Life in the capital

Well I’ve been here nearly a week now and I feel really settled already. I still have lots of investigating to do in my new surroundings and I really need to pay attention to the routes that the taxis take so I actually know where I’m going. Yesterday on my way home from work I had my usual conversation with the taxi driver which went along the lines of,

“Q Palace in Maitiama?”

“Yes, enter.” It’s very important before you enter that you agree the price….

“How much?”

“500”

“No way, it’s 250”

“You will pay me 400”

“I will pay you 250, I do this journey every day for 250” Thus implying I know exactly where I’m going, which after a few days of doing the journey I really should but the problem is they all take different routes. Anyway the driver realises as they all do that they aren’t going to get any more out of you so either agree and you get in or they  drive off and you get another one, or sometimes they drive off and negotiate with someone down the street and decide they like your route/price better so reverse back to you.  So yesterday my dude agrees on the 250 so in I got. Then about halfway home as I’m already mentally working out how long it is before I can be drinking a beer he asks me if he should turn off at the next road. I have no idea where we are at this point so just tell him to keep going in the hope I recognise something soon. Thankfully I do and I’m then able to direct him but I realised he expected me to know exactly where we were going, fail. Next time I might actually be more specific and ask if they know it first at least until I get my bearings anyway.

There are a few things here that are the same as they were in Calabar, for example people still take the opportunity to sell things at busy traffic interchanges to the passengers of taxis etc. I always like to see what it is they’re selling as it’s usually quite random but if you look vaguely interested they’ll take it as a sign you want to buy. They sell all sorts, radios, hair brush sets, pants, wall clocks, newspapers and thankfully I haven’t seen them here but you could buy in Calabar sticky mats to catch rats/mice for your home! I haven’t bought anything yet but you never know I might find myself with a burning desire for a wall clock one night on my way home.

You can also get your phone credit just as easily here, there are always about 5 men on every street corner asking if you want credit, or just generally everywhere really.  There are however less little stalls which served as your local shops here in Abuja. I think you probably have to have a license here or something because people just set up outside their houses in Calabar which was really quite handy. There is one little guy over the road from us who seems to sell his stuff from a table but he’s quite well hidden down a little side street so I’m guessing he shouldn’t really be there.  The transport as I’ve already mentioned is more expensive, there are buses here like there were in Calabar but they are very much fewer and seem to only run on certain routes and I haven’t seen any in our part of town. However my employer is paying my transport for work so I only have to worry about the expense at the weekends and any evening journeys we do and mostly we’ll be walking or going places together so for the joy of having your own seat I don’t mind paying a little bit more!

Things that Abuja has that I didn’t have access to before, a cinema (hooray!) I think it will be a very occasional treat but it’s nice to know I can get to a cinema as I really love going to the movies. There are loads of good restaurants here, all out of daily allowance range but we’re thinking if we save up from time to time we can treat ourselves and splurge on a nice meal out. There’s also the British Village which we get access to through VSO, I may have mentioned this already but it has a pool and bar and shows football and VERY importantly for me rugby matches, so I will after all be able to watch the rugby world cup, great big whoops of joy!!!!!!!!!!!

We also seem to have constant power, I’ve been told it’s because it’s the rainy season and its hydroelectric power and I also think it has something to do with the district we live in because there are lot of embassies here but even if it doesn’t last it makes a nice change for now. However on the downside we don’t have water at weekends so I’m adjusting to that as bar a couple of days in Calabar the water wasn’t a problem. A cold bucket shower in the morning does wake you up though. All in all as if you couldn’t tell, I’m doing much better now, I have purpose again, I’m feeling better and I’m feeling far more settled.  Ooh and we’re off to explore the pool at the British Village later so I’ll report on that in my next blog post.