Work and stuff

Part of my responsibilities at the office include holding a public health lecture every other Tuesday. It's a short (supposed to be half an hour but always lasts an hour with questions) presentation on a health topic. Yesterday's was on sickle cell anemia. Interesting things I learned from my lecture:

• Approximately 25% of Nigeria's adult population is a carrier of the sickle cell gene
• Approximately 150,000 children are born every year with sickle cell anemia
• There is a belief that if you live with sickle cell anemia beyond 39 years, you will lead a normal life and not have sickle cell anemia anymore (obviously this is untrue).

Lectures and meetings are interesting in Nigeria. I don't think I've ever gone to a meeting where when the presenter/speaker asks if there are any questions, no questions are asked. The Nigerian staff here will always ask questions. Even if they know the answer to their question, they will still ask. I know this because staff have come up to me after meetings and told me. They want to provide "open discussion". Also sometimes the questions take 3 minutes to ask. People have a very round-about... beating around the bush way of asking questions where they talk for a long time before actually asking the question. In other words, meetings in Nigeria never end on time and can last for... well forever. Sometimes it's a bit painful to sit through. 

My other work recently has centered around a lot of administrative work- creating a comprehensive new employee packet for new hires and standard operating procedures for the office. Nothing too thrilling there.

In other news, Teresa is officially gone and I am all by my lonesome. I have this giant apartment and can't really do anything with the space. I'm debating turning my hallway into a slip-and-slide. Could be extremely messy, but also very fun. I don't think I'll become as crazy here as I did in Sembabule because there are still tons of people to interact and socialize with. I have been a bit of a hermit the last few days and have been watching GCB, the new ABC show. Trashy but hilarious.

It's pretty unbelievable that it's coming to the end of April... It just seems like yesterday I was coming back to Abuja from Christmas with my family. Some days the time seems to pass unbelievably slowly, but I am starting to think ahead to what's next. Move back to the States? Find another job somewhere else? Try to pursue my dream of working for a while in Southeast Asia? Find a job in a place where electricity is consistent and internet doesn't depend on some magical being? Who knows where life will take me next...

Rains Down in Africa (Nigeria version)

The rainy season is upon us! It's actually a nice reprieve from the humidity and heat we've been having lately. When it rains, it pours here. The sky gets dark pretty quickly, winds pick up, and the clouds just dump. It's pretty intense. I kind of love it.

Easter was pretty quiet for me. I've been fighting a cold since last Friday, so I've essentially been a giant blob for the most part. I have managed to finish the last 3 books of the Harry Potter series and all of the Hunger Games trilogy. Now I wish I was in the US so I could watch the movie!

I like to try to make friends with my taxis drivers and have a couple who I can call regularly to help me out. The guy who usually takes me to work is Silas. He has a daughter named Jennifer and lives on the outskirts of the city. He knows all the shortcuts throughout Abuja and is just all-together awesome because he never honks unless out of necessity and is always super helpful. He had another child who died of cholera not too long ago. It's so easy to forget that cholera is still a problem throughout the world. Even here in Abuja where I live a pretty Western-like, comfortable life, there are still people who are affected by this preventable disease.

At work, I've been working on standard operating procedures for the office and developing materials for new employee orientations. Pretty dry stuff, so nothing too spectacular to report there.

My counterpart is leaving me- Teresa's heading back to the US on Monday. So it'll just be me left here. Anyone want to visit Nigeria??

Chop My Money!

The title of this post is the title of the song that has been stuck in my head for approximately 2 days. I've heard this song all over the place in Abuja- in taxis on their radios, at the market blaring from stereos, in restaurants/bars... just about everywhere. For the longest time, I could have sworn the chorus went something like this: "Chuck my money, chuck my money, chuck my money cuz I don't care cuz I get plenty." Turns out they say "CHOP my money." The difference between chuck and chop? Not sure. And I have yet to figure out the true meaning of this song, but it's really catchy. If you're curious and want a little taste, look it up on Youtube (Chop My Money by P-Square, it's not the one with Akon). It's just a little taste of Naija music.

As for life in Abuja, I don't have anything super special to report. It's getting warmer and warmer here; the humidity has sky-rocketed. So air conditioning is heaven-sent. Problem is the electricity supply isn't the most consistent. Our apartment complex hasn't always been running the generator when the electricity stops, so sometimes our apartment becomes a stifling oven of heat. Trying to sleep in this heat is rather difficult, to say the least. It doesn't happen too often though, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much. At least I HAVE a/c.

Work is work. It was pretty quiet at the end of March because most of the higher level people were in Atlanta for the annual Global AIDS Conference. I've been working on finalizing the office's standard operating procedures and this week I've been pulled in to help plan a visit from a high profile person in the HIV/AIDS world. It's going to be a lot of work to plan, but hopefully everything will get worked out before the visit.

IT'S MANGO SEASON!!! And they are delicious. Here in Abuja, I've found different sized mangoes- small, medium, large. My assessment goes something like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears:

• Small = fibery but good. Good snack size, but not ideal.
• Medium = These are green in color. They're okay. Too fibery for me. And not quite the right taste.
• Large = Delicious! I like that it's not an overpowering mango flavor. Not very fibery. Perfect! 

In other news, I started playing Ultimate Frisbee here. And it's so fun! I'm terrible at catching... and throwing the frisbee. However, it's definitely something fun to do and I've met a few new people I hadn't met before, which is always nice. The expat community is small in Abuja, but there are still a decent number of people here (diplomats, people in the NGO realm, teachers, military personnel, etc).