Leaving Nigeria

Well, for now, I am out of Nigeria. I have a few more poss to write different ideas and thoughs about my experience. To be honest, from my perspective I never made it to "Oyibo" because no matter how hot the sun got I was still fresh fish. But I did learn a lot, and I will try and summarize that soon.

Coming Home!

I come home for leave in 10 days. In many ways I am settling into the life and the work here, but being away from family and home is still hard. Thing is it is hard for all the expats, this is not an easy life, as my boss put it "You have to be crazy to be here."

I am learning a lot by being here, about Nigeria, about the world, about the US, and about myself. As the ideas come together I will try and put them here, for now it is just an expanded sense of perspective. It isn't just the travel, I have always believed travel can give you a wider view of the world, but what I am gaining is coming from working side by side with Nigerians everyday, beginning to learn how they see the world. That is a different thing altogether.

Sunshine

Well there is no two ways about it, Nigerian sunshine in the dry season is brutal, simply brutal. With no protection from overcast, etc. you are in the direct heat of the sun from 6AM to 6PM. We used to brag about being able to cook an egg in the sunshine in Phoenix, here you could roast a pig. Damn.

Time for some random photos

It has been awhile since I posted, work has been a bit hectic and the days here have a way of blending into each other. So to provide some entertainment I though I would post some random pictures:

This is a local gas station. Now Nigeria has more conventional style gas stations, but they are kind of far between and rarely actually have fuel. So most locals buy their fuel from the black market.



This is the company store, well actually half the company store. The selection is a bit... limited. I planned on including some pics of the store I prefer, just outside the camp gate, but the ladies inside did not want their picture taken unless they had a chance to dress for the occasion, so that will have to come later.



This is a local village directly across the harbor from the Federal Lighter Terminal here in Onne. I am hoping that the current security situation resolves its self and I can visit places like this. A few of my staff have expressed an interest in inviting me to their homes, but we all know it can not happen right now. Shame.





This is the local video store, conveniently located right outside the gate to my office. Wide selection, low prices (500 Niara per disc, or about $3.25), and a friendly exchange policy. Honestly the Nigerian entrepreneurial spirit is something to see, there are hawkers beside the road and damn near anything can be turned into a small shop.



And this is the deli across the street.



The next picture is a bit sobering. This is a gas flare, it burns 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To give it some scale, it is almost five miles away from where I took the picture. The energy wasted could provide power for all of Onne. Sad.



And finally here is a job hazard I haven't had to really deal with before:



Random herds of domestic livestock just kind of wandering around, often they have a herder or two, usually preteen boys, but not always. They just go where they please and everyone accepts it.

I will work on making more frequent updates, including more pictures.

Going off the reservation

Got the chance today to see some of Onne Village. It is a much different place than what you see from the road, wish I could just take a walk thru it. Yes, it is still a third world country, but you getthe sense of good people working hard to improve their lives.

Back to Nigeria

Well, now that I have been back here for two weeks I guess I should talk about it. Getting on the plane is hard, very hard. I like my work, have made some good friends, and the living conditions are fine. Thing is my family is the most important thing in my life and being separated from them is unpleasant at best. But enough whining.

The trip back and forth is long. Door to door Onne to Seattle was 27 hours, the trip back was 24. But it is easy travel. The food is decent, the drinks are free, and on the long leg from Seattle to Paris there is a selection of entertainment. One note, if you make a connection thru Paris don't plan on picking up a snack in the airport without spending serious change. A package sandwich and two beers cost me $40. Crazy.

Thanks to the contributions from my wonderful inlaws, Bob and company at Kuker-Ranken, and of course my wonderful wife Carol, I was able to bring back a bunch of survey field tools and supplies for the crews. It was a lot of small things, plumb bobs with gammon reels, Write-in-Rain-Notebooks, and such. Thing is it made a huge improvement in the moral of the crews. Their work here is hard. By American standards they are totally unequipped and receive minimal support. It is a situation I hope to improve. Change will not be easy, equipment is hugely expensive and technical support almost non-existent. But hell, good work is often hard.

Nigerian Food

Getting access to Nigerian food has been a bit of a challenge. The restuarant in the camp only serves Nigerian food (one item) at lunch on weekdays. I have paid my neighbor's wife (a Nigerian) and a couple of the local girls to cook for me. Those results have been a bit hit or miss.

The staple starch, at least in my chunk of Nigeria, is garri. Made from cassava, it really doesn't have much flavor of its own. Garri does pick up flavors well. The most popular technique for eating it is to pinch off a chunk, roll it in you hand, then use the ball of garri to scoop up a bit of food. I have tried this and it must be a more complex maneuver than it looks, I never got the hang of it. I tend to put some garri in the bottom of a bowl and put the soup or stew on top of it. What can you say... Americans.

Soup or stew. To be honest I am not always sure what makes one dish soup and another stew. Both tend to have the consistency I would think of as stew. Though in this they are pretty similar to the "soup" I make.

Nigerian food it very flavorful, but one warning, it is hot. Seriously hot. One of the key ingredients is "pepper." This is where things can get lost in translation. When a Nigerian says "pepper" what they mean is a small roundish chili which has to be a close relative of the habenaro. And they don't skimp on it. A couple of the dishes I have tried rate as some of the hottest food I have ever put in my mouth. Lucky I like hot food.

When I return I am planning on finding ways to do more exploring of the local foods. Even learn how to prepare a few things. The food really is tasty a really enjoyable part of the whole experience.

Names in Nigeria

Since I am home, rather than talk about incidents I think it would be good to cover things I have learned. One of the first things, and to me actually very heart warming, was about people's names.

Nigerians, much like many Asians here in the US, often have two names. Their (as I think of it) true name which comes from their tribe and their European name. Though since the country's independence this seems to be changing.

I was told when I arrived that I would find some Nigerian names unusual. To be honest, I did. Names like "Present", "Handiwork", and "Gift" are unusual here in the US. But then I began learning about Nigerians. First, they are a very devout people. For the Christians I have met, and I am assuming for the Muslims I don't think I have met, God is a major part of their lives. Second is names in Nigeria have meaning. With this in mind you realize that names like "Gift", "Blessing", "Godwin", and "Prince" translate into the way the parents felt about their child when it became time to give it a name. I think that is pretty cool.

Product Recommendation

I am always willing to give my opinion when someone asks me about this gadget or that one. (okay, or anything else) But I don't often just spout off about something. This case is a bit different.

A while back I bought an Olympus 725SW camera at a pawn shop. Got a great deal. The camera is waterproof, shockproof, and takes great pictures.

Or should I say "was".

I was wearing this camera in a pouch on my belt when the okada incident happened. It got bent. I mean literally BENT. There was like a 4 degree angle in the frame. Thing is, it still worked!! took great pictures, all the functions were there, the view screen had a major crack so was only about 65% visible, but that was it.

Yes, this is where John screws up, I had considered replacing it, but since it was working, I kept using it. It was still functional, but no longer even marginally waterproof. Unthinking, in a light misty rain I pulled it out to take a picture and that was the end.

My point is that it took my generous weight landing on it to bend it, and even after that it was functional. If you need a rugged compact waterproof camera, you should check out Olympus' SW line. That is what I am looking for as a replacement.

Updates,,. Lots of Updates

Yes, I have been slacking. I haven't updated in almost 3 weeks and I need to catch up. I am home now on leave and will spend sometime getting things posted here.

I do have to say one thing here. I am sitting in my kitchen right now at 3:53 local time (my body still has some idea it is time for lunch) and looking around me. What we are doing right now, spending most of our time with more than a third of the planet separating us, is not easy. Finding out I was hurt, and not being able to be there, to know what was going on, was crushing for Carol. She loves me, I am a very luck man. But sitting here this moment, looking at the home Carol and I have built, having talked to the kids and some of the neighbors, I know it is worth it. It is what needs to be done for now.

The Aftermath

Well it has been a week since the accident and I am healing up. Still a bit sore, but looking forward to going to work. I enjoy my work. And it is also damn boring sitting in the house.

Prodeco is resolving the claims of the Okada owner and his passenger. I am not quite sure how that works, but eventually someone will explain it to me. My injuries really weren't that serious, but the medical team here is very careful, and I appreciate that. My head is still head shaped.


The bit of road rash on my arm is trivial, and in a hard place to get in a picture. The most gruesome looking, is the bruising on my left calf:



But it is just that, a bruise (okay and a tiny cut). It is sore, but I can walk on it, walked to the store yesterday. Going to work tomorrow morning.

One thing I need to say is "Thank You" to all the people, Nigerian and Expat, that have gone out of their way to help me make it thru this fiasco. You are a great group of people and I am lucky to know you.

OKADA -1 JOHN - 0

Okay, so I really wasn't trying to invent a new sport, just play a game of life here in Nigeria, crossing the road. Now while I am sure there must be some around, at least in the cities, the last traffic signal pedestrian crossing I saw was in Seattle. (Yes, I know they exist in Paris, but I didn't go to Paris, just the airport) To cross here, you wait for a gap in traffic and bolt across. Damn it quit laughing, I can too "bolt".

So I know there are a lot of questions, I will try to work through them.

Why did John try to cross the road?

Well, I had already been waiting for transport for 30 minutes, and when my driver showed up I was in no mood for him to make the 3KM drive it would have taken to get tot he other side of the road. I do not have pictures yet, but you have to understand that some of the medians here would stop an Abrams tank. So I figured I would bolt across. (you are still laughing aren't you? Damn it)

What is an Okada?

Now to be honest, I am not totally sure of the correct syntax here. Okada are small motorcycles, but it is also a service. It is like ther difference between a car and a taxi. I am thinking that in pure form the okada is a motorcycle taxi, but at least for the expats, it has come to mean a small motorcycle, regardless of whether it is for rent or not. (now there is a question, are any of them not for rent? this is Nigeria) Here are some pictures:



Here is a herd of them parked outside the Gate to my office. I think these are mostly personal. But not all.



This one belongs to my neighbor Evan. I know it is not for rent. We will discuss the girl later. Notice the nice protective frame, most Okada come with these and it will be part of the story later.

What happened?

Well, I was waiting to cross the road. Two Okada were coming about 40 meters apart. Now Okada usually travel about a meter away from the edge of the road, because depending on how wide the road is several vehicles could be making multiple lanes (we will talk about driving in Nigeria later) let's just say it is "flexible". So when the first one went by I BOLTED to the middle of the road. Now here is the part that confuses me, I turned to check on the second Okada and instead of being at the edge of the road he was coming right at me. Now I am dumb sometimes, but not stupid, so I knew that is was time to get the hell out of there, I turned, started to run, and that nice bit of framework I mentioned earlier hit me so hard I flipped in the air, and one of the brackets gave me a nice gash. Once airbourne is was all about physics. Fat man flys up, fat man comes down. My right arm took the brunt of the blow, but fortunately my head was there to absorb some impact. As my friend Frank pointed out "it saved me from damaging something I need". It has been awhile since I have been knocked out, it still isn't fun.

Let me introduce Godwin.



Godwin is my driver. An intelligent passionate man, we communicate on some things and do not understand each other on others. In simple terms he saved my ass. Found a crew, got me loaded up in the truck, and got the always compliant John in the clinic within minutes. He is a good man. Thing is he is not a special example. He is what I am coming to know Nigerians to be. Good people. No one would have done this for me in the US, too worried about being part of the legal hassle. The US has a lot to learn from Nigeria.

Adapting to life here...

No pictures for this post, though I do have a few interesting ones coming up. It takes a while to adapt to being here. It depends on where you come from, the Indians and Philippines adjust quickly, the over weight white boys from Seattle, not so fast. It is regularly in the 90's (yes F) here and the humidity is often higher than the temp. For the first 3 weeks I came back to the house for break and had to change all my clothes. Not so bad now, but when I come home it will be interesting, for the first time I will be the cold one in the house.

Another thing I need to make clear is that I am not really seeing Nigeria. I am seeing Onne Camp, and the work sites. I don't get to go anywhere else. There are the "Troubles." Damn shame, this is a beautiful country with wonderful people. Hopefully I will be around long enough to get past the BS.

Going to work

Surveying in Nigeria is not like working in the States. First off is a fundamental change in mind set. In the States, equipment is cheap and people are expensive. In Nigeria it is the other way around. Manual labor is easy to acquire, but equipment is expensive. But as it always seems in my career, fortune has smiled on me. I work with a team of intelligent motivated people. To be honest, I have worked more than a few jobs in the US where I wish I had these guys.

But let's talk construction. There are w few OSHA inspectors I would love to bring here, just to watch their head explode. Take a look at this:

Yes, that is indeed my survey crew 4 meters in the air, with the only fall protection being a belief in God. But it gets better, take a lok at this:

You have to look closely, but yes, those are workers climbing over the edge of a 7 storey building to drop on the scaffold. The good news is, from what I have seen your average Nigerian is as graceful and body aware as a ballet dancer. I have watched a man walk down a 2 inch wide wall carrying a load for 40 feet, and not even consider how hard it was. The more I know them, the more I like Nigerians.

First Impressions

Before I go any farther, it is quite clear I need spell check. If you did not understand what I was trying to say in previous posts, well tough luck, I am not editing them, I think such things should be as they are written.

There are things you notice when you first get here, the first is perhaps the smell. It is always hot and humid here, the vegetation is lush, but short lived for the most part. That translates into a background of, not really rot, but the smell of over-ripe vegetable matter.

Next is bugs. I don't have any pictures yet, but damn. I regularly see ants over an inch long, and the no-see-ems are in almost visible clouds. The result is these guys:



Meet Chester. He and perhaps half a billion of his relatives keep the bug population down. Honestly, these guys are everywhere. We are building a 7 storey office building, I have seen them on the top floor. I found one, about an inch and a half long in my shower. And their name? Redneck Lizard. Honestly. Reminds me of some guys I met in New Orleans. But they were not nearly as useful.

Next topic. Damn it is flat here. Like living on a pool table. It is out of sequence, but here are a couple of pics from the top of a 7 story building:

and 180 degrees...


My house is just a bit down the second driveway on the left. Prodeco brings "architecture by Xerox" to a whole new level. Most of the things they build are from their precast concrete legos.

Now for something different. There are a few pluses for being here, one is PRAWNS! Okay, this is $6.00 of shrimp:


Yes, five of them, and they are the size of hot dogs. Tasty too.

Welcome to Onne

My first night in Nigeria waas spent in the Intels Camp at Aba Road. To be honest I don't remember much. I showered, ate, showered again, and went to sleep. The next morning was my rip to Onne, where I will spending the next 74 days.

The next step was getting my house, which is in fact an apartment. So withiut furterh ado, pictures of John's House:

The living room


The Dining Room


Yes, they are in fact the same room .

The Kitchen


And the bedroom


Now an interesting little fact about the term "house." No expats, even the ones who have been here quite a while, refer to these places as home. They are all "my house." And the convention comes quite naturally. When an expat says "home" you know where he is talking about.

Port Harcourt Airport

The first thing that hits you when you land in Port Harcourt is the heat. You step out of a plane at 65 degrees and 60% humidity into 90 degrees and 95% humidity. Damned near knocked me on my ass. Then you go to Immigration. Immigration in Nigeria is not like Immigration in the US. The over riding concern here is that your fees have been paid. The first thing they asked for was a deposit against any "unpaid" fees. Right. I didn't buy that even with 20+ hours without sleep. Then customs. I had "too much" so they wanted to check it all, but then I discovered an interesting fact about dealing with the Nigerian government. The absolute worst thing that can happen is having someone cause a scene. When I started yelling everything changed, though there is a rumor I yell loud. So they zipped the bags up and handed me off, to "narcotics". OMFG He really wanted to be intimidating, but not only did I have nothing to worry about, I have been interrogated in 5 states and Mexico, when I did have something to hide. Made a big show of taking my name. But when he wrote it on the inside cover of a magazine I damn near died keeping from laughing.

Once I had cleared all the BS it was time to find the guy who was supposed to pick me up. That wasn't so hard. He was standing out side the fence with a Prodeco ID and a sign with my name. But the 50 yards between the gate and the bus cost me $50. As I walked out the gate I was swarmed with men helping with my bags, two per bag, helping, carrying, and making it impossible to move forward. I was toast, I gave in. But when I got to the bus I realized all I had in my pockets was the rest of my Euros. I said "to hell with it" and passed them out four %'s and one 10. They scored.

The there was the bus ride to Aba Road, the admin headquarters of Prodeco. Me alone in an armored bus, a truckload of armed police in front, one behind, lights, sirens, the whole deal. I began to think I had made a serious mistake. The truth is it was all for show. Appearance is so damn important here I could be living in Hollywood.

I will post more soon. And some pictures. It took me a couple of days to get to pictures.

Charles de Gaulle

Okay, the french are just different. But it is all in small subtle things. Charles de Gaulle is one of the busiest airports in the world, and example of the "first" world at its best. And entirely confusing. To begin, when they sell you the ticket that brag about you will land and depart from the same terminal. Except you won't. You will land on the tarmac and then be taken out to an unsecured area and have to go thru security again. And the bottle of water you bought in the secure part of the Seattle Tacoma airport? is now a major security issue. I had forgotten about it. had to explain to the airport security, armed with HK machine pistols, how it was a mistake. Lucky I am a large fat white American.

But there are more little details. The one thatsticks out, because I was trying to find my what to the gate I was supposed to have landed at was that... everyplace I have ever been if a sign meant that you were supposed to continue down a corridor the arrow points up. In France they point down. Not that hard to figure out, unless you have just spent 12 hours on a plane. Oh, and the only french I have can get me drunk, or slapped. I had a two hour lay over, barely cuaght the plane.

Coming to Nigeria

I have to say that the hardest part of the journey was laving my family at the gate. That sucked. I do have a serious recommendation, if you fly international fly a European airline, Air France was one of the more pleasant experiences I have has flying, and I have done a bit of it. First off, the plane, to be blunt there is little they can do with the plane. It is a damn flying bus and the experience of sitting in a box with a few hundred other people is not fun. But on Air France there are some details that take the sharp edges off. The first? Edible food. Not great food, but decent food, which is something that you haven't seen on a US line, ever. The second, free booze. The thing is when you buy an Air France ticket, everything you might want (no do not go there) is included. That is nice.

My next post will be about Charles de Gaulle airport, which seriously proved that the French are... different.

From the Beginning

There is so much to tell at this point. I think it will take several posts to tell the whole story, so I will do it in installments. I have only been here 22 days and it has been a learning experience. I hope you all enjoy the tale as it unwinds.

Updates are coming!

I am alive and well in Nigeria. There is so much to write about and I want to begin from the beginning so I will start composing updates on Sunday, my day off.

Ta! Da!

Well with one small screw-up it is finally all sorted out. I fly out of Sea-Tac on Friday, May 29th. There is a two hour layover in Paris and then on to Port Harcourt, Nigeria. And the adventure (hopefully with very limited excitement) begins!

Finally

Well, it took just over a month, but I finally have my visa. After all that waiting and expense all I got was a fancy sticker for my passport. Now to find out how long it takes the company to make travel arrangements.

Guess it is time for an update.

I still waiting on my visa, though there has been some forward movement. The package originally sent by my company was mislaid and had to be resent. (Kind of saw that coming) Fortunately I had a copy, so it was just a matter of making four copies and sending it off again. (Thank you Carol!) Though this time it was sent to a specific person. It actually arrived this morning. Hopefully the turnaround will be quick. My bags are all but packed and I am REALLY ready to go to work.

Waiting

I am not good at waiting, when I have decided to do something, I want to just get to it. But somethings can not be rushed, one of them is the Nigerian government. My application for a Visa has been submitted and we are waiting for them to respond. I have to have the Visa before any final preparations can be made, purchasing tickets and such. Perhaps patience is one of the lessons I will learn from this, though I doubt it.

Some Definitions

Local slang is sure to slip into my vocabulary, if for no other reason than I enjoy word play. I found a dictionary of Nigerian slang at the very informative OyibosOnline. Along with what I know will be incredibly useful terms for work like "Wahalla", you can also find definitions that will help make sense of the title of this blog.

A beginning...

So the good news is that after being out of work for five months I have finally found a job. The interesting news, I won't say bad because it isn't, is that it is in Nigeria. Now one of the first things several people have said is "Where is Nigeria?" That question lead me to the idea of starting a blog about the experience. I am hoping that it will be interesting, though not exciting, for as an experienced Journeymen pile driver pointed out one day, on a heavy civil construction site "We don't want no ******* excitement."

So what will I be up too? My position is as Chief Land Surveyor for the PRODECO arm of this company Orlean Invest. The job is a major expansion of this site: Onne Oil and Gas Tax Free Zone. Now one of the many things I like about PRODECO is their emphasis on Local Content. Of their 3300 employees, 3000 are Nigerian, distributed through all levels of the firm. Where possible they use local subcontractors and suppliers.

The decision to go overseas was not easy. I know I hide it well, but I am very fond of my family and the idea of being away from them for large chunks of time is a bit of a bitter pill. The reality of the situation though is that even with the stimulus package it is going to be a good long while before the US economy is moving again. There is just too much inertia, makes moving an aircraft carrier look easy. So it was time for Plan B. I will use this blog to let you all know how it is going.