My Summer Break

Hey blogville peeps! Just a quick update cos I've been quiet here for a while. I've had a very interesting time in the last six weeks. So much has happened, I don't even know where to start blogging from. So I kept procrastinating until more than a month slipped by! How's it been going on blogville? I've been slacking so much lately, it will take me forever to catch up. I've managed to update my Journey Down the Aisle blog recently, but I haven't been writing much else.

Hubby and I have been travelling to some cities in Europe, then we've had family and friends coming and going because of the summer holidays, there have also been places to go, people to see, four weddings, two birthday parties and all the other social events that increase when the weather is nice. I never thought I would say this, but I really can't wait until the holidays are over and things get back to normal so I can resume my usual routine.

The travelling has been fun though! I've definitely enjoyed lots of quality time for hubby and I to reconnect, away from the pressures of work and everything else. We've been to Eindhoven, Bremen and Paris in the past three weeks, and the lovely memories will last a life time. I finally went on the Eurostar that I had been hearing so much about, finally got to see the Eiffel Tower! Sorry I'm feeling too lazy to sort through the photos and upload them.

When I've had some downtime, I've been catching up on my reading, which is good cos I need to keep myself inspired. I've recently read two fiction novels, The Pirate's Daughter and The Outcast, and two non-fiction books: Love and Respect and One Love, Two Colours (this one I particularly enjoyed cos it was very personal but also thought provoking). It was great to be reading again. In the busyness of everyday I sometimes forget how much I love reading, how good it feels to be so absorbed in a good book that you lose track of time, how much books have the power to change your mind and even challenge your beliefs. I used to enjoy reading books, magazines or newspapers on the commute but now I have to remind myself to pick up a book occasionally.

Anyhoo, God is good o! I'm really grateful to God for His blessings over my life. Sometimes I forget, and I just need to count them again to realise that He really does loves me. Sometimes the enemy tries to magnify my challenges, but I magnify my God in response. The other day, at a family gathering some people were making noises about when hubby and I would have a baby. I just kept a smile on my face and told them I was enjoying myself too much at the moment. They didn't know what to say! lol

I hope you guys have been catching up on the gist on our series In My Dreams It Was Simpler . If you haven't, make sure you head over there right away! The drama is really hotting up!

Have a great weekend and remain favoured.

Off to Lagos

I'm in a real hurry as I type this. I'm travelling to Nigeria in less than 24 hours and I still have a ton of packing to do, all while trying not to carry excess luggage. Hubby is laughing at me at the moment because I tend to stuff too much into my boxes and then start worrying that I'll be charged for extras at the check-in desk.

I was ill last week, which was the last thing I needed because I hadn't started shopping, packing or getting ready for my trip. I couldn't do anything for two days. Doctor came round, said it was a virus and gave me a load of pills to chew on. I'm feeling much better now but I have to be careful not to stress myself too much. I cycled out yesterday and I started feeling dizzy so I'm definitely not pulling that stunt again until I feel 100 percent.

I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends again, and also a few bloggers. I also have four weddings and two reunions lined up already so I know I'm going to be out and about a lot. It should be fun! Well, anything to escape the freezing cold going on here at the moment :)

I'll be in Nigeria until early in the new year. I'll try to update my blog while I'm away but I can't guarantee that. So I'll just wish everyone a very happy month of December, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Advance. (It's surreal to think that 2008 is almost over isn't it?)

I'll bring back goodwill, photos and gists :)

Later, friends!

Positive Stuff

Hello blogville! I'm in a much better mood this week, for many reasons. It's been a defining moment in history for one! But apart from that, I've had several things happen to cheer me up.

First of all, I'm really glad to witness the fact that Barack Obama won the election! I know how significant his victory is to people of colour, to people who thought they can never break down some barriers. His victory has given hope to thousands of people all around the world that indeed, anything is possible. And that we can achieve our dreams, no matter how far-fetched they sound at the beginning. Imagine, a few short years ago, it would have been impossible to believe that a mixed-race, relatively young man of Kenyan descent would campaign and win the US presidential election by a clear majority. But it has happened right before our very eyes! My big congratulations to President Obama himself, and also to his family and the team behind him. For the first time in history, America has a black family living in the White House!

I'm sure they (Obama and his advisers) know the enormity of the task ahead of them. They must know that the eyes of the world will be on him, and every decision he makes will be scrutinised closely. They are definitely aware that Obama now has to prove a point to the rest of the world: that he deserves all the confidence the voters have in him to deliver on his promises. I just hope the American people who voted him into power, will be patient with him. It can't be easy inheriting the legacy of outgoing President Bush, with the heavy weight of expectations on his shoulders.

Now if I can dream, I hope for the day that my own country Nigeria, and indeed many other countries in Africa will have visionary leaders like Obama that we can believe in. I hope that one day the voice of the people will matter. I hope that one day soon, we will have leaders who want to serve the people, not rule and plunder them. I hope that one day, we will cast away the lust for power, ignorance, selfishness, greed and injustice, to give way for true democracy, peace and unity in our country. I await the day that I would say with even more pride: I am a Nigerian.

Okay, enough of politics! In other news.... last week, hubby and I went on a short break to the city of Porto and we had a lovely time. It was a nice change of scenery and a break from the usual humdrum which was exactly what I needed to get out of the gloom. It was fun hearing another language, trying different food, sampling another culture and exploring a new city. Porto is such a nice chilled out city, compared to London, it's definitely a breath of fresh air! The people are really nice and friendly too. More than once, seeing hubby and I poring over a map in confusion, people have walked up to us and offered to help us find our way around! We had fin walking over bridges, taking a river cruise, going on a tour of a Port Wime making factory and more. I would definitley recommend it to anyone looking for a place to have a relaxing city break for the weekend. Some photos:

I didn't plan this at the beginning of the year, but now I'm going to Nigeria this December by God's grace. How it all happened is still a bit of a mystery to me, but before I knew it, I found myself making plans and getting a ticket one day. Still, I don't mind though, going to Nigeria should be fun! I'll be seeing family and friends that I haven't seen for a year, so that's good. I might even meet up with some bloggers as well! If you are going to be in Lagos this Christmas, feel free to holla!

And finally, my writer's block has cleared, so I'm going to make the most of this time. I've finally updated my writing blog, and I'll be putting up a couple more stuff on it in the next week, fingers crossed. It feels good to be productive again!

Later blogville, hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Motorbike Training, Amsterdam

Hey bloggers and readers! Hope your week went well and you are having a really cool weekend. First of all, I want to send a big shout-out to my little sister who had a birthday recently. She's now a proper big girl and I'm so proud of the young lady she has become. I'm too overwhelmed with emotions to write an epistle about her, but she knows how I feel. Love you loads darling!

I've had a really great time in the last few days. I took the whole of last week off work. It was a huge relief not to be at a desk in the office all day, and coming home tired and grumpy in the evenings. I wanted to make the most of it, because hubby had a week off as well so we put our days into good use. Last Monday, hubby and I went to try our hands at motorbiking. I have always wanted a scooter or a motorbike (just for the something fun and different factor) and I had been bugging him to get me a scooter for a long time. So he finally agreed and then we found out that we needed to do some training before we would be allowed to get on the road. I thought it would be a breeze, by my, was I surprised. We got to the training centre and I spent the whole day just learning to balance on the bike properly, starting and stopping safely and stuff. Finally when I was given the chance to ride around the track, needless to say, I fell off a few times! It was still great fun though and I intend to continue practicing until I can ride a motorbike perfectly. However long that may be.

The rest of my week went great too. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I just chilled and lazed around. And then on Thursday, hubby and I popped out again for a short city break. This time we went to Amsterdam, a lovely city famous for its canals, bridges, cycling, friendly Dutch people and that district. We were there for three days and we had a blast. Being there has made me even more determined to learn a few European languages, so that is going up on my to-do list. I think I now prefer Amsterdam to Bruge or Brussels, but I'll make a few more trips before I decide on my favourite European city.

Here are some photos of Amsterdam:








Next time I get a chance to visit Holland, I'll try to see Rotterdam and The Hague as well. But for now, it's back to work for me and I'm so not looking forward to it. But I've got a lot of interesting things lined up for June so it should be a great month. Hope you have a lovely June too!

Next Trip, Stress and Stuff

I can't believe it's been a month since I last updated my blog. Time has flown by so quickly. It's not that I've had nothing to say or nothing has been going on in my life, quite the opposite in fact. I actually came to my blog determined to update it last week, I had so many things running through my mind. But after staring blankly at the screen for ages, I thought I'll give it a rest until I can bring myself to write.
The last month has been a particularly busy one. When I wasn't busy with work, I was travelling, and when I wasn't travelling, I was stressed out with my writing career. And upon all, I have been feeling ill with all kinds of unusual symptoms! I feel a lot better now health wise, I didn't go to work today so tat I could go and see the doctor. But I'm still stressing over some decisions that I have to make, and the answers seem to be eluding me. I guess I have to pray harder. Anyway on to the gist:

I've heard that once you get bitten by the travel bug, there is no cure! I've found that to be very true. It's like once you go on one trip, you want to go on more! So it is with this in mind, that soon after hubby and I came back from Belgium, we planned two short trips when we both had a break from work. We went to Sweden first, then Italy.
I'm getting used to Passport Control officers scrutinising my passport more closely when I arrive at airports. When we arrived in Sweden, we were in front of a queue that was moving quickly until we got to the desk. The lady stamping the passports spent less than 30 seconds looking at the red British and European passports, but when shown a green one, she checked on a list beside her desk and asked us many questions, before she was satisfied that we were okay to enter her country. Hubby and I just smiled when we finally got to the other side. It seems like when it comes to immigration matters, Nigeria is always on some dodgy list or the other so immigration officials have to ask us more questions.
We found our way from the airport into the main city centre by taking one of those airport transit coaches, that dropped us right in the Central Station. We walked around for a while, comparing the city of Stockholm with cities in UK and Belgium. I thought it looked quite different as the architecture of the old buildings were slightly different in Scandinavia compared to Western Europe. Again, we were glad to find that a lot of people speak English quite well. It was interesting to hear English spoken in a Swedish accent. I liked the language because it's somewhere between English and German so it was quite easy to guess what the signs and words on display meant. When we started getting tired and cold, we had lunch and then set off to find our hotel.
Either we suddenly became bad at reading maps or we were reading Swedish maps upside down, but it took us ages to find our hotel. We got lost a few times, but in the end we managed to find it. For the rest of the evening, I was too cold and tired to go looking for any more excitement so we just chilled indoors eating dinner and watching Swedish television until the next day.
The next morning we headed out to the town centre again, first we wanted to go to the Tourist Information Centre to get maps and guides to the city. But we couldn't find the office anywhere! So we decided to just wing it, and wander around on our own. What's the worst that could happen? We didn't get lost in the end, we managed to find a lot of interesting sights around Stockholm by following other tourists and checking the Street Maps in the city centre. Eventually we found the Old Town, the museums, Old Royal Palace, shopping area and a few other interesting sights. We stopped to have lunch at the Central Station and chilled out for a bit. We resumed our exploration of the city till evening, strolling through the city centre when we noticed a group of people of all races coming out of a church. Out of curiosity, we decided to pop in. It seemed like the Sunday evening service had just ended and people were meeting and greeting each other. It felt exactly like a church back in England, except that they were speaking a different language. A few people smiled at us, some people just looked at us with curiosity. We didn't stay long, we just strolled in and strolled out. It was a bit silly, but fun actually. On our way back to our hotel when it was nightfall, we finally found the tourist information office. Typical! After we had navigated our own way around the town. In any case, we noted the spot and decided it was still worth a visit the next day.
The next morning, we checked out of our hotel because we were flying out that night. We decided to make the most of our limited time in Stockholm. I wanted to browse the shops while hubby wanted to do other things, so in the end we split up and went separate ways. I went to the main shopping areas and noticed that there were a lot of H&M shops around, then it dawned on me that H&M is a Swedish company, so it made sense. I had fun wandering around, window shopping and mentally converting all the prices from SEK to pounds in my head. Eventually I bought a lovely scarf and a top and went to the tourist info centre to pick up a list of more attractions. But there didn't seem to be anything else I could do in a few hours so I met up with hubby for lunch, again in the main central station. We swapped gists of our adventures and while we relaxed, we were people-watching and noticed a difference between Stockholm and London. The people seemed to be a lot more laid back and chilled out compared to Londoners. Even at 5.00pm when we were expecting the hustle and bustle of rush hour, most people still strolled around casually. We took one last stroll around, but soon it was time for us to head back to the airport, so we said our goodbyes to Stockholm and got on the coach back to the airport. The next day we headed off to Venice... but that is another post for another day.

Here are some photos from Stockholm:





I'm excited at the moment though. I've got a birthday coming up soon and it's a milestone! I'm excited to be reaching another milestone in my life, but I'm thinking it's almost unbelievable! When was I a 9-year old running around and getting excited about reaching double figures? Now I'm a big girl! I'm planning to have a get-together with my friends next weekend. I'll let you know how it goes! Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

PS: Thanks to the "update police" for checking up on me!

Easter Time

It's almost the Easter weekend - yay!! Easter has come earlier than usual this year. Until yesterday I couldn't get into the holiday mood much. I had been feeling a bit down last week since Sunday the 9th. I wasn't coughing or sneezing, but I had headaches and absolutely no energy so I was lethargic and fatigued. I had to take a few days off work to see the GP and he just said the usual stuff: you should eat healthy, take exercise and have lots of rest etc etc. So I rested at home for a while doing nothing. I didn't even have the energy to do anything useful with my time. But I started getting bored, so on Thursday I finally dragged myself to work but it wasn't until Sunday before I finally started to feel better.

The weather in England hasn't exactly been cheerful either in the last few days. Even though it's Easter and spring is supposed to be here, it still feels very much like winter, which doesn't help. There are lots of nice spring and summer clothes in the shops now, but as the temperature stubbornly refuses to go up and weather forecasts are predicting snow and other woes over the Easter weekend, everyone is still wrapped up in their winter jumpers, scarves and gloves. I'm tired of wearing black, brown and grey already! I can't wait for the warmer weather so that we can all start to wear nice spring and summer colours like green, yellow, white, pink, orange, blue etc.

With Easter almost here, it means Lent is almost over too! I think I've benefited a lot from giving up Facebook in the last month. I suddenly found that I have more time to do other important stuff when I am at my computer (lol). I needed to get it out of my system for a while, so I've proved that I can survive without checking it 10 times a day! Now I hope I can have a healthy relationship with Facebook because I've realised it's a useful tool, but I should never let it control my time.

Hubby and I are hopping over to Belgium to spend the Easter break. I haven't been there before so I'm looking forward to it. Travelling has always been one of my hobbies but I had left it dormant for so long to pursue other things. So this year I have decided to revive my interest in seeing the world, broadening my mind and learning about other people and places. I think travelling is a great way of getting an education outside of classrooms, films and books: you are actually there in the adventure, experiencing things for yourself. I have been daydreaming for years about travelling all over the world and I don't want to postpone doing it anymore. So now is a good time to start, one city at a time.

I hope you are planning to enjoy the holidays too. Let's not forget that it's not all about chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies though. It's about reminding ourselves that Jesus came to earth to make the ultimate sacrifice of love: He gave His life for us! So He is the reason for the season. Hope you have a great Easter break!