Watching TV is an aerobic exercise

Not this UPS

...this UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply)

The house we live in came with 3 TVs, one downstairs, two upstairs. We get our satellite out of South Africa, so the programs are pretty good. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the quality of television viewing until I actually started watching it. Quality programs or not, you need electricity to run a TV.

We alternate between Nigerian Power and Light and 2 generators with blackouts and power surges in between. Each of our electronic devices is attached to a UPS. No not the guy in brown, this UPS means Uninterrupted Power Supply. It protects your electronics from power surges and black outs.

You also need the satellite link to work, so between the 3 TVs, we can usually get one of the decoders to pick up the signal. So you may start the TV program downstairs, then lose your signal. You quickly run upstairs and check to see if that tv is working, so you won't miss a minute of Strictly Come Dancing (the BBC version of Dancing with the Stars). Watching TV in Nigeria is not for couch potatoes...it burns calories and lung capacity while keeping you entertained. What could be better!

Watching TV - Super Sunday in Nigeria

I love to watch the news on the BBC and every now and then they even report on US sports. Today after the cricket, rubgy and soccer news, they had a short blurb on the Super Bowl which they said would be held in "Houston Texas" (oops sorry about that Jerry). It is very rare for US football to make the BBC news. That usually only happens once a year when there is a Super Bowl or whenever Jerry Jones fires a coach.

There will be a Lagos Super Bowl party at the US Embassy Rec Center piped in courtesy of the Armed Forced Network. Some die hard fans will stay up until 4:00 am to watch the whole thing and last year when the Saints were winning, there was quite a crowd (I'm told). I think it surprises many people about how normal our lives are over here. I always say being an expat means doing normal things in an not-so-normal environment. Next I will explain how watching television works over here.

New Recipe in a Strange Land

Even though we are far away from New Orleans, there are enough Cajuns here in Lagos to make for a great Mardi Gras party. This year I offered to make the King Cake for the celebrations. I made sure I brought back colored sugar, a plastic baby and a back-up plastic baby just in case. I wanted to wait until the cook was off duty before I started in on my task. I really didn't want to have to explain the whole plastic baby thing and freak him out with some bad juju vibes.




I was going to be really smart and do it all in the bread machine....easy, peasy. In my jet lag fog, I forgot that in Nigeria I must plug the bread machine into a step down transformer.





220 African volts vs my American bread machine's V110. He never even saw it coming!Now we will have a moment of silence for my late, great bread machine. We've shared some lovely carb-filled moments. You will be missed.

New Song in a Strange Land

We're reading a book in my African Book Club and it is about a woman who lived on a Firestone Tires rubber plantation in African in the 40's. She talks a lot about bugs and snakes and how she has to hunt her own food. It puts a lot of things in perspective for me when I'm complaining that the cook has frosted the cake with chives. She has a quote in the book and I will share it with you. I wanted to use it as my blog's page heading (I couldn't figure out how to do that), but I think it sums up expat life no matter where you are. Here goes...

"Somehow there must be a way to find deep beauty and song in daily living in this country. It would not be a ready-made happiness; it had to be discovered. For myself and my household I would have to find the way to make a new song in a strange land."

Ps. Can you guess the name of the book?

Blue Eyesight is now more .... Blue

Let's not talk about the fact that it has been 14 months since I blogged last. I'm starting the New Year with a resolution to blog more. I've just gotten back to Lagos after a nice holiday in the States and I'm up in the middle of the night with jet lag. What to do when you can't sleep? Eat Hot Tamales and update your blog layout of course! I have spent a hour trying out new background colors and templates. I finally decided on one that was perfect but after applying it I realized that it was the same as my daughter's blog Adventurous Ventures of a Venturesome Adventurer: When in Rome, what do the Romans? mysillyblogk.blogspot.com I don't actually think the two blogs could be mixed up....she is in Rome and I'm in Nigeria. So after an hour of design madness, I've come up with a new look. Blue Eyesight is now more....blue.

Black Friday

Wow, it has been awhile since I blogged. I will not blame it on my usual excuse of laziness, but instead I will blame the fact that after awhile, things lose their novelty. A guy zooms past on a motorcycle with an office desk on his head...I just think ho hum, not again. Today I want to turn the tide and print an article that I read about a Nigerian who travels to the US and experiences Black Friday in a WalMart.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Columns/VictorEhikhamenor/5487164-176/EXCUSE_ME:_Black_Friday_bargain_hunting.csp

Where are the Oprahs?

Nigeria is full of colorful people with equally colorful names. I'm sure our names sound just as funny to them, (Apple anyone??) but here is a list that I have been keeping of names that I love.

Names from the Bible/Mythology

Job, Solomon, Amos, Savior, Saul, Salome, Achilles,

Names from virtues and character traits
Patience, Blessing, Happiness (hide and seek..."I found Happiness"), Charity, Iffy (my security gaurd), Pious, Goodluck (we have Goodluck in the house), Success, Precious, Laughter, Special, Difference (parents could say....they made a Difference), Perpetual, Increase (parents could say there is an Increase in the family), Scholastica

Names inspired by faith

Wethankgod, Livingtestimony, Jubilee, Pray, Alleluyah, Godspeed

Names inspired by other cultures

Papoose

Names inspired by careers

Market, Lawyer, Carpenter, Gardener, Major

Names inspired by geography

America, Galaxy, Worldwide

Names inspired by Days of the week and seasons

Yuletide

Friday and Sunday are very common but I have met one Monday

Names inspired by beer

Heineken

Names inspired by celebrities and politicians
Festus (deputy on tv show Gunsmoke), Fabian, Clinton...and you know there will be millions of little Obamas soon, although I've yet to come across an Oprah???

And my personal favorite.....Evidence.

I have never met a Wayne