New PHASE | What the job hunt has taught me...

To officially usher in the new, albeit slightly tedious, era of my post-uni life, I made a short-ish list of what I have learnt after a month-ish of job hunting in the great city of Dubai. I can hear people who have been unemployed for longer telling me to shut it already. Nevertheless I want to believe that all the crazy I have been feeling isn't restricted to me alone.

• There is a constant paradox between feeling like you have far too much time and no time at all. One moment the world is your oyster, the next minute your oyster is shrinking. 
• How to use what time I do have in a (kinda) productive way. Perhaps binge watching every anime from One Piece to Hunter x Hunter isn't productive, but then there is all the other stuff...like...things and what not...I have to be real this period of unemployment has been perfect for making concrete future plans and reading and writing books. 
• Not getting overly excited or attached. They emailed back! No they've already filled the vacancy. Another email! No, no, they have no vacancies. Interview time! Nope not what you're looking for. I'd be perfect for that!!! Never get a response. Basically stay calm until everything comes together. 
• Patience. Not my strongest suit, but I'm learning.
• Knowing what you want to know. It's not just about what they ask you but also about what you need to ask them, especially if you have a vision of the kind of place you'd like to work.
• The importance of a back up plan. (To be fair I always knew this one).
• Basic stuff like writing CVs, proposals, cover letters, selling yourself, how to earn money while hunting, saving etc. 
• The frustration of writer's block when it seems like you have all the time in the world to write.
• Early onset laziness and passiveness.
• The sheer flexibility of my body clock.
• The overwhelming feeling of 'freedom'.
• The even more overwhelming feeling of 'adulthood' that reminds you that your current freedom is a myth. 
• The panic and catharsis seesaw.
• The "I shoulda had fun at uni" pep talk on experience and how 2 years and 11 months worth is still not enough...I was really only in uni for 1 year and 6 months minus holidays. I have more work experience than university experience! 

I realise that all sounds rather pessimistic. But when I made this list last night before bed I had to laugh at myself. See the thing is I am strangely at peace. Even though I have moments of panic, they are swiftly followed by a calming of my spirit. Praise God. I have thoroughly enjoyed this brief window of quiet in my otherwise chaotic life, even though there are other things I would love to do at this point. I am thankful. I am happy. I am at peace. 

SNAP! | Red Orange Photography

Koko: The man himself.

I remember, even on his last birthday before leaving Dubai, Koko was somewhere in the corner of the room taking more pictures of his guests than he was interacting with them. Yet when he did join in, his sense of humour would keep the party alive. But for the most part, he hid behind the camera, documenting moments with a glint in his eye and mischief in his smile. He says of his first experiences behind a camera, “I decided to start taking my passion more seriously because I realised that once I held a camera in my hand, I felt invincible. I decided that I needed a camera of my own and dedicated my pocket money over the next four months to it”.

Dubai Marina.

Branding: the Red Orange Photography logo.

For all my teasing I never felt comfortable referring to him as an ‘amateur’ photographer. His passion for the arts developed from a young age as he followed in the steps of his mother, an arts and crafts teacher. Although he was aware that his strength did not lie in drawing, his love for the arts stayed with him even when technology became his new found passion: “it was expected that I would follow in my mum's footsteps but that all changed the day I first saw a computer”. He wanted something that bridged both his passions together. Thankfully he found just what he was looking for: “with the advancement of technology and the introduction of the digital age [of photography] my midpoint had been found; arts through the digital camera. That’s how Red Orange Photography was born, an idea with no name, business place or equipment. Red Orange Photography is driven by two major forces: the love for art and the creation of that art via a digital means”.

The diverse brand covers weddings and events.

Red Orange Photography is actually a subcategory of Red Orange Media, the parent company. However, Koko officially began his journey with Red Orange Photography just over a year ago. Eventually “Red Orange Media will diversify into other fields including corporate branding, identity creation, IT solutions and graphics designs”. Regardless of his passion and talent, he recognised that the standards of his work in the early stages did not match that of his peers. “I decided to get formal training from one of the best photographers in Nigeria, Mr. Shola Animashaun”. He explained that his mentor has been one of the most inspiring and life changing people he has had the pleasure of working with in relation to Red Orange Photography. After improving his skills, he was able to make his dream a reality. His researched showed that he would find a niche in the Nigerian market where he has established his brand: “Red Orange Photography majors in wedding, event and documentary photography and from our market survey we discovered that the area (State/City) we intended to set up had little or none of this style of photography, so this was perfect for us”.

Culture: Red Orange Photography is based in Uyo, a popular cultural hub in Nigeria.

Koko cannot underestimate the impact of social media on Red Orange Photography’s rapid growth. He understands the role that social media has played in raising awareness and providing information about the brand. “We have made clients from different parts of the country and world. Through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, our clients and prospective clients can view our creations from anywhere in the world and contact us accordingly”. This is undoubtedly useful for him as he has every intention of expanding the scope of Red Orange Photography and Red Orange Media beyond Nigeria.

Calabar Jazz Festival 2014: Kunle Ayo & Asa

Koko’s main goals are simple: “to be one of the most recognized photography and media outfit in the world and to take at least one amazing picture in every continent of the world”. And of course to take an official picture of the Queen of England!

To find out more about Koko's journey with Red Orange Photography, follow the brand on

Facebook: www.facebook.com/redorangephotography

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/redorangephotos

Instagram: @redorangephotography

I'm late again...

And I am terribly sorry about it but academic deadlines have gotten the  better of me; it isn't easy being a final year student you know :p

That being said I hope to get back to this project fairly soon. The next interview I have lined up is from my favourite foodie so I hope you guys keep an eye out for that.

In other news my undergraduate phase is almost over. What comes next? I'm not sure but I'm feeling slightly rebellious.

P.S. I see flashes of lightning from my room window....goodnight!

Purpose and Direction.

I have no idea what I'm having fro breakfast tomorrow morning or what I'm wearing to school. I still need to double check the time and location of my classes. I don't quite remember how long it usually takes for me to get to school from home around that time of the day. In actuality there is a lot that I do not know and probably a lot more that I am uncertain about in terms of the recent future. But ask me what plans I have for 5-10 years time and you are in for the rant of your life. I finally have the ever elusive purpose and direction that I have been lacking in my life and let me tell you, they are important elements to have.

I recently paid the motherland a long overdue visit. For once I enjoyed my flight and my visit. My month long vacation was packed full of life changing experiences. Furthermore, Nigeria is beginning to feel like home again. I can't really tell you why...Maybe I'm getting bored of Dubai. Maybe being around Nigerians so much in the last few years has finally allowed me to fully embrace my roots. Whatever it is, for the first time since I first left the comfort of my country I was sad to say "see you soon". I think this has a lot to do with my sudden realisations of what I would like to do with my future.

If you had asked me a couple of years ago what I'd like to do after studying, I'd probably have said something along the lines of wanting to travel and write. That's rather poetic but incredibly vague and not very promising. Now I'm finally making concrete plans of when and where I want to travel to, what I want to do and write about and most importantly where I would like to be based. Of course it's not something I readily admit to those who know me well, but I actually do want to live in Nigeria. I revisited parts of my country that I had all but forgotten and that was what reminded me of why it was so hard to leave in the first place. Not only do I have plans to live in Nigeria, I know what I want to do while I'm there. I now know how I want to help my country!!

YES I am excited. But I can't share the details of my plans I'm afraid. Moreover they wont be put into action for a few more years so lets all suffer the long wait together shall we??

P. S.
It's nice for you to stop by even when I'm not around to keep up appearances as it were...Thank you all for your support. 

Montage...Express Yourself

Art forms like graffiti and tattoo have always intrigued me. Don't get me wrong I do not encourage vandalism nor do I agree with permanently scaring your body. The art form itself is what piques my interest. Furthermore my creative writing blog should be enough evidence that I am very much a fan of self expression in all it's forms. This is one of the greatest purposes of art. 

Also I want to say a big thank you to Rashad Iqbal, a fellow student who graciously let me pry into his life for the purposes of this article and whose great insight made my article relevant.

So without further ado, my third montage piece...

Express yourself

When the staff of my high school got tired of watching students doodle on tables, walls and bathroom stalls they started throwing out hints about a graffiti wall. The concept meant that everyone could scribble their heart away on a wall built solely for that purpose if we stopped marking our territory on the body of the school.

There was hardly a part of Manchester that was truly devoid of graffiti and although it wasn’t always the most attractive, the brashness and the hurried feel that came with it was always attractive to me. After a while, seeing large spray painted letters and bold colours became the norm.

Dubai was a rude awakening for me. It felt like I had spent my life dreaming in colour and woke up to black-and-white. That was when I first started to recognise graffiti as an art form. I was sure that there was no graffiti here. But that isn’t strictly true. It might not be the invading kind you find in most of the western world, but it’s there if you look hard enough. It might not be all over the walls in between clean-cut buildings or on the busy streets, but the art is recognised by some here.

One of my first graffiti experiences in Dubai came from Rashad Iqbal, a 2^nd year student here in our very own Middlesex. As soon as I saw his work I asked him to do some things for me one of which he handed to me and has been with me ever since.

Speaking of the challenges of being a graffiti artist in Dubai he says that “there isn’t much support and at the same time all the paint supplies are really expensive here which makes it really hard to practice.” He also goes on to explain that not being able to see other people’s work around you on a daily basis like you would in other parts of the world means that he often lacks motivation and inspiration.

So how do you overcome these challenges? Well according to Rashad you need to develop your own interest and find an online community; his would be deviantart.com. He finds that although there are graffiti artists here in Dubai, they don’t have the strongest community presence. “When it comes to a community the strongest I have experienced was at deviantART.”

What you might find even more surprising is the fact that Rashad has actually displayed his work on a wall in Dubai. In fact he and about 350 other people were part of the charity event at the Graffiti Tunnel in Dubai Festival City organised by GYEM in 2010. He says that “they provided legal areas to do graffiti.”

As much as we laughed at our teachers in high school for making a big deal out of nothing, there was a tiny part of me that felt like a vandal when I took my marker pen out to hurriedly scribble “MiiMii was here” on my science desk. Maybe that was part of the thrill but more than anything was the recognition that graffiti could also be an art form. 

Montage...How Safe Are You?

Another Montage article for you guys. A couple of things before you start reading. The main character, if you will, is a really integral part of this article for me and I couldn't have written it without her help. Sharon, thank you very much for opening up to me about your experience. I only wish I could have done your story more justice. 

You can find her blog here: http://howtomakeitindubai.blogspot.ae/ and the article referred to below here: http://howtomakeitindubai.blogspot.ae/2013/01/how-to-be-wuss.html

Also a couple of you might see your names pop up in here...thanks for your contribution it meant a lot and provided great balance to my rather haphazard attempt.

Enjoy ;)

How safe are you?

How often do you hear a police or ambulance siren in Dubai? That probably depends on what part of Dubai you live in. But when last did you get up to look out your window when your neighbour’s car alarm went off? Did you ignore the noise because you don’t care or is it in fact because you feel like Dubai is a safer place than most? If you often leave the cocoon that Dubai creates for us or if you’ve lived anywhere else before, you’ve probably realised how safe we are here by now.

The people I spoke to around Knowledge Village listed qualities such as a stable government with a cautious foreign policy, good economy, lower crime rates and strict laws. Tola, a UOWD student said “the tourism drive of the Dubai government is key in ensuring security. Why? People don’t go to unstable or chaotic places and as Dubai’s economy in the 21^st century revolves around tourism the need for security cannot be overemphasised.” An article in Huffington Post seems to agree with this as Dubai was ranked the 7^th safest city in the world by TripAdvisor.  It was liked by 11 people and disliked by 10.

One person who might have disagreed with this ranking is Sharon, and Indo-Canadian piano teacher in Dubai who had a worrisome experience here recently. On a blog entry on her personal blog howtomakeitindubai.blogspot.ae on the 25^th of January this year she gave a detailed account of her experience. The entry titled “How to be a wuss” describes what at the very best can be called solicitation or sexual harassment and at worst attempted rape.  Thankfully she had a lucky escape but did not report the incident. Why?

One reason stated by Jennifer and Paulette, two 2^nd year students from Middlesex University, is that they feel like locals often have the upper hand. “If I’m reporting a local to the authorities they would probably back them over me as they value and protect their people so much” says Jennifer. She goes on to explain that she has never actually tried it and this is just a matter of perception which makes her feel rather vulnerable especially as a student in Dubai.

This imbalanced perception of safety created by Dubai varies with each person I speak to. One thing that keeps ringing in my head however: with these apparently obscured views on safety and security, what happens if we leave the safety of Dubai?

Home

Home. It has become somewhat of an abstract notion to me over the years. I suppose that’s what happens when you move around so much. It means something different to me every time I talk about it. I mean I’ve barely been in Dubai a whole year and there are aspects of it that have come to feel like ‘home’.

Sometimes Nigeria is home, after all I was born there and I did live there for 13 of my 20 years. Other times it’s the UK. I stayed there for close to 7 years, I went to high school there, I experienced life there. I did things I can’t even begin to outline there. Not only did I grow up there, I grew smart. Then there’s Dubai. You know that thing people always say about you meeting lifelong friends at university? I’m finally getting to experience that here. I suppose that’s what makes Dubai so ‘homely’ for me right now. So for as long as that feeling lasts-or rather for as long as it outweighs my need to run somewhere else for cover-this place will be home.

I think the “problem” with me is that I am a Nomad. Long before leaving Britain, I was itching for new scenery. I thought moving from England to Wales would scratch that itch but it didn’t. I’m not a home-body, so to speak. I enjoy moving around, not too much, just enough to be mystified often, to be constantly rediscovering, to have a new opinion about myself, people and the world. I think that’s why I want to be a journalist.

The dream would be going from place to place, covering story after exciting story. The irony is I know that dream isn’t going to last forever. I’m going to get tired or old or boring (or all at the same time!) and when that inevitable day finally arrives what will I do? Will I just curl up in whatever corner of the world I find myself in and die a peaceful death? And if I do decide to go ‘home’ for the final chapter of my life where will home be? And if I do, by some unforeseen miracle, end up having a little nuclear family attached to me, what are they gonna be doing while I’m off playing free spirit and traipsing around the world? And this is all working under the assumption that the dream will become a reality…As always I am CLEARLY over-thinking everything. What will be will be, regardless.

On a lighter note, I got my results from first year and needless to say I wasn’t immediately satisfied. But in the grand scheme of things I did pretty well and I give God all the glory. Second year hear we come!

Stabbings in England

I know I don't live in England anymore but the truth is I still have a lot of ties there. England is home to me in many ways, not that this fact makes me less Nigerian. Yesterday I got some bad news. A close friend of mine got stabbed by another close friend. He had to go to the hospital for about three days and only just got out yesterday. At first I was so shocked that I could barely type. And then I was crying without realising and repeating 'oh no' to myself like that would make a difference! I mean these people mean a lot to me, they are practically family and in the unlikely case that I am making a least of the most likey to get stabbed out of all my friends, their names wouldn't come out at the top!

So I spent most of yesterday confused and afraid for a friend who very nearly lost his life and no longer feels safe in his own home. Reality slapped me harder than it has in a while and I realised how unprepared I was to lose a loved one. Also, it taught me forgiveness, because my friend is willing to forgive the person who did this to him and I know I wouldn't be that willing. I mean I'm a forgiving person but I also love my life, contrary to popular belief.

Anyhow in some ways this event is the wake up call I needed, to live life to the fullest but not necessarily to throw caution to the wind. I hope you all take this initiative as well; it's a lesson well learned.

Random Update

Well the last few days have been mellow to say the least. Saturday night I had no sleep and I had a test at 9:45am Sunday morning...so I had a bit of a marathon but luckily today I had a late start so I could pass out :)

And no you didn't read that wrong; I do have to drag my butt out of bed on Sundays to go to school...
In Dubai (and I think other middle eastern countries, not sure) the weekend is Friday and Saturday because their Friday is their holy day of course. So therefore the week starts on Sunday :/ I know, I can't get used to it either...

Also I was supposed to submit something for a creative writing competition, but I missed the deadline because I have a lot of work to do.

I really need to find a way to live without sleep

It feels good to be back :)

I think you are owed an update

For anyone who actually was interested in this blog, I am sorry I didn't nurture it as much as I should have.

But today feels like a good day to let you know how life has been.

2010 was a tough year for me and 2011 started much in the same way. I more or less dropped out of Cardiff uni under the pretense of a gap year. I want to say I didn't achieve anything in that year but that would be a lie...a lot that was broken in my life got fixed to the glory of God. So 2011 went from bad to awesome pretty quickly. That isn't to say the journey wasn't difficult, because it was. By the end of 2011 I had revisited the motherland, Nigeria, for the 1st time in 6 years. And most importantly I was back in uni...only this time I'm in Dubai!

All honesty, it's over rated but I'm loving life...one can't complain...much. Now I'm coming towards the end of my first year and it is all very exciting. In the past few months I taking a step closer to overcoming stage fright, won a creative writing competition (my 1st ever might I add) and made some really amazing friends.

So glory be to God.