We're not in Kansas anymore!

Every once in a while it hits me -- we're in Nigeria. That may seem strange to you but life just keeps hopping and we get rolling and suddenly something doesn't go the way we'd planned or expected and then ... whoa, what was I thinking? This is a different place with different ways and, well, different everything.

The problems come when I have expectations or make comparisons. Like, if I expect the bus for the ladies' outing to leave at 9:00 sharp because the invitation said "9:00 sharp." Would you believe a not-so-sharp 9:36? Or like, when I expect the plumber to come back after his break because he said he was coming back after his break. Well, maybe the break really was 4 days!!

Comparisons kill. Like, when Jim's been working hard all week and needs a total break and I think, "let's go out and catch a movie at a theatre." Oops! the only movie you can catch around here is one of those in the stack a guy is carrying down the street and that's probably a pirated and lousy copy. No theatres, that's for sure! The popcorn here, if you can find it popped from a specialty shop, is sugared and not salted. The microwave popcorn in the stores is about 8 times the cost of U.S. microwave popcorn and I've only seen it once, even at that high price.

Litter --- if you throw trash out your window in the U.S., not good, right? Here, whenever you're done using something you just let it drop to the ground. We have a trash can in front of our house. Usually, during the dark of night, I pick up the trash around it and throw everything inside the bin because the workers think throwing it in the area is better (and it is) than just dropping it. I have to pick it up at night or the workers say "Momma, you shouldn't be doing that." But they just pick it up for me that time without rethinking and adjusting the habits and patterns that made the mess in the first place!

I know I'm headed for trouble whenever I think or say, "in the U.S., we ..." It's really not good for my health! Like, "in the U.S., we grout the tile before we install the toilet because then we can grout everything." See, that just gets me going down the wrong path.
"In the U.S., we put a drop cloth down on the floor before we paint the ceiling."
"In the U.S., we use spoons to eat soup; fingers don't work so well."
"In the U.S., we stop at red lights. What does a red light mean, here? Stop? ... Really?"
"In the U.S., THAT word means something reallllllly bad. What does it mean, here? ... Yikes, sorry I asked. ... Jim, remind me not to ask so many questions!"
"In the U.S., we use Restrooms for purposes of urination." (Imagine seeing a guy "using the restroom" next to a sign that is painted like grafiti on a building and the sign says "Don't urinate here.") "In the U.S. we try to obey the signs."

So, expectations are bad for our health and comparisons kill.

I learned that the hard way, yesterday. I had my second little melt-down since arriving -- in, of all places, a McDonald's imitation -- the first fast food chain in Nigeria -- Mr Bigg's. Now, if I'm even willing to go into a REAL McDonald's, you know I'm a desperate woman so imagine my level of despair as we went into a Mr. Bigg's! Prince ordered spicy chicken and rice (not your typical MickyD's fare!) and Jim and I ordered non-spicy chicken and rice but they were out, so I ordered a "beef burger" but they were out and then Jim had ordered slush drinks, but the machine was broken, so I went outside to pout and pray about my stinky attitude and in the end, Prince and Jim ate spicy chicken that even Prince thought was too spicy and I ate a "beef burger" that somehow appeared out of nowhere -- nowhere I want to see, that's for sure! I apolized to Jim and Prince for my behavior and I started to cry when I was explaining it to a bewildered Prince (a guy, by the way, who had previously complimented me in that I wasn't like a typical woman and was "straight thinking" like a man) and to a not-too-bewildered hubby while all of the tables were filled with guys watching football on TV, until the power went off, that is.

And then, the pastor this morning said in his message "stop your weeping and persevere!" right to my gut and I heard him (and God, really!) and decided I'd talk about it on my blog and then quit whining! So, thanks for letting me spill all of this stuff (I don't even have to pick it up because I'm in Nigeria, after all!) --- I feel much better, now!