Nigerian Salaries

This week has been a week of weird random thoughts.  My mind has been buzzing and my productivity is kinda all over the place.  I have been checking out the Nigerian job market out of curiosity and was amazed to find out that some salaried individuals (like bank managers) make $10,000 a month. I know it is not a typical average salary of say some telecomm middle exec (which from my research seems to be around $2000 month) but still … that has a wow factor.  It reminds me of my sister’s comment when she came to visit.  She said, “you guys make good money but the cost of living here is just too high!”  She was absolutely right because $2000 will probably go further in Nigeria than here in the U.S.

I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself lately because sometimes I think I would have fared better had I stayed in Nigeria.  I remember when I got my visa to come to the U.S. I was so excited and happy.  I was the envy of everyone. Now, coming to the U.S. has lost its allure.  Those that come don’t want to stay.  Those that stay realize that unless they have money to start a business, working for the man won’t make you rich.  As for me, it took me 10 years of working my butt of getting an education, interning, entry-leveling and generally paying my dues for me to get to this mediocre level.  I look at my younger co-workers who are at the same level as myself and frown at the injustice of it all.  This one guy graduated from college two years ago and am sure he is not too far off from me salary-wise.

America is not for the feeble-minded.  You have to DECIDE you want to stay here and make something of yourself no matter how long it takes you to get there.  If you come here with some lofty ideology, then you are setting yourself up for failure.  Sometimes, I find it funny that people look at me and assume I come from money and that my family helped me settle in this country. That is not the case.  My father put me on a plane in 1998 with $500 in my pocket.  The rest as we say is 13 years of sweat, tears, frustration, depression and downright suicidal – history.

I like to tell Nigerians back home that they are so lucky the country is moving forward and becoming more cosmopolitan…yes our infrastructure is nothing to be proud of but…we now have a vast middle class.

Last night I had this conversation with Turtle:

“So if I go home and get a job that pays me well enough so you don’t have to work, will come to Nigeria with me?”

“I don’t know …  I have never been there.”

“What if we got a nice house, a maid, a gardener and a driver, would you come?”

“I said I don’t know, I have never been there.”

“What if you had all the time in the world to play as much golf as you want.”

“Now you are speaking my language…”

Oyinbo people sef…..

On other note, I am really enjoying this Ofe Onugbu (Bitterleaf soup) I made last week.  Shame it will be all gone by Sunday:

Alright folks..now am off to annoy CaramelD and Verastic.

It’s been a slow ….

…news week.  Nothing much has been going on lately.  Which is a good thing in my view.  A few random issues:

I saw a bumper sticker that said “big ass tatas” which is kind of like the “save the tatas” sticker I see regularly.  I turned to Turtle and I said, “you would think that men would contribute more money for breast cancer research.  Imagine if all women had to hack off their boobs.”

And Turtle who is a major breast man said, “yeah…that would be horrible.  If that happens we will just have to grow our own.”

I have a bunch of lists that remind me to take life easy…most of them are on my wall at work.  Taynement’s “life lessons” and the table of contents from “don’t sweat the small stuff at work” recommended by one3snapshot. But my proudest work of art is this saying I printed out and put up to my bosses chargrin.

He said,”that’s not a really good ideology.”

I replied, “course it is…it means slow your roll…[bleep] will get done when it gets done.”  It’s a miracle I got that raise.

My life has been made much easier by this, I tell you.  Plus, my anxiety level is the lowest its been in five years.

Our Christmas credit card bill came in last week.  Yikes!

The month of February will be a lean one, since we always pay off this card no matter what.

What else…aha!  My final semester is here.  I have one class and one independent study.  For my independent study, I am hoping to write a case on Transnational Entrepreneurship with Bella Naija as my case study.  If anyone of you out there has direct contact with Uche Eze please hook a sister up.   I have sent her an e-mail and waiting for a response.

 

 

Food Friday

I have been winging it lately with food. Rather than relying on recipes, I just start with a main ingredient and just do whatever.  It has been interesting to say the least.

For instance, I bought beef strips with no idea what I was going to do with it.  Then some marinade, some soy sauce and a few veggies later, I had this:

I went naija old school with my jollof rice by adding a classic salad (it reminds me of my mom when she says, “saah-laadi na jollof rice ka anyi je ri n’efife mbosi uka” meaning “We are having salad and jollof rice on Sunday afternoon”:

Now this Avartsy Cooking oldie with pork chops was really good.  I really simplified it by just marinating the chops with Mojo Criollo and shallow-pan frying.  I strongly believe this dish contributed to Turtle agreeing to go ring window-shopping this weekend.  Booom!

As for dining out, some gal pals of mine and I went out to the Victorian Tea Room downtown.  I love the quiche there but it does not hold a candle to mine.  Yeah, I am bragging about my Mediterranean Frittata.

On a queasy note, Turtle ate THIS raw meat medium rare steak during his mom’s birthday dinner.  Gross.  Why can’t westerners just cook their meat thoroughly???????

I hope you all have full bellies this weekend.

Cheers!