Cajuns, Turkey and Shitrocks continued

Ryan and I were very fortunate to experience some real creole cajun food just last week. Our friend Todd invited us over, and he cooked an amazing meal for us (and about 15 other guests). I don't think I had ever eaten "real" cajun cooking like that, and man I am hooked. Todd is from Louisiana and is here working as a consultant. He was just recently home, and brought back with him all the necessary food and spices to cook some real hometown, cajun food. We had a really great time and were able to meet more people our own age! Believe it or not this is a challenge in Lagos. Here are a few photos of the evening.







Now was requested (I will leave you anonymous!) Photos of shit rock. Shit Rock is well if you haven't figured a shit rock. Ryan's work window looks out onto the lagoon, and well the place where many men like to do there business. You can see the rock if you look just above the billboard. The photo quality isn't all that great because it was taken with Ryan's phone.




While playing cards at a neighbors one day I discovered do doo rock numero 2 (pardon the pun). The women I play cards with were out with binoculars looking at the construction workers (who sometimes work-out naked), when I discovered shit rock #2, this place is where well, they like to take care of business. If you can see on the side of the photo, the building being constructed it quite the deal. one is more fancy than the one outside Ryan's work, they have gone to the extent of building a platform. The building next door is built completely out of concrete. They use wooden tressles instead of scaffolding.

Cajuns, Turkey and Shit Rocks

Although a little late, I figured I would post the photos we have of our first American Thanks-giving. It just so happened to be celebrated in Nigeria! We attended the function at the American Embassy's guest quarters. The food was very good. They actually had butter ball turkeys flown in for the occaision! They served the whole works, even pumpkin pie. Rumors where flying about last year people not getting any pie as it was all eaten by the time they got to it in line. Ryan thought he would take precautionary measures and went straight for the pie, and took one of the largest pieces of pie I've ever seen. There were about twenty or thirty of us there, mostly people Ryan works with.

Traffic Nigerian Style

It has been about three weeks now, and I am starting to feel settled in. My days are filled with all sorts of different things, like cards, market shopping, meeting people for lunch etc. There have been many different functions with the holiday season coming up. We have put up a few lights and bought a few ornaments for the house to make it feel a little more festive. I am surprised how many buildings are decorated, it looks really nice.

With the holiday season approaching the traffic is getting worse and worse. Yesterday I spent a little over 4 hours in the car, traveling to see a friend, and back (a total distance of maybe 7kms)! The beauty of the go slows here is that you can buy almost anything while stuck in traffic. A cool drink, newspaper, sunglasses, complete guide to Shakespeare, toilet seat, hair shears, office chair, Halloween masks, dolls, engineering mathematics, three month old gossip columns, and fruit and vegetables. Most days it is a bunch of people selling a lot of the same thing, other days (my favorites) is when you see a huge variety of stuff. Although they are out trying to make a buck, the go-slow vendors often cause the traffic problems. I guess they need to ensure they have some customers.

I am starting to get used to the police checks. Every night usually after sundown the Nigerian police set up road block/check stops. At first I was really nervous about them, because they carry big guns, automatic assault rifles, but now (it is funny how it wears off) I have learned that they mostly just want money. They will wave you over, (because they see foreigners in the car) and say that your driver did something illegal, and you need to pay. Or they will just ask straight out "something for the boys?".. My driver usually just drives away. The first time I was like "whoa! What are you doing, they have guns". Nothing ever comes of it, they just wave as you drive away. Completely ridiculous. Now that the holiday season is coming they are hitting up people hard for extra doe. Our driver is really good at dealing with this sort of thing.

Our driver has Sunday off. To spend time with family and go to church. The roads are usually pretty quite so Ryan doesn't mind driving. A few weekends ago we were on our way to the beach and were pulled over for no reason. The police officer saw two foreigners in the car and thought he could make some extra money. Ryan pulled to ol' "don't understand you," card and drove away! When we arrived at the beach to meet up friends, we said we were late as we got pulled over and a good friend of mine said " Yup, Sunday, or I guess you can call it get whitey day!" The Nigerian government is trying its best to stop corruption, and according to some, has had some success over the past years.

The beach we went to the other weekend is about a 30 minute boat ride outside of Lagos. The beach house/hut is quite nice and the actual beach is big and clean. It is the "Mobil" beach house, and any employee has free access to the boat and hut. We went with a crew of about 20 and it was really fun. Lots of great food, and a really nice leisurely day. When you arrive to the dock, there are a bunch of people from the village waiting to carry your things. They are glad to do it for some extra cash. One of the women's club here actually raised money and built a school for the children of the community. When we arrived, Church was in session, and the sounds coming out of the building were amazing. All the families inside singing and dancing. As we walked I thought "wow, that SOUNDS like Africa". The village there is small, and most of the families, either fish or do some sort of crafts, trade that they can sell. The children are so cute, and always seem to have a smile on waving and laughing. Mid-day vendors usually visit the beach and sell different goods that either they have made or someone they know has made.




--DDQ

James Caddell

This will just be a short note about friends we met in Vietnam. When we met them, James and Tara were on their way around the world on a 3yr honeymoon after taking a sabbatical from their positions with the Canadian Government. They had just left East Timor after doing aid work there for several months. After we left, they went on to the Himalaya for Christmas before delaying their trip to head to Sri Lanka to help with the Tsunami relief efforts. They are amazing people.



Last week we got a note from Tara, she is heading to Pakistan to assist with the Canadian Relief Foundation. Sadly, Tara is going to Pakistan alone as she recently lost her newly wed husband in Bolivia. James died of complications arising from altitude sickness in Tupiza, Bolivia on the 16th of October. Though we knew James for only a short while, his compassion and dedication as a humanitarian are traits that we will remember always.

A fund has been set up in James' name, 100% of the funds go directly to a Scholarship for Orphaned Children: The James Caddell Memorial Scholarship Fund

Desiree's First Week

My first week here has been very busy and interesting. When first landing in Nigeria I was feeling a little stange, being the only white woman on the flight. There were a lot of American men who work with Ryan on the plane and they were very kind - telling me I was brave to come! First few days were just spent getting over jet lag and unpacking.

As though moving to Nigeria wasn't enough stress, Ryan and I volunteered to care for a fellow expat's dog, named Buddy. We expected that Buddy would be a nice house dog that could keep me company during the day. When Buddy came to us, he looked like he had been living on the streets for months, smelt like it too! He was missing hair, scabby, thin and full of fleas... his owner had left him in the care of his staff while he was in the USA and he wasn't well cared for. Ryan and I tried our best to bring Buddy back to good heath and house dog status by washing him, cleaning the mites in his ears and tending his wounds. Unfortunately, Buddy was in great need of a Vet and in Nigeria, a Vet costs an arm and a leg. Needless to say we were not sucessful in fixing Buddy up and we elected to return Buddy to his owner after only 1 week. It took another week to get rid of Buddy's aroma in our flat!



Over the weekend, Ryan and I attended a Yacht Club Party themed "Sail around the World." It took a little over 2 hours to travel about 5kms because the traffic was so bad. We eventually just jumped out of the car and walked! The party was set up with booths from different countries around the world, serving drinks and food common to those countries. The Scottish had Single Malt Scotch and haggis and the Dainish had european wieners and some Jagermiester type of liquer. The Canadians even had a booth and no, the didn't serve beer and clam, much to my disappointment, instead Rye and Coke. For food, the Canadians had mini pancakes with maple syurp and smoked salmon. We met a few more Canadians and we are hoping to attend a pot-luck in the coming weeks. That night I learned that the expat community here is big (3000+) and very strong. Most people ar very friendly and quick to show me around.

I started tennis lessons with a local named Nelson. He learned to play tennis as a kid and because he was good, he was able to go to a tennis academy. He said that when he was young, it was affordable, but now with so many rich Nigerians playing, Tennis is too costly for the average Nigerian. That is only one example of the HUGE gap between the rich & poor. For instance, the vehicles on the roads are either mercedies benz, Land Rovers, big Toyota SUVs (nice expensive imported cars) or junky chinese motorbikes called Okadas. The yellow cabs running around are old and dirty, but other than them there is no vehicles in between - like how there is no middle class in this country.

I have been to the market a few times already to buy fruit, veggies and other things for the house. Things are cheaper if you are able to bargin, but I still pay more than the nigerians because I am white, understanibly. It is very strange being a minority - Caucasians don't have a good reputation here either. I guess I'm not accustomed to segregation. It is very difficult to integrate with the average Nigerian - it seems as though they feel uncomfortable with us in some circumstances & they would prefer to just deal with themselves - For instance, our driver will say 'No Madam, you don't go there' as if that place is 'below' me. There might be a bit of a language barrier there too which makes it difficult to integrate. I guess it is tough because in Canada we don't have segregation on such a large scale due to class or colour.

Over the past week I have learned so much already. All of my expectations that I had before coming over have been thrown out the window. We are so fortunate in Canada, in so many ways. We do have great healthcare - here if you get in a car accident and you are injured, you will lie there and die, because there is no good samaritan laws here. If you help someone, you take financial responsibility for their health care and burial if they die! That is a burden most people can't handle, so the injured person just lies there waiting for family. The traffic is so bad that the ambulance (looks like a 1970 stationwagon) can't even get there in a reasonable time.

I am still surprised with how quick everyone is to become a friend. In Canada is it not common to meet someone in passing, either on the street, grocery store, or bar, and exchange numbers and become good friends. The expat community is very strong here. It is very easy to meet other people and go too many different functions.
This first week has been pretty eventful and from what I am seeing, that is the way the social life works here.

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Quinn

Sept 18, 2005. A sunny fall afternoon in Calgary. A beautiful outdoor patio. Surrounded by our closest friends and family. Desiree and Ryan were married in a simple ceremony followed by a pretty fun party if I do say so myself!

Thank to everyone who was there and to those who couldn't make it - we appreciate your thoughts and messages of congratulations.

I wanted to share the photos - because no one cares about my rambling, they just want to see the beautiful bride (and she was!) so here she is... oops, I just realized that I'm not smarter than the computer, damn.

Here is the link to the photos and I will come back and put the actuals in here once I figure out how to do that! If you click below, it will take you to Kodak's web page and they have all 250 photos that our photgrapher, Brad Heniger took. You will have to create an account, but then you can order prints if you would like them.

KodakShare

enjoy - RQ

Rig Pig?

More great questions from Mrs. Richie:



Have you been out to the oil rigs yet?  Not yet (I am actually in Frankfurt at the moment

- on my way back to Canada) The issue that I am having with going to the rigs is two fold,

the second will get answered below... but firstly, you require a full blown work permit to

travel offshore and I only just received mine - it is a 1 month process usually.



How do you get there? by helicopter?  Yes, but it is even more complicated than that.  We

have to fly from Lagos to Port Harcourt where we have an Oil Terminal called QIT.  From

QIT, you fly by helicopter to the rig. It takes 1 day, minimum, to get from Lagos to QIT

to the rig, so that is the other reason that I haven´t gone out yet... not enough time.



Have you ever been on an ocean oil rig before? No - and they are huge... I think it will be

neat for the first time.



How far from shore is it?  Are there many of them?  There are 2 differentcategoriess of rigs

- Jack ups and Floaters.  The jack ups work in less than 300´ of water while the floaters do

every thing else.  Currently we have 3 Floaters working and 4 jack ups.  I work on the jack

up rigs.  They are a couple miles offshore... give or take.



How big are they? How many people work on them?  They are huge - think of a football field on

top and several stories deep. There will be about 100 ppl between cooks and cleaners to
maintainance staff and engineers working on each rig.  More for the floaters.


Will you work on just one or travel around to many of them? I am currently responsible for 1

rig... and typically I would try to visit that rig every couple months for a week or more.

Day to day, I am working in the office in Lagos.



Well - I gotta run and catch my plane to Canada!  See you all soon!



RQ

1 Week to Go!

Just 1 week to go before I get to fly back to Calgary! And only 2 weeks until we get married!!

Not much new to report in Lagos... I now have a computer at work, a phone, a car and a driver! The driver's name is Rotimi and he is a nice, quiet guy... too bad he doesn't know where anything is!

For about 30,000 Naira ($200USD) per month, he will drive Desiree and I where ever we want to go - how decadent! It really is a requirement here - the traffic is so bad and there is a risk of someone stealing the mirrors and door handles off your car if there isn't someone watching it! It rained on Thursday and there was 1 foot of water on most of the roads - so all the pot holes that had been fixed are now huge again, bummer.

On the phone issue - there is a phone number in Dallas - (713) 431-8500 ext 1293 - which connects to my desk in Lagos, so you don't have to call Africa. Once we get moved into our flat, we'll have an extension at the house also... so make sure you have unlimited (or cheap) long distance to the USA

I added some photos from the Yacht Club into that post... and unfortunately, I really haven't taken any other good photos - so I'll start now! But, here is an interesting photo taken from the airplane as I was flying over the Sahara Desert...

Sorry, can you say that again - in English?

Nigeria has an interesting history; a British colony where the locals were traded into slavery for gin - Sounds a bit like Canada, but the natives in North America preferred whiskey. One other thing the British left was their language.

Now, by no means do Nigerian's speak "the Queen's English" (unless they were fortunate to study abroad - which many do.) After several weeks of being here, I can understand, for the most part, what someone is trying to say unless they break in to Yoruba. Yoruba is the local language around Lagos and is incredibly difficult to master due to the excessive use of tones. For instance the simple 4 letter word 'igba' can mean a period of time, two hundred, half a calabash or a locust tree!

There is also a ton of local slang which takes time to understand, but when used by an Expat, brings a big smile to the locals face. Here is a list of slang put together and published on another blog by a guy named Rhycnus.

Go-slow - Slow moving mass of traffic. Average speed 2kmph. Length can stretch from 100meterss due to an illegally parked danfoe to 10km due to basic traffic management issues

Hold-up - Slower version of go-slow.

Nigeria factor - Local rendition of Murphy's Law (anything can and will go wrong)

Attaall - Emphatic denial. Usually delivered with violent shakes of head, short for 'not at all'

Oga-Boss, 'Mastah'

Now now - As close as possible to the Nigerian concept of 'immediately'. Can be appended with any number of now's depending on urgency

Dash - Tip/Bribe. Usage - Dash me something

Anytinforaas - Request for a dash, by more than one person

Anytinfowmi - Request for a dash, by one person

Settul - To amicably conclude contentious issue, involves commercial transactions and negotiation

Ijebu maan - Native of Ijebu Ode, small town north of Lagos, rumoured to be inhabited by extremely stingy people

Do Weekend - Give a small tip so as to allow person to celebrate weekend. Celebration will happen from cumulative tips collected, hence to be restricted to 20-50 naira

Last last - Absolute lowest price one can go down to, used when you want to wrap up negotiations

Get bellay - Become pregnant

Done finish - Have finished. This is especially confusing to newbies as 'done' sounds remarkably like 'don't'

No go come - (He's) not coming

Danfoe - Yellow minibus plying on Lagos roads as public transport, associated with vicious driving and to whom normal traffic rules don't apply. You've arrived as a driver if you can stand your own against one

Okada - Motorcycle/moped taxi. Usually plies within localities. Can take upto two passengers. Scant respect of traffic rules makes them dangerous for other denizens of roads. Are the best guides to the nooks and crannies of Lagos

Oyibbo - Yoruba for 'white man'. Most locals do not distinguish between Caucasians, Mongoloids, Indians or Arabs. The word is not derogatory, but is used to hail you in crowded places or simply to acknowledge that you are coloured lighter than them

By the Grace of God - Any commitment that ends with these words is to be looked upon with suspicion. This is not a simple invocation. It is the speaker's way of saying, I do not think carrying out this commitment is in my hands. It might as well be left to divine intervention. The only consolation here is that if the work actually gets done (don't get your hopes up, this is extremely rare), the person will give thanks to the same God they invoked

Am/is on the way - Usually prefixed by a first or third person pronoun, this means that the person is approximately ten minutes away from setting out to meet you. Depending on any number of external factors (a detour to buy provisions, attending another meeting en route), the person should be with you in the next 2-3 hours.

Go-slow (alternative definition) - The most common Lagosian excuse for arriving late. This is a foolproof excuse in that it can never be disproved, unless if you were sitting with the person in the same vehicle. This is usually delivered with an exasperated shake of the head.

419 - Used to denote anything corrupt, fake or counterfeit. The origin of the term is that article 419 of the Nigerian Penal Code deals with offences associated with fraud and deceit. Of course, 419 is today an international term due to the Nigerian currency laundering scam e-mails received by most of us one time or the other

Blow grammar - To obfuscate, to confuse, to lie outright, to window-dress achievements. Usually used as an accusation to deter excessively flowery sweet-talk, delivered with a snort 'O ya, na too much grammar you dey blow.'

Life Update

Just an update for those who are worried about me living in a hotel which is probably no-one:

I got my passport back with a new visa and a residence permit! This is really good news because if I didn't get it back, I wouldn't be able to fly home for the wedding!!!

I got our little vehicle. It is a Toyota Rav4 - green with a cd player. Not quite as nice as my Tacoma - but it is the first new vehicle that I have ever had - crazy.

I hired a driver and a stewardess / cook. The driver's name is Rotimi and he seems nice enough - he gets paid about 25,000 Naira per month plus overtime if we go out in the evenings. 25,000 Naira works out to about $175 US and from that he must support his wife and 3 children. The stewardess (she cleans/shops for groceries/laundry), her name is Josephine and she seems really sweet. She will be working part time for us and part time for another lady in our building. She is going to move into the quarters available for house help with her husband. She will get paid about 10,000 Naira per month or less than $75 US! We will also end up paying for transportation/health care/school for kids/bonuses etc for them because otherwise, they could not afford it! They both seem like very nice, trustworthy and kind people so, it will be great to have them and their families around.

Last thing to sort out will be the flat - which I will be working on today. It is nice and brand new - over looks Kuramo Waters, a small lagoon. Right now, I need to figure out how to get a stove put in and have the furniture set up before I leave for Canada! Patience is required!

RQ

Lagos Yacht Club

So, last weekend I was invited to go crew on a small sail boat in Lagos Harbour. The boats are 3 person, 18', "lightning." This Yacht club has only 2 classes which sail - these sailboats and they have a bunch of Hoby Cats also. So, I got invited out on 'Race Day' and this particular day, we had 2 races about 90mins each.

A bit of background: I don't have a clue how to sail. I have been in a boat before and I have even sailed a boat by myself, but I never really knew what I was doing. So, I was #3 in the boat which means that I didn't have to work the sails or rudder - I just shifted my weight back and forth to keep the boat flat in the water. The wind was quite strong this particular day, making tacking quite fun as the boat moves quickly and you get to hang off the side of the boat to try to keep it from tipping over.

The race course is around about 5 buoys which are all over the Lagos harbour. Of course as this is an active harbour, there are ships moving in and out of the harbour. Most are small fishing trawlers and such but there were a couple LARGE container ships and fuel tankers moving about. At one point in the first race, a very scary thing happened where a 100' trawler drove over one of the sail boats! The crew of the sail boat jumped out of the boat before getting hit... and the Yacht Club rescue boats raced over to pull them from the water! Pretty scary to watch, so none the less we avoided the ships for the rest of the race!

The great thing about it was while we were sailing down wind and there is not much work to do - you really forget about all the hussle - bussle that is going on just a few hundred meters away.


So, we made a few mistakes while sailing - jib lines tangled up and 1 poor Gybe (my fault) which resulted in us placing ~5th or 6th in both races - but at least we finished and had a good time. Unfortunately for my career, the skipper was the Executive Director for Mobil here in Nigeria... so, I had better get back to work to make up for it!

Cheers, RQ

Why no updates?

Sorry again for the lack of updates last week - I will try to keep updating you all with what is going on... But, if you have questions - let me know, it helps me think of things to write about! I also have been taking pictures, but until I get a proper work computer sorted out, they'll have to wait.

So, Shirley Ritchie sent a note and asked:

I love your blog, but where are the updates?? Thanks and Sorry, Sorry - I'll keep it up!

Are you working in an office or are you travelling around? I am working in an office in Lagos, but all the work that I do is for an offshore platform South of Port Harcourt. In the future, I will be travelling to the platform to help out and learn. The reason that I can't go now is that I had to send my passport and visa to Abjula (capital of Nigeria) to get my residency and work permit sorted out. These are required to go and work offshore (they are also required to leave the country - so I hope that they get finished before I leave for Canada!)

What is the compound like that you are living in? So, my housing status is a bit screwy right now... I am currently living in a hotel. It is a very nice hotel (even by western standards), but it still is a hotel. The problem is that our flat in the housing compound (really it is a high rise apartment with a big fence and gate around it) isn't quite ready for us yet. It is a brand new building - right on a lagoon called Kuramo Waters. The building is gorgeous - has a nice pool, pool deck with outdoor bar, pool and foosball tables, indoor bar area and a gym. We were there for a great party on Saturday where one of the guys had a "turkey fry." They put the whole turkey into a pot of boiling peanut oil and fry it for 40mins - awesome Southern cusine! But, our flat is 2 bedrooms, a big living room, kitchen, 2.5 bath and 2 balconys. It has quarters for hired help and a separate entrance for the steward or cook. The building is only 14 flats - so not too big and all the people there are people that I work with. In addition to this building there are 3 others that expats from our company stay at. All told there are about 75 famlies here working for Esso.

Do you find it expensive there? Yea - most things are expensive - especially in the stores which cater to western shoppers because all that stuff is imported from Europe. But, that being said, you can buy pretty much anything here! During a "go-slow" or traffic jam, there are vendors selling everything from woven baskets to CD-Roms to watches to spices. If you need it someone on the street has it! I went to the new movie theater last night - it was just like home... except no Dolby Surround Sound. They just turn up the volume really loud to compensate. So, it cost 1,500 Naira (143 Naira / $1USD) so it is about the same as a movie back home. Eating out has been expensive - it was ~1,800 Naira for a sandwich or burger and fries - about $15Can. But, if you go to the markets and eat in the same places as the locals - it will be much cheaper (but you might run out of immodium!)

Are you eating different foods? Yea, tons of interesting food - though none of it has been Nigerian! I think it has to do with the fact that Nigeria was a British colony so they never got the influences of exciting foods. Most Nigerian food is rice, cabbage or yams, meat on a plate. But, there are tons of 2 generation Lebanese here so there are several good Lebanese restaraunts. There are also Thai, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Tex-Mex places - most of them run by people from those countries.

Have you had any exciting discoveries? Not really - I mean other than the disgusting/dissapointing ones... it will take some time to see the rewarding things I suspect. Outside my office window (which faces 5 cowrie creek) I can see "shit rock" that is where the street vendors go to poop beside the river. Then 10m downstream is a lady washing her clothes, while some fishermen pull in some shrimp or crab! Yuk. The garbage is bad in the water - sometimes worse than others. Umm - exciting... well I was surprized by how poor the english that is spoken here is. I was told that it was an English speaking country - not really, they speak pigeon english which is a mix of Yourba and English, which is really difficult for untrained ears to understand. The traffic is exciting - kinda like a slow speed rollercoaster. Honking and weaving - the motorbikes (called Okadas - after a failed Nigerian Airline which was known for its poorly maintained airplanes) weave in and out of car traffic - often the wrong way. You have to look both ways really well before crossing the road because even if the cars are stopped - an Okada might be zipping down the stopped cars the wrong way!

Are you working crazy hours with no free time or do you have time to explore? My hours of work haven't been too bad yet - but they are quickly loading me up. Typically I work 7-5, 5 days a week and a half day on Saturday. We get a chance to go out and about in the evenings - but for the most part we have stuck to the "easy" places like movies, pubs, British High Commission (great English beers and super fish and chips!). I am a bit limited right now because I don't yet have my own vehicle - so I am stuck bumming a ride from other expats and public transport (taxis - no busses here!) is unsafe.

Is it safe to explore? Yea for the most part is is okay - the company has said that there are some areas that we are not supposed to walk / drive around on our own. But, all in all, that is the same in every large city in the world. There are lots of places in NYC that I wouldn't feel comfortable walking around by myself. Lagos and Port Harcourt are the worst - the rest of the country is for the most part very safe to travel around and explore.

OKAY - just send a note if you all have some questions! I'll send more soon - I have some sailing stories to tell...

International Dining in Lagos?

Sorry that I have taken so long to update with another post. Compared to all the excitement that I had getting here - the last week or so seem so bland. But, in actual fact, there are lots of cool things going on here:

So, I am currently staying in a nice hotel here in Lagos - it is right on the ocean and an enjoyable evening is spent at the outdoor restaurant, by the pool with the breeze off the ocean. The problem with living in a hotel for weeks on end is that you quickly tire of the food at the hotel - so I have had the opportunity to eat Tex-Mex, Thai, Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and even authentic British Fish and Chips! It is actually really neat that there are so many cultures here and all of them have opened up different restaurants to cater both to the expats and the adventurous locals.

On the weekends, the Mobil expats usually have a BBQ at one of the housing blocks and everyone gets together and drinks wine and eats too much food. It is a very close net community and they really look out for one another, which is really nice! The female employees and the wives of other expats are all excited to have Desiree over - I'm sure they will be a great help.

So, Mondays there is a "Hash" where people run around town chasing a "rabbit" and drink beer - they call themselves a drinking club with a running problem. Tuesdays is V-Ball at the British High Commission, Wednesday is "International" night again at the BHC and they serve great fish and chips. On Saturday, they run races in three person "Lightning" sail boats out of the Yacht Club and Sunday has a cruise up to the Mobil beach hut again in the sail boats. It seems like there is something going on almost everyday!

Well - I am starting to settle in (as best as you can when you live in a hotel) and am looking forward to coming home and seeing Desi and all our friends. I have my flight booked back to Calgary on the 8th of Sept! I'll give the update on my housing and vehicle in the next post!

RQ

Finally Here Safe and Sound

So, after a couple days on planes/trains/automobiles I arrived in Lagos - safe and sound. I figured that I would have to bribe the immigration officials and negotiate with customs what I could and could not bring into the country - but no! Suprisingly, everything went as smooth as could be imagined. They were nice and quickly processed my passport and on I went. I was met by a nice fellow who helped me gather my bags... I think it was the first time I was met at the airport by someone with a sign that had my name spelled correctly. So final step is to clear customs and I was still bracing myself... I walked through the door way that says "nothing to declare" and thats it! There wasn't even anyone there to check your stuff nothing! Super - so they take me to the Mobil bus where I happen to meet my new boss who is sitting on the bus with his dog. Once the last of the passengers is loaded on to the bus - we are off into Lagos. But, we are not alone! There is 2 police trucks with armed guards one in front of the bus and another behind - nothing like being subtle.


So out the window of the bus we see tons and tons of people - people everywhere! There are minivan busses all over the place with conductors shouting out the window to passengers; there are people walking with everything imaginable on their heads; there are trucks and cars and motorbikes everywhere weaving and bobbing through traffic, constantly beeping their horns. Lagos is definatley alive!


The roads are bumpy - most of the roads get damaged in the rainy season and it often takes months to get them fixed. The intersections some times have lights - not that anyone pays attention to them when they are working and most often they are not working. You see, Nigeria has terrible infrastructure and it is very common for the power to go out for hours on end.


So, everything has been very new and exciting so far - I'll keep updating as things come up - maybe a whole post on the exciting food!

Cheers,
RQ

This just keeps getting better and better

So, as I'm sure you know - there was a plane crash in Toronto -

The crash happened while we were on route to TO, so they diverted my flight to Ottawa... but the airport was over full with other flights - so we sat on the tarmac for 5 hours... Finally they decided to send us to Toronto! Where we sat for another hour before finally being allowed to get off the plane. All told it took over 11hrs (supposed to take 3hrs 44min). So, then I hustled my way on to a Frankfurt plane that was supposed to leave at 1am... only to have that flight delayed until 9am Wed morning! I guess that with all the diversions and such - they didn't have enough pilots to fly the planes - oops. So it is 3am now and I am sitting in the business lounge - I finally got my flight re-booked so that I am okay all the way into Lagos - albeit 1 day late. I guess there are no hotels left anywhere around the airport - so I'll be pulling an all nighter! I feel bad for the old people - there is this little old lady here in her wheelchair... at least her family is here with her.

I am tired and this is starting to get old - I still have 2 more fights to go and if they are anything like this one - I'm coming home.

RQ

T-Minus 5 days and counting

Okay - the latest news is this: Visa arrived... flight booked to Lagos on Aug 2.

Lets get it on!

What does a guy need to do to get a Visa around this place?

So about 1 month ago, I sent my Nigerian Visa application to the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa. I sent the forms in quadruplicate; is quadruplicate even a word? I sent my Letter of Invitation, half a dozen photos, notices of Expatriate Quota, names of References in Nigeria, a detailed description of my new job in Nigeria etc etc etc...

Then after a couple weeks, I get a phone message - I need a Police Clearance. I mean really... the country if full of con artists and they want me to get a Police Clearance? Okay, fine, whatever. So, I spend half a day at the RCMP and I deliver my Police Clearance to the Nigerian High Commission.

Another week passes. I check on the status - No problem they say, you'll have your VISA long before your July 18th flight.

Friday the 16th, two days before I am supposed to make my trip around the world, they call and inform us that I need to supply a certified letter from the Nigerian Government in Nigeria showing that the company has sufficient Expatriate Quota. Hmm, a certified letter from Nigeria, that sounds easy, probably won't take too long.... I won't hold my breath.

So, I call the travel agent and re-book my flight for July 27th.

Désirée is excited about the delay and I am too - it just gets harder and harder to keep saying good bye to our friends. You get mentally prepared for the trip and saying goodbye. But, the extra time will allow me enough time to finish packing my gear, buying clothes, sell my truck and prepare for the wedding. Another week with Desi is great as I won't get to see her again until just before our wedding in September! So, as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining!

RQ

update: Planning on leaving July 27th now - assuming I get a visa by then...

Ryan and Desiree get Engaged!

On Wednesday, July 6, 2005, Désirée and Ryan got engaged...

After 3 and a bit years together, we hiked up to the top of Mt. Indefatigable overlooking the beautiful Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes.

The weather was nice but windy on the way up to the top - making Desi a bit frightened. After a couple pep talks, we made it to the top of the mountain... only to see huge dark clouds rushing towards the ridge we were sitting on.

I only had a couple minutes before the rain came, so I quickly asked Désirée if "she would like to spend the rest of her life with me?" I didn't have to get down on one knee because the wind was so stong that we were both pretty much laying down on the ground!

After the shock wore off, Desi said "yes" and the rain started pouring. We made the rest of the trip back down to the car in the driving rain - looking like a couple drown rats!

So we are planning on getting married before Désirée comes over to Nigeria in October. The planned date is September 18, 2005 at the Bonterra Restaraunt in Calgary. Hope to see you all there!

RQ