You know your in Lagos when......

Every time I go home people always ask me what living over here is actually like. To this day i still haven't come up with a good answer to describe it yet. It really is hard to explain unless you just see it for yourself. There are, however a few things that can be humorous that definitely remind us that we are sooo not in north america any more.... so here are a few of those "you know you're in lagos" moments.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN LAGOS WHEN........

You see people carrying things on their heads that are as big if not bigger than they are. (not the best pic but the only one i can find right now)



You can sit in the comfort of your own car while in traffic and shop for anything from vegetables to full size mirrors, silverware/dish sets, inflatable toy airplanes, kookoo clocks, watches, "how to become the next obama" books, monkey's (dead or alive), puppies, cheap chinese lamps and if your really lucky you may see the man holding dead rats by the tail. No, he is not trying to sell them, only trying to prove the rat poison he's selling really works!

When ant hills are not small enough to step on......



When the taxi driver has to ask if he will carry human or animal cargo....



When cheap chinese motor bikes are a good replacement for a pick-up truck.



When you are in the middle of a grocery store and the power goes off and people continue to shop in the dark like they dont even notice they can't see 10ft in front of them.

When the sky's the limit on the amount of supplies or people that can fit in the back of a hauling truck.



When a "full service gas station" means having to keep your full attention on the man filling up your tank so he actually puts that last 5 gallons in your tank instead of just acting like he did and pocketing the money.

When you're sitting in traffic only to come across a bus in the middle of the road.....on fire. You notice that people are walking and driving by (including yourself) like there's no problem to be found. Then when the bus finally blows up, your driver thinks the big bang was someone ramming into the back of your vehicle. After he jumps out to yell at the man behind us, you have to inform him that the big "bang" actually was the burning bus that just blew up 30 ft away from the vehicle.



When people are pulling out their parka's to stay warm during rainy season when the days low is +27'C (80'F) outside plus 100% humitiy.

You know you're in lagos when business is taken very seriously, regardless of the nature of the business, and employees are THIS proud to work for an outhouse company.



and it's actually not a joke that the company slogan is really this....(for the record - that word is not a swear word here, it is simply the only word they know, ie -they wouldn't understand you if you said poop)...



When your trying to think of a name for your restaurant (chop bar) and naming it this is actually the best idea you though of...



When you can say you got eaten alive by mosquitoes and really mean it...



When you are walking through the bush and ask the locals if there is anything remotely dangerous around. They repond "No no, dont worry, there is nothing" only to hunt down and kill a snake 1 hour later. After asking them if it is poisonous they repond, "Yes, very posenious. If it bites you, you will die in 50 minutes."



When cows on full feed look like this.....



And one of my personal favorites, You know your in Lagos when you need multiple signs reminding you not to take a dump within arms length of the sidewalk on one of the most public roads in Lagos....