Day 28: I Think It’s Impossible To Laugh And Do Pilates.

Happy Nigerian Independence Day! Today marks the 40^th anniversary of this country becoming its own ruler. I woke up very excited to eat breakfast and walk down to the Stadium where there was rumored to be a parade and rally to celebrate this holiday. I knew their celebration most likely wouldn’t involve fireworks and hot dogs, but that seemed to make it even more special. What I didn’t realize, though, is what had been said earlier this week by the government. So when I went to the Stadium and saw nothing going on, and recognized how our neighborhood sounded like any other day, I got a little suspicious. Biana broke the news to me when I got back that because of the current state of Nigeria (its political confusion, the economic crisis, the fact that NEPA doesn’t want to pay to light up stadiums across the country) Independence Day wasn’t actually going to be celebrated communally. 40 years of being independent was achieved with another day of normalcy. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing but it made me pretty sad.

 

            Because all of my plans of celebration were, well, thrown out a few days earlier without my knowledge, I enjoyed another day of rest and relaxation. The people down the street were still building the apartment complex so I stopped, said Hello, and gawked for a few minutes before heading to the Clinic to check e-mails. Lunch, reading, writing, and then we decided it was time to break out Return of the King to make up for our lack of epic-ness this morning. There is nothing quite like watching Lord of the Rings with the church next door blaring their praise through speakers. While men and orcs battle over Gondor “Amazing Grace” is being sung with Nigerian accents in the background.

 

            Another fabulous dinner from Baba was followed by all three women in our flat throwing on the workout clothes for a little bit of pilates action. We all looked pretty ridiculous, nothing like our perfectly in-shape instructor Ana, but we’re getting better each day. There was a lot of laughing and we didn’t quite make it through the video since The Seal is too much to handle when you can’t breathe through giggles. We desperately need some sleep. And some chocolate. It looks like October is going to be even more interesting than September...bring it on!