Osu Meji!

Dear Followers, I have now been in Ibadan for two months. I haven’t felt homesick since I have been here; I am truly enjoying myself. Classes have gotten better since September, when they thought we were beginners in the language. I learn a lot of the language from just being around my family and the time I spend with my language partner. Learning a new language can become frustrating at times. Sometimes you ask a question and you get a response that has nothing to do with what you asked.  Sometimes they ask you questions and you don’t completely understand what they said, but you understand some words, so you answer the question they way you think you understand it. I definitely have funny stories about miscommunication. But it’s all a part of language learning.

This past weekend we went to Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. Osogbo  is the Capital of Osun state. The people of Osogbo still practice traditional religion and culture openly. Especially with the world popular Osun-Osogbo Festival, people come from all over the world to attend this festival. I saw various statues of gods and goddess that are still worshiped till today (See pictures below). This weekend we will go on a trip to the waterfalls in Osun State-I will mention that in my next blog post. Until then O digba!  

Osun Goddess

A Shrine

Osun River

Entrance to the palace grounds

god for women hoping to become pregnant

Ibadan has kept me very busy!

Dear Followers, keeping a blog has been very hard. I have class 5 hours a day, conversation with my language partner for 1 hour, and events to attend during my free time. Yes I have been busy in Ibadan! I have been here a little more than a month now. The weather continues to be very beautiful. In the past month since I’ve posted in my blog, much has happened. I attended a Yoruba funeral and wedding, I visited the NTA headquarters-first television station in Africa! I have gone to a Yoruba museum, where I saw ancient pottery, tools, and musical instruments from the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria-Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo.  I have visited several markets in Ibadan, one completely devoted to yam J . I have seen monuments and the famous Olumo Rock in Abeokuta.  Olumo Rock is a huge landmark in Abeokuta in Ogun State. It is a mountain that used to provide protection to residents during times of war, women and children would hide inside the rock while men would go to war. It has been my favorite excursion so far. You could see the entire city from the top of the rock.

I had the opportunity to attend a lecture on World Peace Day titled Religion: Tool for Conflict or Peace. It was interesting to hear views on this topic from a Nigerian perspective.  My take away from the lecture: As opposed to Christianity and Islam, African traditional religion has been the most peaceful, there has never been a war fought in its name and practitioners never evangelize. Before foreigners came with Islam and Christianity, Nigerians were living in peace amongst themselves with African Traditional Religion.     

Under Olumo Rock!

IBADAN

Folake, Ebun-me, Remi ati Oyinlola

Yemi-my language partner

NTA headquarters...First TV station in Africa

View from the top..Ibadan :)

Bower Tower

Starting next week the University of Ibadan will be on a 2 or 3 month break. I wanted to take classes on campus, make new friends and really experience campus life, but it doesn’t look like that will happen. I will make the best of it!   Odabo!

Ekujo meta!

Ekujo meta! It's been three days! Ekujo meta is a greeting that the Yoruba people say when a long time has gone by. I was having technical difficulties. Now I am back with some pictures to share. The weather has been very nice so far, very cool and breezy. My host family is wonderful and I feel that my Yoruba is improving each day. After a three day orientation we began classes yesturday. For the past three days we drove around campus and also visited the surrounding city. Class was very nice, a very good refresher of what I learned this summer in Florida. I can't wait to start real classes and begin going on excursions. Since I took many pictures I will end my post for today. Odabo!

The main library on campus

UI has a very beautiful campus

The University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital. The very first hospital in Nigeria. Ibadan is the trendsetter for all of Nigeria, with the first university, television ati bee bee lo.

Ibadan is a very hilly place. It is a city of hills surrounded by more hills.

YOU ARE WELCOME! ( a very common greeting I hear Nigerians say all the time)

Local Government building

Cityscape

Inside of the local government building. They hold many different types of receptions here.

View from the top. What a city!

View from the top of the local government building. You can see the mosque in the background

This is what I saw on the back of the door in the woman's restroom. His number was below lol

UI Cultural Center

Statue outside the cultural center

Statue outside the cultural center

Statue inside the cultural center

The classroom building

Folake, Me, Oyinloya ati Remi YLF participants 2011. The sun was in my eyes, that is why I look like that.