12/05/2013 Mother’s Day Sunday
Happy Mother’s Day
Mom and to all my sisters from another mother, who are mothers themselves, xxoo
majaP
The sky is heavy
grey. I take refuge under the screened porch, debating what to have for dinner.
Rain may fall yet a third time.
Mother’s Day morning
arrives today with a pitter patter on the tin roof. Though thunder clouds
rumble, bed sheets and jammies, towels and washcloths are laundered and hung on
the line in optimism. Sure enough blue patches blotter the sky and a blazing
sun burns through laggard clouds; soggy linens dry crisp in under thirty
minutes. Lucky thing. Grey rolls back in, more thunder rumbles and early
afternoon comes with a pitter patter on the lush broad-leaf birds of paradise
and soon to bud hibiscus. Not for long. Again, skies clear. Setting up chair
with footstool, water bottle and book on the walkway just outside my door,
afternoon passes with carefree laziness. A small female lizard keeps company.
She scampers as close as she dares, bobs her head, dips and nabs a bite of
something from the ground, chews, parts her mouth as if in smile – sweating I
suppose – and then edges just a slight bit closer. I wiggle toes or wave a foot
every now and then to test her courage. Sometimes she scampers but returns
closer still.
In between pages of
“Three Cups of Tea,” sips of water, nibbles of stove popped corn seasoned with
salt and peppe, and the antics of she lizard, thoughts drift to my two baby
girls who I miss fiercely. Distance is one thing we’re able to bridge in
Canada. Thanks to sketchy Internet, spotty power, time differences and
scheduling challenges our daily too-ing and fro-ing is lucky to happen weekly.
Call it a definite homesick hurdle. The tender reassurance that comes from an
out of the blue “hello” or “nightie-night,”
“thinking of you” or “just because,” is especially missed on this no
nepa, no internet Mother’s Day in Nigeria.
Your moon is my moon. Looking up at it tonite. xxoo
Sidebar:
Tried to get a data plan for my Samsung mobile this weekend to counter the nepa/internet
issue. Probs is my phone is locked by dear ol’ Canadian service provider Rogers;
won’t permit use of a foreign SIM card. Really? Tsk tsk shame, shame.
15/05/2013 Just another wettish Wednesday
As I think I’m
acclimatizing to the weather and the weirdness, I encounter a handful of firsts. First, Concern Universal’s office is fully
air conditioned and operational as of yesterday afternoon. Kinda off timing
though: last night as rain teems down and winds sweep in through open windows,
for the first time since arriving I contemplate wearing long sleeve silk
jammies and pull a sheet up over my body to keep comfortable against the evening
chill. This morning, for the first time ever here, I notice steam rising from
my mug of coffee. Earlier in the week I dine on the first palatable meat dish
in two months; a yum comfort-food beef stew, compliments of Sarah. I watch her
select a butcher and insist on a hunk of lean flesh taken from the middle of a
larger chunk. As the butcher sets to
work hacking away fat and gristle two other customers finger smaller cuts of
meat – poking and prodding and passing the meat between each other. How gross
is that? For the first time, ever, as much as I love the flavour of Sarah’s
stew, I savour the fresh green beans and carrots and potato but am gobsmacked
to find myself struggling with the fleshy meat bits. Am I going to be able to
eat thick bloody steaks like I once did? Hmmm dunno that.
Otherwise, everything
here seems surprisingly predictable and routine. Well, almost.
Outside the walls of Marion market I spot a grown woman standing with
her dress hefted up around her waist. A stream of pee splatters against the ground
beneath her. Ewww. To think she’s going to go handle fresh fruits and veg, meat
and fish as a shopper or vendor.
Sidebar:
Roger's is a mobile mobster: i) monthly charges for a plan I can't defer or economically use
while out of country; ii) outrageous roaming charges on top of an international
travel package intentionally purchased that - surprise!?! - doesn't cover
international roaming charges; iii) a $50 fee to unlock my phone so that I can use a
local SIM card - plus iv) more roaming fees to call Rogers to address these issues.
Where's customer service in all this? Rogers takes advantage of its customers
through inflexible standards and services and/or ill-trained staff providing misleading
or incorrect information. Is this not corruption/siphoning conveniently
shrouded under the guise and protection of corporate policy?
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