If I were to give today’s post a title, I would call it The Abroad.

The cold I experienced the first day I got to my hotel room was nothing compared to what I went through today. I think I must have died and resurrected several times. When I told a friend about what I was going through, the rubbish that came out of his mouth was, “The abroad is not for everyone.” Well, I refuse to believe that. Whether or not the abroad is for me, I will travel there. What’s the worst that can happen? Besides no one has ever died from not bathing for a few days.

Each time I leave Radisson Blu hotel, there is this immense relief I get for stepping outside. The way the warm air outside wraps its arms around me feels like the hug from a loved one. Being at the registration desk comes with certain disadvantages; for instance, you can’t leave your workstation just because you are cold. Every other person is cold, so deal with it.

I would be at my desk shivering like a leaf caught in Harmattan wind, and at the same attending to visitors. Not that I was complaining o, but even if I wanted to complain, which I eventually did to one of the members of RBH staff, he said that the A.C was centralized so they couldn’t just turn it off which meant that we had to somehow survive.

During my quest for survival, a visitor came and said she was here to pick up her tag because her friend had paid for her already. Following the due procedure, we asked her to show us the payment confirmation email and when she couldn’t provide it, we asked her to call her friend. The next thing we saw was a lady marching towards us like a wounded lioness. And oh, she did roar. She said all sorts of things but it didn’t even bother me. I had a more life-threatening issue to deal with; the cold, I was feeling. The only thing I told her was that she could have been patient to find out what was wrong instead of talking to us like we were nobody (but sha, nobody knows me…yet)

So that little drama ended and it was time to see a real play; THE SECRET LIVES OF BABA SEGI’s WIVES. We had to go to Jevenik across RBH to see it. And let me add, FOR FREE! (One of the advantages I had for being a volunteer). People paid 5,000 naira just to see the play and I got to see it for free, even though I didn’t stay till the end cos I was so tired. The parts of the play I saw were well performed. The director of the play, Femi Elufowoju Jr., and the actors did a really amazing job. They made my first time of seeing a stage play memorable.

Overall, it was an interesting day and I even got to snap pictures on the red carpet for the first time since the festival started.

My red carpet moment

Click here to read Aké Dairies; Day 3