How we ended up in Nigeria (by Sylph)

Receive the instrument of transfer........ Blank...... No reaction........ State of confusion and disbelief......... Are they out of their mind?????????????

Silence........................................................

I drive from Port of Spain to San Fernando in this silence and now uncertain as to how to react to this manila folder that has intruded upon my life, containing vile and disruptive words, which I have been avoiding for quite sometime and is now sitting on the back seat of my vehicle. I think to myself, 'should I pelt it out on the highway???????????' But that will only get rid of the paper, the words will still come back to haunt me...... So I continue to drive with my unwanted passenger all the way home, making a brief stop to the my sister's office, asking her to fax the content of my unwanted passenger to my mother in Boston. Yes she found out via fax, because I was in no mood to hold any discussion on the telephone..... Thankfully this folder was received on a Friday, so I spent the rest of my weekend at home in silence.......

Now the possibility of being posted was rumored for quite sometime, however it was a rumor I ignored, because I was not ready to deal with the reality of moving away. I lived a rather simply life and enjoyed the simple pleasures that it brought to me, so for that reason alone, why break something that does not need to be fixed. But now I have this manila folder and its no longer on the back seat of my vehicle, its now sitting on my dining room table. Perfectly well seated as though it was invited for Sunday lunch, crisp and clean in its Sunday best. I look at it and frown, because clearly this invitation was self issued, because the contents of Mr. Manila Folder was no friend of mine. So I go about my business as though it did not exist, all weekend long.

Monday comes around and its time to go back to work and of course question are now being asked. "Where are they sending you? How do you feel about it? Are you going? Are you excited?" I have had enough...................... So I blank it all out and go about my business....... But it is only for so long that one can blank out such a life transforming event. Because now I have a list of things to get done... The letter has to be acknowledged and accepted or declined, passport and visas, immunizations, malaria tablets, banking issues, power of attorney, medical, training, insurance, acquire items to travel with, pack, pack and more pack and the list goes on. In addition to which, I have still have the demands of work and my everyday life to meet.

A month later I acknowledged the contents of the dreaded manila folder and accepted my letter of transfer. Now its time to attend to the items on my 'things to do' list.

It was very timely however that quite a number of stores decided to have half price and going out of business sales around the same time, because without this, only heaven knows how I would have managed to acquire all of the items I required to take along with me.

Let me explain......

For the past thirty years (all of my life), I have been living at home, in my parents house. So most of the household possession belong to them, unfortunately. So now that I am being posted and will be living on my own, even though the government will provide me with basic household furnishings, I now have to obtain such items that will make this house/apartment a home. So we are shopping for items such as dinner ware, glasses, cutlery, pots, pans, baking dishes, storage containers, bedroom and bathroom linens, you name it, we were shopping for it....... For a month all we did was SHOP..... well, when money permitted.... because we work for the government, so many days money did not permit. So on those days we window shopped, and in order to obtain everything on the list, in an affordable manner, I did some drive-bys on my family. So I can assure you, right now they looking for things that liming in my cupboard in Abuja..... SMILE.....

Some of the stores that are worth mentioning are Pricesmart (been there too many times), Pennywise (for all my toiletries and cosmetic needs), What's cooking (found the most adorable crystal glass set, at half price), Mode Alive, C.I.L. (most certainly a life and penny saver) and IAM. I am certain some the store attendents were probably wondering if we were going out of our minds. Either that our we had just won the lottery, because we were there all the time. Needless to say that by the time I board the plane my bank account was DRY. So dry that I could not afford to change my mind, I had to get on that plane, at least to make back some of my money. I WAS BROKE....

My bedroom was used for storage, so it started off with one box and as the days went by the number of boxes increased and increased and then it moved from being just boxes to bags and loose items sitting on the ground and on the bed and under the bed and on the floor. Pretty soon there was no room for lifeforms anymore, just storage....

And as the days and nights went by, I looked on curiously at the confusion that was supposedly my life. How did I manage to get myself into this and can anyone direct me to the exit? Because clearly this was not the life I had planned. No where in my new years resolution for 2008 was I planning to wrap up my life in Trinidad and move to another country. Worst yet, move millions of miles away from home, my family and loved ones. Now if anyone had said Barbados or the Bahamas, I would have been the first one in line. I might have even knocked over some persons in an attempt to get ahead. But Nigeria, across the Altantic...... how are my relatives and loved ones ever going to find me??????????

But the madness continued and each day I came home with something new to add to the store room. And each day I wondered when will the enthusiasm and excitement come? Will it ever come????? Because all around me was a buzz of excitement, persons extended well wishes and congratulations on the BIG MOVE, expressing their enthusiam and excitement. It was almost as if I was about to walk down the aisles and say I DO.... Now that's a thought! Why didn't I come up with that earlier? I certainly had acquired more than enough household items and there was a mister in the waiting. DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!

I could not help but wonder, was there something wrong with me? How is it that everyone can see the excitement in this move and not me? The banker, the insurance lady, friends and distant relatives, even persons I did not know, were all bubbling with excitement. Is it that they are excited to get rid of me??????

To this day, the excitement never came. I boarded the flight and was still in that state of shock and disbelief. But the roomfull of thing were already bought, the bank account empty and the packers came and did their thing. So that's how we ended up in Nigeria....