8 weeks and counting

So I’ve now got eight weeks left in Nigeria – almost to the day. I try not to think about this too much because it stresses me out. Not because I don’t want to come home, I miss home like crazy and I cannot wait to see everyone and I especially cannot wait for my friend’s wedding. But for a few different reasons, it’s going to be very hard for me to leave Nigeria. It’s also slightly unsettling that I have no idea what I will do next. I’m just going to apply for a lot of different jobs in a lot of different places and see where fate ends up putting me. But it’s also fair to say that the main reason I am dreading leaving is because I know the journey home with Squirt is going to be a complete and utter nightmare! Rainy season has started now, and so we’re having storms most nights at the moment. And Squirt is not a fan of loud noises. It’s not the thunder that wakes me up; it’s Squirt trying to climb underneath me to avoid the noise that wakes me most nights. So a plane journey is definitely not going to be something she enjoys.

It’s been another busy few weeks, and some fun highlights have included:

·      My first Nigerian Haircut! Another volunteer cut it for me as it was in desperate need of help, and she did a very good job.

·      Going for a drink on the top of a massive hill overlooking Abuja. It’s beautiful up there, and having lived in Abuja since last July I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve been up there.

·      More fish (and egg for me) and chips at Abacha Barracks.

·      A mini pubcrawl around the area I live – it doesn’t feel so bad drinking beer during the day when you end up walking about 8km in total.

·      Lots of sunbathing at the British Village.

·      Free dinner courtesy of someone who was visiting from VSO, which meant … you guessed it – CHEESE.

·      Walking back from work – it only takes me an hour and it’s a really nice walk. But I think people here think I’m crazy.

·      Getting a parcel from home that included an array of delicious food to keep me going until I come back. And it only took 12 days to get here, which is a new record.

·      Spending a Saturday night swimming and drinking wine (from the swimming pool).

·      Collecting my dresses from the tailor – and this time they aren’t a complete disaster.

I love going to work at the moment – one lady here gave birth 3 months ago, and so now her maternity leave is up. So the baby comes to work with her. It’s awesome, he just gets passed around from person to person all day and is a very welcome distraction when the generator is broken and all of our laptop batteries are dead.

But I also realised the other day when I smelt bacon cooking and felt very homesick (despite the fact that I am vegetarian) that it’s probably time for me to come home. I have never before felt homesick at the smell of cooking flesh.