MY HOUSE

  I actually love where I stay because the road to my house is one long bent smooth road. The roads do not have bumps and its usually dangerous because of school kids and the reckless driving of some bike men and car drivers. So when walking on the road,one has to be extremely careful. By the roadside,you'll see women who do petty businesses like selling of biscuits and sweets,bananas,akara and 'engroll'. You'll see tailors ,coblers,mechanics. But the street business na mostly the mini shoprite...selling house hold needs including food stuff and fruits,all in one shop. One of this kind of shoprites is directly opposite my compound. It makes it so easy to be lazy bacause I know I can always get anything i want You wont fail to recognise the mosque as their public speaker is always on trying to convert we christians. At times i wonder the essence of the loud speakers. I remember trying to talk to one of them just to find out if they have ear issues. On entering the compound through the black gate,i live on the right building. The fairly painted wall is of a confused colour. I dont know if its ash or a faded blue or green. The centre of the house is usually used for parking cars. Space neant for football. Mstcheeeew. The floor is of german floor sha. Far opposite the gate is a well where we fetch water even for cooking. You dont want to know the kind.of fetchers and buckets and dirty water that has gone into that well. Here,they wait for the government to do everything for them including supplying then with water.I remember saying a prayer for my system. I prayed that i dont contract one kain uncurable disease. The centre of the building has a staircase which isnt long but high. When fetching from.the well,i hated the staircase. Even on.a.normal day,the staircase was enough to gym.yams outta your legs. Th staircase will lead you to my flat and the opposite persin who is suppised to be my neighbour. Till date i dont know if its a man or a woman that lives there. The house is obviously 1960 because it still has that octal shaped brick usually used.in designing.a.corridor. i remember my old house in lagos had it before the landlord decided to patch it to modernization. The front corridor is usually used to gossip when neighbpurs threaten to fight because thats all they do. They raise my hopes of getting real entertainment and then they kill it totally. The net and door will say welcome to our empty parlour. Just empty. A part close to the kitchn is where the dustbin is being kept and close to the window is where my flatmate kept a tv carton and some stuff i cant really explain. The funniest thing is the tv in his room doesnt match the carton. The tv is 1992 and the cartoon is 2013. Now.you know.what i mean. Close to the parlour is the kitchen. Small but manageable and comfortable. My flatmate had it prepared before i came. The kitchen has a sink and a double layer wooden shelf. It has a locally made electric stove. I was really impressed at the creativity of people. The only thing was that it had no control switch. It just burns your food if you are not careful. There is also a kerosine stove which my flatmate dedicates himself to using it to paint the back of the pot. Then,the kitchen also has bent spoons,few plates,bowls,sieves,spoilt blenders and about 6 custard buckets. I was only impressed seeing a mortar and pestle in a bachelors house. The window is always dusty as it hasnt been cleaned in ages. Frin the window,you'll see villagers going about their activities and schoool kids entering their school. My flat has 3 rooms. The sizes are very ok. It haa a bathroom and toilet that has just cemented floors. Just close to my room is the door to the back corridor. The corridor is large enough too. From there,you can see a newly built Bungalow. You will also see the well by the left and the untarred street road by the right. I was really ok with the house compared to what the rest got in the name of accommodation. Its like im forming big girl but no be me poor pass. Haba

HOUSE HUNTING

   So the gist is I'm currently serving in Osun state. Serving Nigeria no be beans o. Getting my house alone wasn't an easy task. I was super happy when I heard housing was super cheap because the truth was I wasn't ready to spend a lot of money on housing. I remember a friend telling me she got a house for N250 a month. God! I was so happy. I danced shoki. The way she described the house was so tush and was as if Dangote built it. Ha! 250 naira for a month. I said would not miss it. I was so anxious to see the house. We stopped a "korope"(that's what the mini bus is called). I wanted the driver to fly. I needed him to fly. My dear,we eventually got to a thick bush where the roads had obviously been touched last since 1472. For a split second,I thought my friend was a ritualist. I had to ask "Nne biko,where is the house?". Then she said,"we'll soon get there". My dear,this endurance trek lasted for about 26 minutes and when I saw the house...I fainted in spirit as I was lost.
    The house was in the middle of a thick bush. The path to get to the house had lots of dry fallen branches that will either cling to your clothes or brush your skin. The "magarine-flies" in their hungry colours didn't miss out on displaying their welcome weak flying skills. I was still expecting us to walk up when my friend said "we don reach". God! I was disappointed. It was as if I saw suffering in human form. The bungalow was built with mud and I guess the mud finished as the house wasn't plastered. Cracked walls with dirty water that has had the job of breeding mosquitoes everywhere. There were pots and stools and old stoves and old bags packed up in front of the house. There were about 3 broken buckets that were obviously passed down to the current generation lying close to the dirty path. The door had a dirty curtain hanging on it and close to it was written: " This house is not for SALE. Beware of 419".I wondered who would want to buy the house or dupe one of this kind of house. The roof had turned from brown to rusted brown. Some woods and mats were also on the roof. I can bet the roof was leaking and the mat was used to cover up. The landlady sat talking with my friend as they kept speaking yoruba language. She didn't even care who was there. She sat wearing her 'it-was-white-bra' and her wrapper that was obviously begging to be washed. My friend signaled me to follow her in and I did. The room was the same size with a toilet. It wasn't painted and looked like where the witches in the village had a meeting recently. The walls were completely wet from what I don't know and had white stains. Hmmmn,there and then I preferred sleeping in a rich man's toilet. I pinched myself and asked: "wait o. How much did you say the house is again?" She said: "N250 per month." "Chai. Oluchi you don fuck up. How did I get myself into this?" I thought. I came out from the room to get fresh air when I jammed the land lady shining her coloured teeth to me saying "Sisi,ba wo ni?". And I smiled sarcastically saying "I'm fine ma". The woman's eyes no be for here o. This kind of landlady won't let me rest at night obviously. My friend was going to ask me "how far na" when I told her to tell the woman that we'll get back to her.
  As soon as we left,I did not hesitate to ask my friend about her love for me. She should have just told me she hated me. I was looking for cheap accommodation didn't mean I was looking for a shit hole or death sentence. Anyways,we laughed that out and I continued my home hunting. It didn't take long sha as I talked with my CLO who called a friend. We checked out two houses which were flats and I eventually chose one. Somebody say alleluia because right now asides the fact that water is a challenge,I'm happy where I am. Hope you had a great day? It's a wonderful evening. Do have a fabulous night.

Everyday with ME

This is seems to be the umpteenth time I'm creating a blog. Lol. The writing flare comes and goes but this seems to be something of great interest for me,thanks to NYSC. I do not want to go into boring details about what NYSC is but we'll definitely get to it in time. I am a native of Nnewi in Anambra state. Did I hear you say the money lovers and sense crackers??? Yels! We are business gurus and we are proud of it. Oluchi happens to be my native name which means "Work Of God". Yea. I can't do anything without my maker and that's why He takes all the glory.

 To cut the long story short,this space is like a view into my everyday living. For as many as I can't reach,I'll be so close here. I want you to be a part of me. I want to connect with people from all over.
 This is a personal blog and I want you to connect with me in business too on www.raregemafrica.blogspot.com.
  I'll tell you about RGA(for short)later. Typing this has made me appreciate the essence of a blackberry. Androids are dope. Please don't get me wrong but omo,there is nothing like BB o.

•  At this juncture,I'll like to run away. I'm on an official security job and I must perform. I'll get to you at any little space I get. Love.