WaterAid and Wimbledon

On Tuesday, I met with Joe Lambongang, the Country Representative for WaterAid Nigeria. I had a fantastic, and very insightful, meeting with Mr. Lambongang and also enjoyed a nice cup of tea. By the end of the meeting, I was told that I am now "considered" a part of their team. For the time that I am here, I will be involved in every aspect of their organization from meetings with government officials to going out in the field and digging wells. I was also surprised to be given a desk in the office and total access to their resources. Needless to say, I walked out of the meeting grinning from ear to ear. It couldn't have gone any better.

Later that day I had the pleasure of starting my tennis lessons with a Nigerian named Jonah, the former number two ranked player in Nigeria. He's an incredibly nice person and extraordinary tennis player. He worked me pretty hard but I think that if I can keep the lessons up I just might have a shot in June at the Wimbledon trophy. Sorry Nadal..don't get your hopes up..

That evening, I went out with Jonah and some of his friends [one was the former #1, current #2, tennis player in Nigeria] to a "bush bar" to watch Manchester United battle Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals. Thats a soccer match for anyone that doesn't know and its one of the biggest international tournaments. A bush bar is basically an outside area with large tents set up and TV's playing the game everywhere. I was the only international there in a crowd of about 300 Nigerians. I was also pulling for Man U, where as the majority of Nigerians are Chelsea fans. It was an incredible experience and hope to do this kind of thing more often. Its a great feeling to be put out of your comfort zone and definitely necessary every once in a while.