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They don’t know what broccoli is here! I went to lunch the other day to Chopstix. At first, I was hesitant – Chinese food in Nigeria? No way. But actually, it was pretty good. So one of the dishes had broccoli in it – my co-worker was like, “What’s that?” “Broccoli? Never heard of it.” Then I thought about it, and have never seen any broccoli in Nigeria. I told them it was like someone saying “Plaintains? What are those?” Who knew that Broccoli is a US food?
There’s a song here that sings “I’m a Bachelor.” For the longest time, I thought they were saying “I’m about your love” and totally lost the meaning of the song. So even though they speak English here, you can get the sense of how big language barriers are. And the other day, this woman said “I was so pressed.” I thought she meant she was in a hurry, but really she mean she had to pee.
Let me tell you how annoying the electricity is here. The electricity is probably on for an hour a day. But at 15 minute intervals. The rest of the time you are on your own generator if you are lucky enough to have one. And generators are expensive to run, so sometimes only some of your appliances are hooked up to it. And then, even if the electricity is on, but the current is low, some of your appliances won’t work. Well, we are pretty lucky – here at the Guinness Guest House, everything is on generators. So the minute electricity, or NEPA as they call it, is taken, then the security guards go turn on the generators. But the TV goes out and takes about 5 minutes for the satellite dish to rescan. And it always goes out right at a crucial moment during a show. At work, the air conditioning beeps every time the electricity goes on and off. So I will be on a conference call with a very annoying beeping. And then I have to get up to go turn the air conditioning back on because it turns off every time the electricity goes out. Which is of coarse, all the time.
Finally, the cost of things are so so expensive here. 1 bag of 100 small cotton balls = $5. In the US maybe it is $1. 1 bottle of Vaseline Lotion = $12. 1 small box of Special K with Red Berries = $12. Geez.
There’s a song here that sings “I’m a Bachelor.” For the longest time, I thought they were saying “I’m about your love” and totally lost the meaning of the song. So even though they speak English here, you can get the sense of how big language barriers are. And the other day, this woman said “I was so pressed.” I thought she meant she was in a hurry, but really she mean she had to pee.
Let me tell you how annoying the electricity is here. The electricity is probably on for an hour a day. But at 15 minute intervals. The rest of the time you are on your own generator if you are lucky enough to have one. And generators are expensive to run, so sometimes only some of your appliances are hooked up to it. And then, even if the electricity is on, but the current is low, some of your appliances won’t work. Well, we are pretty lucky – here at the Guinness Guest House, everything is on generators. So the minute electricity, or NEPA as they call it, is taken, then the security guards go turn on the generators. But the TV goes out and takes about 5 minutes for the satellite dish to rescan. And it always goes out right at a crucial moment during a show. At work, the air conditioning beeps every time the electricity goes on and off. So I will be on a conference call with a very annoying beeping. And then I have to get up to go turn the air conditioning back on because it turns off every time the electricity goes out. Which is of coarse, all the time.
Finally, the cost of things are so so expensive here. 1 bag of 100 small cotton balls = $5. In the US maybe it is $1. 1 bottle of Vaseline Lotion = $12. 1 small box of Special K with Red Berries = $12. Geez.
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