Me right now the sun is out beat the drum tell our people the sun is out let the children come out to play let our mothers put the wares to dry and let there be sweet smell of cooking done outside by our women let old men sit out for palmwine with relishing thought of the meal to come and our young men gather around after the morning farm. The sun is out young maiden go fetch water from the stream to quench our thirst from the heat enough water to prepare the sumptuous meal that we all await, don’t forget to spice the kill from the hunt and make sure the yam over the fire roast and not burn. The sun is out, the sun is out

In bed at my place in amsterdam, it’s friggin cold plus it’s raining and I am hungry, can’t venture into the cold night, the thought of hooding up in thick clothes

including gloves, mufflers and then the shoes is too much for just food! Instead I decided to do this, just ramble till the pangs of hunger leaves or sleep takes me.
Now this is no orderly piece, just me rambling in no particular fashion and without any real purpose though I hope at the end to have made some sense.
I think I already said I am in Amsterdam, work brought me here and it’s the second time I am having to live here for work and I always ask myself why? Why take the cold and it is really cold, when I got in weeks ago it was reading by -10 degrees! Imagine me a Nigerian coming from my 30’s back home to this and for what exactly?
Add to that the absence of a hot plate, oh how I miss our food from the famous Naija jollof (or is it now infamous with the stupid battle with our Ghanaian brothers for jollof supremacy – in January tried theirs in Accra and can confidently say – e no reach! Yup! I said so) chai and our soups from Afang to edikang-ikong to banga to white soup to nsala even down to gbegiri plus ewedu all gone jus to come here to eat hard bread with cold slice of ham and cheese! What is it with these Dutch folks and cold food and their penchant for cheese?
Honestly I believe we should have a leaving abroad 101 for folks coming over, back home I always wondered why they do weather forecast when they read the news, always asked why it was that important, now I know better, the weather report is critical, trust me, these folks literally claimed their city from the sea, the entire city is really below sea level hence all the canals you see, so you need good awareness about the weather to plan your day, your outfit and generally everything else.
Living here I now understand the real reason why we wear socks with our shoes, in winter any attempt to step out without one is simply blue murder, the cold will simply maul you, a typical outfit will include thermals, (that’s your underwear) plus your clothes (thick mind you and preferable made from wool) then there’s the jacket, overcoat and a muffler (make sure it’s thick too)
Enough about that, but seriously being here on my own with my family back home, gives being alone a whole new meaning, I miss them and no amount of calls, chat or videoing can fix that, the good thing is that missing them makes me love them a whole lot more and gives family a whole new meaning for me, I don’t know how laitan is coping but she really is my superwoman, running the home doing work, homework and minding our businesses! What a woman! My woman, my everything!
Funny thing happened today at work, light went out around 10 in the morning and everyone was literally confused except me and a couple other Nigerian folks here, we wey sabi NEPA we just went about our work as if nothing and our Dutch colleagues were simply amazed that we were unfazed by the power disruption, for us it was just normal, welcome to our world.
Just got a mail from the office now at 8pm that the light has been restored with an apology for the power failure (can’t remember if ever our beloved NEPA abi na PHCN or DISCO ever bothered to do that, apology ko sorry ni)
Back to the clothes, I think it is criminal for us to wear the suits in our clime that outfit is simply not meant for the tropics! It’s for here and this their damn weather, we need to be wearing free flowing outfits, our northern brothers truly get it, when I get home I will seriously consider doing away with them suits, probably be saving a huge pile of cash by just doing that, chai! But I do have some damn good suit though, oh well, let’s leave that one matter for home when we get there
All said, Amsterdam is a beautiful city and it is beyond just the fact that it is a developed western city, it’s in their rich Dutch culture, their way of life and living, their bicycles, their Dutch architecture, their organisation, their transportation, everything works, and everything is simply thorough. Yes the pay a huge amount of tax (well over 40% of their income is tax) but then things work here, good schools, good facilities, good homes, theatres, parks, roads, medicals, rail, trams, airports etc all working, I don’t mind paying tax if my kids can go to good school for so much less. Here they don’t have an entitlement mentality, you gotta work to get paid and they demand services and results. I am so impressed with the Dutch. When we go out we do Dutch (everyone pays for what they eat – imagine asking someone out back home and splitting bill!)
Back home I thought I was into physicals with my daily 9km walk and my tennis, here they are exercise junkies, they run, they bike, they eat veggies, avoid the oils, meat sparingly and lunch is a snack, their men average over 6ft and the women are simply just men in every sense of the word, here the women are offended if you treat them specially cos they are women, here they ve earned their right to sit at the table and don’t want to be treated differently though they love compliments, tell a Dutch lady her hair is beautiful or that you love the way she smiles or you can see how her laughter just lights her eyes and you will see her just glow. Compliments is just gold here
Folks out here are always surprised when I always talk about going back home, they be wondering why I want to go back, all they ve heard is how bad it is back home so they expect every one of us to always be grateful we are here and not wanting to leave. Every time I am abroad I only want to go back home and try to see how we can bring some of here back home, fix some stuff so that our children can really live and not just exist.
I was at a basketball game in the school of friend’s kids, this is the equivalent of a primary school with a standard basketball court for little children under 12yrs. The idea is not to compare but rather appreciate and see how we can change ours back home
People here say, you are so different from the Nigerian we hear about, like that is a compliment and I want to shout back – that’s not a compliment, Nigeria and Africa is not just about the diseased children, the drug dealers and the 419 or corrupt leaders you see on your tv that’s just a minute fraction of our people and every nation have their bad, you guys here too have done some pretty nasty stuff but you don’t see me judging but I just smile and say none, my job here is to show my Nigeria, we are black, we are proud, we make mistakes, we learn from them, we are open to new ideas and we are here not to latch on yours but to prep so we can build our own to be just as good if not better (that’s the idealist in me speaking)
Okay enough rambling, writing is my release, my escape, people do yoga, smoke a joint or do whatever else they do to release I just gather my thoughts and pen a piece most times not making plenty sense but it liberates me frees me up to ponder some more and think fresh thoughts.
Before I forget, I am actually have a great time here though not gone out too much cos of the weather, mbok pls I can’t come here and kill myself by going out too much in this weather, I’d rather stay home and drink tea (very English of me right)
I know my time here, will allow me continue my book reading quest, as I settle down. I hope to read a lot so expect a lot of writing from me but for now I am nursing indoors, missing home plus my mother-inlaw’s cooking – bless her
So till I come again its vaarwel (that’s goodbye in dutch, haba! I must learn something na!)

Funny how we take things for granted really, am in a beat up cab on my way to the airport tried doing UBER but believe me that’s a dying service! and that’s free consultation no fee to them, I dash dem dat info. Three different drivers cancelled on me and one was miles away from me! Why bother if you are that far Off! Anyway back to my tale, so off we go no air conditioner just the rickety creaking sounds from the different parts of the car for company as we drove, at every speed breaker we had to gingerly navigate to avoid dislodging parts of the car, this is the same road I drive through everyday without a thought bother or consideration never imagining that any of my vehicles would give in cos of the bumps and that’s what got me to penning this, the things we have and just take for granted not like we are ungrateful though but we never truly dwell on how fortunate we are with all we have even the little stuff. The other day I was at a bar pretty early before their operations really kicked for the day and I watched the bar man load up a chiller I was pretty impressed about the way he went about his chore. Every bottle he painstakingly wiped clean before putting in and it struck me cos for us drinkers all we are about is a cold bottle of beer but we don’t really appreciate all that goes into serving the beer just right. These little things we all just seem to let pass, last night as I drove home around 8pm I couldn’t help but notice the female traffic warden at maryland as she went about directing traffic, it was past 8pm but she did it with so much gusto and drive, I swear yesterday she was my inspiration to keep believing in us as a nation. I posted once that I’d be doing a lot more of these reflection and seeing beyond just looking. So that’s my little piece for now just wanted to share, enjoy the rest of your day my friends

Couldn’t come up with a better title for this little piece and really it’s not an article, just me putting down my thoughts before I lose em and that’s the really sad part, not being able to retain, hold a memory for longer. These days I ‘ve been watching a lot of Nashville and these western type cowboys have really taught me to be free and wear my emotions on my sleeves. I know I said this blog would be all about my reading but I feel Its just as good a podium to say stuff that affect me and share a lil piece of what am feeling. Now why am I writing this… I was taking my first daughter back to boarding school this morning after a weekend of family alone time, this was not the norm I had personally requested for her to come home. I will be gone from home for a while so wanted the fam together for the weekend. My little cessa though not so little cos now she wears all her mom’s stuff and she’s just 11yrs! Now back to my story, so I stood still by the car as she walked away into the shadows and dark silhouette of her class room, in my mind I willed her to turn around again but she walked on cos I knew she had tears just like i did. Am leaving my baby girl not even a teenager just doing teenage stuff with teenage friends, at times I want to hold myself back reminding me that she’s just a kid after all and should be allowed to do childish sometimes. As I drove her to school she locked her fingers in mine she didn’t say anything, that was all She did, she wanted contact she wanted to be sure her daddy was there with her. As she walks away that’s all I want to say….. my darling daughter I am with you, I ‘ve no formulae on the making of a dad all I know is for you my daughter I will always be there. Somethings don’t seem to make much sense right now I know but just do them cos I said you should. My daughter walks away and I pray she understands that though she walks away yet she remains in my every waking moment.

Spare a mo & think on how you can help, yes you not the government not your company just you. How can you help cos somebody right there needs your help! I wanna help that’s my motto. I know I said this blog will be bout my book reading and all but this morning was having a real conversation with a colleague and friend and yes I callit real cos it wasn’t bout football movies politics fashion or what have you and all the other necessary bull we talk about. We just went on and on bout the difficulties out there the desperation destitution and despair and how so little is being down to alleviate the situation. She talked about her voluntary work and how from it reality dawned on her bout people’s everyday situation. I ponder as I go to bed these days asking the question why my fridge is stuck full with stuff I ain’t eating and there are folks out same night with empty bellies and can’t sleep cos of the pangs of hunger. I wanna help I don’t want to just write about it but I want to really help in my own little way and I am going to do just that too. Later my friends

Yup it’s in! My first read finished week 1 of  my 44bookschallenge. Its as titled above & by Tom Fishbourne who also wrote ‘The Marketoonist’ Not surprising my first is one on brands. It’s a collector’s piece on marketing & agencies but I guess Guy Kawasaki’s comment says it all bout the book – ‘Laugh & learn at the same time BTW if you don’t then you are clueless and this book is all about you’

Hmmm really I think it’s been building just beneath the surface waiting to berth. I ‘ve always loved writing I am truly lazy at it. Not one to pen a long piece but sometimes really carried by the moment to put down my thoughts. Anyway I started this, as an idea struck me, come March this year I will be 44yrs old and i figured something really interesting to do will be to read 44 books this year to mark my birthday. I said to myself why stop there so I got my friends on Twitter to recommend books I should read as part of 44bookchallenge and that’s where the blog idea crystallized. So in the coming weeks I will do a summary of each book I read and share, mind you the summary is mine not professional nor critical just me saying my piece. Hopefully along the way I could interest a couple of friends to join me in this reading challenge. Who knows where it will take us to….. welcome to Odukpani’s blog