Our Fearless Boss

Last Sunday, Kara and I thought it would be enjoyable to get off of the compound and go watch the Jr. High Band play at a local venue called Muson Center over on one of the islands across from VI. However, because our driver only works Tuesday through Saturday, we needed a ride. We put out an APB earlier that morning and got a response from the band director who told us we could ride with the kids and her at 3:00 (the concert didn't start till 5). As Sunday is one of our more coveted days off, we figured we would take her up on the offer only as a last resort if nobody else offered. A few minutes after she responded, we got a response from our boss, Mr. Shearer.

"If you want a ride, be in the garage at 4:30." No problem, this will be nice to get an extra hour and a half of planning and relaxation in before leaving. So we get down to the garage at 4:30 and Tom is in the driver's seat, ready to roll in his super nice SUV. It's a Sunday, the traffic won't be too bad, plus he's been doing this for awhile and he has experience (When we get home, we'll have to tell you about his first stay over here 10 years ago with his family and his little "excursion" to the Embassy with a Nigerian police officer holding on for dear life in the passenger seat.)

So we hop in the car and had a nice ride to Muson. As we arrived at the center, Mr. Shearer decided he wanted to park next to the AIS buses instead of the regular parking lot, so he dipped into a space in between two buses. As he pulled into the space, he accidentally cut off an Okada driver. This angered the okada driver, and so he pulled up next to Tom's window. He was all fired up about something, and so Tom looked at him, and slammed his hand up against the window with a particular finger extended (It doesn't mean too much here I guess) but anyway, the Okada guy started saying, "Fa me? Fa me?" I was trying to figure out if he was speaking Yoruba, Igbo, or if he had a hard time translating the gesture. So I'm thinking, what the heck is Tom doing?!?! So he opens his door, the okada guy is semi-smiling now, and he says something and all I hear from the other side of the truck is "Shuuutuuup." in a very casual, matter-of-fact fashion from Tom. It was hillarious. So anyway, before we know it, there's another okada guy coming up to see what's going on, and then about 20 AISL workers (they came along in the bus to help unload all of the instruments and set up the stage) come rushing out to basically make sure these okada guys didn't get cute. Tom just kept walking and we ended up in Muson smiling away.

So the concert was amazing. We left at about 6:15 or so. It was supposed to be a quick trip over Fallamo bridge and we'd be home. Nope. Of course not. Tom went the wrong way outta the place, and before we knew it, we were headed to Lagos Island (Not recommended by the American Embassy.) Of course we weren't worried though, we're with Mr. Shearer...he's gotta know what he's doing. About a minute later we're on an offramp surrounded by yellow buses filled with Nigerians wondering why there's 3 Oyibos on "this side of the tracks" so to speak. But, that's okay, we're not worried, we're with Mr. Shearer...he's gotta know wh- "Where the heck are we?" he blurted out, completely interrupting my reassuring thoughts (Maybe that wasn't his exact quote, but we're trying to stay kid-friendly here.) Okay, so much for Mr. Shearer knows what he's doing. So we drive around for a bit, trying to find a building we recognize. We go the wrong way down a couple of one way roads, get honked at by Okada's with car horns attached to them, drive right through the middle of a wedding, go into downtown Lagos Island only to find a city block resembling the downtown area in the movie, "War of the Worlds"...you know the part where the thing comes outta the ground and tears up all the pavement...just like that. So the road was closed due to damage, and we had to turn around and head back...Mr. Shearer found his way back to Muson and we ended up on the right freeway back to V.I., laughing about Mr. Shearer's ability to find our way home. I think he was more concerned about how mad Lori was going to be if he made them late to dinner that evening dilly-dallying around Lagos Island with the Slaters. It was quite the adventure and we weren't stressed out at all thanks to Mr. Shearer's calm demeanor even while not knowing where the heck he was going.

We got back home safely, in time for some dinner...and it wasn't even dark yet! All on a Sunday evening. Anyway, just a little story to file away in our "Crazy things that happened in Lagos" drawer. Hope you enjoyed!