day six, work week over!

so we have an office mascot. i mean, not really, but apparently a lizard has been living in our room for like the past couple months. he's cute but gayathri doesn't like him because "he's too restless" and seems only to like running back and forth accross plastic bags. that and running accross people's sandald feet while they're concentrating on their paperwork. anyway, i see him a few times a day and we all know he's around. just one of those "office things" not unlike a swingline stapler. or maybe not quite. but the lizards are everywhere here (i may have already mentioned) especially sunning themselves on the sidewalks (where the sidewalks exist, anyway). the males get to be over a foot long with bright orange heads and blue-green bodies where the females stay pretty small and ugly (or i guess bland is a more appropriate term). so that's what the lizard pix are all about.

so work was not really worth mentioning. i wasted more time making my spreadsheet cooler (meaning prettier, more colorful) and read thru some training agendas and more research proposals. i don't really know what i did most of the day, but i didn't work too hard. and fridays are early days! we're supposed to be out by 3pm at the latest so that the drivers can go to friday church services (even though they pretty much go every single day) and so it's even better to have the office emptied out by 1:30p. so that was sweet. and even though i was tired and sniffley (uh-oh, i feel the sinus headache already...) i decided to read a bit and then at about 6p i decided to walk to amigo, the convenience/supermarket. it's mostly just for tourists since everything is generally too overpriced for the locals. but since i may not get to the market i figured i might as well get a few things. since i walked there on sunday i wasn't worried about being able to find it and i guessed it would take less than 10min (since i didn't want to walk in the dark and the sun was sinking pretty low). but "surprise!" it's like BLACK outside behind aso rock. so i get my ass in gear and really try to book it before the storm. and i make it, too! but the "in" door's closed? this place is supposed to be open til like 9p. but someone calls to me and directs me thru a crack they make in the door, after i manage to squeeze thru the crowd (which is assembled in front of the icecream man which happens to be right in front of the door). so i grab a basket and go straight for the serious goods: peanut butter and jelly, yogurt, tea and instant soup. good deal; got it, let's get outa here! in line i meet another white guy from butapest. his cart is full of soda and candy; nice. so i'm mentally preparing to haggle with a taxi for the ride back but the sky hasn't opened yet. so i jet back down the "sidewalk", my feet sliding around in my flip-flops, making some nice blisters from what i can tell, and i can feel my hair getting sweaty. but woo-hoo! i went to the store and got food! and i didn't get hit by a car crossing the highway (walk signs? are you kidding?) or struck by lightening, which is putting on a georgous show with a few grumbles thrown in for drama. and i can't believe i made it! so i quick get over to the pastry shop and get some small rolls, a quiche for tomorrow's breakfast and a meat pie for dinner.

mmm... meat pie... actually it was really pretty good. although most things surrounded by pie crust (as in butter) usually are. but it was filling and tasted good enough to me and i had a decent sized thai lunch so i wasn't all that hungry anyway. and then i finished it off with not one, but TWO cups of instant nescafe decaf! i know. it's total anarchy. i can't wait to drink a real cuppa when i get home! actual coffee beans! it'll be awesome. stupid non-coffee growing/drinking nation! they should get a clue from kenya! but it's ok. i like a hot drink after dinner and it'll sufice for the next couple weeks. and anyway i keep my mind on other things, like this, and i don't really notice how bad it is.

so a bit about my walk. so some white people (and especially the embassy) say "don't go out alone! don't take taxis! don't leave the hilton. ever! go to the pool if you need to get outside." yeah, okay. so i've wandered around a bit with other people and talked with the non-nigerians at work about walking and taxis, and to the locals too, and the concensus is "do what you want but be safe". cool. so my big trip wasn't too crazy, right? i made eye contact and said "hi" to everyone. i'd say more than 90% smiled, waved and said "hi" back. it's a very friendly culture and considered terribly rude not to say hi in passing. so i did. to everyone. most people just seemed a little surprised, that's all. like "who's this white girl walking so fast down the street? she lost?" but it was pleasant. i didn't take pictures though. aside from looking even more nuts, i'd be showing off some of the goods. nigeria is really poor with the average working person making less than us$300 per YEAR, nevermind that unemployment is at least 25% and much higher in other areas. so people steal stuff that they can sell; cameras, cell phones and just plain cash. they rob people and take their shit. there are very few kidnappings here, especially of forgeiners, compared to other countries like in columbia or peru. all they want here is instant gratification. the only exception is oil workers along the coast. there are terrorists that target that populations of local and forgein workers. and rapes and beatings are no more common here than back in dc. people are poor here but also VERY religious; christian or muslim. as the taxis zoom past you can hear them blaring sermons and gospel music on their crappy stock stereos. anyway, so there's crime but no real foreign targets. and nigeria isn't a tourist destination (you can't get here without a work visa) so no one is really used to seeing white tourists and they don't really know how to exploit us. i got harrassed to buy bootleg movies and phone cards as much as the locals. and the kids selling peanuts off their heads didn't even try to sell to me; just smiled when i said "good evening". a few times i got called "whitie" but from what i've heard and read it's not considered deragatory, more like a exclamation of surprise. whatever, didn't bother me. just another note i may not have mentioned about the people here; the greetings. they all pretty much say "you're welcome" when we're saying "hi". and i'm always embarrassed when they shake my hand because after the initial squeeze of about 2secs i have this involuntary need to jerk my hand away so i can have it back to myself. here they just don't let go! they loosly hold with 1 or both hands and keep talking, usually continuing with greetings ("how is/was your day/night? do you like nigeria? can i help you in any way?"). i mean it's nice and non-threatening but i hate it and can't help but pull away. i need my personal space! but they don't do the european kissey thing here. just the hand shake.

and some more about general living/economy. so the reason the embassy puts us up here or at the sheraton is because they're the only structures that run completely on generators so there's no lost power when you lose service (constantly). locally only about 40% of establishments have their own running water and there's no central source, it's all from individual wells or "bore holes". people push around carts every morning with 10gal jugs of "potable" water that people buy for all of their home uses. there is no reliable electricity in the whole country. no one drinks the water and those electric kettles are everywhere! as far as resources, crude oil is the biggest export. and the biggest import? refined oil. yeah, the terrorists keep blowing up the refining plants (totally stupid target, come on guys!) so there's no way to process all this stuff. the worst part? refined is way more expensive, so they end up exporting more than they import so they're losing money big-time. other than that there's tin, iron, and even gold, but only tin has really been exploited. they don't really export any agriculture. when the brits were in charge (before the 1960's) there was a pretty good agriculture thing going but since they left it has kind of fallen to bits and been poorly managed. there's no industry here either; no big plants or factories. really, there's a little but of service industry and then taxis and just selling stuff if you can get it. so i think that's quite a bit of stuff. but i've been asking questions and reading up so i wanted to share... next week i'm going to lagos for a few days for the health fair (NOT an AIDS festival!) and so should have a different perspective being in another area of the country which is more populous and has a different tribal presence. g'night...