Happy Last Day of National Oatmeal Month!

Ok, so I couldn't find any other holiday to celebrate January 31st... at least I can say I've made it through all of January 2012 :)  Boko Haram, you haven't blown me up yet... although that remains to be seen, as tomorrow I will have to go to the Nigerian Immigration Office (yet again) to extend my stay here for... wait for it... SIX WHOLE DAYS!  Yep, immigration refused to stamp us in until our departure back to the States mid-February.  This is how they make money off of us oyibos.  Sigh.

Not much else to report on here in Abuja.  Work has been slightly inane, and that's an understatement.  I've never been more excited to go back to the States for SAS training.  O_o  Will be in Atlanta for most of the time, with a quick trip back home to pick up more home-cooked deliciousness to last me the rest of the fellowship here.  Thanks to the kitchen of Mom and Dad, I've been eating pretty nicely here, since we vacuum-sealed all the food.  I did actually cook tonight though, and I was quite proud of what I made (although half of the food on the plate is from home, haha).  And my rice was perfect tonight!  Third time's the charm :)  (YES, it is hard to cook rice without a rice cooker)  Here is proof of what I cooked tonight:

Tofu (that wrinkly thing on the right) and char-siu pork was from home, but I made the stir-fry bok choi with dashi and corn-egg-tomato dish thingy...


It's getting way hot here... Harmattan is almost over... soon it will be rainy season again.  I would like to bypass all of that and just go back to Harmattan without any dust allergies... but... no dice.  Instead, I will just console myself with this incredibly cute piglet picture.  Someone please buy one for me as a pet.  I will love you forever if you do.

EDIT/UPDATE: Was able to get my visa stamp extended, came back from the Nigerian Immigration Office in one whole piece, and the entire process only took 1 hour. Amazing!  It's not even that fast in the States!  Funny thing was, the guy who processed our visas was the same guy as last time, and he totally remembered me... guess that's what happens when you make a fuss about being American and not Chinese. :P

SQOOSH!

Even though it's still the height of Harmattan season here, seems like the mosquitoes are quickly coming back in full swing… Jess has been bitten like crazy, and I just found a brand-spanking new bite on my leg this morning.  I found one flying around my room last night after we finished watching the new Vampire Diaries episode--smashed it with my slipper, and ::sqoosh:: the mosquito exploded into a bloody mess.  I guess it was my leg blood, hah.  It's mondo itchy right now.  Gah.  Need to figure out how to get a bed net before the rainy season starts in March/April. 

Boko Haram decided to coordinate a bomb attack last night in Kano, the second biggest city in Nigeria… I don't understand why they did it right after Friday evening prayer for Muslims… why are they targeting their own religious group?  I am confused… or maybe Boko Haram is confused?  Oh well.  Praying that it doesn't blow up here… literally.  But, I guess if it does, I'm bouncing early :T  Probably a good thing, because I will lose my marbles if the Feds decide to continue their shutdown of Megaupload… my weekly dose of TV shows is the only thing that's keeping me going here.  Meh.

Back in the States for training in February… yay for countdowns to break up the monotony!  Oh yeah, and maybe actually learn something new here?  O_o

OH YEAH-- HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 
Now, go stuff your faces full of nian gao for me :)

Weekend Update

The weekend was pretty uneventful here in Abuja. The Nigerian labor unions put a hold on the strike over the weekend, so that people could stock up on supplies for another week of striking, if no compromises were made during talks that were scheduled.  I had a much harder time bargaining at the fruit market on Saturday... Testament to how difficult and expensive things are getting here.  Afterward, I went over to a friend's place to watch the Taiwan elections and play Kinect.  Sort of felt like I was at home again, but all illusions faded when I got back to my apartment.  Spent the rest of Saturday alternating between staring at the ceiling and rewatching Season 1 of Downton Abbey.   Sunday was equally uneventful... Did laundry in the morning and tried to sweep/mop the floor in my room, although that is a losing battle, since Harmattan is in full swing, so everything is just disgustingly dusty.  I have never had allergies before until now... Eyes are too irrated to wear contacts, so I've been nerding it up with glasses since I got back.  Started watching Homeland, the Showtime series on terrorism with Claire Danes... Pretty good so far.  I was sadly disappointed with how bad the new episode of 30 Rock was... Can you tell that all I do these days is watch TV?  I guess I better get in all the TV time I can get before I don't have time in the near future to watch TV anymore... On an annoying side note, I have reverted back to being an insomniac here.  I have been waking up at 4 or 5 am every night recently, and really haven't been able to go to bed until midnight... I don't think I have jetlag anymore, but I did start taking mefloquine again-- I have noticed that there are a lot more mosquitoes around, and even though I haven't been bitten yet... I really would Rather prefer to stay malaria free... So I guess I am just trading sleep for health (although I don't know how long I can last on four hours of sleep per night).   Today is MLK Day, and we are supposed to have the day off, but instead I am sitting in a hotel conference room, listening to baby epi lectures... Total waste of time and money.  Supposedly the president agreed to lower the petrol prices, not back to subsidized prices, but at least a bit less than what it was going for... However, the strike is apparently still on, since we had the hardest time trying to find a taxi.  We finally found one, but it turns out, the driver had NO CLUE where he was going, so we ended up driving basically around the whole city, before Jess had to tell him which way to go.  I almost thought I was going to die when the driver decided to take the off-ramp of the opposite side of traffic... I have no idea what was going through his head when he accelerated and switched lanes into oncoming traffic... O_o  Never know when you will be surprised here in Nigeria... Guess it just keeps you on your toes.

National Strike!

It has been about a week since I have returned to Nigeria. It took me a little more than half of the week to slowly get back into gear and fight the jet lag--I don't know why it is so much more difficult this time around-- and sitting in class all day relearning basic Epi hasn't helped my energy level (read: snooze). It has been eerily quiet here too; since President Goodluck Jonathan (yes, that is his first and last name, I didn't invert it) decided to cut the fuel subsidies that has kept petrol prices so low for the Nigerians, the sudden increase in petrol prices has incited a nationwide strike that started on Monday and has continued... Not sure when it will be over. The labor unions are striking and maintaining their stance until the fuel subsidy is put back into place, but the federal government here doesn't seem to be budging. What does that mean for me? Well, I don't have a car, but since I rely on taxis to get everywhere, and most, if not all of the taxi drivers are on strike, I am basically under house arrest, since I don't have a means of transportation. Thankfully (or not), a few of our American colleagues at the CDC have been able to swing by and pick us up and drop us off to and from the office. None of the businesses are open either; I have been living on ramen for the last week, although I guess it isn't too diffent from how I was eating prior to the strike, haha...but I wasn't even able to get staples like milk and eggs until yesterday. One of the western style markets, catered more to the expat community here, opened for about 2 hours during lunch to allow the diplomatic community to stock up. It was craycray, to say the least-- kind of like that frenzied rush that hou see on the Price Is Right... Jess and I ran up and down the aisles, grabbing 8 cartons of milk, super huge crate of eggs, people were just hoarding food like there was an impending nuclear war or something... Not sure how long this Strike is going to last... People are going to need to make money and feed themselves soon, but I don't know how they are going to do it if they keep at this... Whole country has come to a standstill and day to day activities are crippled... Although it definitely makes for some easy traffic, since there are barely any cars on the road. I guess I should relish in the peace and quiet before everything starts to get crazy hectic again... Let's just hope that it doesn't deterioriate into some kind of chaos, although thr unrest in thr North from Boko Haram isn't helping the overall situation. Will update more when something actually happens o_O