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| Interview with the Mayor of Amman |
By Chibuogwu Nnadiegbulam
Waking up this day, I knew
My dream was about to come true
And yes, I should have had butterflies in my stomach, but instead, I woke up with a persistent gas-filled running stomach - surely there was no room left for butterflies.
This killjoy which had tormented me the day before (just don't ask me what I ate) succeeded in sneaking into my morning in spite of me enduring two tablets of Flagyl, one of which got stuck on its way down my throat.
But I still began my day with another two, nonetheless because I could not imagine an embarrassing situation of unofficially converting the toilet on the airplane to my seat.
The GTBank was my first port of call on the day (oh please, don't hail me too much), I had gone to cash a cheque and possibly buy USD at once.
However after getting my money, there was no USD for sale and so I fell back to the option of buying from an Hausa guy Janine Anthony had recommended.
He was selling at N430 to the dollar, the cheapest from our little survey. I was supposed to meet him at the Airport, or so I thought.
Anyways, in my late morning walk to get some things sorted, I printed out my ticket confirmation and was headed for the Murtala Mohammed Airport from where I would proceed to Dubai and then Amman for the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup.
Okay, I did stop at Okosisi, a famous Supermarket cum Pharmacy along Muri Okunoka street to buy (and swallow) Tetracycline, else mum would not have left me in peace. She can worry sha.
Well, I got to the airport in time for check in and was done before you know it. No, I take that back.
I would have been done before you know it, if not for my igbo sister who kept scrutinizing my visa letter again and again from the Arabic written one to the English written one, to be sure she would be doing the right thing to let me pass.
I went through all that, got my tickets; one to Dubai and the other to Amman, and was ready for my flight, but first I needed Dollars and here I was walking up and down from Departure D to E and back, in search of Sumaila, the Hausa guy, whom, as it turned out, I wasted my hard earned airtime on.
He was actually at Air Force barracks in Victoria Island. The same VI I had come from, nowhere near the Airport, and he was requesting I returned which would have been insane to do.
Moving on however, I got some change at a Bureau de change located at the Airport and proceeded to my flight's boarding gate, of course through immigrations.
A whole new experience for me. And so as we took off aboard an Emirates Airline I smiled at the setting sun in view of a lot more exciting moments.
It is my second travel out of the country and my first out of Africa. My first trip out of Nigeria was Ghana, by road.
For the over 7 hr flight to Dubai, I had dinner, watched a Hindi movie and slept.
When I woke up, we were less than two hours from Dubai and so I helped myself with another movie to see me through it (candid advice from Janine Anthony). And at about 4:30, we landed.
In order not to make it seem like I don't talk to strangers, I decided to start a conversation with this guy I had noticed all the way from Nigeria.
He sat beside me in the airside bus that took us to the arrival gate and I asked him if Dubai was his final destination but he said no, that he would be connecting a flight to Guangzhou, China and when I asked him what for, he said, "business".
I already knew right from when I saw him at MMA, what I was wrong about was that he would stop in Dubai.
Anyways he told me he would be in China for three weeks before returning to his Onitsha base with the jewelries he would buy.
According to him, they are cheaper in China and he sells wholesale when in Nigeria.
Anyways, we went our different ways and I went on an ultimate search for 'B29' from where I would board my next flight to Amman. When I finally found it, I then took some time to marvel at the magnificence of the Dubai International Airport and was back in time for take-off.
After over 2hrs 30 minutes, we arrived Jordan and with the help of FIFA, my International Passport was stamped without any hassle.
And a driver from the hotel was already at the airport to pick me up to the Grand Palace Hotel.
His name is Yousef Yaqoub and he was really friendly. He gave me access to the wifi in the car and while we spoke on the long drive to the hotel, he seriously told me to be careful about the dead sea because there was a case in court regarding it, and when curious me asked the crime, he said the dead sea was murdered and it's blood flowed into the Red sea.
The view on our way to the hotel was awesome with largely clay colored storey buildings scattered on hills in Amman.
When I got to the hotel, I finally met Sonja of the AIPS whom I communicated with for about three weeks with regards to the AIPS Young Reporters Programme, Roselyn, who is the Secretary General of the International Sports Press Association and three other Young Reporters who had arrived before me, Katie from England, Victor form Brazil and Tracey from Cameroon.
I was given time to freshen up and rest a bit before coming down for lunch where I tried noodles that was prepared with Sesame oil and did not go beyond a spoon. Eventually I settled for White rice and beef sauce.
From lunch, we went on our first assignment at the official opening of fan zone for Jordan 2016.
I did my first interview as an AIPS Young Reporter with the Mayor of Amman, I took a selfie with Jordanian super star, Hussein Al Salman a co-singer of the official song of the tournament "Jordan our Playground", we played with the kids at the FIFA LiveYour Goals area and it was all fun.
Back at the hotel, we had dinner and then my sleepy head managed to write my first article of the AIPS Youn Reporters Programme before I succumbed to nature's freezing cuddle.
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| With the other AIPS young reporters |