Finding Paradise Falls

Travel Journal Entries Part 3

The following is an entry in my handwritten “travel journal”.  In fact, the next several entries will be from the journal in order to tell the story of our journey from the beginning.  I dedicate it to Joseph C. McDaniel who tirelessly and relentlessly encouraged me to publicly display all that is me; well, really he would say, “Take it to the stage, Sydney!  Your future is on the stage as a comedienne.”  To which I would always reply, “Joe, I am only conversationally funny not stage funny.”  So, here is me being conversationally funny in public… Joe, how’s this for a compromise?

Enjoy…

So, after we put our bags down and got a quick look at the place, we were walked back downstairs to the dining room for lunch.  Blessings, our cook, had prepared a small “feast” for us of potatoes with meat patties and vegetables with pasta.  We were served bottle water and Coke bottles- real old fashioned Coke bottles made of glass with metal caps.  Kurt and I weren’t sure if the food was actually good or if we were just so hungry that it didn’t matter- we decided it was likely a bit of both.  We also decided that between the facts that we were both so exhausted from traveling, anxiety and that we hadn’t really been prone in 72 hours, plus the fact that Claude, our friend/boss, wasn’t expected still for another four or so hours, a nap was probably for the best. 

Our room was without a door handle and instead had an oblong hole where one used to be.  Based upon this “detail” we decided that the bed furthest from the door would be our bed and; upon our bed we fell- fully clothed.  Neither of us actually remembers falling asleep but we did remember waking up with the very full and sharp realization that we were in Nigeria!!!  WOW!!!  That “ah-ha moment” was very brief as we began to scramble to figure out what time it was.  Since our US mobile phones, after having crossed into international territory, have been rendered little more than fancy paperweights, we had no way of telling the time.  We’re typical Americans- we had cell phones- not watches!  Plus, since our phones had been stuck in airplane mode since we left NY (how many days ago was that?) we could’ve been sleeping for one hour or twelve. 

After we figured out that it had only been about three hours, we decided that we would go downstairs to see if Claude had arrived.  He hadn’t but with 15 minutes he did.  Claude greeted us with such warmth and excitement.  He kept telling us how happy he was that we were there and that he had been waiting for a long time to see Kurt and to meet me.  He hugged and kissed both of us and then hugged and kissed us again.  Then he introduced us to his companion, Serge, an architect from Lebanon.  “Serge is working on a big project for the company,” he told us and then he told us to go upstairs clean up and change as we would be meeting the Governor of Ebonyi State in an hour.  HUH?!?!  What the hell?!  I’m thinking, “we just got here after traveling for four long days, we’ve only just settled down let alone settled in and you want us to pretty-up so we can meet the local royalty?!  Uhm, WOW!  But, off we went.

All four of us and the driver, Stephen, piled tightly into the Toyota Prado headed to meet “royalty” over the darkest and bumpiest roads I’ve ever encountered.  Once at the Governor’s palace (yes, that’s what it’s called) it was very evident that we were about to meet a VERY important person as there was security EVERYWHERE and; even though we had an appointment, we had a few hoops to jump through.  The interesting thing was that even with the “hoops” we all also became very aware that Claude is considered to be a very highly respected and revered man.  Everyone we encountered was glad and even joyful to meet and greet Claude.  Often times it seems as if Claude is some sort of dignitary or ambassador because of the way the people treat him.  Yet another revelation was that anyone accompanying “Mr. James,” as he is known, was to be respected as well though I did still get more than a few sideways glances as so many don’t know what to make of the “big Madame Lady”. 

Okay, let me offer a bit of information:  In Nigeria, there are 35 semi-independent states and one Capital State known as Abujah where the President, Good Luck Johnathon, resides.  Each of the 35 states is overseen by a Governor who manages the state with quite a bit of autonomy so the position of Governor comes with status similar to royalty.  Some of you reading this are members of the SCA (if you have no idea what that is, it’s a medieval and renaissance re-creation club I use to belong to in the States; if you want to know about it, you can learn about it at www.sca.org) and therefore have dealt with “royalty”… yeah, uh, not really.  Meeting the Governor and his First Lady is like meeting the Queen of England.  There are certain rules one must follow:  do not offer your hand to shake unless it has been offered by His Excellency first; always look him in the eye; it is customary to do a small bow in posture or nodding of your head when shaking hands with His Excellency; and a few other rules too.  My point is that it is that the whole experience is beyond belief! 

So during this meeting, Kurt and I learned that there were plans for a cathedral to be built (which is why Serge had been brought on because he had designed it).  The drawings and master plan were quite impressive and while we were quietly listening to Claude speak about the details of the plan that’s when Kurt and I learned that Kurt was to be the Project Manager for the construction of it and for the brand new city, Ocho-Udo City (pronounced Ō-shō Doo), that would surround it… Uhm, HUH?!?!  A city?!  Like a whole city?!  And Kurt is supposed to manage the construction of it?!  Uh, WOW!!!  The city will of course be built over the next several years and in many, many phases but; WOW a whole city!  I have to give credit to Kurt for maintaining his composure during the meeting after that fine little bomb had been dropped (mind you, when we returned to the house later, Kurt had a full-on melt down that I didn’t blame him for at all and actually joined him in).

Next, Claude introduces Kurt and I and then says that we each will be presenting a verbal version of our curriculum vitas (along with a brief showing on the projector of some of Kurt’s completed projects which, thankfully, Claude had allowed Kurt to take a few minutes to prepare on a thumb-drive of before the meeting).  When it was my turn to speak, being nervous, I was very brief- like too brief.  There were so many things I forgot to share with them about my background and experience.  When it was all said and done, I felt like the arm-candy with little to no other purpose than to sit and decorate the room.  I vowed to myself that if I ever got a chance to speak to either of Their Excellencies I would not make that mistake again. 

After each presentation during the meeting His Excellency seemed quite pleased with the plans and expressed his sincere desires to see them come to fruition.  He made it clear that he had great hopes for the project as it would be his legacy.  Since, I have found that having a legacy is very important here.  VERY important.  As important if not more so than having children.  Learning all of this only further impressed upon all of us the magnitude of the projects and the importance of our presence here in Ebonyi State… so we’d better not F it up!

By the time we got back from the meeting Kurt and I had just about had enough.  It had just been way too much excitement and travel and newness and differentness for us.  We crashed and crashed hard but with thoughts of the very full day of meetings and site surveys and acclimation that await us the next day and all the days after.

This was the last entry I managed to finish in the handwritten Travel Journal simply because finding time to write everything down was just too much especially once the blog was up.  So now I will only post to the blog directly.  I can't promise that every post will be as poetic or pretty as the previous entries from the journal were but I can promise that I'll try not to leave out any details.  I definitely want everyone to get a vivid impression of what life here is like.  I'll share my experiences, victories, woes and all of the hilarious encounters with the people and living without the "comforts" of home (you know like bacon, Post-Its and semi-comfy toilet seats).  

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I am. 

PS.... Sorry folks, I tried to load two pictures to the blog and after 3 hours I finally just gave up.  The signal here is so weak that I don't think pictures on the blog will be possible.  However, I was able to load about 32 pictures onto Facebook; the album is called Abakaliki.  Enjoy!