Day 3 in Nigeria

Well, I would say we are starting to find a little bit of the routine here in Lagos. At 7am the alarm goes off and we hop out of bed. Mike gets in the shower, dresses and then we all gather downstairs and eat some breakfast. Usually by 8:15 we get in the car and Ola (our driver) takes us to work. When we get in, he is has his music playing. I think of it as Rasta Gospel music. We meander down the roads to Access Bank where the MBA’s are hoping to leave a mark. They get out of the car and head up the steps, and I (Kelly) stay in the car and head to Robert’s house. The time: 8:30. Robert works for Access Bank and has been here for a few months. His girlfriend, Wei, arrived only a few days before us. They offered up there place for me to go to, use the internet, swim in their pool or use their work out facilities. Wei works from home in the morning (she is a translator), so I busy myself using the internet, writing, working out or reading on the couch. Then in the afternoon when she is done, we head out to run errands or explore a bit of Lagos. It is a huge blessing to have someone who is in the same situation and to have somewhere to go with someone who knows a bit more about Lagos than me (she spent two weeks here a few months ago). Anyways, Mike spends his day in meetings right now. A lot of what they are doing is learning about the bank. It is a crash course in Access and Nigerian banking. They have visited a few of the branches and I believe they will be sitting in on focus groups today and tomorrow. That should be especially interesting for Mike who spent a lot of time at SRG working with and leading focus groups. Around five or six, I head back to “The Guest House.” I think some days I will cook and some days I will read or just wait for the gang to get home. Either way, they arrive somewhere around 8:30pm (yes, a 12 hour day and that is not considered overtime in Nigeria) we all make/eat dinner and the last few nights have watched the World Cup. Mike actually discovered yesterday that we have ESPN on our TV, considering that he has not watched that since we left last summer, he responded as any kid in a candy store would. So that is basically what we have done so far. I am sure this basic schedule will be peppered with trips to the markets, random excursions, and some nights out at the clubs (Nigeria is famous for them), which I will be sure to report about. But with how hard these guys will work, they will mostly be relaxing in the evenings and getting ready for the next day. Pictures are coming…