Detomos Abroad

This week and next the American Club known as the GQ (Guest Quarters) welcomes the men and women of the USS Nashville, 400 strong to Lagos.  They were accompanied by the Navy Band (the Europe branch from Naples).  They are here as part of African Partnership Station 2009 (APS), the biggest maritime partnership program ever in Africa.  They have already visited Liberia, Senegal, Ghana and now Nigeria and will head to Cameroon next week.  The APS mission is seminars, workshops and hands-on training conducted with Nigerian sailors, including sessions on port security planning, small boat maintenance, medical training, search and rescue training and oceanographic methods.  APS is an international initiative under the auspices of Naval Forces Africa which aims to work cooperatively with U.S., European and African partners to enhance maritime safety and security on the African continent. APS provides a unique venue to align maritime engagements by utilizing an international team of expert trainers in a variety of military capacities and civilian fields such as fisheries management, port security and meteorology.  Here in Nigeria their travel has been somewhat restricted so the GQ opened the facility for them; swimming, a bazaar for shopping and American BBQ.  Rocky and I went to the GQ both on Saturday and Sunday, did a little shopping, listened to the Navy Jazz quintett

and conversed with the Navy men and women and ate American cheeseburgers.  Some sailors spent the day trying to access the internet (always an unknown), others were in the pool or getting a massage, some worked out in the gym and several were shopping at the bazaar

and learning what they could about Lagos and the culture here.  The crew has navy men/women enlisted less than a year to several that have been there 20+ years. The crew also do charity work while here. They donated school supplies and medical supplies to 2 of the American Womens Club charities. The USS Nashville navy crew and the marines stationed at the embassy participated in the Race for a Cure run, visited local schools, and allowed the scouts and other children groups to tour the vessel. The bar at the GQ was packed with sailors.  There were 40 vendors on the tennis courts and everyone appeared to be enjoying the sunny weather and the frozen margaritas!   

Saturday was the 3.5 mile run for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  It was held at the American Independent School Lagos.  The goal was to have 250 runners/walkers to raise funds to purchase a mammogram machine.  It was wildly successful!  The school was decorated in white and pink ribbons.  There were teams and individuals participating.  The Shell Women’s Network had all Shell employees in polo shirts with a large pink ribbon on the front.  The USS Nashville was here in Lagos as part of the African Partnership Station 2009 with 400 Navy men & women.  Their Commodore, Ms. Cynthia Thebaud, is a breast cancer survivor.  Forty-seven of the crew participated in the run; one of them winning it.  The US Ambassador to Nigeria Robin Renee Sanders participated.  The local South African grocer “ShopRite” entered a team and one of their employees came in second.  Rocky and several of our neighbors participated.  It was a mix of Africans and expatriates, navy and marines, teachers and pupils running for a great cause that made a successful and fun race.

 School courtyard awash in pink & white ribbons

 Rocky and Friends

 Ambassador Sandoers motivating the runners.

 Warming up

 The Winner -a navy man!

  The ShopRite man took second place.

 Here comes Rocky!

 Navy and Marine participants

After we returned from the new year, we were invited by a Scottish Expat couple who are friends of ours to a ball on Saturday, January 24^th – something called “Burn’s Night”.  Now we had never heard of “Burn’s Night” before, and it was subsequently explained to us that the occasion was being celebrated all over the world, (locally sponsored by The Caledonia Society), in honor of Scottish history and Robert Burn’s, (his birthday is January 25^th), the most famous author/poet in Scottish history, who wrote passionately of Scottish independence, and his love of women, whiskey and song.  The party was a very formal affair, with traditional Scottish kilts, formal tuxedos and ball gowns.  The ballroom was decorated in purple and red sashes with Scottish Coats-of-Arms displayed everywhere.  Approximately 300 people attended from every nationality, race and religion, and it was a very scripted affair.

  

The night began with a formal Receiving Line of the Society’s Officers, from which we were steered directly to your choice of Champagne or Scotch Whiskey as the warm-up.  After ~30 minutes of arrivals and social meandering, everyone took their seats and the program began with a procession of bagpipes and officers.  We listened to welcoming addresses, and stood for the Scottish National Anthem, The Nigerian National Anthem, and a round of “God Save the Queen”, at which point we got down to business with a couple of traditional Scottish dances to which everyone was expected to participate in, (kind of a combination of square dances and line dances).

 

This then led to the most important procession and the occasion for the President of the Society to “Address the Haggis”!  Again, a bagpipe-led line paraded, with a matron carrying the ceremonial “haggis” on a silver tray, being honored by all.  A few rounds of Robert Burn’s poetry, honors to the ideals of the Scots, numerous rounds of toasts, and it was then time for dinner – for starters haggis, taters, and carrots; main dish of beef, chicken or veggie; a sweet puddin dessert; lots of wine & whiskey. 

 

After dinner, it was time for the address of the “Laddie’s”, where a learned male scholar discusses & exposes the great virtues and strengths of the stronger sex.  This is then followed by the reply from the “Lassie’s”, who led a stirring exposé on the historic shortcomings of men, both in competence and anatomically.  Finally, the speeches being complete, it’s just the tea, coffee, and Baileys along with 12 participant Scottish dances by a traditional Scottish folk-band, flown in for the occasion from the U.K.  It being past midnight already, we decided our night was calling for an end, but we expected the party would continue long without us into the wee hours of the night.

  

The Flowerstalk Tea room is in the Flowerstalk Florist Shop.  Tuesday I attend an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony there.  The American Women’s Club has monthly coffee meetings and today was not the usual coffee meeting. Instead it was a sharing of hospitality. 

The Ethiopian coffee ceremony is a part of the social and cultural life in Ethiopia.  The young lady roasted coffee beans over a very small charcoal pit.  She then moved around the room letting us smell the beans…. very nice aroma.  Next she put the beans in the most beautiful coffee pot with a long neck and then simmered the pot over the small charcoal pit. 

The coffee was served in very small cups with no sugar or cream and was delicious.  It was not strong or weak but very pleasant.  The coffee was served with bowls of popcorn and roasted grain.  NO individual dishes but everyone sharing from the same bowl.  This is considered a way of sharing and a mark of friendship or respect.  There is no hurry and it is definitely ceremonial.  Thus far probably the most relaxing and interesting coffee I have attended!

 

Where would we be without friends?  Strong friends when it comes to a pool table.  When the pool table was unassembled and crated in the USA, we were under the impression that there would be an assembly group here in Nigeria.  Having had repair men come to change a ceiling light bulb without a ladder and the plumber come to fix plumbing with only a screw driver, it became clear to us that we would be assembling the pool table ourselves.  The frame was intact but having been stood on end it had one broken board. 

 The furniture carver that has made us a new top for our bar came to the rescue and made us a replacement for the broken board. 

 

Then with the help of 5 strong neighbor men we uncrated the 3 slates, (~300 lbs each), and placed them in position.  I was no help as my leg still did not bend from my knee surgery, and I really can’t walk like one should. 

We brought a new felt with us from the USA, and we then began to level and re-surface the table in preparation of stretching the new felt over it. 

The men were all promised game-time at the table once it was complete.  It takes a small village to assemble a pool table.  Rocky spent the next week plastering and sanding the seams and imperfections in the slate, and then stretching the new felt over it and tacking the edges. 

 The more difficult part was cutting and stretching the felt over the pocket cutouts, especially on the sides.  Once the felt was on, holes were cut on it to match the slate holes where the rails assemble on top of it.  The rails themselves were interesting to assemble!  The entire rail assembly must be done at one time, upside-down, and then flipped over to bolt unto the table.  This is because, once assembled, the slate hides the screw holes for the pocket-rods.  Once the rails are bolted on, then the leather pocket baskets must be tacked to the table to complete the job.  The only problem was the disassembler in Houston had simply pulled the pockets off, damaging a number of the leather ends, requiring a lot of detailed, custom assembly adjustments.  By mid-January, however, the Pool Table was assembled – and it plays fantastic!! 

 

January 20, 2009

10:00am Washington DC is 5:00pm here in Nigeria.  So at 5:00pm I met some British friends and went to the American Club (or the GQ as it is known locally [Guest Quarters]) to watch Obama’s Inauguration.  Rocky and I generally attend Happy Hour at the GQ once a week and there are 2-10 people in the bar then.  It is a very casual atmosphere with people talking, using the Internet and American CNN on the TV (not the International version).  Today there are at least 150 people crowded in the bar.  The attached dining room has its doors wide open as a bar extension and had most of its tables removed and extra chairs placed.  It is crowded to the point of standing room only. 

 The GQ serves only American food and drink all of which are imported from Houston Texas.  Tonight there are 4 TV’s running and the food represents Obama’s home states of Illinois and Hawaii.  Thus, the menu consists of Chicago Cubs hot dogs, Coconut fried shrimp with pineapple sauce and BBQ ribs.  We joined a table of other British friends and proceeded to order wine and margaritas (GQ makes the best) and watch the Inauguration.  We sampled all the food items and they were quite good especially the shrimp. When Obama was sworn in as President, the people in the bar were so quiet you could hear a pin drop. 

 When Obama was President the crowd stood and clapped and whistled.  The Nigerians in the crowd waved small American flags. 

The crowd was very respectful of Obama’s speech and again erupted in cheering and flag waving when it was over. 

All in all quite a party and celebration.  Several of my friends left work to go home and sit and watch the Inaguration via International CNN.  I really enjoyed the party and atmosphere of the GQ.  GO OBAMA!

 

 

The Harmattan is a dry and dusty West African trade wind that blows south from the Sahara into the northwest coast of Africa and Nigeria this time of year.  The results are low quality air, a haze that limits visibility, and potential significant restrictions on travel.  It is intermittent from November through March, but is often worst in January and February.  Although most people complain about the interruptions it causes to their daily routines by covering everything with dust, and impacting their breathing, the Harmattan also pushes out the hot, humid weather, and replaces it with cooler, (about 10 degrees F cooler), and dryer weather.  It also provides for some spectacular sunrises and sunsets, as the dust refracts the light into soft, colorful images.  In its minor form, it is a nuisance, but if a major event kicks-up, airline travel stops, and people may not be able to travel far outdoors.  This is what happened on Rocky’s last trip into Port Harcourt.  Upon his return flight, scheduled to depart at 9:30 in the morning, the Port Harcourt airport was shutdown for lack of visibility and air conditions, (conditions are usually worse in the morning, and improve during the day).  By 1:00PM, conditions had finally improved enough that planes were allowed to land and takeoff again, making for a nearly all day experience to travel a 45 minute flight.

Please note there are no clouds in the sky, just a haze covering everything.

We left for the airport Friday January 2^nd at 1:30pm having spent the last seven weeks visiting family and friends, traveling the States and now with 8 full suitcases are back in Lagos Saturday 11pm January 3^rd.   It’s 82 degrees and balmy weather.

 

We awoke Sunday morning to the sound of the fire alarm going off in the apartment.  We had gotten about 5 hours sleep at this point and it would have been nice to sleep in.  After calling security to let them know about the alarm, we discovered water on the floor of 3 bathrooms and the guest bedroom and not a little water but water an inch deep.  One of the hot water tanks (we have 2) had burst.  Here the tanks are located in the crawl space above the bathrooms.  Once again we called security and someone came round to turn off the water to the 2 bathrooms and the kitchen.  We won’t be doing any laundry! 

 

It’s Monday 1:30pm and a new water tank has arrived and is being installed.  Of course there is now rust colored water on the floor and grimy fingerprints all over the walls.  The plumber had to remove the wood frame around the crawl space to get the new hot water heater in, but at least we have hot water!  Watching workers in Nigeria is always interesting:  Plumbers, Electricians, and Carpenters – all show up with no tools whatsoever!  They arrive, and then go in search of a ladder, (we do not have one), then they ask to borrow a hammer or wrench, or must go off again to borrow one from somewhere.  If parts are needed, the leave and come back days later with the part to pick-up where they left off.  Therefore, simple jobs drag over either all day long, or over multiple days, and even then will only get completed in a timely fashion if they are called and cajoled on a continuous basis.

 

To be safe, we have asked to have the other hot water heater replaced before it might burst!  So the plumbers will return.  Welcome to life in Nigeria!

Finally, we have our belongings and yes they arrived 7 days before we leave Nigeria for our home leave.  Our belongings (furniture, kitchen and household items) were packed in May 2008.  They were moved to storage till a sea freight container became available (which took about 10 days).  Our stuff was then packed into the container and shifted to the dock where at the end of June it was placed on a ship for Nigeria.  However, once it got to sea it developed problems and had to be towed back to dock and put in dry dock for repairs.  Thus our container was unloaded and sat on the dock awaiting another ship to Nigeria.  It started on its way to us again in August and arrived in Nigeria in early September.  It took a while before it cleared customs and tariffs and taxes were paid. But October 31^st after calling the port for a solid week, our belongings arrived at 6:30pm.  Then they had to be unloaded the container.  The container was too big to get into the complex so 6 guys unloaded in the street and either carried the boxes through the gate past the guards,  across the parking lot, around the pool, up a flight of stairs to us or loaded the smaller items into a small van and drove the van to the closest entry and brought the items to us.    It took about 4 hours to unload.  But what a relief to finally have our own stuff!  We removed the bubble wrapping from the living room furniture and popped some champagne.  Celebration time!

 

November 1^st we ventured with the Nigerian Field Society to Makoko, a stilt village off the Third Mainland Bridge of Lagos.  This stilt village has been in the waters off Lagos Mainland for 2 generations now.  It is a village built entirely on stilts sitting in the water.  There are only waterways as roads. The population is ~9,000 people. It is made up of the fishing people of Benin seeking a better life.  We started by embarking into 3 skiffs to traverse the 30 minutes to the village.  We were accompanied by a couple who visit this village about once every 6 months always taking a small number of people to expose them to a different side of life here in Lagos.  Today there were 20 of us and we came bearing gifts:  cash for the children’s school and school supplies, drink for the Baale, and pictures of the previous visit.  We were greeted by the Baale’s men and welcomed into the community center.  We were allowed to ask any questions (through an interpreter) of the Balay and then given a tour by banana boat of the village.  The Baale is a mayor like figure that overseas the community handling most anything and everything.  He allowed picture-taking and was most gracious to the invasion of 20 Obinyos (white people).  The young man that guided us through the village was born and raised in Makoko.  He spoke English and conversed readily about the villages’ way of life.  The children begin swimming and paddling a boat from birth.  We saw 4 year olds out alone paddling a boat.  The elders and older youth go to the sea daily to fish and once the fish are sold the other necessities’ are either bought or bartered.  There is clean water that comes from the mainland.  The day we were there, the pipe sprung a leak and we watched them pull it up and cover the leak with a piece of rubber and drop it back down.  There are boats moving through the village selling cloth, clothes, DVD’s/CD’s, recharge cards (for the cell phones), oranges, smoked fish, vegetables and fruits (actually, they sell anything you can think of).   Yes a few people had electricity and a couple of homes had generators.  Most homes were one large room on stilts, but some were 2 stories tall and some had porches.  Several had outdoor showers to the side of the home.  During the tour the children smiled and yelled “Yaboo” (their word for white person).  The children want you to take their picture and then show them the picture.  They also want to touch you.  It was interesting to see those who have so little and make so much of what little they have.  It certainly was unlike any other village we have been to.