The Spelling Competition!

It's day 354 of documenting 2025.

11 days to 2026!

Saturday was definitely a fun day for me.

Probably because I'm still at E's house.

Okay...let me start from how today went.

I woke up early, due to my alarm.

I actually slept in a mosquito net, provided by E's mum.

She's such a nice woman...and she reminded me of my mother.

Shortly after, E's dad woke up.

You know what happened next?

We all had a morning devotion!

Igbo worship songs which I sang along to, then prayer by E's dad.

It felt like I was with family....and that God was present.

After the devotion, we had to go for a choir practice...me, E and J...our other friend and one of E's roommate in the lodge.

It was another experience on its own...with me straining my voice to keep up with the sopranos.

E told me earlier that my voice was an alto...but I should join the sopranos first, that he would train me later.

He would know, as he's a choir coordinator and trainer himself.

There I was, singing worship songs in tonic solfa, words and tunes.

It was actually very interesting, as I got to pick up a few things about choir ministration.

How could I have thought of missing all this in the first place? 

You tell me! 😄

One thing about me is that fact that I love having experiences that teach me and open up my mind to new concepts.

And since I'm not conversant with my mother tongue...anywhere I can go to soak it up is fine by me.

E speaks Igbo very well, although his dialect is slightly different from my people's dialect.

It's still the same language...and he's happy that I'm learning it as well.

I'm already speaking it to some extent myself...as he's always telling me most of what he wants to say using Igbo.

I'm starting to feel less embarrassed when speaking, because I know that I'm around people who can correct me. 😌

After the choir practice, we headed back to the house.

Oh yeah! I didn't mention this...

There was light! 

My power bank is already full now.

I'll be leaving tomorrow, and it will be sufficient for when I travel.

Okay, I digressed..

We headed back to the house and waited for the other programme I came for.

A spelling competition.

It was scheduled to be in person....that I would go to a location where it would be held.

Organized by the Bishop of the Niger, it's the last competition of the year....according to E.

He told me how it was going to go...and the fact that 500 thousand naira was the grand prize to be won. Guess what? I was the team leader.

When we spoke yesterday, E said something. He said that whenever he wants to invite people for events or competitions, he would pick people who he deems capable.

He told me that he found me capable of doing it...and that's why he told me about it. It felt like an honor 😌

Turns out, the competition didn't hold in person anymore.

Due to the bishop's direction, it was going to be online by 9pm.

Emails were sent to inform me of all the developments. Something called a blackboard competition.

E was happy, because according to him...it was going to be in our favor.

Well, my afternoon was spent by eating some good swallow first and later accompanying E to return a defective charger....then when we got back, I slept off till evening time.

By then, J had come back.

He actually went to a choir ministration for a wedding at another church.

Them boys were discussing God knows what when E woke me up to prepare so we could go for the evening choir practice.

I took a good bath and changed clothes before leaving.

The evening choir practice was another episode on its own....as I saw what E complained about.

How unserious the choristers were.

And the fact that he's tired of the fact that they don't take him or his opinions seriously....despite being a choir coordinator.

He calls us the "animal choir", something I always find offensive, but I get what he means.

We're still the immature of the immature.

The lowest rank.

But that's how we all start, right?

Okay, let's pause here....

Up next is highlights.

Man! I can't believe I'm almost done with this book, which I took, one page at a time.

Author? Martin Meadows.

Title is...

365 Days With Self-discipline

📌 On Focusing on the Good Things

"I think it’s almost an indulgence to focus on the dark side of things. And as you get older, you want to focus on the positive."

Quote by Rob Brydon

On several occasions, we have talked about cultivating positive emotions when things go bad. 

I argued that focusing on the bad things is an act of mental laziness because they’re easier to access than the positive ones. 

Today I’d like to talk about this topic yet again, this time by looking at it as a new habit to iinslpeople get older, they tend to focus more on the dark side of things.

Perhaps it’s because they’ve experienced more things, suffered more failures, or were let down by more people. 

Whatever the reason, if you want to remain a happy and successful person, grumbling is not the way to go.

If by default you focus on the dark side, it’s time to develop a new habit: whenever you catch yourself focusing on the dark side of things, come up with one good thing about the situation and focus on that thought instead. 

Keep your mouth shut if you want to voice a complaint.

For example, if you’re out enjoying a walk with a friend and it’s starting to rain, resist the temptation to complain about the bad weather.

Instead, say (for example) that it’s nice to take a walk despite the rain because there are fewer people around, or redirect your attention to something else, such as your friend’s recent success.

Exhibiting a positive attitude takes work, but it’s work that is well worth the effort. Strive to focus on the positive and train yourself to always find something good, even in the worst circumstances. 

You’ll get better at controlling your

thoughts and become more optimistic and resilient.

I would just say this:

Anything that is beneficial and worth a lot of lessons, is always on the other side of your fears. You can feel that fear, but take action regardless.

That's what happened when I went to E's house.

It was very scary for me at first.

I was thinking of the worst possible case scenarios. But it turned out to be a very good decision.Everything has been sorted out and I feel lucky to have a friend like him.

Okay....back to the story.

We came back from the choir practice and then waited till the time for the competition.

I'm still at E's house, but tomorrow put being Sunday, 

You know what I thought?

I was thinking virtual calls and a moderator who would ask questions and give us words to spell.

None of that happened.

It was actually in form of an online spelling bee. With E staying in front of me, he gave me signals on when to go for the next word and made me stand up all through the exercise.

Apparently, the first round is for the team leaders and there are four groups, with each being led by a leader.

Man! The words were tough!

But by the special grave of God, I passed the first round. 

Me and my group 😄

E was overjoyed, and he mentioned that in all the other competitions, his group has never gotten to the finals before.

Well, glad he found me!

Two groups have been eliminated.

Just two left and the finals will also be online as well.

It's scheduled for tomorrow morning by 6am. Afterwards, we find out who wins the prize.

My day went well and I'm so grateful to Him for his grace and mercy so far 😌🙏

There's also the D-Day for showcasing all we've learned so far.

Let's see how it goes.

I guess my day was pretty eventful, and I won't forget this whole experience I'm a while. As long as this blog is still on.

(Heck yeah it is!)

That would be all for today's documentation. Thanks for reading 🎀

You can catch up the former posts by visiting the main website, Documenting 2025.

I also created a separate series for this "adventure".

Check for "Episode with E"

It's just to make the stories stand out.

See you in the next post 💜