PPA (Place of Primary Assignment) – PART 2

PPA (Place of Primary Assignment) – PART 2

Photocredit: Chef's phone

Chef, IP (who I’d call IP for the sake of the blog) and I were so disappointed and we decided to take a stroll in the hopes of finding a guesthouse to stay for a few days; you see we had to report to the school the next day and then get accepted or rejected and report back to the L.G.I for documentation and all and finally proceed home since schools were on break. We found a guest house which was not really what you’d call a guest house but in that village (settlement) it was the best thing we could find; there was a bed, a fan and a table, a bathroom (those local ones that have a shower and toilet so while you’re bathing you’re pouring water on the toilet seat) and well there was a water system apart from that the guest house was just crap. It cost ₦2000 for a night at the guest house and that was a plus. So we told the caretaker at the guest house that we would be back and we left get food as were hungry. We found a place to get food but the ambience and the food was nothing to write home about. I am such a big fan of great customer service and the service there was crap; no one attended to us for a while we had to shout and well speak Yoruba most of the time (Chef speaks Yoruba really well because his mum is Yoruba and that helped/is still helping us this NYSC period). The building was like a wooden hut and just a really small place with the firewood and pots and a few benches. We sat down to wait for the food and it was so horrible because the whole while goats, dogs and chickens were running around. They kept going under the benches and I had to raise my leg up because I was so scared; I like animals and all but I am so freaking scared of them. It was so uncomfortable eating with my legs up on the bench and the food wasn’t great either but we had no choice so we just ate as fast as we could so we could leave quickly. We were about to leave when the Vice-Principal came to the ‘food joint’ and he said they had been looking for us because we had been out a while and we had said we wouldn’t be long we just wanted to take a stroll.

Anyways, we got back to the corpers’ lodge and we met Corper S. and Luchi who were angry that we left and we didn’t come back sooner, they had also prepared a meal since it was our first day and they knew we had no means to cook. We apologized but I guess it didn’t really help that we also left right after the apology to go sleep in the guesthouse. I persuaded Chef to ask IP to come with us (I wasn’t sure if he wanted to spend money) because I felt that if Chef and I left it would be a lot of attention and look like we just wanted to be alone to get physical. IP ended up following us and we all shared a room that night.  Chef and I reflected on the day (and shared a real kiss for the first time) and he had option to call a family friend to get him reposted and so we decided to talk and do what was best for us. I told him it was fine to go even though I honestly didn’t want him to leave as I had only survived that day because we were a team. I wasn’t  sure about leaving, I wasn’t ready for the stress of reposting, I love a challenge and I was starting a business venture that would require my time and I thought at least being in the village means I would be free from the hustle and bustle and have time to focus on my business. Chef decided that he would stay with me (bless him!) and so he called and told the family friend not to bother about his reposting and so it was decided that we would stay. As, I stated in a previous blog post that’s why  we or rather I can’t leave now because after he made a sacrifice to stay, I feel it would be unfair of me. Well, we decided to call it a night as we had a busy and long day the next day; we had to get to school and then local government for proper documentation.

The next morning, we got up early to get to the school on time but our efforts proved fruitless as we had to wait forever to get a bike to the school; the weird thing about the settlement/village is that unlike other places were bike men are hustling to get customers, they just sit and wait for you to approach and sometimes they even decide that they don’t feel going anywhere.  We finally got a bike and headed to the school, on getting to the school we met the Principal who talked with us and joyfully accepted us to the school (like he had a choice…LOL). We were told that they had only 7 staff and they also didn’t have teachers for some subjects especially English Language??? (What exactly were they doing in school?) They took notes of subjects we could possibly teach with our educational background; Chef for English, IP for Mathematics and I for Accounting (Commerce) or Business Studies. We caught a glimpse of the classrooms which weren’t in the best state, the students were outside playing when we arrived and most of them were barefooted, their uniforms were torn, they were wearing dirty t-shirts or looked haggard (I’m not judging them and I have gotten quite close to some of them and it’s not actually about their condition or status is just that they don’t care mainly because that’s how they “roll” in the village). We met some other staff and we also dropped our details with the school.

P.S: I am home for a short while as the school is currently on break. I was in Lagos for a while and now I am back to my parent’s house. I have a very interesting blog post from my time in Lagos…stay tuned for that.

I thought a few people might also enjoy my playlist, I listen to any kind of music but yeah I would admit that a lot of times I am about the vocals. Anyways, here is what I was listening to while typing this:

Can’t Help Falling in Love with you – Jena Irene (American Idol Cover); such a great song by Elvis Presley, When a man loves a woman – Joshua Ledet (American Idol Cover), Street Credibility – 9ice ft 2face

Yours in Service,                                                                                                                          Corp Girl