Friday, December 31, 2010

Long Post Alert!

I know there are a lot of blank spaces between my last post and this one, so I’ll try to fill up.

CAMP

I got posted to Abuja, thank God for His hand [and the ‘leg’ He used]. When I got to camp, I discovered that silly yours truly had forgotten her notification of result at home, and there was no way to go past the gate without it. I couldn’t go back home, that was way out of the question, because home is very far away. So I put on my best puppy face and begged the women at the gate. One of them was beginning to soften, but the other bad belle, a policewoman, said she shouldn’t listen to me, I should go back home and bring it. Long story short, I was allowed to enter, I called home, and got the notification the very next day.

Camp was a lot of things I neither expected nor prepared for. The mattresses assigned to us were so thin, they should have just handed us mats to use on the bunks instead. The toilets, let’s just say that I never could have imagined such filth-and I have a very vivid imagination. The food was not too bad, but seeing as there were better options in mammy market, I spent most of my money there. Then there was the early morning assembly. Seeing as it was difficult to sleep on those mats-on-iron, I didn’t have any difficulty waking up, but while others were taking their baths, I jejely brushed my teeth, washed my face, dressed up and went out for the assembly. My reason for not taking my bath was because of the afore-mentioned filth, and it was far safer to bathe immediately after the assembly, because the cleaners [whom we paid N20,000 to clean, btw] usually cleaned the bathrooms and toilets while we were out, between 5.00am-8.00am. After the “assembly” was time for breakfast and any other thing, till 10/11am, when we had to gather in the multipurpose hall for public lectures and the like. There was lunch afterwards, and by 3.30pm, we had to be gathered again, for those people that were marching to practice, and for the rest of us to lazy around. I opted to join the volleyball team, and for that my right hand paid dearly, but it was fun while it lasted sha. In the evenings, everybody generally went to mammy market to eat, charge phones, get drunk, dance [yes, there was a “club” in mammy market], play games, etc. I won’t bore anyone with further details, but looking past the thin mattresses, toilets [please don’t ask how I managed with Number 2 during camp], early rising, skin reactions et al, camp was a whole lot of fun. And I never got to see any two [or more] people “doing” anything in the bushes, like everyone always says. But then again, there wasn’t much bush in my camp.

When I got my posting letter after camp, I cried. Yes I did. I cried because while other people were getting posted to sensible places, NYSC posted me to a school in one village on the way to Nassarawa State, and at that point, I did not see any way out. I can’t begin to recount how many phone calls my parents and I made, or how many prayers we prayed, but two weeks after I got my first posting letter, I got an acceptance letter to a very sensible IT firm in a very sensible part of Abuja, I started work and in 1 week, NYSC gave me a reposting letter to that firm. God loves me too much, and I’m grateful to Him that after all the stress, I’m finally on my way to settling down. I say “on my way” because I still stay with my aunt, and while she’s a very nice person, that simply won’t be good for my sanity for 1 year.

WORK

Work is good, even though I spend most days doing absolutely nothing [apart from reading], work is still good. My direct boss is another sensible somebody [God just keeps blessing me with those], his command of English is on point, the other people in the office are very nice too and most of them have done their best to make sure I settle in properly.

On the other hand, there are a few things I do not like. First, I have to come to work even on my CDS day. Who does that? Having at least one free work day is one of the benefits of being a “corper shun” na, and my office wants to take that away from me. #notfair. Second, is my salary – I, like most people, would love an increase – and that’s all I’m going to say about that. It isn’t so bad, but then again…

TODAY’S POST

There are some things I prayed for this year, which I haven’t yet seen [I say ‘yet’ because we have some hours left in the year], but then I’d like to make a list of the things I’ve seen, things I’m thankful for this year

1. My convocation: I graduated this year, despite all the wahala I had to go through. My project supervisor for one thing, is a naturally difficult person, and he acted up about twice while the project thingy was going on, but I [and my group members] scaled through. I also had this irrelevant, compulsory course in my 4th year, which I took, and by some error of omission or something, it appeared I failed it. I knew it was impossible for me to fail such a course, but having some other people in the same shoes made me feel better. Pursuing a correction of that error was a huge headache, because I continued to pursue it even into my 5th year. Finally, some days before convocation, everything was resolved. I don’t even want to go into all the stress I went through, trying to look for a dress [I’m a size 4], shoes to match, and then the particular weave I wanted. All of that came and went, the convocation came and went successfully, and here I am today, an engineer. Only God could have done that, and I couldn’t be more grateful to Him.

2. My family: God has been so so good to us all, His provisions have been innumerable, His protection has been there, He has answered our prayers, and despite our unfaithfulness, He’s always remained faithful.

3. My boo. We’ve had our ups and downs, and this year has been too crazy, but then, God has kept us through the craziness. We’ve never had a problem that we couldn’t work out, and even though we’ve fought and tins, we’ve still somehow managed to make up every single time. For that, I truly am grateful.

4. My job: Getting the job was a miracle in itself, and even though I haven’t gone far [I’m just about 2 weeks old], I’m liking what I’m seeing so far.

5. My finances: Somehow, God made sure that throughout this year, especially these last few months, I never lacked money. I was broke a few times, but I never lasted more than a few days in that state before money came, somehow.

6. My friends: I’ve lost a few friends, I’ve made new ones, I’ve held on to some old ones, and I’m thankful for everyone in every category, because they’ve all had their roles to play, and some of them were actually nice shoulders to lean on when I needed to. I can only hope I played my own part well too.

So that's all i can remember for now, but i'm sure there's more though. Hope you all had a better year than I did. Happy New Year in Advance

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