Day of errands.

Seriously, the one thing I really wanted to get when I went out today was wine. And would you believe that by the end of the day, I did not have enough cash to buy it!

This morning, Michael had our driver, Big Ade, change $600 into roughly 94,000 Naira. I spent 73,200 Naira at a store called Mega Plaza to buy a vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, alarm clock, three trash cans, and a coffee maker (which isn’t working by the way, and I can’t find the receipt). Another 200 Naira went to the store clerk who gave me a discount and asked for “a little something” in exchange, and 500 more to the two men who carried all my purchases to the car. Then on to the grocery store, called Park N’ Shop (or “Park N’ Rob” as Big Ade calls it, because everything is so expensive).

Here’s my list of grocery purchases:

• a case of long shelf life skimmed milk 3720.00 Naira (roughly $23)
• tub of butter - imported from France  950.00 ($6)
• pita bread 280.00 ($1.79)
• 5 cans of Star Lager beer 600.00 ($3.83)
• tortilla chips 550.00 ($3.51)
• 2 cans of cream of chicken soup 630.00 ($4.02)
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes 440.00 ($2.81)
• Fox’s brand party rings (cookies) - imported from UK 320.00 ($2.04)
• 2 sleeves of Fox’s crunch chocolate fudge creams 590.00 ($3.76)
• Cappy brand (a Coca-Cola company) orange juice 255.00 ($1.63)
• Cappy brand apple juice 255.00 ($1.63)
• 2 cartons of Chivita brand mixed fruit juice 540.00 ($3.45)
• Shweppes soda water (I was hoping it was tonic water ... no luck) 110.00 ($0.70)
• 16 cups of yogurt - imported from France 2650.00 ($16.91)
• 4 apples - imported 690.00 ($4.40)
• 3 potatoes - imported 1497.00 ($9.55)
• bag of white onions 577.50 ($3.68)
• bag of carrots 256.20 ($1.63)
• clove of garlic 52.92 ($0.34)
• 1 red bell pepper 424.60 ($2.71)
• 2 cans of white beans 500.00 ($3.19)
• family pack of sugar cubes 435.00 ($2.78)
• 6 eggs 235.00 ($1.50)

The grand total was 18,023.22 Naira, minus a 23.22 discount given in pity by the store manager since I had exactly 18,000 Naira (about $115) left in my pocket. And I had to pull out two bottles of wine and three cans of beer to get to that total! (My wine! Why did it have to be the wine?)

After that misadventure ... (did I mention I had all three kids in tow thinking it would be good to give them another glimpse of the city and a chance to get out of the flat? Wrong! As I am anxiously counting out 1,000 Naira bills at the grocery store, Elizabeth is repeatedly pushing into me, whining “I’m so tired I can’t stand anymore!” and Nathan and Dane and wrestling each other to see who can help load the bags of groceries back into the cart) ... after all of that, we arrive home to a houseful of people and the sound of drilling through concrete as the carpenter hangs the last of the window shades.

I fell asleep on the couch anyway.

The rest of the day was better. The kids and I brought their bicycles downstairs and they rode in circles around the pool in the courtyard and met two new friends: Jamey and Marika, who are half-Dutch, half Congolese and are attending the American school in the fall. Marika will be in first grade just like the twins (although she is on the waiting list, too) and Jamey will be in fifth grade. We already have a play date set up to go swimming tomorrow.

As for now, it is 9 o’clock in the evening, and I am drinking gin with soda water out of sheer desperation. Michael promises to pick up some wine on the way home from work tomorrow. So tomorrow is already shaping up to be a better day.

And finally, an update on our regular blog features...

Where was the Malarone hidden today? 

Nowhere. I tried ravioli again, but he spit it out, so no Malarone for Dane today.

Power outages: 4 (that I know of)