Author: Julie

Four or so weeks ago, I was invited to pass the afternoon with several ladies that play Mahjong.  As I had nothing to do I said “yes” and now I hooked.  Mahjong is a game for 4 people that orginated in ancient China.  It is a game of skill, strategy, calculation and chance.  In Asia it is a very popular gambling game.  When I started 4 weeks ago it was with several other beginners.  The instructor had learned to play over 30 years ago and has a beautiful traditional chinese poceilin and bamboo set of tiles.   As beginners, we did not keep score and played a very basic/simple or ordinary mahjong hands.  Mahjong is similiar to cards in that you have a hand of 13 tiles and you make runs (a chow), or 3-of-kind (a pung), or 4-of kind (a kong).  There are 3 suits (charactors, circles, and bamboo) and then honors (winds [east, south, west, north] and dragons [red. white, green]).  You draw and discard and reveal your tiles when you have the 14 tile hand completed. Now summer holiday is over and we are playing more seriously.  The rules were tighten this week.  There were no open hands, all hands had to be concealed or kept hidden from other players and no on one could play an Ordinary Mahjong.  I have an 11 page handout of Special Hands (a bit overwhelming) and thus, as a beginner, after drawing my tiles I tried to pick a hand and play for game.  I was successful once out of four games.  I completed a Big Robert which is a pair of winds and 3 runs of tiles, one in each suit.  I tried 3 other hands including Gerties Garter which is a run 1-7 in one suit, and second run of 1-7 in another suit. I missed by one tile – I was “fishing” for the last needed tile. I tried a Hovering Angel which is a pung (3 tiles) of my own wind (I was South wind) a pair of dragons and a chow in each suit. I missed that hand by 2 tiles.  Lastly I tried the Wriggely Snake which is one of each wind and a run 1-9 with any tile paired).  So see, I am learning a new language (of Mahjong).   Yes, I am hooked.  The afternoon flys by,  especially when you are trying to obtain game against others that have played for 20-30 years.  

Mahjong – getting ready to Twitter the tiles.  When the game is over one returns all the tiles to the center of the table, turn them face down and mix them up (twitter) prior to building 4 walls of 18 tiles stacked 2 high.

The process of obtaining a new home here in Lagos is patience.  We are excited about moving in to the apartment.  It is new and we have done several walk throughs to check the progress of repairs.  As of 8pm Monday night the repairs are complete ( door locks work, water comes out the faucets, light bulbs and fixtures installed, a fresh paint smell and working air conditioning units in each room.  Our sea frieght is now abroad a ship somewhere between Houston and Rotterdam.  Once reaching Rotterdam it will be routed to Lagos, thus we do not expect it any time soon.  So we are the recipeints of “Float” furniture, i.e. temporary furninshings.  We have a Living room set , dining room set and a bed.  We are awaitng a dresser and kitchen furnishings (dishes, utensils, pots & pans, mop, bucket) so we can move in.  It is coming.  Maybe by Friday.

 

The pool at our home – Queens Dr. and a good view from the living room.

 

I have spent the last several days looking for curtains.  I have 6 windows that will need curtains or shades or some type of covering.  There are no Bed, Bath & Beyond or Linens Etc here.  There are very few home stores and they are small with mainly decorator things for a home and generally very pricey.   I have not found any ready made curtains.  Wednesday a friend who is doing the same, finally found a store that had curtain material, so we went for a look.  It was a small home store.  When walking in we saw no fabric bolts but did not give up.  We inquired about fabric swatches and were assured that the store had them.  The sales girl proceeded to pull out a quart size ziploc bag with fabric swatches.  All the swatches were imitation suede, not quite what we were looking for.  So I continue on the hunt for a fabric store.  It is really a word of mouth network here.  And what was here last week, may not be here this week.  So today I am lunching with some members of the American Women’s Club and will seek a lead on some curtains!

Rainy day and one still must get to work….The okada’s (motorbike taxi) passenger has an umbrella up!

Are there OSHA standards in Nigeria?

 

This is a building site – The bamboo poles are used for scaffolding here in Lagos.

 

These gentlemen are restocking the shelves at “Game” a local department store.  Obviously there is no need for them to go to the gym.

This crane operator is on break.  He had been walking on the crane for about 30 minutes when I finally got a good shot of him.

I was invited to a luncheon the other day. I was told it was at 12ish. I was the first to arrive at 1245. While we waited for others to arrive we drank “Pimms” ( a bottled vodka drink mixed with seven sprites with chopped apples and cucumbers), very refreshing on a hot day. We ate about 2. Lunch was a “honey baked ham” that one of the ladies had brought back from the USA in her suitcase and it was served with champagne. We finished with dessert and the last of the champange at 3:30. I had instructed my driver to pick me up at 3:30 so we could then pick Roc up at 4:00 from work. I was the first to leave. As I left the ladies opened several bottles of wine and pulled out a kareoke machine from the bedroom. Later I was told that the luncheon finished up around 7:00pm. Now, that is a leisurely lunch! I will block the afternooon next time!

Yes, there are a couple of things that can bring this city to a stand still and cause absolute traffic chaos. One would think that 17 million people in Lagos, alone, could have that effect, or a flooding downpour would certainly do it,  However, this situation trumps all – a Petrol Truck Driver’s strike!  After the Petrol (Gasoline) truck drivers went on strike Friday morning, (11 July 2008), street chaos descended on the town.  That is because everyone was uncertain how long the strike would last. The driving public began to queue for gas, creating long lines down the lanes of the streets.  Gas station owners responded by blocking their driveways, only allowing a few drivers on the premises at a time.  Enterprising young men with hand carts containing 25 liter jugs jumped in line to fill them up and then sell the fuel on the black street market.  And so, by Saturday, the lines were down the street and around the corners and in some areas barely allowing room for cars to move by.  Drivers were in their cars, motors off, just sitting and waiting for their turn at the pumps.  By mid-day Saturday, most of the stations were barricading their driveways as they were now out of gas.  So how did we get around?  Well, we were in a company car and/or transport van.  Shell has its own gasoline supply, and is not dependent on the truck drivers.  However, in August we will receive our car and will be just like everyone else – sending our driver out to queue for gas if there is another strike.  It particularly affected the service people trying to get to work ,because even the public buses were short on fuel.  It usually cost our driver 100N, ($0.85), to get to work in the mornings, but by Monday the cost was up to 400N to obtain a spot on the same bus.  Finally, on Monday around 10am, the government negotiated a settlement, and strike was over. Our driver predicted that by Tuesday afternoon things would be back to normal, and he was correct, (as usual).  Just another week in “the big city”!

This past Saturday was highlighted by some adventuresome shopping.  After a moderate drive out of town to the Lekki Peninsula, we came upon a large open market area.  When the driver dropped us at the back gate, we were met by several young boys (ages 10-15).  These boys will accompany you through the market for a nominal fee of 100 N ($0.85); carrying your purchases and helping you haggle for the best price.  There were DVD’s, beautifully fresh fruits and vegetables, and local crafts and craftsmen.  We explored only a small portion of this huge market.  I have no place, yet, for storing veggies and souvenirs, as we are still at the hotel.  However, I did buy a small bunch of bananas for snacking and breakfast.  I also haggled their price with the help of “Frank” a 14 year footballer (soccer player), and ended up paying only 50% of the original asking price.  An acquaintance that was with us had just moved into her apartment, and she bought all of her vegetables and fruits, (garlic, onions, lettuce, pineapple, potatoes, green beans, and peppers), for the next week.  The boy accompanying her was running back and forth negotiating, and she was quite pleased with prices.  The boys were very polite and pleasant and made sure that we knew they only worked on the weekends as they were in school Monday- Friday.  We will return there after we get an apartment.

I had the unique opportunity to go with an acquantance from the British Womens Group (BWG) to a Community Health Project in Amukoko.  This was quite simply an eye opening experience, one that not many expats would venture into.  Amukoko is about one hour drive time over several bridges back to Lagos mainland and into the heart of the “slum” area.  It is mostly African transients trying to get established in Lagos that have nothing.  The streets are packed with people in native garb, 3 wheel cars (yellow)[thousands of these], okada’s (2 wheel motorcycle taxis), and vender stands (the size of a 3X3 ft. square) packed into every available space.  We went to the Mission/clinic to give a donation check from the BWG to the mission so the mission could purchase soy beans for the nutrition clinic.  The Mission is actually an oasis in the middle of the slums.  After driving for 20 miniutes on dirt streets through carts, people and stalls, you come upon the Clinic which is a Catholic Mission (a priest house for the only priest, a convent [5 nuns – one of which is a doctor], a church, a clinic, and 2 schools (computer school and baking school).  The nuns are simply amazing.  The clinic is open 7am-4pm, Monday -Friday, and offers the following services: pre and post natal care, TB clinic, AIDS/HIV clinic, Immunization clinic and Nutrition clinic.  The schools for computer and baking are to educate these women to facilitate them getting a better job and a better life for their famililes.  We recieved a tour of all the clinics because I had never been there before, and the nuns were so grateful for the donation.  We had arrived before noon and they had already seen 17 TB patients, given 200 immunization shots, tested 40 women for Aids/HIV, fed 80 women and children in the nutriton room (10×10 ft. room with a single stove and mini-fridge).  The physician on duty had seen almost 100 patients that morning.  The check we brought was for 125,000 Naira (or $1100) and will buy soy beans for the Clinic for 3 months.  The staff will sort the soy beans, wash the beans, grill the beans and then grind the beans into flour/meal for packaging into portions to serve 2 people each.  The clinic then teaches the mothers how to prepare the flour and then they feed the mother and children for 3 days, re-enforcing the nutrition teaching daily before finally supplying them with soy flour/meal to take home.  The clients are very patient.  They have their temperature taken daily and their symptoms logged and paper charted.  There is a complete pharmacy available for the clients.  After recieving care, the clients form a queue for the cashier’s office.  Everyone is expected to pay and they calmly wait to do so (there were about 75 waiting when I was there).  An immunization shot costs 15N (or $0.12).  The cashier accepts whatever they can give even if it is only 1N, and they each get a receipt.  The main supporters of the clinic are the Catholic church, the BWG and the Nigerian government (who supplies the drugs, the syringes and the DVDs/CDs the nuns use to keep up with the newest regulations).  So after the tour, we went to the convent for coffee and biscuits.  The day room was complete with TV/DVD and computer with Internet but no lights and a one burner stove.  These people thanked us over and over for coming to see them in person. While this is not a place I could readily volunteer, (as the Africans in this setting have little trust for the oyinbo – “white person”), I can voluntarily help them best by raising funds and visiting them occasionally.  It was most interesting to converse with the nuns.  They were as curious about me as I was about the clinic.  It is a very well run clinic (clean, orderly) in a 3rd world area, rigidly following CDC/African Health Guidelines and helping the people move a step forward.  Next time, I’ll try to get a few pictures!

It seems that friends are curious about the food here.  Well we are in a hotel that caters to international businessmen.  The food is of a wide variety and of moderate taste.  There is as of yet nothing spectacular.  There are lots of red and brown sauces on meats, fish and vegetables.  The main influeneces seem to be Indian and African.  Because there are several American businessmen there are buffets in 2 of the restruants.  A salad of Iceberg lettuce or any lettuce is rare, but there are salads just using cold vegetables mixed in a variety of ways with your choice of salad dressings.  Bacon is generally thinly sliced ham that is fried in any size or shape.  One drinks bottled water at every meal in addition to what ever beverage is ordered.  We have eaten italian, chinese, lebanese, and hotel.  Oh, coffee and pastery shops are plentiful, however, no Starbucks.  Lots of the food comes from either Egypt or South Africa.  The locals sell vegetables at Falomo bridge ….this womens booth is full of yams, very large yams!  These yams are a main staple of the locals.