Our last few days in Lagos

Have been pretty mellow. I played tennis with Carrie's tennis coach a couple of times. I was smoked in 20 minutes with the heat and humidity here. The first time we went to the market we were short on time because it took 12X longer than expected to get there so I made TJ go back for another round of shopping. After that our driver said traffic was too bad to go anywhere so we hung out at Carrie's apartment until she got off work.

We had plans to go to the GQ (U.S. Guest Quarters) to meet Carrie's friends for dinner and since traffic is so bad Carrie's friends recommended taking a ferry that departs very close from her apartment. There were a couple of glitches with this plan. First, the terminal was on the other side of road and getting from one side of the road to the other means you have to drive to the next round about, which took at least a half hour. Next, there were so many cars in line for the ferry that we would have to wait for who knows how long. So, Carrie, TJ & I hopped onto a little passenger boat where of course we were the only non-locals. It was kind of amusing because the passengers on the boat were saying that there wasn't any room but the people running the boat were telling us to get on. We think the passengers thought that if we got on they were going to have to give us their seats and since they paid the fare they wanted to sit down. We stood and the locals sat and they seemed pleased with that. The Marine's vehicle picked us up on the other side and we were at the GQ in seconds.

Carrie gets excited to eat American food, but it isn't quite what you get in the US. I had a caesar salad and asked for the dressing on the side. That was an easy request to accommodate since they just bring out a bottle of dressing and put it on the table. Of course, the bottle expired 2 years ago. Our group consisted of an older British couple who has lived here for 6 years and their daughter (Carrie's friend), 3 Marines, a gal from the consulate and us. We had a good time as it is very interesting to hear stories told by people who actually live here.

While my emails may make Lagos sound like a dirty, smelly, dangerous, corrupt place (which it is) - we have really enjoyed our time here! We didn't come here to do tourist things because we knew they don't exist. We came here to experience life in Nigeria and to hang out with our friend Carrie. I honestly didn't expect it to be so interesting! Everything we do here is adventure - even if it is just going to the grocery store. We also had the opportunity to meet many really interesting and cool people along the way. I think it takes a truly adventurous person to pick up and move here - especially on a 2 year contract. What I found surprising is that a lot of people are raising their young children here. Their drivers take the kids to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. The cook prepares all of the meals and the nannies tend to the children in the evenings and on the weekends. Where else could you have a driver, nanny and cook/house cleaner (who does laundry and irons too) all for $600 a month? We met a couple that refuses to go back to the US until their children are 18. Interesting. We met another couple from AZ who teach here. Their principal is affiliated with the American International School here and convinced them to come for 2 years. This is the first country they've ever been to out of the US!! I imagine they suffered from serious culture shock!!

Last night at the GQ I met a gal who is here to work for the consulate for 2 years. Her job is to interview Nigerians applying for a visa to the US. Her job is to accept or deny their applications. One of the main considerations for her is whether or not it is possible that the applicant will stay in the US. She told me she just denied a visa for a widow who wanted to attend her son's wedding in the US. She denied the visa because it is probable the woman would not return. She also interviewed a young man who was applying for a student visa. He had REALLY low SAT scores and when she asked him why he wanted to study business in the US he responded, "because my friends are." Of course, she denied his visa. She also interviewed a young woman who had extremely high SAT scores, had applied to 10 universities and been accepted to most of them (which is a huge expense for Nigerians) and went on and on about the chemistry program she hoped to attend and possible thesis topics. Her visa was accepted. People applying for business, student or religious visas are more likely to get a visa than someone wanting to go to the US for tourism. They are very reluctant to grant visas to pregnant women applying for any type of visa as they have caught on that their goal would be to give birth to their child in the US, which would mean the child would be a US citizen. It seems like everyone here has interesting stories to tell.

Yesterday we made a debut in Carrie's classroom. She has kids from all over the world in her classroom and they were very polite and smart. After that we met who were a part in getting TJ and I here so it was nice to meet them. After that we attended a lunch at which the Nigerian staff at Carrie's school were appreciated. They all got baskets of goodies including sugar, flour, toilet paper, oil, etc. Their goodies were things that we take for granted and were well received by the support staff. I thought it was funny that the superintendent pointed out in front of the the whole group that he's seen donuts and other goodies in the print shop. It turns out that somehow the teacher who "bribed" the print shop employees ends up getting their papers printed first... There was a spread of Nigerian food (I passed on the snails) and plenty of beer and wine for everyone - which probably wouldn't have been the case in the U.S.

After the luncheon we loaded into cars with several of Carrie's co-workers and went to a hotel that specializes in Suya, which is a beef spiced in flavors that were different from anything I've ever had. It was good stuff! We sat in the hotel's outside dining area overlooking the pool and the beach and had a good time with the people there. There was plenty of beef and beers to go around and it was all fun until we got the bill. A couple of people in the group weren't happy when they saw the price had gone up 3X since they'd been there last!

While we've really enjoyed our time here, everyday I am thankful we were born in the USA!!!

We have a couple of more days in Lagos and then we are off to Egypt, Turkey, Prague and Amsterdam!