most of your questions from the first blog, just Elizabeth and George….I don’t get any newspaper myself. There are a lot of Nigerian papers (which are all in English) like the Daily News and the Daily Trust. They are full of news about different people in Abuja and Nigeria, and have things like full pages saying Happy Birthday to their president and important people! Yes, I am certainly missing you all!!

I still haven’t had any ideas for good titles for the blogsite….so , come on…get thinking!

There is a really good website if you want to know more about Nigerian life.
www.motherlandnigeria.com

Lots of love to you all, good luck with learning all those Christmas songs, and hope that you enjoy your Working Together week…it sounds great fun!

Mrs Sanchez xxxxx

Nigerian people I know

Hello, everyone!

This is to continue from yesterday’s letter. I needed to take some photos, so that I could show you the people that I talk about in this next part.

I will tell you about some of the Nigerian people that I meet each day. Firstly, there is Lydia. She is our house girl. This means that she does the washing, ironing, cleaning and some of the shopping. This sounds very grand, but is the usual thing out here, and it means that Lydia has a place to live (in the staff quarters at the base of the apartment block) and also earns a good wage to support herself and her younger sister, Grace, who lives with her and is 12 years old.



Jude is my husband’s driver. Where he works, there are 3 drivers and they drive the staff around the city, and also collect visitors from the airport. Jude always smiles a lot, but is a very good driver, and he needs to be…the Nigerian drivers are usually very dangerous, and accidents often happen. He lives with his wife and children in a village outside Abuja, as the houses are too expensive in the city.



Then there are the guards. They work 12 hour shifts and change at 6 o’clock in the morning and evening. There is one woman guard, and the rest are young men. They wear uniforms, and their job is to check people in and out of the compound and to switch the generator on when the electricity is off. One of the male guards has a motorbike, of which he is very proud! He also has a laugh that sounds a little like a dog barking, which I think is a good thing if you need to scare people off!!



That really is all for this week! Hope you are thinking of some good things to post to me on the blog and also names for the blogsite.

Love from a still very dusty Mrs Sanchez !

Letter to you all...

Hello, everyone!
Mrs Sanchez is here again with another letter from Nigeria.

Happy Birthday Mrs Peart, Happy Birthday to you…and many more!!

Thank you all so much for your little comments to my first letter. Hopefully, Mrs Peart will be able to find a way to let you add your comments at school, so maybe next time even more of you could reply…..and even come up with some better ideas for the blogsite title.

Just before I get onto telling you about some of the people here, I want to tell you about the weather. Do you remember I told you a little about the Harmattan (the wind from the desert) in my last letter? Well, it really is here!! Yesterday, it was a little misty, so that you couldn’t see the distant hills as usual, and today, it almost seems foggy, with quite a strong breeze blowing. The strange thing is…it’s still really warm. The real down side is that everything is constantly covered in a thick layer of red dust. It gets everywhere! You end up tasting it, and your eyes get very gritty…not very pleasant at all…and it can last through until the end of January!

Now to answer some of your questions. Georgina…I am eating a lot of fresh pineapple and paw paw (which are yummy at this time of year). We can also buy other fruit and vegetables. We buy cheese (which is very expensive) and milk, butter and eggs. We buy fish which comes in fresh on a Thursday (and is also very expensive). Biscuits are very expensive, and are often soft or taste rather funny…so I tend to make biscuits. The Nigerian favourite dish is Goats Head Pepper Soup!! (I haven’t tried this, and don’t want to!)

Sophie, I’m doing lots of reading, writing, cooking and yes Daisy, I’m swimming too. I’m also trying to learn more about the country, as it is all so different here. Megan, thank you for asking if I’m having a lovely time…I can say that I’m having an interesting time (although not all of it is lovely!) Hopefully, after Christmas, I shall do a little bit of teaching, as I miss all of you so much!

Joel, I’m not speaking in an African voice just yet, but I have changed the way in which I say some things. Often, people add an o to the end of words like sorryo and fineo! Also when you say hello to people you are supposed to ask “How was the night?”

Nicole, I think I’ve answered your question about the weather…it’s very strange to have a warm fog that brings dust by the bucketload! Thanks for telling me about the Junior Christmas concert, are you in the choir or have you got some words to say?

That’s about all for now, as I want this to get to you for Mrs Peart’s birthday on Monday. I will send you the next blog with photos of the people tomorrow. Don’t forget to reply to me…and to get thinking about good names for the blogsite!

Lots of love, from a very dusty Mrs Sanchez!

Welcome to Nigeria

Welcome to Nigeria, children!

As I promised before I left, I have set up this blogspot which will be a way to let you all know what is happening here in Abuja, Nigeria.

Abuja is the capital of Nigeria, and is a very new city that is still being built in sections. They decided to set up a new capital in the centre of the country, as the old capital, Lagos, was on the southern coast.

For this letter, I thought I would tell you a little bit about my home. Then, in the next few weeks, I will let you know about the people, wildlife and places I see and the things I do.

My husband and I live in an apartment on the third floor of a block of nine homes (no, not in a mud hut as some of you thought before I left!) The apartment is very big and has four bedrooms, all with bathrooms, a large living/dining room with balconies on either side and a big kitchen. All rooms have air-conditioning and floor fans to cope with the heat (at the moment it is a pleasant 32degrees C), and all the windows have mosquito nets to keep out the nasties! There are no lifts in the block so it can be quite tiring climbing up all those stairs in the heat! The whole complex is surrounded by a high fence and wall which is topped with razor wire. There are security guards at the gate whose job it is to check people coming onto the compound, and also to switch the big generator on if the electricity fails (which it often does, especially in the recent storms) There are small gardens surrounding the apartments, and a swimming pool and tennis court.

The view from the front balcony

The weather here is quite nice at the moment. The rainy season has almost finished, apart from the occasional storm, and there are some quite nice breezes to help to keep the temperature down. You never need a coat or even a cardigan here, as it is always warm, whatever the season. Soon we will have the Harmatan which are winds that bring the dust from the Sahara desert. Sometimes this can be quite bad, and makes everything very hazy, leaving a thick layer of orange dust everywhere.

I hope that you are enjoying your time back at school. I expect that you saw some great fireworks over the weekend. I’m a bit like the cuckoo, and didn’t see any this year. I don’t think anyone here has heard of Guy Fawkes! I imagine that you will soon be learning some songs for your concert performance. I am thinking of you all!!

Please feel free to write any comments as a reply to this letter (I’m sure that Mrs Peart will show you how to) Also, I wondered if any of you could think of a good title for the blog. Let me know any of your ideas, and I will bring a prize for the one I choose back with me when I visit you at Christmas.

Lots of love to you all, work hard and be happy!

Love from Mrs Sanchez