Or the VSO Internally Displaced Person would be more accurate. So I have a new placement. I started on Monday. And I am very excited. Anyone who knows me well knows how bad I am at not being gainfully employed. I need to be continually occupied or I am beyond irritating. The past few weeks have therefore been somewhat of a challenge. Thankfully I had the joy of moving into a flat that needed a clean. I clean when I am stressed. Actually that’s an understatement, I clean all the time. But I clean even more when I am stressed. I don’t think I have ever spent so many hours cleaning. VSO also took pity on me and gave me ‘tasks’ to do. I’m fairly certain these were just attempts at keeping me occupied so that I didn’t try to flee the country. Not that I could have done, I don’t even have my passport. But I was grateful nonetheless. I also spent a great deal of time at the VSO office making use of their internet and drinking endless cups of tea. Although having discovered the British Village this weekend, I am kicking myself for not having taken more advantage of it during the past three weeks. There is a pool that VSO’s can use for free. And not just that, there’s a bar that serves cocktails, and food that contains CHEESE. I might move in there and see if anyone notices.
Another volunteer came into the VSO office the other day and asked me where I was living now I’m in Abuja. I told her, and she looked less than impressed. I was very confused, given it is one hundred times better than where I was living before. Apparently whenever any volunteers come to stay in Abuja they ask to not be put in what is now my new home. And yet for me, it’s heaven. It seems that my standards are even lower than I had previously thought. I think the trick is to ensure that my expectations are at such a low level that there is never room for me to be disappointed. This coping mechanism has definitely helped to go some way towards stopping me jumping on the first flight home in the past few weeks. Quite a few people have asked me why I’ve stayed. And if I’m honest the thought of going home was definitely tempting at one stage. And at times it seemed like it might be the best thing for me to do. But I do not want the past 6 months to be the outcome of my VSO placement. And more importantly, I do not want the past 6 months to be the way I remember Nigeria. So, I decided to stick with it. And after now starting a new placement, I’m very glad I made that decision.
Despite having just said how much I like my new home, there is one thing about it that makes me very sad. There’s a monkey tied up outside on a piece of rope the length of my arm. Quite often I watch him trying desperately to get food that has been thrown to him and is just outside his grasp. It breaks my heart and I cannot understand how anybody could be so cruel. He spends most of his days just sat on the ground drawing in the dirt. I’m trying to think of something I can do to make it better but as yet I haven’t been able to come up with anything. If I go down to him then his owners would definitely see me. And I’m not entirely sure about what I’d do when I got to him. Whilst it would make me feel better to cuddle him, or smuggle him into my room, I’m not convinced that is something that would fix his life right now.
I got asked if I was a vegetarian the other day. Apparently I ‘look like one’. What does a vegetarian look like? ‘No meat’, ‘pale’ and ‘a sunken stomach’ were the responses I received. Great. I am definitely in the wrong country - that same night I was in a bar with a live band, and one of the women singing was what people here describe as ‘well endowed’. At home she would be described as curvy! And the song she was singing was about just how ‘endowed’ she was. And everyone loved it. The men were clearly enjoying the song (and more likely her dancing) and women who were equally as well ‘endowed’ all came and joined her. It was a refreshing change from being at home, where there is the constantly unhealthy obsession with people wanting to be thinner. The only slight downside was I left feeling like even more of a ‘vegetarian’ - I definitely do not have what would be described as an African figure. I need to start eating more groundnuts and avocadoes I think.
And finally, to continue with my constant attempts to be positive about my new placement, here are some more good things about being in Abuja:
1. My internet connection is much much faster here. I can upload photos and do video Skype without wanting to throw my laptop out the window. I can also listen to Radio 1 live. People who know how much I love Chris Moyles will appreciate how happy this makes me.
2. Being able to run around the area where I live. This would have just caused me endless hassle in Calabar.
3. The British Village. This is so good it deserves a second mention.
4. Access to coffee. I had my first latte in 6 months the other day. It was worth waiting for and it was even worth spending almost a day’s allowance on.
5. Having somewhere we can go for beer directly outside where we live.
6. Living in a compound that isn’t full of weird horrible men who flog people outside my window, constantly bug me for money, and turn off my water and electricity supply.
7. Having housemates. Having lived on my own for almost 5 years I didn’t think this would be something that I would find so comforting, but right now I am definitely happier that there are other people living in the same place as me.
8. Being able to have a cold glass of wine. Well, wine might be a stretch of the imagination. Vinegar would probably be a better description. But it beats not having wine at all.
9. Finding a café that sells macaroni cheese. It costs 2 days allowance, so will have to be saved for a special treat. But I at least know it’s there!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Want to lose your sanity?
Then come to Nigeria.
I knew I had spoken too soon when I said I was enjoying my placement. Six months in, and things went very wrong. I can’t go into details on my blog, but unfortunately my placement didn’t work out and I had to leave Calabar. People keep telling me that there will be a lesson to be learnt from all of this, and that everything happens for a reason. I am struggling to work out what that lesson is. Other than the fact that I’ll probably never trust anyone again. Another lesson I have learnt is how isolating it feels to be in a foreign country and to not be able to trust the people who are supposed to be looking out for you (just to be clear, I am not talking about VSO, they have been very supportive). I’ve also learnt that I’m considerably stronger than I was when I first came out here. Yes, I’ve fallen apart and cried, but my first thought hasn’t been to give up and to go home (well, that’s a slight lie, but I soon moved passed that!)
So it looks like I’ll be starting a new placement in Abuja. I have moved into where I’ll be living here, and I am starting to feel more settled. There are definitely some positives with being here:
1. Food – it is one hundred times easier for me to get a lot of fruit and vegetables here. In Calabar unless I went to one of the markets I was limited to just being able to buy tomatoes, onions, avocados, oranges, pineapple and mango. This sounds like a lot of choice, but for a vegetarian, my diet got a little monotonous. Here I am able to easily buy potatoes, carrots, peas, yam, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, onions, mango, pineapple, oranges, papaya, bananas… the list goes on. So I’m a happy bunny.
2. Electricity. I won’t go on about this as I am terrified in case I jinx it, but suffice to say electricity is almost constant here. I don’t yet trust it enough to stop obsessively charging everything though (almost as soon as I typed this, the electricity went out. It turns out we have an electricity meter. But no one told us we have an electricity meter. So we didn’t know it needs topping up. Not a mistake we’ll make again).
3. With electricity comes a fridge. Yes, a real working fridge.
4. Living somewhere that has more than one room. This is beyond exciting for me. There’s a lounge and a kitchen and places for me to sit other than my bed. And the kitchen not only has a fridge in it, but an oven too. And the oven works. Does it get any better?!
5. Having somewhere outside where I can dry my washing. Granted, it’s over a very dusty car park, but I still think that dusty clothes are better than clothes that smell of wet dog.
And the things I miss about Calabar:
1. The people who I’ve shared the ups and downs of the past 6 months with. It still hasn’t sunk in that I won’t actually be living there anymore and seeing them all the time.
2. The public transport. From paying 50 N for any taxi journey, I am now paying a minimum of 250 N. There are no shared taxis in Abuja, and so it’s a case of paying for a private taxi to get anywhere. On an allowance of 1,000 N a day, this is a challenge.
3. Feeling like I’m actually living in Africa. Abuja is a big city like any other. I could be anywhere in the world.
4. The street side stalls. The furthest you could walk in Calabar without seeing somewhere you could buy bread, phone credit, tomatoes, onions, water (and the list goes on) was about 5 metres. Not so here. There are no roadside stalls (apart from the few who seem to risk it and set up shop down some of the smaller side roads). So you have to walk to the nearest supermarket.
5. Feeling settled. Calabar had really started to feel like home. Yes, it had its challenges (especially in my last week there), but I was used to it. I wasn’t expecting to have to start all over again after 6 months.
But I’m not going to end on a negative. On the plus side, I get to experience living in two different places, get to meet new people and make new friends. So I’m telling myself that instead of just having the one VSO experience, I get two. Like I said before, onwards and upwards.
And a nice thought to end on… I was speaking to my housemate the other day, and for some reason the topic of de worming came up. Turns out that after 6 months I really should have done this by now. So that’s going to be a highlight of the next few days. Oh the glamorous lifestyle of a VSO volunteer.
I knew I had spoken too soon when I said I was enjoying my placement. Six months in, and things went very wrong. I can’t go into details on my blog, but unfortunately my placement didn’t work out and I had to leave Calabar. People keep telling me that there will be a lesson to be learnt from all of this, and that everything happens for a reason. I am struggling to work out what that lesson is. Other than the fact that I’ll probably never trust anyone again. Another lesson I have learnt is how isolating it feels to be in a foreign country and to not be able to trust the people who are supposed to be looking out for you (just to be clear, I am not talking about VSO, they have been very supportive). I’ve also learnt that I’m considerably stronger than I was when I first came out here. Yes, I’ve fallen apart and cried, but my first thought hasn’t been to give up and to go home (well, that’s a slight lie, but I soon moved passed that!)
So it looks like I’ll be starting a new placement in Abuja. I have moved into where I’ll be living here, and I am starting to feel more settled. There are definitely some positives with being here:
1. Food – it is one hundred times easier for me to get a lot of fruit and vegetables here. In Calabar unless I went to one of the markets I was limited to just being able to buy tomatoes, onions, avocados, oranges, pineapple and mango. This sounds like a lot of choice, but for a vegetarian, my diet got a little monotonous. Here I am able to easily buy potatoes, carrots, peas, yam, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, onions, mango, pineapple, oranges, papaya, bananas… the list goes on. So I’m a happy bunny.
2. Electricity. I won’t go on about this as I am terrified in case I jinx it, but suffice to say electricity is almost constant here. I don’t yet trust it enough to stop obsessively charging everything though (almost as soon as I typed this, the electricity went out. It turns out we have an electricity meter. But no one told us we have an electricity meter. So we didn’t know it needs topping up. Not a mistake we’ll make again).
3. With electricity comes a fridge. Yes, a real working fridge.
4. Living somewhere that has more than one room. This is beyond exciting for me. There’s a lounge and a kitchen and places for me to sit other than my bed. And the kitchen not only has a fridge in it, but an oven too. And the oven works. Does it get any better?!
5. Having somewhere outside where I can dry my washing. Granted, it’s over a very dusty car park, but I still think that dusty clothes are better than clothes that smell of wet dog.
And the things I miss about Calabar:
1. The people who I’ve shared the ups and downs of the past 6 months with. It still hasn’t sunk in that I won’t actually be living there anymore and seeing them all the time.
2. The public transport. From paying 50 N for any taxi journey, I am now paying a minimum of 250 N. There are no shared taxis in Abuja, and so it’s a case of paying for a private taxi to get anywhere. On an allowance of 1,000 N a day, this is a challenge.
3. Feeling like I’m actually living in Africa. Abuja is a big city like any other. I could be anywhere in the world.
4. The street side stalls. The furthest you could walk in Calabar without seeing somewhere you could buy bread, phone credit, tomatoes, onions, water (and the list goes on) was about 5 metres. Not so here. There are no roadside stalls (apart from the few who seem to risk it and set up shop down some of the smaller side roads). So you have to walk to the nearest supermarket.
5. Feeling settled. Calabar had really started to feel like home. Yes, it had its challenges (especially in my last week there), but I was used to it. I wasn’t expecting to have to start all over again after 6 months.
But I’m not going to end on a negative. On the plus side, I get to experience living in two different places, get to meet new people and make new friends. So I’m telling myself that instead of just having the one VSO experience, I get two. Like I said before, onwards and upwards.
And a nice thought to end on… I was speaking to my housemate the other day, and for some reason the topic of de worming came up. Turns out that after 6 months I really should have done this by now. So that’s going to be a highlight of the next few days. Oh the glamorous lifestyle of a VSO volunteer.
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