Our reality with the corona virus

For the first time since the lock down, I allowed myself dwell on how long this corona virus pandemic might last and what the aftermath might be like. I was letting myself get sucked in by the worry, thoughts, analysis and uncertainty hitting the world at this time.

I do not intend to live in denial but I've generally found ways to take in the right amount of information for me, as there is sooooo much.

Could this be a generational thing?

Someone contacted me out of nowhere to ask what options her cousin who studied French and had just graduated from university had in terms of work. 

She also mentioned that some other people they knew who studied French ended up teaching. Then she ended her message with this question: 'What can she do with the French?'. What I drew from her message was that she didn't want her cousin to teach.

I asked her what her cousin's interests were and if she had asked her cousin the same question. She seemed to be getting frustrated with my questions but I didn't see how I could help, because in reality, my thinking was that her cousin would be in a much better position to know what her options were and what she might like to do.

I told her teaching was one option (and what if that was what the cousin wanted to do?!) but there were other things to do. Another thing was that I didn't know her cousin or what she liked so I was unsure how to respond. She was contacting me obviously because I studied French and was not teaching I suppose...

Rounding up 2019

My biggest lesson in 2019 has been that it is not and should not be all about you!

It's not like I have not always known this but it has hit home so much harder through the year.

I lived in Central African Republic all of 2019 where the country has been totally run down by selfishness. I cannot and may not have accurate analysis so I'm stating very clearly that this opinion is personal.

The sun setting over Bangui

When people speak of the good old days...(I wrote a little about that here), I always ask what changed. When you dig deep, it boils down to selfishness; the need for power and control, people thinking only of themselves and what benefit they can get. I'm sticking to the everyday little things that have led to me draw this conclusion.

Visiting Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire

I visited the biggest Basilica in the world! Basilica of our Lady of Peace (Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix), Yamoussoukro. It is modelled based on the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican but is the tallest and biggest in surface area in the world.

It took three years to build, between 1986 and 1989 and was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
36 companies were involved in building it, while the architecture and design was done by a Lebanese architect called Pierre Fakhoury.

The structure might not look so impressive from outside...

A sound mind

Oyine’s head had been throbbing and continually got worse. She didn’t know what a migraine felt like but if this was not one, she didn’t know how else to describe it. She dragged herself out of bed to take some paracetamol and hoped it would calm down, then she could finally get some sleep. She has had these headaches for the last few days and was afraid she was getting dependent on pain killers. At first, she thought it was lack of sleep as she had not been sleeping well.

She lay in bed waiting for sleep, insomnia had become her new reality, which was worrying. She searched her mind for what the problem could be. The only thing that constantly came up was work. She had been over worked, her efforts seemed to be appreciated but that did not change the situation.

Quinoa and vegetable mix

I hadn't cooked in a while but I've been able to change that recently. I made of mix of quinoa and vegetables. It is so simple to make and you can find all the ingredients easily.

Good food, a book and some juice make up a good weekend ;)

Cooking time : 40 minutes
A lot of this time would go into cleaning and chopping the vegetables.

Visiting San Francisco

I flew into Oakland, it is a small airport, although bigger and better functioning than the Abuja airport...I digress! Getting through was super fast especially as things are automated, the immigration process was DIY on a machine, then you get stamped in by an officer. He only asked how long I was staying for, then I was on my way. From the minute I landed to getting through, it probably took 20 minutes as the queue was not long. I picked up my luggage, then got on the Bart (metro) to meet my friend, Manuela, somewhere close to the Embacadero station.

We spent the night then headed off to the National Parks the next day. I wrote about that in my previous post. After we got back, I had 3 more days before my departure and I made good use of them.

We got back to San Francisco on a Saturday. On Sunday, there was an Opera show at golden gate park organised by San Francisco Opera, and it was free of charge. Everyone seemed pleased to be out in the sun. A few of Manuela's friends joined us and it was generally a relaxing day.