Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Lisboa here we come! :)

OK, the name of the blog is Hello Africa but give me a break! I'd like to talk about our girl's weekend out in Lisbon with my dear friends Belde & Canan - you will see the photos of them below :)


Amazing amazing amazing... After a freezing week in Geneva (-20C but I managed to run :)), we decided to have a weekend escape to Lisbon. 
Absolutely perfect choice: nice weather, warm city, chill out places, nice restaurants (Eleven is highly recommended as a Michelin Restaurant) and nice clubs (Silk, Lux, Urban Beach)...


First moments, when we arrived. Stayed at Sofitel Liberdade and the location of the hotel was perfect. Belde and Canan are discussing what to wear for the night :)
First day at the restaurant... I don't remember the name but it was a lovely place where we had wine-tasting and delicious Portugal appetizers. 

Next day: Shopping in Chiado!



The church that we've never managed to find the gate!!!
China tiles: A Protuguese classic...

Canan got very excited when she saw the theater building :))) Belde was our guide on the road :)

From the palace with amazing view. Cannot imagine this place in summer!


Docas and cool place by the sea: Opart... MUST SEE especially during the sunset... under bridge like Istanbul and nice restaurants are placed one after the other by the sea. Am sure it'd be cool to have a drink when the sun comes down in summer.

beautiful churches and culture...


Saturday, February 11, 2012

Wedding in Nigeria - Mix of Praying & Dancing

First Nigerian wedding experience: AWESOME!


When Chidinma (one of the young girls at work) invited me to her wedding, I felt really happy as wedding was a must-see tradition in Nigeria! 


Since I got the invitation last year (December), I totally forgot about it and missed the pre-wedding preparations as well. Anyways, I have been there and it was so much fun. :)
Key highlights:
- There is a color code for every wedding and the guests are expected to follow the code. Today the color code was gray and fuchsia and everybody was dressed in different tones of these two colors.
- Bridesmaids dress up look alike from the head to the toe!
- Bride bring a style of fabric (in gray and fuchsia) to all  different groups and the people among these groups buy the fabric and have a dress made from the same style fabric. For instance the people in the family was wearing different style of dresses from the same fabric and P&G group was in different one.
- Ceremony starts with praying and wedding at the church. This part takes 2 hours and another 2 hours for the party after the official part.
- The first part is praying with the leadership of the priest and the second part was the actual wedding ceremony. The bride and the groom told the wows and wore the rings. 
- After priest announced them husband and wife, everybody started dancing in the church together with the bride & groom.
- The part took place in a hall next to the church and there were around 200-250 guests. 
- Bride and groom came to the party hall dancing after everyone got seated.
- The party was really full of dance and fun!


At the church...

 At the party...

The bride dancing....

Official Nigerian food... jellof rice, fried rice, fried chicken, fried fish and cabbage salad...


Bride's flower is going going gone while All the Single Ladies is played :)