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...

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 :)

Strike in Nigeria due to Fuel Subsidy Removal

Jan 9th Monday and it started...
The government removed the fuel subsidy as of Jan 1st without a real notice and overnight, the fuel price in Nigeria went up from 64 Naira (40 cents) to 150 Naira (1$). Since fuel is the major cost of all consumer products, agriculture and even the generator, it caused a major reaction among the Nigerians. Since last week, everybody was talking about the major strike Union Labors called for as of Monday Jan 9th. 
What a coincidence! This week was the week of the big visit: Our CEO was planning to come to Lagos and we were to have detailed plans with him like store checks and consumer home visits. Until the last minute we worked like crazy to make things happen but all the signals were on the negative side.
On last Thursday, my agency called me saying that they are having difficulty to recruit consumers due to the recent developments on fuel subsidy removal and people were really nervous about it. As they had more serious issues like increasing prices of essentials and limited disposable income, they were less willing to participate in a consumer home visit and talk to some unknown people about their category habits.
It was painful for me and my agency as well since we worked on the preparations until the last minute. We spent all Friday and Saturday doing the dry run with the consumers before the big visit.
Despite all the preparations, we got the news this morning that the strike has started and the trip has been cancelled. It is sad that all the company was working on this trip since November.
It is also sad for the country as well as the subsidy is not sustainable (current cost is $1.3 trillion). There are also many examples (Ghana 2004) saying that subsidy is beneficial more for the rich rather than poor. However, the problem with Nigeria is that citizens do not trust the government and they'd like to see solid actions from the government as a signal that this money is used for the benefit of the citizens rather than being pockets by some of the governors.
So the summary, we stayed at home all day and majority of Nigerians were out there protesting the government.
Bob visit has been cancelled but it is anyways interesting to experience one of those historical times in Nigeria!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16464922

Turkish Coffee by the pool :)

What I like most about Lagos is the weekends!
It is absolutely relaxing  and like a reward to chill by the pool and read a few pages...  This weekend it became even more fun:


1. Kuzu joined us by the pool. :) Actually the plan was to make Kuzu and Becky's dogs (Lola and Oki) friends so that they would stay together when we are away in Xmas. However the plan did not work out (as expected :)) and my little spoiled kiddo showed extreme tension to the friendly dogs. :) That's why we had to take her down to the pool side with us and she was pretty happy under the shadow with the luxury of using the real sand for poop! :))


2. I love Lebanese community in Nigeria. Thanks to them, I can enjoy grape leave stuffing, hummus or Turkish coffee as if I am at home. :) If this happens when we are chilling by the pool, what else can I ask for?? 

Lagos Jazz Series 2011

Jazz, lying on the grass, sipping your champagne... You won't believe but this was our Sunday activity last weekend in LAGOS! :)


http://lagosjazzseries.com/


Our dear friend Oti led the whole activity for the second time in Lagos with four day music festival. We just caught the last day (missed the one at the Yacht Club :() but it was just awesome...


Chilling Sunday in Muri Okunola Park...

Spoiled moments with champagne!

Yummy spring rolls!

Eyo Festival blessed or punished!

I was in Eyo Festival! 
We had started seeing statues in white sheet-like covers in all the corners a few weeks back and I asked Kingsley what these figures were. He explained to me that there were calling Lagosians to the upcoming festival called Eyo on Saturday. It was very interesting as the figures were fully covered with white clothes (including the face) and there were colorful hats on each of them.

With Brenda, we ran to the stadium to watch the event. Ike drove us to the nearest possible corner to the stadium as the police had closed some of the roads to traffic. Although we did not have any ticket, we were able to pass the gate (without any question) and we almost arrived to the VIP section (as VIP is born not made :))


Eyo Festival -also known as Adamu Orisha Play - was for the memory of one of the Obas called Chief Yesufu Abiodun Oniru. This person was loved and respected deeply by the Lagosians during his 50 year of reign. Hard to believe but he lived 120 years (1864-1984)!!!


The white-cover is the symbol for the spirits who come and clean the streets of Lagos and spirits of the Lagosians. :) There are different tribes who were dancing with the same clothes but different hats.

There were kiddo Eyos as well :)

In the booklet that we received in the stadium, it was saying that there are also some major rules about the festival. You have to take off your shoes on the streets (yes on Lagos streets!!) as the Eyos were supposedly cleaning the streets and spirits. So you have to show your trust. We were relaxed about this and did not take it so seriously as in the stadium we (VIPs :))) were OK with shoes on. However, at the minute we left the stadium to meet Ike to go back home, Brenda noticed that it was only us walking with the shoes. As it was mentioned in the booklet, everybody was walking with bare foot and there were Eyos making sure that the rules were applied on the streets. At first, it was fun as the Eyos approached us and blessed us with the stick. In the second group, we were blessed again but they were a bit harsher with their sticks. And in the last group, we went into real trouble!!! a group of Eyos surrounded us yelling "This is our culture, this is our value, you have to obey" and forced us to take off our shoes. At the same time, somebody was scratching Brenda's head band saying that it was also not acceptable to wear hat or head band in Eyo Festival. I was really scared and took of my shoes but I was more worried about what was next. I thought that we did not obey the rules in the first place so it would not help even if we obeyed then. However, taking off shoes worked and they let us go. Honestly, I was really panicked and still could not see Ike and the car. The worst part was that I was supposed to walk without the shoes. Luckily I had my socks on and tried to survive until we saw the car. Ike was just around to corner and I was about to cry with happiness. :))) The first sentence was: "Ike, you saved us you saved us!" :)))
Of course, I did not even try to wash my socks and threw them away.
When I told this story to my expat friends, the immediate reaction was: "You were crazy to walk on the streets during the festival day" (honestly they have a point :)). And the reaction from my local friends: "You should have made a wish as you were blessed by Eyos" :)))) punishing and blessing - the thin line between the two and huge culture difference to understand which one to pick! :)

my radio is nigerianinfo.com 99.3 :))

I am talking about the news channel we are listening every morning & evening on the way to and back from the office! There is the same woman who is running a discussion program. She is basically focusing on hot topics on political & economic issues & news and the society. Her style is pretty engaging as well. She just picks up a topic from an article or a survey or a newspaper and asks the audience to call in and express their feelings / views. 
A few topics I've had a chance to listen:

• According to an article, Nigerian people are loud and the loudest in the world. Are really loud? What do you think? YES M'AM, YOU ARE LOUD! :))
• We keep talking about corruption at all levels from government to police, from top to down. Some people still do not have electricity, on the other hand some has nice cars and fully operational houses. So what is the solution? A revolution?? NO M'AM, I'VE JUST ARRIVED - IT IS TOO SOON TO FACE A REVOLUTION AS I AM JUST CATCHING UP WITH A LIFE WITH NO ELECTRICITY OR NO RUNNING WATER!
• How can we get rid of the street sellers (people who try to sell gum / fruit / furniture during traffic areas)?? One man called in and his reply was "We can get rid of them only if we bridge the gap between poor and rich in Nigeria. But it is difficult given the corruption and bribery." OK GOT IT, CORRUPTION & BRIBERY IS THE SUMMARY OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN NIGERIA!
• (Another insightful question) While you are driving at 3am in the morning, you have seen a man injured and lying on the side of the road. Would you stop and help the person? The man's answer: I'd want to help however I'd expect the police to come and help. The girl's reply: this shows what we have lost as a society!

As a market and consumer researcher, I cannot consider a better and insightful conversations than I can find on nigerianinfo.com. Not maybe tomorrow, but one day, I'd like to meet this girl and conduct an interview about all the discussions she's had so far with millions of people. I am sure she would give the richest and the most diverse insights I could ever think of.