MsWoman
Jun 22, 2010, 07:00 PM
Okay, that?s freaky! I fired up my pc at work this morning and while my settings were loading, began thinking about when I lived in Lome, Togo for one school year! I specifically remembered Universite du Benin and its environs and that very pretty dark and chocolate-skinned girl in my class who lived with her aunt in the very exclusive neighborhood across from the university ? very similar to an IITA (in Ibadan) of sorts. The one who had those very rude, obnoxious, spoiled and rotten niece and nephew (her aunt?s children) who before my very eyes referred to their maid as an ?espece de cochon?! (awon omo nla)!This is what I remembered this morning and I can?t even for the life of me, attribute any reason to why I would all of a sudden remember Lome, Togo! Then I saw Chiagozie?s article about Togo on the home page! And I began writing??..
If I could, I would buy land in Togo, build me a house and relocate there in my retirement years. Togo for me though I was attending classes there, was more of a vacation. Everyday was simply a vacation for me. I remember always being happy! I longed to go to go for classes in the mornings, then couldn?t wait for classes to end, looked forward to my ice-cream and fan-ice treat between and after classes, longed to go and buy dinner at our favorite joint on Avenue de la Liberation in the evenings before which we would take nice evening walks along the avenue, bowls hidden in plastic bags and saddled underneath our arms, before finally settling for ground rice and a combination of dried fish-laden vegetable/spinach stew mixed with okro. (That was where I developed this unique habit of eating both mixed together and still do it till today. My husband believes that?s why I have so much gas.....sorry TMI)! Whenever we had ?extra money" we would indulge in a piece of fresh fish. That was some serious good cooking. There was ?Sous le Mangier? (Under the Mango tree) where we usually ate lunch if we decided against the meals served at the nasty University student?s canteen. Sous le Mangier always served this pear (more like guacamole) salad with onions and sardines which I disliked. But the rice and stew with fresh fish??always great! Other times, dinner was the good ol? fried yam (dundu) and dodo with a delicious ladle of ata swe-swe (fried stew) which we purchased from a woman who fried these goodies right in the middle of a park (or so it seemed). God deliver me from all these foods that I ate and didn?t even pray on before eating oh??..hmmm!:pray:
I call the University Canteen ?nasty? because being that many of the students at the University were Moslem, they had a religious culture of having to wash their feet, hands, faces, mouths before settling down to eat and also afterwards (absolutely nothing wrong with that but??..). What I didn?t like was the fact that the President (who BTW had his hands in the running/administration of everything in the country) approved a swimming pool-like structure (with no water in it) smack, right in the middle of the canteen with taps, etc. So you can imagine, MsWoman eating her food and seeing one guy gargling ?woosh-woosh-woosh? and spitting out the contents into this thing. Yuck and double yuck! :mad: I soon learned that if I wanted to eat in the cafeteria, I had to sit backing that indomitable structure with eyes away from what I thought was not a very pretty sight to behold while eating. I think the Togolese guys on campus hated we the Nigerian ladies because not only were we part of the few ladies on campus, we stood out and were too funky I guess??? Not that Togolese female students were that few, it?s just that when you determined the ratio of men to women attending the school, the numbers could be quite intriguing.
The food at the canteen wasn?t that great, but every meal was usually accompanied by however many baguettes your tray could hold, and most days we had fish. The fish was usually fried whole (sans the head) and at times, if you got a nice server, and asked for two fish, you got it (Oliver T). So on days like that, I would settle for the fish and it was usually pretty good (like anyone could go wrong frying fish)! At times with fish, we had couscous or yam pottage. I hated rice days because the stew was simply awful.
My memories of Togo remain fantastic. The beaches were beautiful (at least the ones I went to). Just driving on the highway that carried you from Republic of Benin into Lome proper was relaxing and serene. To the left, heading towards Lome, you saw rows and rows of palm and coconut trees that stretched almost right to the tip of the ocean (okay, maybe am exaggerating a little), but it was so scenic. Occasionally, you would see another car, or someone on a motorbike or bicycle. At times, on the right, stands of goods and fruits for sale were perched on the side of the highway. The one downside to Lome at that time was the fact that only the main roads were paved. Once you veered onto a side street, you were usually greeted by reddish clayish soil and bumpy roads that could be a disaster when it rained. For the most part however, they must have had pretty good drainage systems because I can?t remember anywhere flooding like I?m used to seeing in Lagos. There were no trash dumps or heaps that I could remember seeing and Lome was clean. The streets were always clean even these side roads.
Across the street from the ?villa? (every house was referred to as a villa BTW) where I stayed was one soft drink/beer parlor where we purchased the infamous ?Cocktail? (pronounced cocktayi). It was an orange-yellowish blend of carbonated juices with a tangy twist to it. There were small-sized bottles and the big one likened to a big Guinness bottle only it was clear in color. Again whenever we had ?extra money? we would indulge ourselves and get the bigger bottle as a treat! Those were some of the things I looked forward to daily, getting a nice chilled bottle of ?Cocktail? after a hard day?s work abi classroom lessons de ni!
Once, my geeky self decided to go out with the girls and we ended up at a downtown night club inside the Hotel Sofitel. Side from the fact that I was not crazy about the night club music (I guess I was expecting the American hits of that time), all we were listening to and forcefully dancing to was a collection which comprised the makossa, akwaaba, etc. tunes and others. In any case, those were good and I liked them but not in a night club setting. Needless to say this was my one and only time of going to a nightclub in Lome after living an experience I have seen only once and pray to God to never let me see again. I wouldn?t even bother to share the details with you, it was too disgusting!
Music ? that was another thing that I liked about Lome ? everywhere you went you were twisting and turning to music. They liked to play their music loud, it seems there was ongoing competition for who could play music the loudest.
The fashion, the main fabric was Guinea brocade fabric and those tailors could throw down. I wasn?t into ?styles? back then but remember seeing some really nice outfits. The men wore the Senegalese, but they were worn very long, as in dragging on the ground when the men walked. They were sewn a little different from the way our Naija men wore theirs. They had some unusual finesse stating ?I have arrived? to them and were mainly worn by the rich.
I never had the opportunity of going back and it ?pained? me. I just couldn?t find anyone who would want to go back with me and I certainly wasn?t ready to go through the border hassles (two of them) on my own. A close uncle of mine used to go and retreat there with his family at one point, but he hasn?t mentioned going there any time recently, but he used it as a period to just get away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos.
I would return to Lome in a heartbeat if I planned my vacation to Nigeria well enough and could find someone to go with me. Building a home in Lome is certainly only a wish, but if it comes true one way or the other, it will be one of the best things that could ever happen to me.:clap:
If I could, I would buy land in Togo, build me a house and relocate there in my retirement years. Togo for me though I was attending classes there, was more of a vacation. Everyday was simply a vacation for me. I remember always being happy! I longed to go to go for classes in the mornings, then couldn?t wait for classes to end, looked forward to my ice-cream and fan-ice treat between and after classes, longed to go and buy dinner at our favorite joint on Avenue de la Liberation in the evenings before which we would take nice evening walks along the avenue, bowls hidden in plastic bags and saddled underneath our arms, before finally settling for ground rice and a combination of dried fish-laden vegetable/spinach stew mixed with okro. (That was where I developed this unique habit of eating both mixed together and still do it till today. My husband believes that?s why I have so much gas.....sorry TMI)! Whenever we had ?extra money" we would indulge in a piece of fresh fish. That was some serious good cooking. There was ?Sous le Mangier? (Under the Mango tree) where we usually ate lunch if we decided against the meals served at the nasty University student?s canteen. Sous le Mangier always served this pear (more like guacamole) salad with onions and sardines which I disliked. But the rice and stew with fresh fish??always great! Other times, dinner was the good ol? fried yam (dundu) and dodo with a delicious ladle of ata swe-swe (fried stew) which we purchased from a woman who fried these goodies right in the middle of a park (or so it seemed). God deliver me from all these foods that I ate and didn?t even pray on before eating oh??..hmmm!:pray:
I call the University Canteen ?nasty? because being that many of the students at the University were Moslem, they had a religious culture of having to wash their feet, hands, faces, mouths before settling down to eat and also afterwards (absolutely nothing wrong with that but??..). What I didn?t like was the fact that the President (who BTW had his hands in the running/administration of everything in the country) approved a swimming pool-like structure (with no water in it) smack, right in the middle of the canteen with taps, etc. So you can imagine, MsWoman eating her food and seeing one guy gargling ?woosh-woosh-woosh? and spitting out the contents into this thing. Yuck and double yuck! :mad: I soon learned that if I wanted to eat in the cafeteria, I had to sit backing that indomitable structure with eyes away from what I thought was not a very pretty sight to behold while eating. I think the Togolese guys on campus hated we the Nigerian ladies because not only were we part of the few ladies on campus, we stood out and were too funky I guess??? Not that Togolese female students were that few, it?s just that when you determined the ratio of men to women attending the school, the numbers could be quite intriguing.
The food at the canteen wasn?t that great, but every meal was usually accompanied by however many baguettes your tray could hold, and most days we had fish. The fish was usually fried whole (sans the head) and at times, if you got a nice server, and asked for two fish, you got it (Oliver T). So on days like that, I would settle for the fish and it was usually pretty good (like anyone could go wrong frying fish)! At times with fish, we had couscous or yam pottage. I hated rice days because the stew was simply awful.
My memories of Togo remain fantastic. The beaches were beautiful (at least the ones I went to). Just driving on the highway that carried you from Republic of Benin into Lome proper was relaxing and serene. To the left, heading towards Lome, you saw rows and rows of palm and coconut trees that stretched almost right to the tip of the ocean (okay, maybe am exaggerating a little), but it was so scenic. Occasionally, you would see another car, or someone on a motorbike or bicycle. At times, on the right, stands of goods and fruits for sale were perched on the side of the highway. The one downside to Lome at that time was the fact that only the main roads were paved. Once you veered onto a side street, you were usually greeted by reddish clayish soil and bumpy roads that could be a disaster when it rained. For the most part however, they must have had pretty good drainage systems because I can?t remember anywhere flooding like I?m used to seeing in Lagos. There were no trash dumps or heaps that I could remember seeing and Lome was clean. The streets were always clean even these side roads.
Across the street from the ?villa? (every house was referred to as a villa BTW) where I stayed was one soft drink/beer parlor where we purchased the infamous ?Cocktail? (pronounced cocktayi). It was an orange-yellowish blend of carbonated juices with a tangy twist to it. There were small-sized bottles and the big one likened to a big Guinness bottle only it was clear in color. Again whenever we had ?extra money? we would indulge ourselves and get the bigger bottle as a treat! Those were some of the things I looked forward to daily, getting a nice chilled bottle of ?Cocktail? after a hard day?s work abi classroom lessons de ni!
Once, my geeky self decided to go out with the girls and we ended up at a downtown night club inside the Hotel Sofitel. Side from the fact that I was not crazy about the night club music (I guess I was expecting the American hits of that time), all we were listening to and forcefully dancing to was a collection which comprised the makossa, akwaaba, etc. tunes and others. In any case, those were good and I liked them but not in a night club setting. Needless to say this was my one and only time of going to a nightclub in Lome after living an experience I have seen only once and pray to God to never let me see again. I wouldn?t even bother to share the details with you, it was too disgusting!
Music ? that was another thing that I liked about Lome ? everywhere you went you were twisting and turning to music. They liked to play their music loud, it seems there was ongoing competition for who could play music the loudest.
The fashion, the main fabric was Guinea brocade fabric and those tailors could throw down. I wasn?t into ?styles? back then but remember seeing some really nice outfits. The men wore the Senegalese, but they were worn very long, as in dragging on the ground when the men walked. They were sewn a little different from the way our Naija men wore theirs. They had some unusual finesse stating ?I have arrived? to them and were mainly worn by the rich.
I never had the opportunity of going back and it ?pained? me. I just couldn?t find anyone who would want to go back with me and I certainly wasn?t ready to go through the border hassles (two of them) on my own. A close uncle of mine used to go and retreat there with his family at one point, but he hasn?t mentioned going there any time recently, but he used it as a period to just get away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos.
I would return to Lome in a heartbeat if I planned my vacation to Nigeria well enough and could find someone to go with me. Building a home in Lome is certainly only a wish, but if it comes true one way or the other, it will be one of the best things that could ever happen to me.:clap: