Saturday, February 21, 2009

Just Another Saturday

Here are some things I did today:
I watched a bunch of furniture fall out of the back of a truck in the middle of traffic.

I saw a completely naked man walking down the middle of the street. In Nigeria it is common to see children running around naked but this was the first time I have seen an adult butt naked.

I went to Roban, a wonderful shop that caters to expatriates. I bought smoked sausage, jello, canned corn, and macaroni and cheese for my American dinner tonight. I am a little worried about the jello setting. There hasn't been any power today and the fridge was hot so I decided to put the jello in the fairly cold freezer.

Driving to the store we saw the usual group of bored looking Yellow Fevers, who were as pointless as usual. Since Nigeria doesn't use traffic lights drivers are supposed to follow the direction of traffic cops posted at major intersections. These police officers are referred to as Yellow Fevers because they wear orange vests (many Nigerians think orange is yellow and yellow is orange, it can be really confusing) and because the cops sometimes flap their arms around like they are delirious with Yellow Fever.

I saw a dog today. This was the third dog I have seen since arriving in Nigeria. Dogs are only slightly less common than white people. I have seen six white people in the last four weeks, not counting Aubrie or myself.

On the highway we passed a large flock of white storks. It was pretty cool.

I saw a kid swinging a huge dead rat by one of its legs. I have no idea how the kid got the rat or what he planned on doing with it and I don't think I want to know.

Later I made the trek out to the little local market. This was my first trip out all by myself and it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. Only a few people yelled at me, I managed to buy a loaf of bread for 40 naira, and I didn't even come close to being hit by a car, so it was a great success.

On the way home from the market, I had to pass one of the burning piles of garbage on One Day Road. The only thing that smells worse than a pile of garbage five feet high in 100 degree heat is a burning pile of garbage five feet high in 100 degree heat.

So today was just your average Saturday in Nigeria.

No comments:

Post a Comment