A Day in the Life of... an Honorary Expat

Confession: I have been avoiding responding to this call for posts not really because I don't have a routine at the moment, but more because I don't have a routine that involves work.

See, I returned to Lagos the first week of January, only to find my primary fieldsite completely empty of research subjects. While I guess that's a good thing if no one is being trafficked at the moment (or at least no one is being subjected to the dubious rehabilitation process offered here), it makes my research a tad more difficult. Ok, I thought, I'll just pursue that long list of other options I've been meaning to get to! But after a few legitimate roadblocks there, I was stumped for things to do. After almost a month back, I've finally started to work some of that stuff out, but in the meantime, I kinda got into the routine of not doing much.

I blame that mostly on having an altogether too comfortable setup over here. See, what happened is, a little while ago, I took up a house-sitting gig for some expatriate American friends who were traveling back to the States for a couple weeks. Well, my friends got back, but I never really left. I'm looking for new accommodation now, but am meanwhile taking full advantage of all this place has to offer, and that's not exactly been a good thing for me in terms of productivity. I don't mean you have to be uncomfortable to do fieldwork. I just mean that never in my life, whether I am in the US or elsewhere, should I be given this latitude for laziness, because I will just never leave the house. Or, in this case, the compound. So, I'm just going to call this a day in the life of an honorary expat...thereby saving the juicy real Nigeria daily life stuff for other individual posts -- sneaky huh?

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In the morning I wake up in my beautifully furnished and air-conditioned bedroom, one of two spare rooms in my friends' expansive expat flat. Usually I am woken up by my friends' German shorthair pointer Friday. Full name Thank God It's Friday, after the two very common Nigerian names Thank God and Friday, this six month old pup loves to curl up in bed under the covers, so when I'm the last person asleep in the house, he knows where to find me. I mean, I didn't go to grad school to wake up for a 9-5 right? Anyway, this is him, waiting patiently for the double tap invitation up to snuggle:

Friday

At this point I usually tell myself that I was just about to get up, but how could I refuse some puppy cuddles, so I drift off again for a bit. Finally, when the shame of sleeping in and/or my compulsive internet habit overtakes me, I wake up enough to check Facebook and email on my friends' nearly-US-fast wifi. Eventually I manage to drag myself out of the room and into the kitchen, often trying to pretend I've already been awake and productive for hours at the computer in my room, though I doubt this charade is ever successful. I make a cup of hot tea--another luxury of living in A/C--and eat a bowl of imported American cereal. Then I shower with hot water that actually has enough pressure to work like a real shower, while the steward makes my bed and washes my dishes. Seriously, it's ridiculous.

On good days, my friends' driver is available to take me around to run any errands I finally make myself do. Pretty much all people in the compound, and every other expat in the company for that matter, have the exact same car, with very minor variations. It's a Toyota Prado (basically a Land Cruiser), and they come in black, blue, or gray. Sometimes they have huge sparkly gold racing stripes, and sometimes not. These distinctions are very important when all 40 people in your compound drive the same car.

Prado round-up

When I get back from running errands, I usually go for a run. Of course, it's too hot and humid and dusty and polluted and smelly and sewage-y and exhuast-y and crowded and sidewalkless and you get the idea to go running outside, so, after over a decade of resistance, I have finally given into the treadmill. The compound here has a pretty well equipped little gym that is super air-conditioned and little used, so that's been great. Only problem is that the first time I used it, I totally thought the treadmill measured in miles, and I reported back to my friends how astonished I was at my own performance, running five miles after not running at all for months! Of course, it's actually in kilometers, but ever since then, I have been determined do five miles for real. So, for the past couple weeks, I have successfully worked up to a consistent 2K warm up, 5K run, and 1K cool down, and the new goal is to get it all in, including two stretching sessions, in the one hour it takes to listen to a This American Life episode. I'm still about 3 minutes over, but, as you might notice from my detailed account here, this is pretty much all I'm motivated about at the moment, so I expect to break that goal soon. As an aside, I can't say enough for how much I love a podcast workout; I was finding otherwise that I'd get bored before I'd get tired. Since I've only got a month or two of episodes left, though, other suggestions would be much appreciated!

Compound amenities: gym, tennis court, swimming pool,
outdoor kitchen and grill, lots of palm trees.

After the run, if it's still sunny out, and if the Harmattan winds manage to bring down the temperature without bringing up the dust too much, I might sneak in some time by the pool, but otherwise I come back upstairs and hang with my hosts. The lady of the house is a most excellent chef and has taken me in as the designated sous chef in what is honestly one of the best equipped kitchens I've ever cooked in, American or otherwise. Who do you know with a deli slicer, for example? Anyway, it's really incredible what they can put together. In the last week or so, I helped make ricotta cheese, Italian sausage, and four different home brews! Of course, it helps to have that annual shipping container of food and other consumables from the US, plus suitcases of meats, cheese, and produce from friends who regularly fly back and forth between here and the US and UK with luggage room to spare.

After dinner we watch TV or movies and joke about how hard their "hardship" post is. And since I'm planning on moving soon (soon! I swear! or I hope. very soon) I mostly think about how I am going to be able to adjust to bucket baths and daily blackouts and an all-palm-oil-all-the-time diet again. But I'm also excited about getting back into the real world... especially when I know I might still be able to take mini weekend vacations back to expat land as needed.

Ikoyi: Land of expats and elites.
And yes, that would be an ocean view from my room!
Well, lagoon anyway. Close enough.