My Lagos Experience (II)

MY LAGOS EXPERIENCE (||)

They said when life throws lemons at you, you make lemonades out of it… Life had thrown 2 huge bitter lemons at me and my lemonade almost went wrong (because my lemons were bitter).

Asides the fact I was trying my possible best to keep my sanity, I also had exams to prepare for- these exams were also sanity-threatening but what could I do? I had to pass these exams to figure out what and where my problems were coming from. So, I decided to meet with some intellectual coursemates to aid and ease my preparations for exams.

Now, the main deal… How did I get to my coursemates’ hostel?

Sometime ago, I published an article describing what my bus stop happens to be like (no buses to be boarded, crowds at the bus stop, scorching sun e.t.c.). I thought that must have been the worst that could happen to at my bus stop, not until I stood for over an hour, unable to board a bus. The sun was scorching, I was with a lot of bags, the people at the bus stop would not help but kept on increasing, students who had started exams were already panicking… We were all to board a bus heading to Iyana iba.

After waiting extra 30 minutes still with no hope, people started crossing to the other side of the road to take bus back to a more busy bus stop and then take a bus back to Iyana iba. Stressed out Ify bought this idea and decided to join the crowd in doing this. Everything went smoothly till I alighted and wanted to cross to board a bus back. (PS: I still have an issue with crossing the road)… I finally got to cross to the other side after standing for about 10 minutes and I started searching for a bus that was heading to my destination. This was way worse for me because Igando happens to be really busy, plus, I was not used to Igando. I found over 4 buses but the conductors wouldn’t just hear me out. They kept on shouting and weren’t even listening to me at all!!! I was almost in tears because what in heaven’s name was happening to me???

I simply stood, watching everyone go about their day while I was still trying to catch my breath and thinking of what to do next. My saving grace was I didn’t have to get to my destination at a given time (I would have felt worse). So while standing and just staring at nothing amidst the chaos of Igando, I finally met someone who asked me where I was headed. She was a female conductor. She helped me with my bags because I was clearly struggling with them. An old man in the bus also helped me hold my bags; I noticed the way he kept on looking at me, being extra caring and kept on telling me to “jòkò dàdà”.

We finally got to my destination and the conductor helped me get down with my bags and waved me goodbye. On getting home, I started seeing things in color blue but fortunately for me, my coursemates had cooked and served me food.

It was a really nice experience staying with them and learning Yoruba… lol. I’ll always be grateful for the gift of people around me.

 

Despite the chaos in Lagos, I’d love to explore it so, I’d want y’all to suggest places I could explore