For most blood drained in a single evening...

Happy Halloween!  Ok, so it's not Halloween just yet, but seeing as I am miles away from crunchy orange and red leaves, haunted houses and candy corn, I had to get into the holiday spirit by watching The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Halloween is obviously not a big holiday here in Nigeria, and I never really thought about how much I would miss it, but turns out I really do miss the spooky decorations and costume revelry.  I guess I'll just have to save all the partying and such for the Marine Corps Ball next weekend :)

Unfortunately, since my last post, I spent the majority of my week nursing this wretched cold that I developed... I felt well enough on Tuesday to go to work and then head over to the Hilton gym for a quick workout, but it took a turn for the worse on Wednesday, and my lymph nodes/tonsils/general throat-neck area were so ridiculously swollen that I could barely swallow my own saliva.  One of my co-workers at work had me try this local homeopathic medicine, called "bitter kola"--it looks like a giant Brazil nut, tastes way way worse, and as the name indicates, incredibly bitter--which is supposed to help soothe my sore throat and cough, but didn't really do anything...

Only a few events worthy of note this week, aside from the fact that I sound like death right now (or according to Phoebe from "Friends", I sound quite sexy with this raspy hoarse voice):
** Got the go ahead from my mentor to come home for interviews in December, so I will be taking off a few days early to tackle some schools in the Midwest (Chi-town, I see you soon!!)
**Received my first care package from home on Friday!  Now I can finally use the wifi on my iPad!  It took me a while to figure out how to set up this wireless router, but I was somehow able to get it to work, yay!  I'd say I knew I what I was doing, but... I didn't :P
**Friday night, went to the local Italian Restaurant, Da Maria's, with our new flatmate and her expat friends.  Unfortunately, I didn't think it was worth how expensive it was... seeing as I can make pasta at home too for way less.  At least the cheese and cured meats platter was delicious.  I probably will go back to try their desserts, but don't anticipate going back any time soon for their main courses.  Still need to try the grilled fish at the local beer gardens and shwarma.

Tonight Jess and I are going back to the Chinese restaurant for dinner and then tomorrow, Uncle Pig will pick us up early in the morning for a breakfast party (? Didn't know those existed...) at the Philippine Embassy.  Not sure how that is going to turn out, will post on that later. 

Last tidbit: The next week is the Ramadan holiday Eid... and with Veteran's Day at the end of the week, looks like the work week will only be 1 or 2 days... perhaps a hop and skip over to somewhere fun?  We shall see...

Let's celebrate 1 month with a fever!

So many milestones coming up!  One week from today, I will officially be in my "late twenties"-- more than half-way through my golden years, and what do I have to show for it?  Not sure.  We'll see how we celebrate it in Nigeria.  The other major anniversary is the one month mark of living in Africa; it will be official this Wednesday, but I feel like I have been here forever.  I've come to realize that Abuja isn't that big, nor is there that much to do.  So, even though one month doesn't seem like such a long time, I think we've pretty much explored most of what Abuja has to offer, save a few things we probably will get to, this weekend.  Perhaps a pedicure and then dinner at a bush garden or the barracks to try out the famous grilled fish that everyone talks about, a birthday dinner maybe?  Couple of stores that we haven't scoped out yet, but overall, we've pretty much seen everything worthwhile seeing here.
Oh yes, so I went to bed last night with a weird feeling in my throat, and then woke up this morning with a crazy sore throat and a low-grade fever.  Sore throat, while uncomfortable, was a good sign, seeing as getting a sore throat isn't a symptom of malaria... so that one mosquito bite that I received since being here for over 3 weeks wasn't malaria-laced, I don't think.  Am at home right now though, slept the entire day to try and break the fever.  Courtesy of NEPA (the wonky Nigerian power company), I was able to sweat most of it out, I think, since power outages prevented a/c from working.  Sigh.  This country needs to figure out how to stop lining the pockets of its political leaders and build a power infrastructure that actually works. :T
In other news, yesterday our new surrogate uncle (Uncle "Pig"), the manager of the hush hush restaurant that we went to on Friday, took us to the Transcorp Hilton for a breakfast buffet and then treated us to another delicious dinner of potstickers and homemade tofu (complete with spicy crab meat, flown/driven? in from Lagos) at his restaurant.  I managed to strike up a deal with him to buy frozen potstickers off of him, and then offered to help create a few dessert options for the restaurant, in exchange for more home-cooked meals.  So next weekend, will be putting myself to work in the kitchen!  Perhaps a couple types of fancy cookies (biscotti, anyone?) and small pastries... black currant danish maybe (Nigerianize it with Ribena! haha). 

SquaB!

How did it get to be Saturday so soon again?!  I guess that's a good thing, week going by so fast... All the days seem to muddle together here, I sometimes forget what day it actually is.  Quick recount of what happened since my last blog post:
Monday, Jess and I had an official meeting with the US Ambassador of Nigeria.  Nothing much more than a formality, say hi, note that we are here and we are doing public health-y work.  Work has been sort of on-and-off busy, getting oriented but also trying to dive into some projects that Dr. D and SB suggested I participate in.  Hopefully I will be able to be a POC for one of the national quality indicator projects on HIV (lookie here, I'm starting to speak like CDC personnel!).  Others will hopefully come as time progresses, so no need to rush :)
Tuesday was semi-uneventful... I had my mentor meeting with Dr. D and SB, to go over goals for the fellowship this year, but I think it will remain slightly nebulous at this point, as I'm still getting used to how the office is run.  Everything seems to revolve around the budget though, which makes sense... and yet at the same time, I feel as though there is not enough push to get all the budgetary minutiae out of the way so actual science can get done.
Wednesday was my first day at the gym-- Jess and I signed up for a gym membership at the Hilton, just as an activity to maintain mental sanity.  Since I don't enjoy sweating it is nice to work out in an air conditioned room, and the cardio and weight equipment is quite nice as well.  Also gives us access to the large pool at the Hilton, so perhaps I will come home with a swanky tan. :D  Or skin cancer, whichever comes first.  After my work out, I met up with an acquaintance who sat next to me on the plane ride over from Amsterdam to Abuja, and he introduced me to his colleague who works for a Chinese construction company, I think.  They took me to a "Nigerian Chinese" restaurant, called MarcoPolo.  It was definitely fancypants, but NOT Chinese in any way, shape or form.  Everything was super spicy, and super greasy... ok, that might not say much about Chinese food, but it definitely was not Chinese food you would find in the States.  Springs rolls filled with mayonnaise... PURE mayo!  Who eats fried mayo?!  I did get to try a "Nigerian Shirley Temple", which they call a Chapman.  It's like Sprite with bitters and some other fruity concoction... pretty tasty and helped tone down the spicy dishes that night.  It was quite nice for them to take me out though, and hopefully will get a chance to hang out with him again.
Thursday was like Tuesday, uneventful... to the point I can't really remember what happened, so moving on...no wait, just kidding.  Well, it's not like it hasn't happened before, but we had some electricity wiring issues in the kitchen and had to cook in the dark... again.
Friday!  Thank goodness for half-days on Fridays.  We only work until 1ish on Fridays because of prayer time for the large Muslim population here, so the roads totally shut down and turn into a parking lot for about 2 hours as people just park their cars in the street before heading into the mosque to pray.  I was able to squeeze in a grocery run before heading home and taking a nap.  Friday dinner was nothing short of AMAZING.  Jess's yoga classmate is a girl from Beijing who works for the Chinese Commerce Office or something, and she had an in with a pseudo-restaurant; it had an impressive dining facility, but isn't open to the public... you definitely need to KNOW someone one to have lunch or dinner there.  But OMG.  Homemade potstickers, spare ribs, chow mien, fresh Chinese veggies that they grow themselves, SQUAB!!  I cannot believe they served squab.  I don't think I've been as satisfied with food since I left home... they do hot pot too!  Oh, just so... heavenly.  Afterward, headed on over to the first Marine House party since the UN bombing in August.  They had to shut it down due to security reasons, so yesterday was the first one since lifting security measures, although there still was a midnight curfew, so party shut down at 12.  Was sort of awkward drinking with our boss, in a frat party-esque setting, but we managed. :P  Expats here definitely like to drink and smoke, so it was quite a haze of alcohol and cigarettes outside on the patio.  The Marine House party isn't the best arena to get to know people because of the loud music, but it was fun to people watch.  Got a taste of the old white man + young Nigerian girl thing that goes on here... you could not pay me enough to be with someone that old and groddy, haha.  Did manage to get the Marines to drive us home after the party... no one wants us to take local taxis once it gets dark...
Saturday morning run to Wuse market... super tired this morning though, so didn't have the energy to haggle with the vendors.  Managed to get a Costco-sized thing of toilet paper though, as well as additional fabric for makeshift curtains in our bathrooms.  People could totally see into the windows while we did our.. bathroom business, so it was slightly more necessary than other things, haha.  Going to try and tackle the kitchen and organize our dishes and other kitchenwares... had to bugbomb the place for roaches and never got to putting anything in the drawers.  Now with a 3rd roommate and more food donated from the previous fellows and our Taiwanese Trade Mission friends, need to figure out a system of organizing. 
Perhaps a swim at the Hilton tomorrow, or going out to a club tonight?  Meh.  More like doing the laundry in the corner of my room.  Or mopping the floors... hooray chore-filled Saturday!

Yellow Table, for Yellow Woman?

After almost 3 weeks, I finally feel like I am settling into my life here in Nigeria.  I think Jess and I have finished outfitting our apartment--we do need a bit more fabric to hang up curtains, definitely need them in the bathroom, since people can totally see all the happenings that go on in there-- but overall, it's pretty much a furnished apartment now.  I think we finally lost that echo in the living room; our friend dropped off his parents' extra living room furniture, just need to get a coffee table from another expat friend now, and the living room is complete!  Dining room furniture has finally been moved to the nook/dining area, and we actually sat down during lunch to enjoy the view of... the concrete pillars, haha.
Made a new friend at the Taiwan Trade Mission and he graciously took us this morning to Wuse Market, the largest outdoor local market in Abuja.  Crazy times, yet again.  The vendors are way more aggressive than the ones at Utako market--a few even grabbed my arm to steer me towards their stalls.  Sigh.  It can get to be a bit stressful having people follow you around, especially the boys that follow you around with their wheelbarrows, hoping that you will "dash" them for wheeling around your groceries or whatever else you buy at the market.  However, it does make shopping all the more exciting--walked by the meat and produce section in the back of market complex, and saw one person holding raw chunks of beef ribs maybe, one in each hand, and another person wheeling a wheelbarrow full of various chopped up cow? parts.. looked too big to be goat.  I sort of wrinkled my nose when he walked by (meat sitting out in a hot environment obviously smells funny) and he laughed at me.  Over the course of 2 hours, I bought a snazzy new laundry drying rack, two basins to do laundry in, a dish drying rack, a frying pan, a small round YELLOW plastic table and plastic lawn chair to act as my mini workstation at home (I subsequently semi-broke one of the table legs as I was trying to assemble it at home... sigh.  So cheap, yet so inordinately priced... I think I paid almost $30 for the table and chair!).
Originally Jess and I had planned to string up rope somehow around the flat and just use that method to dry clothes, but after the mishap of nailing fabric to the walls for makeshift curtains and finding out that the nails would just bounce right out, I decided to shell out the money for an actual drying rack...oh, and not to mention the stories we heard about worms and flies and other creepy crawlies laying their eggs in your clothes if you dry it outside, and how the larvae/pupae would grow in your skin would just come crawling out of your pores.. ugh.  Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.  In the course of haggling for the kitchen stuff I bought yesterday, definitely got asked if I was married... that was fun, hehe.  Played the coy card and got the vendor to throw in a sink strainer too.
Late in the afternoon, Jess and I took a trip down to the local gym to check out the facilities and see if it was worth spending $70 a month to enroll in... and like everything else in Abuja, the answer is a resounding NO.  Cramped, crowded, funky smells (ok, really have to get used to the smells here in Africa), overall not worth the money.  Going to check out the Hilton facilities and see what they have to offer.  Then we mosied on over to the National Hospital to shadow a doctor we had met at a house party a week ago... didn't actually see much, since it was a slow day, but got a chance to tour the hospital grounds and get a sense of how their health system works.
Came home dead tired, ate a package of instant noodles, half a mango, and passed out around 11... what a sad Saturday existence, haha.  No matter, today we will hit the arts and crafts market and see what they have to offer.

Monday we are meeting the US Ambassador of Nigeria... not sure what the purpose is for, but gonna have to bust out the new iron we bought last week to make sure we look presentable. :)

Alphabet Soup, Anyone?

Today was my first real packed day of work... we had some super important Department of State head come and do site visits in Abuja--technically she is the Deputy Director of the Global Health Initiative, if that means anything to you--and our mentor had us accompany her and the rest of the embassy and USAID to two local hospitals to tour the HIV prevention and treatment clinics that are being funded with US taxpayer money (PEPFAR, President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the only good thing that W. Bush did during his reign of terror... although some may argue that it isn't actually that great because it makes developing countries dependent on foreign aid... a whole 'nother topic for discussion). It was pretty cool to see the hospital teeming with people, particularly the antenatal wards, just rows and rows of mothers and their babies... I noticed that African babies are a lot smaller and punier than American ones... must be the HIV+malnourishment or something... so tiny! Like baby kittens... and they mew like kittens too. O_o One of the really interesting programs that one hospital is implementing has HIV+ women who have successfully given birth to HIV- children (they call them "mentor mothers") go out into the community and talk about their experiences with other women who may be HIV+ and are pregnant. There is a huge stigma against people who are HIV+ and so they are trying to decrease that negativity and push people at risk to seek treatment so that they can prevent mother to child transmission (in acronym speak, PMTCT... starting to get the hang of speaking alphabet soup, since all the US gov agencies use acronyms for every program and phrase out there.
After the site visits, I had a one on one meeting with my secondary mentor--I'll probably be working with him directly, since he is the epi team lead for the CDC office. I'm super stoked now, since there are lots of projects I can get onto, and I think with the various projects that I don't have a strong background in, I will have just cause to go to trainings wherever... I could care less where I go (as long as I get out of the office), since I have training funds available. We have a field epidemiology training program too, and they go out and investigate outbreaks around the country; I'm not wishing any terrible outbreak on Nigeria, heh, but definitely will jump at the chance to go and experience an outbreak investigation firsthand...thankfully got the ok on that, so yay, excited! Don't feel as lost now, and it's only day 3 of work!
Jess and I decided to try and walk to a supermarket near our apartment after we got home from work, took us about 20 minutes to get there. We looked around, decided to eat dinner at the cafe in the market, and both ordered what turned out to be the weirdest sandwich concoctions we have ever ordered. She got this frankfurter (read: hot dog!) panini pressed sandwich thing, with corn and coleslaw inside and a few stray french fries (they call them chips here, British influence), and I ordered a chicken shwarma, which I thought would just be in pita, but they wrapped it up and pressed it on a sandwich grill thing too... turned out mine also had french fries in the wrap. So weird. It's also making my tummy feel funny right now. Oh Africa. We each bought a loaf of bread and walked home from the market... only to encounter pouring rain and lightening/thunder... thankfully I had the foresight to bring an umbrella, but it was so windy my umbrella kept getting turned inside out! Not to mention, there are no street lights, so I could barely see what was in front of me. And let me preface with the statement that I am not racist, but dude, I could not see any Nigerian walking towards me if my life depended on it.... just can't see them in the dark! Yeesh. Kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was following us.
Tomorrow I will go and check out the Taiwan Embassy... my aunt had a best friend in middle school whose brother was really good friends with this one guy now based in Nigeria. Turns out he actually lives in Lagos, the commercial center of Nigeria, but his brother in law put me in touch with the folks at the Taiwan Embassy so I will go and see if they have any tips on living in Abuja and if there are any good Chinese restaurants around (doubtful, but gotta give it a shot). Then off to the fruit market next door...maybe a quick run around the "crescent" that I live on (Abuja has weirdly shaped streets...)
Weekend plans might include shadowing a trauma doctor I met at a house party last weekend, going to the local market to practice my haggling skills, trivia pub night, or other tomfoolery. :) Trying to integrate, socialize, be fun! It's so tiring though, haha. Oh, and did I mention that the girl I was rooming with in ATL, her friend here in Abuja is a Senator's son, and his family graciously decided to "loan" us living room furniture for an entire year, free of charge! So awesome. And our 3rd roommate is moving in this weekend too... we're just subletting a room to her until she finishes up at the end of the year. Maybe her Nigerian friends will take us out and show us a good time. Also parents and friends sending care packages to me soon, yay! Now, an episode of Glee before I turn in...

YELLOW WOMAN!!

It's been over a week now that I have arrived in Abuja, and we've finally moved into our apartment in Wuse II. Welcome home to Peletimi Hilltop Apartments! For now, all we have is a mattress in each room, and a microwave, if you count that as furniture... we're definitely not getting paid enough to furnish the place to Abuja standards (read: very very expensive), so for the time being, I either eat standing up in the kitchen-- which was bugbombed for roaches (oh joy)-- sitting on my bed in my room, or sitting on the dining room floor. First real dinner in the apartment, Jess and I spent sitting on the floor of the dining room, AC blasting in our faces, feasting on hummus, pita and chicken suya, the Nigerian version of... jerk chicken? Not sure, but it was definitely spicy. I subsequently had tummy troubles... as they say, TIA! (This is Africa!).
Haven't been doing much else so far, since work at the CDC hasn't started yet. First official day is next Tuesday (hooray for observing Nigerian and US holidays), since it's Columbus Day on Monday. Tried unsuccessfully to find furniture in the outskirts of town; one of our co-workers in the office kindly took us for an off-roading adventure on Friday, and we ended up in the satellite towns surrounding Abuja: Apo City, Sun City, Sunnyvale/Sunnyville? Definitely not the Sunnyvale in the Bay Area though. Fancy pants new houses being built, but roads are nonexistent, and I literally hit my head in the backseat of the car, I was bouncing up and down from the crazy potholes all over. Did see some never before seen sights for an Africa Noob like me: small children running around with no pants, peeing and pooping on the streets (and you wonder why cholera sometimes flares up here and there), tuk-tuks, which are 3 wheeled driving thingies, weaving their way in and around the crazy traffic getting in and out of town, old women cooking on fire (coal?) stoves along side the street... I'm sure I will see more as I get more acquainted with the city.
Yesterday, we went to the local Utako market, where people have stall after stall set up in narrow alleyways, selling everything imaginable. Seeing as we had no cups in the apartment and had to drink our beverages out of empty water bottles, it was imperative we at least bought some household items to tie us over for the year. I was pretty apprehensive about going to the local market, since it is well known that you must haggle for EVERYTHING, and since I obviously don't look Nigerian, bargaining was an absolute must, as they always always hike up the price for oyibos (white people/foreigners). Although this was my first time haggling on my own, I'd say I did a pretty decent job... one of our expat friends commented that I came off as part Nigerian and part Chinese in my bargaining- I would start off with a super low price, Nigerian style, and then keep at it persistently, Chinese style. Who knew I had it in me? Apparently they could hear me a few stalls over, I was so loud (yay small loud Asian girl). Definitely had more fun than I thought I would, but it still is a bit stressful after a while. At least we have cups and plates and silverware to use when we eat... Funny thing in Nigeria/Africa: the locals will hiss at you to get your attention... it's a bit weird at first but I'm getting used to it. Oh, and they will scream "CHINA CHINA CHINA" as you walk by on the street... or, call you "YELLOW WOMAN", like they did at the market yesterday. Also, no one believes I'm American. I went to a party last night and a Nigerian was totally amazed at my accent. :T
I guess I should either start learning pidgin English or FOB-ifying my English...

First post in Abuja!

Hi everyone!  Hope you're all doing well!  Just wanted to let you know what I've been up to since arriving in country for my new position at the CDC.   Still living in a hotel for the time being, and while it's not the nicest place,  at least I magically got the air conditioner to work (this consisted of pressing all the buttons on the remote in random order), so I'm not waking up in the middle of the night sweating like a monster.  Me and the other fellow will move into our apt on Wed.  For now, we've just been hanging out at the hotel, catching up on sleep, recouping from being sick, and then going out at night to meet with new friends! Fun!
Yesterday we tried out an Indian restaurant in our neighborhood to be, then went to someone's house for trivia night.  My team won!  It was a lot of crazy yelling and drunkeness from expats all over... The Irish one was particularly drunk, and particularly funny.  Our new trivia buddies dropped us off at the hotel when it was over, and we ended up getting stopped twice by police roadblocks.  It was Nigerian Independence Day today, so security was ramped up because of the bombings that happened last year... Anyhow it was pretty funny, watching the police trying to shake down our friend for bribe money ( they call it "dashing" here)... One of the policemen just wanted to chat with us (maybe practice his English?) since we were all foreigners in the car.  
Today a friend of a friend took us out for a tour of the city, and we had our first Nigerian meal of heavy heavy starch, everything starch!  I had fried rice, jollof rice, which is a redder version of fried rice, and spicier to boot, then yam porridge, fried plantains, some beef stew thingy, and moin moin, which are savory cakes made from some sort of bean mush paste concoction.  Wasn't able to finish it, and then had a major stomach ache trying to digest it all.  It was good... Just... Going to take some getting used to.  Then we shopped at the local fruit market, where I got heckled because I was wearing shorts, but I had the most delicious tangerine ever!  The pineapples look different, much longer and squatter at the bottom, but I heard that once you eat pineapples from Africa, nothing will ever be the same... I'll let you know and chronicle more food and eating adventures further down the line.   Lastly, we went to tour the Transcorp Hilton, which is where all the dignitaries and fancy whatevers of state stay... Super posh, super expensive.  I like how there was "The Dollar Shop", actually written in quotations, where a pair of slippers cost $685 USD!  That is not like the dollar store back home.
Tonight, we hung out with some friends at a rooftop bar, Where we were the only people there.  Nice to have it to ourselves though.  Got a great view of the lightening storms that they have here... Though it didn't actually rain.  I also tried my first malt beverage, they call it Malta here, and it's made by Guinness, the beer company.  Tastes sweet, nothing like the nonalcoholic malt drinks in the States... And is supposed to have a lot of vitamins, haha.  Someone said it was marketed more towards the Muslim population here, although I'm not certain about that.
Work hasn't started yet... It is a federal holiday on Monday, so we don't actually get started until Tuesday.  And even then, our boss isn't here yet since he's traveling on CDC duties, so I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to be doing... Since everything works on "Africa time" here, where all processes are maximally slow, and nothing ever gets completed, we shall see how much I can get done this year, although the living experience in Nigeria itself with be something of worth, haha.   Miss everyone tons! Please keep me posted on your respective lives in the states! Either comment and let me know you're still alive and well, haha, or send me something via email or Facebook. Hugs all around! Until next time, Dwee