geography 101 (otherwise known as day 10)

here's a map of nigeria in case you wondered where stuff is here...

so this is kind of a shock but i'm already half way though my rotation here! i have only one whole weekend here and the morning of saturday the 29th before i leave. in some ways i'm really happy because once home i'll have a car and starbucks and, most importantly, my husband! but there are so many things (obviously) left to see and do here! i was invited to take a trip to the mountains next weekend and i can't go because that's when i leave. but it's ok. at least i get to go to lagos. so this is interesting; lagos is reportedly the 2nd largest city in the WORLD after mexico city and is the largest in africa. there hasn't been a census here since the early 90's but based on water usage there are at least 20 million people (with a more accurate guess at about 25). the population of the whole US as of july this year was reported at just over 300 million and there's only 1.5 mil in manhattan for some comparasins. lagos is also supposedly considered the most dangerous city in the world. we're not staying in mainland lagos though; the city is comprised of a series of islands linked by landfills (LOTS of trash!) and we'll be staying in a nice hotel on victoria island which is one of the richest areas in the country. so it's funny because we're staying on an island but have to drive thru lagos to the far side outside the city limits (so i'm told) to go to the health fair! nuts, but it's ok with me; i'm pretty much just along for the ride. except, get this, so dooshima (the girl i'm going with) says there won't be anything in particular for me to do, just general helping out as an extra body, unless they ask for a representative to give a speech! isn't that funny? she doesn't want to do it so she told me that'll be my job! lucky for me i don't get nervous around crowds, even when i have no idea what i'm talking about. it'll be fun; at least then i'll have a reason to be noticed. so i have no pictures today. nothing notable happened. i went to the gym and then to the office where my computer screen took a shit and they gave me a loaner (so i have full-time access again afterall) and all i really did was chit-chat and look at new computers online. and a little reading about hiv/aids. and i stole that nice map of nigeria from some web site. maybe lonely planet? i can't remember. and we didn't go to the market today because it was yucki again. so we're trying again tomorrow but now we have a plan; gayathri and dooshima and i (and whoever else, i guess) will leave work at 4:30pm at the latest and go to the market for an hour or so before going on to salamanders to celebrate dooshima's 30th birthday. apparently salamanders is a brand new swanky coffee and cocktail bar. sounds fun, anyway. then i'll get up early on thursday, after packing up all my stuff the night before, because i have to check out of the hotel. yeah, can you believe it? it makes sense i guess, but's still annoying. so when the driver picks me up for the airport in the morning i'll have my stuff all packed and whatever i'm not bringing to lagos will be stashed at the office til i get back on sunday and check back into the hilton! whatever. it's expensive to stay here so makes sense to save that extra $500 or so. especially since they're giving me N100,000 (~us$800) to go to lagos. in cash. so we have travel and per diem alottments at usuhs too but here they pay it all out in advance. in CASH! it was funny because i asked dooshima how much money i'd need and she's like "didn't you get the letter? we're getting all that money before we go. how else would we afford it?" hmmm. i don't know. we use our government travel cards and get reimbersed? silly me. people here are still burying cash in holes in the backyard and unfortunately sometimes that's the safest place for it. there have recently been all these local news stories about the "attractive ladies" that work for the bank and have to meet quotas for accounts opened. they apparently do "anything" for a new account and it also counts if people just switch accounts from other institutions. so as you can imagine it's a lot of paperwork and screw-ups, never mind prostitutes working for the bank! but that's not a bad story at all. another news story from today was about a man caught having sex with another man's wife (by her clever husband, no less) who was beaten within inches of his life and is now in a coma. apparently the adulturer has been dressing as a woman and goes to the wife's house when her husband goes away on business. but this happened up north, the muslim (or local hausa tribe) area where the eye-for-an-eye justice prevails. other random daily news stories talk about NEPA (the electric company that never works) and corrupt government officials and about the golden eaglets who won the under-17yr old world cup in soccer last weekend. big deal around here. so that's about all. i'm still kind of grumpy about my whole computer situation but it's sweet that they're letting me use another in the meantime. and my cold is almost gone too. and i get to wear jeans for this trip to lagos which is cool since i actually have a pair! hmm.. i guess that's it. i ate a bowl of soup, a roll and a banana for dinner with 2 cups of decaf nescafe (so, so bad). and i'm just reading and relaxing. it's nice. and now i'm done til tomorrow...

here's a link for lagos state (whose capital is lagos city) in case you're curious http://www.lagosstate.gov.ng/web/lagos/home and another one that's probably better because it's not managed by the government http://www.lagoslive.com/map

just an aside; i just got drunk dialed! mary, the girl i met last night was looking for me in the bar and couldn't find me so called! i told her we'll hang out when we are both back from lagos on monday (coincidentally she'll be there this weekend too). but right now they're all drinking and she wants to go spend money. i think i'll wait til later to go see her!