This is the most original hawker I have seen. Dozens of these men will converge on you at every intersection and offer anything ranging from crackers to magazines to potties. Anything that might come in handy during a long "go-slow". One aspect of living here that has taken some getting use to is hiring "staff". It was a totally foreign concept to me but you find out quick that it is essential. The company provides a car but I have to hire a driver. It is dangerous to drive, easy to get lost, but I think the main reason we're recommended not to drive is the rules of the road are just too ambiguous to learn. There's not even traffic lights (in a city of 15 million people). Ofcourse, traffic lights would cause even more chaos as the power goes out every hour. Hiring a driver was one of the greatest challenges, not because it was hard to find someone, but because you're offering somebody a very good job and it is difficult to choose. I had two excellent canditates. They both have families and one had been out of work for four months and the other was about to go out of work. So far I'm pretty happy with my choice. He's friendly, speaks very good English (Nigerian's speak English but in a very different dialect), doesn't make me car sick and he's clean. He actually proved himself right away; I was about to get a Mitsubishi Space Wagon from Land Transport, but Aaron spotted a Honda CRV that had just been returned and convinced them to give me that instead! I'll get a new vehicle in a few months but for now the CRV will be great. Aaron gets paid about $400 a month and we pay for his child's school tuition and their health care. We also pay for the lease on his apartment. He calls me "boss" which I like. Other expats get called "sir" or sometimes even "master". Crazy.

I hired a great stewardess named Patricia. She will do some cleaning, cooking and babysitting. Her and her husband have moved into our "steward's quarters" here at the compound, which is in another building. She seams to love what she does and sings all day long. She has left her 16 year old daughter with her mother back in her village so she and her husband could move to the city and provide for their family. She will get $300 a month plus medical and some bonuses.

Hiring staff was definetly the biggest job but anything that is normal back in Canada like getting a bank account is a huge headache here. It doesn't matter how many letters from the company and ID badges and visas you have, they find a way to make it more complicated. Another huge task is setting up my flat. The company provides furniture but its a big job deciding what you need and don't need and everything takes time here. Even to change a light bulb I have to fill out a form. It will be nice to finally feel settled. Actually it will just be nice to have my family here. One more week until I'm back in Canada with them!!!

Here are some more pics:


This is Lekki Market where I purchase all my produce. It's much cheeper than the grocery stores but the best part is everything is local. Fresh avocados, mangos, pineapples, coconuts, lemons, grapefruit...yum! Everything you need except strawberries and Okanagan peaches.




If you drive about 45 minutes out of town there are some beaches...


...unfortunately they are completely filthy. For a price, and if you call ahead, you can have the locals clean them for you and even rent out a little beach hut. Some expats will lease a beach hut for the whole time they're here. I saw one with an in-ground kids pool, showers, BBQ pit, and change rooms. Nothing like keeping things rustic.






Business on the beach.


Nigerian taxis. These are known as Okadas.


This is one of the nicer "slums" I have seen. This is vacant land where people build a home with whatever materials they can find.

I don't think I've mentioned anything yet about the thing that brought us here...my job. I don't want to bore anyone so I'll keep it short! Work here is exciting simply due to the massive scale of operations. There's many platforms like this one. My job is machinery engineering which includes the turbines and generators which generate power for the platforms, the pumps that pump product to shore, the compressors that inject gas back into the ground, and many other machines for different processes. If there's a problem with any of these, production is lost and nobody's happy. There's problems daily. I get to help fix those problems and make sure no more occur. That's about it!

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Sanitation is not a high priority here. He'll gut that fish right where 160 work boots have tread today. "I'll have the rice please". (Many expats have been known to lose 10-20 pounds on a weeks visit offshore.)

South Eastern Nigeria is where most of our oil is produced here. I'll be working mostly in Lagos, but my boss wanted me to get to know everyone out here and spend some time offshore. There's not too much to do here as we have to stay on the compound. To compensate for the lack of freedom, most people seem to work around the clock. Other than work, there is the usual tennis courts, gym, and pools. The restaurant is quite nice and they have events like pizza night and BBQ night. There's also lots of Canadians here right now so there's always someone to have dinner with.

Again, all my pics are from my room or from the car, so its hard to get good shots of what it's really like.


Calabar is close to the Cameroon border. The flight from Lagos to Eket was booked, so I had to go this round-a-bout route that took most of the day. It doesn't matter how far you book ahead, everything here seams planned at the last minute.


Flying into Eket.


Views from my room.






Typical home.


Market.


Everything here is in disrepair. Nothing looks finished.


Petrol Station.


Goats for sale.

The real adventure began last Sunday when I arrived in Lagos, Nigeria. I think we’re going to really enjoy it here but many things will take some getting use to. Lagos is a sprawling city of 15 million + people. The most populated city in Africa in the most populated country. You can tell right away when you get off the airplane, people are everywhere! The main part of the city is three islands right on the Atlantic ocean. We will be living on Victoria Island which I was told was the affluent area. It doesn’t seem like that though, even this part of town is run down, full of garbage and roads that you can barely drive on. It’s not uncommon to see men relieving themselves on the street (1 & 2). We’ll also have to get use to “security”. Every property has a wall around it topped with barbed wire, and a gate with guards. Even the grocery stores. These are good things though. I went to a market and saw a nice beach nearby, I asked the driver if we could park and go look at the beach. He said we couldn’t because there wasn’t good security.

I do feel safe though. The drivers are good about where and where not to go. You have to get special permission to leave the islands but there is almost no reason to unless to go to the airport.

Right now I’m at the company hotel. I’ll be moving to a flat on the same property as the office in a couple weeks. General Services needs to do some final repairs to the place before I move in. The compound is fairly run down but compared to everywhere else I’ve been here it is paradise! There’s a nice pool, tennis court and a brand new play area for kids. Rose and the girls are in Canada until I can get things ready here. Our shipments on the way and I have to hire a driver etc.

I’ve taken a few pictures to show what it looks like here. They’re not the greatest pics because I was told Nigerians don’t really like having their pictures taken so I can’t exactly walk out on the street taking shots. Most are from my apartment, office or car. The first shot below is from my hotel room. It kind of looks like I live in a prison! Pulling in here at midnight the night I arrived was a bit intimidating. It’s not that bad though. The second shot is the pool behind the hotel. It almost looks nice.





The next picture is a shot of the apartment where we'll be living at the compound, taken from the office. There's about 90 kids there so the girls should have lots of friends. There's a play park, small basketball court, tennis courts, squash courts, fitness center and pool.


Looking at the office from our living room.


View from Marion's room looking away from the compound.


Here some photos from the car. The mall in the first pic is the only mall in Lagos but it's actually pretty nice. There's a good bookstore, electronics store, some good coffee shops, a Wal-mart type store called game, and even a cinema.







That’s all I’ve got for now. I have limited access to the internet until I move into my flat (in two weeks), so these updates will probably be rare. I’m at an internet café right now.