Firmly off Balance

Africa is like coming home in so many ways. Lazy Sundays, home-cooked food, warm gatherings over wine in the living room and consistent raindrops blurring the city scape. So far my favourite days include visiting the Nike Art Gallery and lounging at Bogobiri. Nike, the artist and owner of the gallery, is always dressed in her own inked fabric that somehow flows in breezeless weather. (I really want her dresses!) The gallery is four storeys tall and filled with stacks upon stacks of African arts and crafts from around the continent. Every visitor seems to move through the gallery wordlessly taking in the massive and intricate installations. But for me, it's the energy of the place, which seems to have adopted that of its owner. Warm, welcoming, and enveloping, I could spend entire days lost in this place. I ended the day by painstakingly wrapping a gold Gele around my head. Definitely feels a bit like Nigeria and a lot like home.

Bogobiri is another of my favourite joints. On Thursday nights, it hosts an open mic which encourages amateur poets, rappers and singers to come up on stage and show case their talent. Unlike gaudy karaoke bars, there are true diamonds in the rough that are found here. Of course, there are also the bright and shiny well-established diamonds like Titilope Sonuga, my new found obsession. Her melodic voice and sticky words on stage caught me by surprise and somehow I found myself five months deep into her blog. As a  Nigerian born, Canada based, professional-engineer, part-time poet, Titi struggled with her racial, cultural and personal identity everyday until she returned home. Now she struggles with the daily complications and problems of life in a bustling metropolis in a developing country. She gave up a life of comfort for a life of inner acceptance. But in her own words, "When you choose to let go and just be in the flow of living, you realize there are a lot of things you would trade for your name not to sound like a question in somebody's mouth."

I was lucky to have spent what I believe were formative years, in a country where my name didn't have that gentle lilting intonation at the end, a country where I didn't have to explain my background or my language. But since I was 18, I have lived and loved in the U.S. and slowly and organically it began to feel like home. I ignored the questioning lilt of my name and began to be called Vie, I accepted the incessant questions from curious strangers and patiently explained mundane customs, and I even enjoyed the inexplicable mystery of being an Indian in the mid-west. I enjoyed the much-desired feeling of being at home in both countries. In Nigeria, surrounded by others like me, I've only just begun to realize the gravity of things I have and will continue to give up. For the first time I feel firmly off balance...

Lagos Po Po

So far I've had two experiences with the Lagos cops and each was worse than the other.

1) Nkuru, the head of HR at the company I'm interning at takes us out for lunch (more specifically she takes us to The Place (the same lunch spot)) everyday. This week as we rounded the Elegushi roundabout a guy comes from behind and crashes into us before driving off nonchalantly. Nkuru chases him down screaming Ideeoot in her awesome Nigerian accent. She finally catches up to him and we realize that he is absolutely hammered and as she screams at him she swerves into another car and crashes into them. Now there's three cars that pull off to the side of the road. The third car takes one quick look at Nkuru and the drunk driver before driving off realizing it's not worth the fight. Nkuru on the other hand is screaming bloody murder at this swaying drunk driver and within minutes the po-po arrive. Guns blazing, tobacco chewing, and belly scratching they provide no input at all. After 10 minutes of ranting and raving in the blazing heat, Nkuru drives off frustrated. The drunk driver stumbles back into his car and swerves away as well. That was the first interaction...

2) On Friday night, on our way back from Rhapsody and Cafe Vanessa, Udhedhe, Nneka, Mike and I jump into a cab to get home. Over the VI - Ikoyi bridge, a cop jumps in front of the cab, takes one look at the "foreigners" in the back seat and decides to have some fun. He starts screaming at the cab driver who is apologetic for no reason and then starts harassing Mike to get out of the car. Six other cops descend while I'm in the backseat telling Udhedhe to call her dad (who happens to be a cop in Port Harcourt) like yesterday! She's screaming at a cop on the other side of the car while telling me it isn't serious yet. A cop keeps screaming at me to get out and Udhedhe keeps screaming at me to stay in. Finally, the cop grabs my arm and yanks me out. I'm guessing it's prettayyy serious... Udhedhe continues to mouth off to the cops who turn their attention from Mike to Udhedhe's outfit. "Doz a woooman dress like theees?" "Apparently they do'" she says defiantly. Luckily they look through the cab, find nothing and let us off.

Those AK47 guns may be overkill, but it's definitely conducive to good behaviour..

Lagosian Sayings / Customs

Interesting sayings I have heard so far:

Saying: Flash Me
Meaning: Give me a missed call

Saying: Do you swallow
Meaning: Do you eat a type of Nigerian dish called swallow where you eat out of a bowl with your hands without chewing

Saying: Perm your hair
Meaning: STRAIGHTEN your hair

Saying: My wife put to bed
Meaning:  My wife gave birth

Saying: Ahhhh beg
Meaning: Excuse me

Rude questions:
 
It's rude to ask when a baby is due because of  a history of high infant mortality

It's too personal to ask how many siblings / children you have because of a history of polygamy 

Ain't no partay like a Lagos partay

The last few days have been a complete whirlwind! Friday the TEF interns attended the Lagos Business School (LBS :)) Africa Conference titled "Breeding African Lions" where speakers like Mr. Dangote and Tony Elumelu spoke of the unique challenges of entrepreneurship in Africa. Jet lag set in pretty early for all of us and every one was nodding off most of the day.

Saturday on the other hand was absolutely inspiring! We spent the day at the HH headquarters hearing from host company CEOs and motivational speakers like Adewali Ajadi. It is so crazy to be in Nigeria and hear the word Africa so much more than the word Nigeria. Countries on this continent are just so much more united and integrated than others around the world (except everyone here ignores South Africa obviously). I guess if you have a small local market, you have to think big! It's also amazing how much pride they have in their culture and practices. Wali insisted on bringing Africa to the world instead of the other way around. Why shouldn't Africans wear traditional clothes to work instead of suits in the sweltering heat and wouldn't it make sense to take afternoon siestas when people are unproductive anyway? Apparently years ago some Italian farmer decided that the weather was perfect for growing tomatoes and decided to teach Ugandan farmers to grow them. Within months he had a flourishing farm of tomatoes and within days it was trampled and eaten by a herd of rhinos. What did the locals have to say? DUH! We knew that would happen? Why do you think we didn't grow tomatoes? Good story...

Saturday night was balls to the wall insane! The 15 MBA interns decided to spend one incredible night partying it up before heading off to their respective host countries for the summer. I barely remember the night but we started at Rhapsody, drove by Liquid and ended at Sip. We were pretty insular in our interactions and didn't really meet an locals - but 15 US based MBA students tend to take over most places. I do remember that the women are beautiful but unfriendly and the men are friendly but arrogant. Ain't no partay like a Lagos partay fo sho...