Nigeria Trip Update

The appraisal for PPC #3 has already happened last week, so now I come to the worst part of the mortgage process—the waiting. This long dragged out process has me wondering everyday if I’m going to get the email from Petey Tim saying that my mortgage application has been declined. Every time my phone makes an email notification sound I get anxious. During the process of sitting and waiting, I got a call from my mom Rita.

Whenever Rita calls, it’s almost never good news. The only time she called me with good news was in July of last year, when I got that pension check from my old security job in NYC. So she calls me up from Nigeria and tells me that the family isn’t going to Nigeria in 2015 anymore. Instead, we have to go in December of this year. Blasted woman, can she ever make up her mind? Rita said the reason for the new date is because the funeral service for my grandmother has to take place at a time when everyone can be there, and the best time to go to Nigeria is in December. This means I have a lot less time than I thought to learn conversational Yoruba. This means that I definitely won’t be reaching my goal of owning property Charlie AND having $30k in the bank, as the trip will take $2000 out of my pocket. This means that I’ll lose money from work, as I don’t have vacation time at the shipping depot job. This also means, however, that I can get the family pilgrimage to Nigeria over with sooner than later.

There’s no doubt that I’m curious about Nigeria and what it’s like. I’ve heard the stories and seen the videos, but nothing beats the in-person experience. But take the curiosity away and all that’s left is another chore that makes me no money. I’ll pay respects to my grandmother. I’ll “fake-it-up” with new family members. I’ll do whatever they want me to do, just as long as I can leave there in one piece and never have to go again. Once I get back, I can focus on getting property Delta (or Charlie if I can’t get it now), without the distraction of a Nigeria trip looming in the forefront.