Religion is pretty much everywhere

As we were driving through town, I happened to look out the bus window and see this sign!

To the market to see a Blacksmith!

This week’s trip took us into the town of Ifè to see a blacksmith. It was such an interesting process.  In Yorùbá culture, the work of a blacksmith is fulfilled by men only.  The reason you see a woman in the picture is because she is operating a man made machine which heats up a hot bed of palm oil seeds.   Like Americans use coal, the blacksmith uses the seeds from a palm oil tree to create an extremely hot space where he heats his blade. With the hot blade, he then pounds and creates various objects: knives, axes, smaller blades, etc. They did not wear gloves nor any sort of protective gear.  Not surprisingly, they worked quickly and with precision.  

Can one survive without pizza?

In Ifè, it is not easy to find pizza.  In fact, it is almost as challenging as learning to speak the Yorùbá language! In the beginning, it was easy to talk about our favorite American foods and feel satisfied without actually eating them.  At the start of week 5, we had a break down.  We were determined to order pizza, no matter the cost.  Once I got a hold of a pizza boy on campus, we submitted our order: 4 cheese pizzas.  Not knowing what to expect at all, we were full of anxiety and high expectations.  Once the pizza boy reached my house, I sprinted to meet him I was so excited.  When he first got out of the car, I thought to myself, “Where’s the pizza?” My heart sunk. He was in fact holding our four pizzas, but they were TINY.  We were expecting something similar to a medium/large size American pizza. At this point, I had to laugh.  We knew it wasn’t going to be similar to American pizza, but we just couldn’t allow ourselves to have anything but high expectations.  In spite of the size and the outrageous total cost, we enjoyed the pizza and crammed in front of a friend’s computer to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Friday Afternoon

1)      On Friday after class, a few of us hiked up a mountain to unwind from the week.  Once we reached the top, the girls gathered for a picture!

Atop the Mountain!

Surprisingly, I have done a great deal of hiking on the trip.  AWESOME! The hiking experiences have made for sore legs and blisters, but great views from the top nevertheless.  On top of this mountain, there is actually a church.  The first time that my friends and I climbed to the top, there were 2 women up there praying and reading their bibles.  As greeting is the epitomy of Yorùbá culture, we walked over and greeted them.  Once we began speaking in Yorùbá, they instantly laughed and began asking us questions.  Within a matter of minutes, one of the women was telling me to bring her to America.  Although not unusual for us òyìnbós (white people) to hear this request, it made me sad to think that the only reason they began talking with us was because our skin color signaled a free ride to a land with more opportunity.  Being an òyìnbó in Ile-Ife has definitely had its challenges, but I must remember that sighting an òyìnbó is a rare thing for many Yorùbás to experience in their lifetime.  What have they got to lose by asking me to take them back to America? In spite of this, I came away with some great photos, and I had the opportunity to practice speaking the language. It was a great end to a particularly hot and long day. 

cloth+tailor=outfit!!

In Nigeria, people can go to American like department stores to buy clothes , but it is still VERY common for people to buy fabric and take it to a tailor.  To start, Nigerians do not like to dress like one another.  They  take pride in picking out their own cloth which will eventually be sewn into an outfit.  It is very rare to see two people fashioning a similar design; it is even more rare to see two people wearing the same cloth. The picture of the various fabrics is just a sliver of all that is offered.  Not only are there different patterns and designs, there are various types of cloth.  They wear “ankara” which is similar to the fabric used to make a quilt, but they also wear lace, batique, and tie-dye.  Tailors are generally men, however, women also work as tailors.  The tailors here are diligent and extremely talented .  I drew a picture of the dress and skirt that I wanted.  In 5 days, what I had drawn on paper had come to life.  When converted to US dollars, I paid approximately $25 for both my dress and my skirt…even after the tailor altered a few things that I didn’t like.  

Cultural Performance: Ile-Ife

Courtesy of a primary school in Ife, our group was treated to a Yoruba cultural performance by children age 6-12.  They were fabulous little dancers and singers.  They started the program by singing Nigeria’s national anthem. Then, they performed a play which was followed by a series of different dances.  All of the children performing wore traditional clothes and jewelry.  Because kids all around the world are the same, a handful of them had dirty butts and kneecaps from playing in the dirt.  In spite of the hot weather and lack of wind, the children put on an excellent show! *In Yoruba culture, it is common for people watching the performance to spray the performers with money.  Often times, people from the audience give the performers small denominations of naira, (Nigerian currency) such as 20 naira or 50 naira. In light of this, I danced my way towards the group and paid my dues * The show was great until the announcer invited all of the students to the center of the playground to show off our dancing skills, or lack thereof.  I was a bit embarrassed at first, but within no time, I got my groove on and started shaking my butt like alongside the 6-7 year olds.  Those kids out-danced me, HANDS DOWN.