I've taken so long to write this because writing about it means I have to think about how the trip ended and yeah yeah I had fun and all but the trip ended HORRIBLY. I still can't think about it without wanting to cry...
Worst of all is that NO ONE (okay, maybe except for one person) understands what the fuss is about.....*sigh*...sorry, I know I'm not making sense, girl stuff.
Let's get back to business....
If you didn't catch the first part of the article, read about it HERE
ABUJA = MY HOME OH!!!!So Friday, 25th April we flew from Lagos to Abuja...hehehe wish I could tell you about what happened in the plane but someone said what happens in Lagos stays in Lagos!
I have a big mouth though (even when it works against me) so I'm just gonna put this picture here.
it's appropriate!!
We got to Abuja on the 25th and it felt so weird not being able to draw money on pay day! Is that a black thing or is it just me? I SO have to go to the ATM on payday, even if I don't need the money hehehe.
I was blown away by Abuja. Not because it's more beautiful than places I'd seen before but I was just impressed with how different it was to Lagos.
There is NO traffic, NO dirt, NO disorganisation, it looked NORMAL and I guess I was so taken with it because it felt like it could be home, y'know?
Abuja or not, it's still in Nigeria and that translates to DRAMA!
I'll skip the Virgin Nigeria drama and go straight to the part where we got to the Abuja airport and were transported to the hotel. Tjo, after the "trauma" of Aquatic Hotel in Lagos, imagine our JOY when we heard that we were being taken to The Hilton. (And really shame, mina I had never slept at The Hilton before so you can imagine i-excitement ka darkie)
Haaa, our joy was shortlived coz when we got to The Hilton, we were told not to get out of the car, only the actors were staying there, we were gonna be taken to Forty Seasons Hotel.
:-( :-( :-( :-(
I think if we were kids we would have just burst into tears...can you imagine showing candy to a kid and then taking it away?? Like why couldnt' they start at the damn Forty Seasons, drop us and off and then bring the stars to Hilton? Yho! Azange sikwate kanje!!! LOL
During that whole disappointment, in my head I was like "Oh well, there is a Hotel group called Four Seasons so maybe we are going to its Naija version.
Hehehehehe and I think I remember hearing Lelethu say something about them keeping the other 36 and just giving us Four Seasons!
Four Seasons Hotel - New York
Yho Yho Yho Yho, Forty Seasons my foot! It was just as dodgy as Aquatic! Okay not quite but it didn't qualify for an upgrade....not after you'd seen Hilton. There was no way we were gonna sleep happily at that hotel.
After spending about half an hour at its lobby for some mix up that I have no idea came from, it finally came out that we were actually supposed to go back to the HILTON.
Ja no, satsho sakwazi nokuthetha!!! RELIEF!
Phew, so we got there, got our rooms and we were all happy...the vibe at the hotel was just awesome man! People all over!
We didn't really have plans for that Friday night so everybody went on to do their own thing so after taking a much needed shower in my beautiful room (Gaaad, it felt good being in a proper room again) I went out to some dodgy looking restaurant with Lindo Mnyandu for "dinner".
Ooh the waiter was cute though, pity I had left my camera. Lindo must have wondered why I kept asking for this and that, making the poor guy go up and down. The waiter disappeared for good after I asked him to bring us salt, mind you the meat I was having was way too salty for anyone to wanna add more salt. I'm sure he knew something was fishy right at that point.
Lindo, of
Mnyandu Films was nominated for 2 Documentaries and 1 Short Film. His documentary, Bridging The Gap was aired on SABC 1 recently.
He didn't win any of the awards but I'm proud of him for his stuff. Well done bro!
SATURDAY, 26TH APRIL 2008
This was the day of the awards and interviews with the nominated stars were lined up and it was really fun.
Only thing was that we didn't know 90% of them Nollywood stars that were there....yho and believe me, the place was full of them!
Only one I knew (thanks to my gal Dee for always making me tune into Africa Magic) was Ramsey Noah! Ain't he gorgeous?
I don't know why Van Vicker didn't make it to Nigeria but we DID NOT MISS him at all!!
Ramsey co-hosted at the awards with Stephanie Okereke and they did well...minus the tantrums we saw being thrown backstage! Yeah, we made it backstage...more on that later!
Feast on this for now.....*sigh*
For some strange reason, I didn't have much to say to Ramsey and it bothered me...I mean, I get to see people all the time & I always have something to say, to ask, y'know make cute small talk....
I didn't know what to chat to this man about...NOTHING so yeah this was just a pose after the interview, I'd be lying if I said we were hanging out! LOL
One of my highlights was definitely meeting and getting to chat to Kate Henshaw, one of my favourite Nollywood actresses!
The gal's personality rocks and she's just a star man!
She later won an awards that night for Best Leading Actress and gave quite a speech, heheheh in typical naija style!
(video interviews with the stars are coming up, got no idea why YouTube's not being nice to me)
Nothing special about this picture....maybe just a demonstration of how irresistible some of the men in Abuja are!
We didn't even know who the guy was, he was just passing and we feld he had to be in the picture.....by force!
GETTING READY....
Once all the interviews were done, we had to go and get ready for the big night so we went out to a hair salon called 4 Licle in Wuse II to get our hair done.
NO PRIZES FOR GUESSING WHAT HAIRSTYLES THE CUSTOMERS WERE ASKING FOR....
WEAVE-RITIS IS A serious disease there!
WITH HAIR AND MAKE UP DONE, WE WERE READY TO WALK THE RED CARPET
LITERALLY....so we WALKED IT....
Pic: Gail Smith
And being South African, all the questions on the carpet were about our thoughts on Naija and their food. And yeah, there was no way I was gonna mention Aquatic Hotel experience there. "NAIJA IS SO BEAUTIFUL & THE FOOD IS AMAZING" I just kept repeating that over and over....
c'mon on now guys, I had to be nice to Naija, you never know who might spot you and make you a Nollywood star! A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
THE AFRICAN MOVIE ACADEMY AWARDS...
The show as such was not bad...but it was not great either.
One thing this trip taught me is that as South Africans we have a lot to be proud of. The quality of our production (am talking awards) is awesome! We could definitely teach AMAA a thing or two.
Well, they certainly are doing something right though coz each year they are able to bring top Hollywood stars to the event.
In the past they were able to bring stars like Monique, Danny Glover, Cuba Gooding Jnr and this year it was Angela Bassett's chance.
Angela was looking awesome in her dress and wow, she is oh so graceful man!
The only person lucky enough to get a picture opportunity with the Hollywood star was Gail...talk about being lucky coz she was just minding her business when the opp came.
Pic: Gail Smith
Angela was there with her hubby, Courtney B Vance.
As for the comedian that went on stage and repeatedly called her Angela Basket? If that was a joke, I didn't get it sir!
Timi, from Idols West Africa gave a beautiful perfomance covering Bob Marley's Redemption Song.
Once an Idol, always an idol! Hasn't he got his own songs?
He's grown quite a big head I see! Brother man forgot it was our money that voted for him. We spotted him after the show, asked to take his picture and you should have seen the disapproving look he gave us...meanwhile thina we just wanted to make him a star in mzansi....
Same with these two....
you could have sworn I was asking for a kiss (yuck!) when I asked for a picture backstage...
Me: Hi guys, would you mind if I take a picture with you?
Shorty in white: (With an irritated look on his face) It's okay
Me: You don't look like it's okay so leave it!
I then walked off to where my gals were sitting with P Square and there was a lady who was accompanying the 2 madala shorties and she felt bad about what had happened, she said something to them and asked me to come back.
I just ignored her but when she called me again, I felt so bad about the fact that she was feeling bad about what had happened, I was like arrgh, let me just go and do it.
I don't know where that picture is and frankly I don't care!!!! Bayadelala labo shorty, thinking they're all that. Even Angela Bassett, the HOLLYWOOD star didn't act all diva-rish when Gail asked for her pic, did she Gail?
Nx! Bathakathi!
Pic: Gail Smith
Qopoloza Siphokazi was also there and gave a sweet perfomance as always.
Well, I actually didn't see her on stage because while we were sitting there watching the show, we were asked to go and present awards and gosh, we didn't think twice about it, we just jumped up and went to do it. (ooh, the way we were phapharing all over the place, tjo!)
Pics: Gail Smith
My gals Lelethu & Melanie representing for Mzansi on the AMAA stage.....
Ramsey Noah introduced them as "fabulous South African Diva" & "Famous South African actress" respectively and we all didn't know where he got the titles from but we loved them!
No title for me, all he said before calling my name was that he's got trouble pronouncing these South African names....as if my name is difficult!
Guess I'm not the only one with the "I don't know what to say " syndrome!
Kate Henshaw & Rita Dominic. Rita just looks like angak'fak' isbhakela!
Naija Chicks were there in full swing...
We also got to do an interview with P Square after their perfomance and I regret interviewing them before I got a chance to listen to their album!
Those boys rock and I'm no music promoter but I'm so bringing them to Mzansi for a perfomance....they have to come!
Their CD is on my HOT LIST, can't get enuff of them!!
I had to seriously think hard about putting up this picture coz of my "chest" but I was like "cfuk it! hundreds of people saw me like that anyway!" heheheh
I don't know what happened...the dress looked okay on the mirror but the pictures tell a different story! Damn Nigerian mirrrors are crooks! hehehehe
What killed me is that on Friday I got an sms from a Naija friend who wasn't at the awards...
Him: Did your dress at the AMAA have a cleavage?
Me: Why??
Him: Coz there are pictures in a gossip mag here called City People and it has a page titled "Boobs Gallore @ AMA Awards in Abuja" and there's a picture there that looks like u without a name.
I wanted to say "Mhlaba vuleka ndingene!" hehehe after all the nice things I said about Naija, they diss me in a gossip mag? OOhh hayi shame that finished me.....
My friend tried explaining how good the pic looked but I was so not buying it....oksalayo they dissed me!
It's comforting to know my mirror ain't the only one that lied....
Talk about a Lebo Mathosa gone wrong....*sigh*
To sum it all up, we had a fantastic time in Nigeria, the AMAA's are a great initiative and were cool.
I am truly grateful for the experience so to my gal Marang Setshwaelo of DreamCatcher, I got nothing but love for you babes! You've introduced me to so many wonderful things in the little time that I've known you.
Big Ups, coz you're doing a marvellous job! (still hate you for taking us to Ghana though!)
Marang pictured at the AMAA's.
With AMAA business done, it was time to go back to Lagos & with Virgin Nigeria's unexplained delays, we had to sit at the airport for hours and hours.
The gals didn't seem to mind seeing that Mr Noah was in our midst.....
I wasn't impressed....all I could think about was "what" was waiting for me at the Lagos Airport.....
Picture by: Gail Smith
Wouldn't you lurve to know WHAT that was..........
______________________________________________
Shoutouts:
Gail Smith - Thank you for allowing me the illegal use of your pictures! See you in court?
Enzo Donchinchi & your crew - Thank you for the P Square CD, you rock mfana! Thanks for your company and being the best guide! Your connections!!! LOL Enzolicious but not vicious!
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu - It was about damn time, let's do it again soon!
NIGERIA - Keep doing your thing, your people rock and yeah, hope you'll welcome me back coz I'm coming back soon!!
AMAA ORGANISERS - So proud of your little 4 year old baby. I see so much potential, you just keep on keeping on!
TVSA - For supporting me always - Frenz4Lyf!!
Okay, this is beginning to read like a CD sleeve....I'm out!