Thud

  You know that kind of sickening feeling you get when you feel something thud against the underside of your car?  You quickly check your mirrors, look around.  Perhaps you catch a glimpse of some antlers or fur on the side of the road, or maybe a whiff of skunk in the air.  You drive on, and the sickening feeling subsides.  When you get home, you might check the car for leaks or other damage; it's all soon forgotten.

That's what happened to Dr. Y yesterday, that sickening feeling.  But it didn't subside as she kept driving.  It got worse and worse.  So bad that she couldn't sleep.  So bad that she left all the lights on in the house and called a friend to come stay with her.  You see, when Dr. Y looked around, she didn't see antlers or fur.  She saw legs, wearing pants and shoes.

It was on the expressway in Abuja, just after dark.  Rushing cars ahead of Dr. Y were swerving, so she followed suit and swerved with them.  It wasn't until she was passing that she saw why they were swerving, those legs with the pants.  And then she felt that sickening thud.  She kept going.  She had to.

You see, as Dr. Y explained it, if you stop, the police hold you responsible.  They arrest you.  They take you to the police station and charge you with the accident.  So no one stops.  And no one did.  They just kept swerving.  For who knows how long.

 

[image from: http://www.hobbiesplus.com.au/signspotters/freeway_signs.htm]

Iron Your Socks and Underwear

Ok, I was kinda vampired-off when I found out about this, cuz one of the first things I did when I got here was ask the girls at Flat 007 if Nigeria has botflies.  We had them in Zambia, and I don't think there was anything I was more afraid of.  Ok, well maybe the black mambas.  They had no idea what I was talking about.  "You know, those flies that lay eggs on your clothes and then if your clothes aren't super dry when you wear them, the eggs burrow into your skin and hatch in you and then the little larvae try to come out of the big boil on you."   They said there was no such thing here. 

So here I am, not ironing anything that doesn't actually need ironing, and then I find out - there are botflies here!  A girl from Pakistan told us this weekend about a friend of hers who got one from a bra she took out of the cupboard!  In Zambia, we just let our clothes dry for three days and then we could wear them.   The climate wasn't as humid as it was here, so things left out for three days generally dried pretty well, killing any botfly eggs in the process.

Well, here we have to iron.  Luckily, I have electricity and an electric iron.  Every morning, and every evening after bathing, it's time to get out that iron and iron away.  Have you ever tried to iron a push-up bra with an underwire?  It's not easy!  That certainly wasn't a problem in Zambia.  We didn't iron all our clothes in the village.  It wasn't practical; charcoal was expensive.  I saved my ironing for really important things, like sewing.  Besides, I was about 35lbs heavier, and a good chunk of it was in my chest.  Oh well!  Back to the iron.

I Would Just Like to Take a Moment

... and say that it's about time something in the news made me smile.

If you want to smile, too, read.

And thanks Steve, for bringing this to my attention.

New Natives

This week, I finally got my other natives that I ordered with my "seafoam" outfit.  I picked the style out of a Nigerian fashion magazine.  These are their own oddities, usually just pages and pages of photos of ordinary people at weddings and funerals.  For both these occasions someone picks out a fabric and everyone gets their outfit made of the same fabric.  So the magazine will have two or three page spreads of many different styles of dresses, all in the same, usually hideous, fabric.

Although it's a little more Jane than Elizabeth, I still like it.  And I really like the color and print.  But just so we're clear, this is a Nigerian dress.  People stop me and say, "ah yes, you are wearing our clothes now," or "our clothes look very nice on you."  And I try not to smirk at the absurdity of this style being "their clothes."
I think there are two truly Nigerian aspects to my new natives.  One, you can see: the onion print on the fabric.  The other is hidden: the way the garment was put together.  It sort of reminds me of when I was first learning to sew and tried to make Barbie clothes from scratch.  I can't wait to get home and show Mommy.  I'm sure she'll say, "that's an interesting way to do that."

A Walking We Will Go

I really like walking to and from work!

My feet however, may feel differently about the matter.