I typed this up yesterday but forgot to put it up, enjoy..

I just got back from PH and I can barely keep my eyes open. I am so tired, but I just had to make this blog entry while the details are still fresh in my head…this is definitely going to be a long one so you better get comfortable.

Saturday

So on Saturday, my brother in law called us at like 7 in the morning and said he was heading to the airport in Owerri (FYI: if you didn’t already know, the airport in PH is closed so you have to fly into Owerri then go by road to PH which is about a 2 hour drive) so we should take the first flight out cause he has a lot of stuff to do. So Mr. and I got ready and he went ahead to the airport to get the details and buy the tickets, the plan was that we would meet him at the airport if there was a flight leaving soon (oh that’s another thing, if you’re traveling locally, you just go to the airport and buy the ticket there like you’re getting on a bus or something…lol). Well he called me and said the 8:30 a.m. flight was cancelled the next one was at 10:00 a.m. and it was oversold but were on standby, so he came back home and we all left the house (quite late) for the 10 o clock one. Only to get the airport and find that we couldn’t check in our luggage, and they wouldn’t take in on the plane. Then we find out that Aero Contractor another airline had a 3:30 flight, so we ran over there to get tickets and finally we were all set, or at least we thought we were. The flight was delayed 2 hours so we finally left at 5:30, Mr. was also cargo-ing some things for his brother so that was another wahala as well but I won’t even digress there for now.

We arrived in one piece at the Owerri airport at 6:30 and his brother was waiting for us, he had arranged for another van to carry all the additional load we cargo-ed for him. So I went in his car with baby and Mr. went with the van because they wanted someone in there with them. That’s how we were going oh, and he said his battery light was coming on and he didn’t know why, so he put off his A/C, it still kept going on, finally the lights got dimmer and dimmer and the car stopped, somewhere in Aba. So we carried all our load and transferred to the van, got all the way to PH (Ebere junction or something like that) and we were stuck there in traffic for like 3 hours. I mean the kind of traffic where you shut off your engine and put the windows down. Anyway finally, we got to his place at about 11:00 p.m. and was informed my mother-in-law was waiting for me and her grand child that she hasn’t met down the street at her place. Well cut a long story short, I didn’t go cause I didn’t want to take baby out that late, I mean it was long day already, so she came over. She is so sweet, she’s really really short J. I mean short. And she bought me lace and ‘george’ (type of fabric as well). I felt so bad cause I didn’t get her anything this trip (I had already sent things to her when we just got back …..so don’t tell me what a bad daughter-in-law I am).

Sunday

We went to church for Mr.’s brothers baby dedication, after we left church the plan was to take me to the airport as I had to be out so I could come home and work on Monday and he was supposed to join me in Lagos on Monday. We took once again the 2 hour drive down to Owerri with 12 police checkpoints along the way (I counted), we didn’t get stopped though but all the same it’s scary, we actually saw a police-man rolling a joint to smoke!! WTF???

When we got to the airport we were informed that there were no flights to Lagos, there were all cancelled, so we turned around and headed back.

The only positive thing about that was I got to spend some quality time with my in-laws at eleast.

Monday

We left the house at 5:30 a.m. got the airport around 8:30 a.m. we got tickets for a 9:30 a.m. flight and we were in Lagos by 10:30….Hurrayy!!!! I practically kissed the ground when I got off the plane.

Soul Lounge

So I finally 'bubbled' oh!. Last Friday I went to Soul Lounge, which is a teenie, weenie bar/lounge at the palms. I went with my 'socialite' cousin (that's a topic for another day) and her soon to be husband. The place was surprisingly packed, it really wasn't much different from the NY night scene the key differences being, people smoking inside (I have gotten used to the no smoking inside), a lot of older men with small small girls (I mean it's not even shameful anymore oh! these girls were comfortably walking around with their 'daddys') and the music (a lot of Nigerian songs mixed with the regular US hits - it was quite good). There were also plenty little girls with their boobies and booties hanging out, but then again that's not really a Nigerian thing, it's universal.

Funny enough, one of the things a lot of people (5 different people told me this) told me to be careful of in Nigeria were the Nigerian girls. They said they are really agressive and they don't really give a hoot if a man is married (even I saw this for myself). I mean, even when my husband goes out and I don't follow him (I can't follow him everywhere now!, me too I have things to do), everybody is like,".....this is Lagos oh!...you better follow your husband..." which kin wahala be this? I don't want to breath down anyone's neck.

Anyway, I had a good time at soul lounge, but I think I will be laying off the night scene for a while, it doesn't look like I'm missing much, plus I don't like being squished in one corner while people are stepping on my feet.

I am miserable

I feel miserable, I look miserable. I have malaria, I have a cough and cold. My husband is sick, my baby is sick. We all have to fly to Port-Harcourt this weekend I am meeting my in-laws for the first time, I'm sure they are already cursing me out for not seeing them all this time. The airport in PH is closed, so we have to fly to Owerri and then go by road from Owerri to Port-Harcourt. What kind of sufferhead is this?

Web Woes

Nigerian ISPs have been a frequent blog topic and now I understand why. Since I arrived, I had been waiting on a particular company to install our "faster" connection. It's been about a month and a half and they only just installed on Tuesday, this is after many frustrating calls from my father, and listening to stories of their dishes being on some container that needs to clear or, them looking for one signature or the other to release equipment or, all their engineers being occupied because they were upgrading from one standard to another, I mean these people are very creative story tellers... Anyway finally they installed and so far I have been pleased with their service.

Now, while we were waiting on these first guys to install, we decided to get "broadband" service from another company that is relatively new on the scene. Their sales people were rather prompt in coming to collect their checks and promised to install within 72 hours, they installed within 96 hours instead, not bad considering I had been waiting 5 weeks for the other guys. Then after they installed everything was fine for the first day and then things came to a grinding halt the next day, the speed really really slowed down, I mean I might as well have been using a dial-up connection complete with modem sound effects. Again the endless cycle of phone calls started, "oh ....we mistakenly put you on the wrong plan, we will upgrade your account, try again in 30 minutes...",..."oh...it's still not fast? ok try again on Monday..." on Monday, "oh ok, disconnect from your router connect directly and try again"....I was supposed to try again today but I've given up, maybe over the weekend when I don't have much to do, I'll give it a try.

So presently we have 3 connections in the house, the original one which was here when I came, main problem with that one was that we were constantly losing connection and had to call them, each time I called, the lady at the other end would put me on hold (and I mean just put the phone face down on her desk or something, no hold music, hell... no mute button) and shout in yoruba to some Taiwo to restart the router. The Swift connection, which is anything but swift and the DOPC VSAT connection which is actually quite good so far but "fades" when it rains.

Random Pics

Whhheeeee!!!

Ok *** just called, he is on his way back home, so I'm going stop hating, now I can be the giggly one....heeeeyyyy!!

Unrealiable

So do you have any friends that cancel plans as soon as their boyfriends/husbands snap their fingers? Ok fine I know sometimes I cancel plans as well for the same reasons, but all the same not all the time. I have a girlfriend who constantly does this, infact I know 2 of them who do this. They could have been calling you all day bored as hell looking for something to do and then you make plans with them. As soon as the Mr. calls them, they call you all giggly "...sorry oh (laugh laugh) I don't know if I can come again..." it's not so much that it's annoying it's more irritating than anything else. Whatever...

Untitled Post

So did I tell you nothing is straight-forward here? well of the 3 things I have been trying to get accomplished since I arrived, 2 are complete!!!! I now have a bank account and I have a registered company, yey! the third was internet access, my dad had been working on this before I even arrived and guess what? still no access, each time I ask, if it's during the week, the response "it will get done between today and friday" if it's a friday or over the weekend then I hear "it will get done between today and tuesday". This is what I have heard 5 weeks in a row on getting a VSAT connection. It is just ridiculous, how can you practically beg to subscribe to their service? it makes no sense.

Anyway moving on, I noticed a trend in Lagos anytime you pay for something they never seem to have change. At first I thought it was just a couple of coincidences but then every where I went they came back with some story about not having change and I end up leaving my change with them. So last weekend I went to soul lounge (or is that what it's called?) at the palms with 2 of my girlfriends, after we paid the guy was like the bartender doesn't have N150 change, so I'm like no sweat it's not like we're leaving anytime soon, whenever he gets it he should give it to us. So when we ready, we couldn't find the original waiter then we called another guy and asked him to bring our change, he was like the original waiter collected the change from the bartender and has left for the night.....WFT??!!!....Hell No!!!.. So my friend is like "That is not our problem!! go get the change from the bartender and collect it back from the other guy when he gets to work tomorrow!!" Can you imagine?...so to cut a long story short the guy sheepishly went off and came back with our change.

I'm home!!!

So I have been in Nigeria exactly 1 week, where do I start? this country is crazy!!. The traffic and the way everyone drives is not a joke oh! other than that, everything is okay, the internet access is not as horrible as I expected. I actually have wireless access at home :). Also, nothing is straight forward, I needed to go open an account, and they are telling me it's not a one day process and I need passport photographs and so much extra stuff and to open with about $3000, na wa oh! Even the corporate accounts I opened in the states, you can open with $5.00 and fund as you get money. I guess the concept of start-up business here doesn't really apply.

Anyway, it's good to be back home, I am starting to notice a lot of things about Nigeria and Nigerians in general that I didn't notice before when I was here. For one, they ask a lot of bloody questions.

THEM: "Ah...so how long are you in town?"
ME: "Oh, I'm here permanently now?"
THEM: "Really?!!!.....why?!!!...."
ME: "Hmmm...I was tired of staying there..." and some other BS
THEM: Some long explanation justifying why I have made the wrong or the right decision, or how I have gained weight, or how I don't remember them and so on and so on
THEM: "So where are you going to live?"
ME: "My husband has found a place in ***** we're just waiting to fix it up and move in"
THEM: "So what will you do here?, what does your husband do? what will he do here?"


....

The questions just go on and on and on, I don't know if it's just me, but I'm used to everyone minding their business in the states, it's almost like they even hem you into a corner so you can't even run from them.

The other thing is everyone just grabs your baby without asking you if it's ok, that I can't stand, even when I say, oh she's fussy, or she's tired, or she will cry, they are still trying to drag her from my arms. What the hell?.

Oh also, I went to the palms and silverbird, and they are both seriously overrated. I haven't done any night trips yet, so I can't tell you about the night life.

Well that's about it so far.

It's Friday!

I loooove Fridays!!!, I "work" from home on Fridays so I get to spend the day with my baby :). So what's happening folks? nothing's going on with me except that we're moving out this weekend, I don't believe we will soon be in October!! it's crazy how time flies. Everything is going to the container this weekend and we're going to live out of our suitcases for the next 2 weeks (not really looking forward to that part).

This time next month I am going to be in Nigeria, I have not gone back since summer 1999, so understandably I am very excited. So far everything's gone according to plan, my only apprehension now is the bloody internet access in Nigeria. I have heard conflicting reports on the fastest speeds available at an ok price.

Biko, can someobooorrry tell me? this is the source of my bread and butter oh! Is it possible to get up to 1Mbps in Lagos? if so how much? (I am bracing myself, someone told me it can cost up to a $1000 a month)

Nigerian Graduates

It looks like every one of my friends I talk to in Nigeria is moaning and complaining about money or the lack of it rather. I am quite a resourceful person and I find it difficult to believe that there's not much a graduate can do to earn money. I know the job market is dreadful and the pay is nothing to write home about, but all the same there are people surviving one way or the other.

I spoke to my good friend yesterday and our conversation is always the same, she's not happy with her job (job function and salary). So me actually knowing what bills are now, told her that since she doesn't have any major financial responsibility (other than doing her hair and looking sharp) she should quit and find a job in the industry that she wants to work (which happens to be Television). I told her she should approach the companies she's interested in and tell them she'll work for free or whatever she needs to do (within limits of course) to get the relevant job experience. She was like "ehn...no oh!, how will I survive?, I know I live in my father's house but that's about it, who will put fuel in my car?, how will I do my hair?...." and the list went on and on.

My feeling is that in the grand scheme of this thing that they call "your future" those things are very irrelevant...abi am I tripping? Each time I try to encourage her she just says "Don't worry shebi you're coming home? you'll see what I mean".

So really... what are the options for Nigerian graduates in Nigeria? I really think that the period you don't have major financial responsibilities, a family of your own, rent to pay...etc is really the time to experiment and find that thing that you love to do...Am I being unrealistic? For those of you who moved home from abroad did your feelings towards this change when you got home?

Post-partum workout

So that whole thing about pilates and working 4 miles every day is officially over, I don't remember the last time I worked out - instead I just suck my stomach in, it's a lot easier. My company even paid for gym membership for all of us, but it's not going to happen. When I get to Nigeria (I'm moving next month) I'll start seriously again....I think...

She's Here!!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Working from home

So this working from home thing is not really working. I mean over the last few months I have worked occasionally from home, but I started working exclusively from home since last Monday!. I am bored out of my freakin' mind!!! I have chatted, checked my email compulsively, watched tv, made phone calls and of course done some work :).

All that occupies my mind these days is baby & the move back to Nigeria in November (mind you I haven't been back since 99), everyone I tell asks me over and over "....are you sure?!, Nigeria is not easy oh!...." like the US is easy.

Yey!

I finally succumbed to the "blog-nation". So my blog name is a tad bit misleading, "9jamommy" (naija mommy) because, technically I'm not a mom yet, but will be in a few days/or weeks. Me EDD is the 28th of April, let's keep our fingers crossed.