the Poijke Pot

We are now part of a regular Ex-Pat Braai club on a Sunday at Ogoggoro Island. We are the only Non South Africans (and they are all Africaan speakers) in the group but I guess they tolerate us because Wales is a rugby nation as well! After a few weeks of sausages, goat, steaks etc the SAs decide they will treat Carl and Myself to a traditional Poijke. This is the name of the black three legged pot that a stew is cooked in  and it dates back to the great trek of the Boers across Africa. So we are all assigned jobs - we are bringing the Marguaritas and Ice cream and the others various bits and bobs. The great stew cook out begins at 12:00 and the braai is lit and the stew begun. this entails huge amounts of meet being fried with cabbage onions and spices going in afterwards. You can see from all the pictures how seriously it is taken.

HOWEVER, at about 3:00 the sailors who were taking part in a competition come in and they need some room on the braai to cook chops, steak etc, so one of the guys shovels some coal onto the ground and places the poijke on top. 10 minutes later there is the most amazing bang, the pot shoots up into the air and comes back down onto its three legs!! the Concrete had heated up the air had expanded at had exploded- how we weren't all burnt is a miracle. another hour later we all ate the poijke and it was worth the wait.

Gross out 2

We are in half term so I thought I would cook some Boston baked beans using local adult beans. These beans are small and white but taste lovely and as Carl has to ncrease his roughage and pulse intake thought it would be great. I bought the beans loose from Suya marketlast month and used half and put the rest in a large airtigiht container. As I poured the beans into the saucepan to soak, I noticed they were moving - all by them selves!! THey were crawling with weevils - and what is worse still so was the rice and the flour!!!! And they must be bad because Beatrice said we had to throw it all away, not wash them or pck out the weevils but throw it away- unheard of in Nigeria to throw away food! Sort if you haven't read he Aubrey maturin series of books se in the napoleons wars, but the joke gets how do you chose between two weevils? You always chose the lesser of two weevils!!!

Gross out

Ok it is the rainy season here and there are lots of bugs about, but our poor guinea pigs have been limping so we got the vet in, they had Tumbu Fly larvae growing under the skin of their feet. The poor creatures must have been in agony, so while Daniel. Head steward held the guinea pigs, I squeezed the red boil like lump. You cannot believe how huge the larvae was that I squeezed out!!! They were larger than my ring finger nail and white, fat and wrigling!,both guinea pigs had 3 in their feet and they left massive holes and craters, but hopefully the antibiotics will clearr that up. I don't think the stewards though that Me, a yebo could deal with the insects without screaming!! However if I ever get Tumbu fly I will be on the first plane home and will be screaming all the way.

Glenfrome charity in Lagos

The amazing kids of Glenfrome school raised money for a Nigerian orphanage , by wearing odd shoes. they gave me £100 and this week our school council took n25,000 worth of baby food to the orphanage. I was so proud of both schools.

It is a very small world

Unfortunately, Carl has had a quite nasty health scare - I am not going to go into it here, but suffice it to say he has had to have a colonoscopy. Thankfully all is clear and he is Ok only diverticulosis which is easy controlled by weight loss (!) and a bit of diet change. However, the consultant he saw asked if he was Swedish to which he replied no, Welsh and Mr. Dayo Ajayi, replied that he trained at the Heath Hospital and lived in Wales for 25 years. And he was known as Dai when he lived n Wales. He lived in Abergavenny and just outside Monmouth. He also knew so many people in common with us!! But the truly bizarre thing was when we went to see him today he greeted us in Welsh!!! We are n half term this week so hope to go and see some places and take photos.

London visit

Last weekend I had a flying visit to London to attend a conference and interview a couple of teachers. Both were very successful and hopeful Jenny will be joining St Saviour's in September.
When you live in the UK you take so many things for granted and it is only when you are not in a 1st world country that you truly appreciate the things we have in the UK.
shall I list them?

• electricity - all the time no power outs
• hot water in the hotel room- all the time
• zebra crossings!!!! which people respect
• streets that you can walk down and look at shop windows
• well stocked supermarket shelves with amazingly cheap out of season food.

so I stocked up on British asparagus  and we have been eating it and savouring it all week!

Hey but it was great to come back to the warmth - both temperature and welcome from people. 

Sailing

Well, we have joined the yacht club and started learning to sail. We are going out on little catamarans- two people at a time and they go like the wind. it is really great fun, but we need to improve!! So I started learning how to use the harness that enables you to lean right out over the side of the boat- see the picture!! I had bruises on my bruises on my blisters. But couldn't wait to get on the water.
 The water by the yacht club is very warm- like a bath but really oily and full of rubbish and less than pleasant things., and it is an amazingly busy channel as well. So you have to looking all the time for ships and tankers that wont see you. Still Joe and myself took off - me in the harness attached to the boat and started tacking etc around the bay, and then- we took a turn too sharp and the whole boat capsized and we were firmly in the water. All I could think was don't swallow please don't swallow!! It took us quite a time to get the boat back up the right way, involving two further dunkings in the water. I lived in fear of eye and other infections for the next week- people kept regaling me with stories of friends who had gone in the harbour and come down with multiple boils etc later. Still I appear to be boil free at the moment!.But hey this is Nigeria!!!!!!