Market Adventure

Friday went a little more smoothly than the past few days. Most of us are getting more adjusted to the time change, though the transition is not even close to being complete.
We were picked up at 11:30 by Kauna (Pronounced “Ka-oo-na” but said all together very quickly) and she was our guide around the market. Driving is still nerve racking as there are constantly achabas (motor bike taxis) passing you three inches from your bumper. However it is fun to look out the window and wave at the small children. They’re faces light up and they wave back with a big grin. I also get a kick out of seeing all the animals that wander along the side of the street. They don’t have stray dogs here, they have stray goats. All the items were so colorful and fun looking in the market! It was great just to be able to look around, though I could hardly take my eyes off the ground because the sidewalk was very uneven and full of potholes. We stopped into a couple of fabric stores and in each one you felt like you were walking into a parrot shop. We are each supposed to pick out a print that we like so it can be made into a traditional Nigerian outfit. We’ll where these to church, weddings, funerals, and most other Nigerian occasions. It was so funny to see each of our different tastes! I had my eye on a bright green with blue streaks, while Emily was looking closely at a more neutral green color that had trees printed on it. Mother fell in love with a fabric that was just a solid print of her favorite color; an extremely bright fuscia pink. We all groaned.
Kauna led us all around the market and the back alley, and we bought some basic food. It was amazing to see people walking around with large, shallow, metal bowls full of peanuts, bananas, and other fruit on their heads. We even saw someone walk by with a goat head balanced in his bowl! It was gross, but cool. We did get hassled a little bit when dad took a picture of the market place and a lady walked up, obviously very angry, saying “You snap my mother! What is the problem!?” None of us could think of anything to say except “Sorry,” but Emily was very witty and replied “Oh, I’m sorry, but she is just so beautiful that we couldn’t help it.” At this, the woman calmed down and said “Thank you.” And let us go. In Nigeria, to “Snap” somebody is to take a picture of them. You have to be careful and ask if you may take a picture of someone because many of them don’t like it or believe that when you take a picture of them you are taking away a part of them.
All in all, it was an adventure filled day that taught us much about Nigerian culture, and left each of us with fond memories that we will cherish ‘til the end of our days.

Camille Mitchell (age 13)