jandedchronicles
Janded Chronicles
Living In 'The Abroad'
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What it’s called in Naija: Petrol
What it’s called here: Gas
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What it’s called in Naija: Groundnut
What it’s called here: Peanut
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It’s my first summer and it’s a hot life out here in America.
Kilode?!!!
I believe the average summer day here is the normal Lagos day. The temperature is give or take, the same. But there’s a different quality to the heat here. It has humidity. Where Lagos heat is dry and up front with you and whips you nicely with its white hot fury. The heat here is clouded in some sort of heaviness that’s hard to explain. But I’ll try to. It feels like the heat that comes out of an AC. But instead of you just experiencing it when you pass the AC, it engulfs you in an embrace. It has this weird heavy warmth to it. It’s almost as if everybody’s sweat rises as a mist into the air and just hangs there over all of us, like a heavy accusation, like it’s making us bear the weight of our own sweat. It’s like the kind of heat that rises from an extremely hot road that has just tasted rain. Like the heat that comes when it’s really hot and it drizzles at the same time. It’s the most uncomfortable heat ever.
And worse, you know how Lagos is hot in the day but cool in the evenings and mornings? And even with the blazing hot Lagos sun, there’s still an undertone of breeze that blows at intervals. You don’t get such a break here. Nope! You want summer? Oh you get summer. All. Day. Long. And all night too. Even under the shade of a tree, you only hide from the sun but the humidity still wraps you in a sticky embrace.
Truth is I’ll take my Lagos heat, everyday over this. But! I’ll take this heat, humidity and all, over the wicked witch, Winter
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What it’s called in Naija: Trouser
What it is called here: Pants
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What it’s called in Naija: Nylon bag
What it is called here: Plastic bag
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What it’s called in Naija: Chips (As in chicken and chips)
What it is called here: Fries
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One thing you should prepare for is the feeling of loneliness you'll have to deal with when you first get here, especially if you're like me who left immediate family and close friends to stay with distant family members. The first few months will be the roughest, so brace up. You might be forming strong man or whatever but when you're all alone and the loneliness creeps up on you, there won't be anyone to form for then. And it doesn't really help that you probably won't make friends quickly because, one, you need to be very careful with the company you get mixed up with, keep your eyes peeled and be sure you don't get with the wrong crowd. And two, your heavy Nigerian accent does not really increase your cool kid appeal. So it might be a while before you make friends.
SideNote: The accent Americans are really crazy about is the British accent. If you can polish your fake British accent game, that just might help.
The internet was my saving grace through that phase for me. I was constantly chatting with my family and friends back home through whatsapp, bbm, facetime and facebook. That helped me tremendously. I’m super grateful for the friends and siblings God blessed me with. They didn’t know it, but they were saving me from getting sucked into the churning vortex of boredom. LOL.
But take your time. Learn to enjoy your own company. Explore your new environment all by yourself. Get lost. Take long strolls. People-watch. You’ll be amazed the discoveries you’ll make.
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One of my favorite things about shopping is when I find an item/items I like and I feel like it's a bit above my budget but I still grudgingly drag it to the check out counter and beautiful surprise of the ages, it's actually on sale and cheaper than I wanted, it just wasn't marked. Ohhhhhh. My heart does kidigbo of joy with the universe. It's a beautiful gift from the goddess of shopping and I lavvv it!
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When I arrived America, I had this mindset that it is the land of opportunities and things work out pretty quickly. This was the mindset i had when I started looking for a job. As one who has never been just a student since i left secondary school, it was a huge battle against boredom and resllessness when I didn’t get a job in my first three months here. Ever since i was in primary school, i was never just a student. I started helping out at my mum’s store when i was in primary school and i did all the way till i was in university. After secondary school, i was always doing one internship after another so i was essentially almost always engaged. So i got restless real quick the first couple of weeks after I got here and didn’t get a job fast.
After a few weeks, I was advised to apply for retail positions because they are easy to get but i was uncomfortable with the idea because i was like, with all my experience and college education, how na? Plus I had always never wanted to work a job that requires handling cash because of the issues that accompany cash handling and from watching movies, I knew that cashiers get their unfair share of guns being pointed at them during robberies so I was not very keen on it.
I had worked in various media of communications back in Nigeria and I had quite a good amount of experience in my repertoire. So I applied for communications internships with a level of confidence. It’s a globalized world we live in, right? Surely my experience in far away Nigeria should count for something in America in our new border-less world right? Well, quite wrong. After months of applying and hearing only cricket critters in the echoing silence that followed my applications, I humbled myself and started applying to retail jobs. My resume was colored with my different forays in communication. Yet, the silence rung on. I spoke with an omo-onile and learnt that my resume was overqualified for the position (adjusts neckline of buba, Yoruba big-madam style). Then I remembered my humble beginnings of working in my Mum’s store almost all my life and that it counts as experience! I created a separate resume with my retail experience in my mum’s store and added a little bit of my babysitting stint I did when I just arrived for some American flavor and voila! I got invited for interviews. Okay, maybe not as fast or as dramatic but there was a response and the silence was shattered. And that’s how I got my first job in America.
I found out that in America, most employers would rather employ someone who has at least some work experience in America, probably for ease of reference confirmation (ain't nobody got time to be making an international call to your manager in Lagos to confirm your performance!) or to at least know that you have a record in America. Also, when you apply, forget about the unending outline of your myriad of experience. It’s best to pick out the most relevant experiences related to the position you are applying for then you go for the interview, give them the full gist at the interview.
Also, don’t give up. The application process is so annoying because you have to fill out these forms and create accounts for every single one of them, over and over again. It gets tiring but don’t give in. Keep your eyes on the goal.
I’d like to thank my mother, Iya Jumoke onigari for the years of unsuspecting employment value she was adding to my life all those years when she used to sentence me to staying at her shop. I didn't like her very much in those days. And I didn't love her shop very much either but I love her a lot right now (wide grin).
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I'll be absolutely honest with you in this article. More because I want to share my experience and lessons than because I don't want you to make mistakes. Take it from me, you can never really be perfectly prepared for the reality here. You need to go through certain experiences personally to learn some lessons for yourself. I had to learn some lessons myself, not because I was not told but because I didn't understand some things. Only experience taught me them.
Save! I cannot emphasize this enough. Save months or even years before. As soon as you find out you'll be migrating, set up a fund. You don't want to come to America with only dreams of how the dollar to naira rate is a wet-dream. Oh no. You don’t wanna do that to yourself. The value is high but truth is when you get here, you buy things at the value of the dollar, not the naira.
Buy as many of your essentials as you can in Naija before you leave. At least enough to last you through your first few months. Because no matter how hard you try to trick your mind, you'll still find yourself converting the cost of things to naira. And trust me, it can bite when you discover that the cost of certain things in dollars is mind-blowing when compared to their naira equivalent. Get your skin care essentials and a good number of weather-appropriate clothing so you don't have to spend so much on those in your first few months of arrival. Stock up on most of your essentials so your spending will be minimal in your first few months
Get a complete formal outfit or two; good shoes and other items to complete your formal get-up so you have something to bid you through before you get a job. And please, sew plenty native attire. Make e no surprise you sey you go pay $200 for sewing. And I don’t even know how much materials will cost. Sew your native shakara styles from Naija.
Of course this is wisdom for those of us who don’t have a never-ending fountain of dollars where we can replenish. If you have such fountain, just walk by. Thanks.
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“Most of the houses here are pako houses. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help saying it that way. They are so cute and so beautiful, you’d be almost tempted to crawl into some of them and curl up inside. But they are made of wood. I was surprised to find out. Someone mentioned that it was so that in case of natural disasters, the wreckage will be easier to clear and the casualties will be less fatal; someone else said it’s cheaper and quicker to build with wood. I don’t know how true that is but it is what it is. Pako. And this scares me sometimes because, fire. But you’d be surprised how old they are and how well they hold up against the elements, strong winds and all.”
- Pako: wooden
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Wanna know what awkward feels like? Sitting in a bus or metro and trying so hard not to make eye contact with the person in front of you because, well, who wants to be the creep? It’s so hilarious how everyone keeps looking everywhere else but at each other. But even more hilarious is how everyone seem to be looking away and reading the signs “It is unlawful to drink, eat, smoke or play a device without earphones”. There’s just so many times you can read the same, very short, signs. Yet, side eyes are busy doing all the scanning to see if any one particular person is staring.
Despite the seeming detachment and on-your-own vibe, most people actually will gist with you for the few minutes you both wait for the bus or train. So long as you don’t weird them out. And you’ll be surprised, sometimes pleasantly so, at how much you can learn within a few minutes of shared humanity. People are actually kind at their core. You just need to make them feel comfortable around you.
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Everything on sale ends in $0.99. E.g $10.99, $29.99. Pero por qué =-d (but why?) Don’t be fooled, it’s all a marketing strategy. By the time they add it all up, plus taxes, it won’t look so cheap anymore. All the same, buying items on sale is the way to shop. “If you are patient and enduring, you will eat the good of sales”. “Great deals await those who wait”. Keep those proverbs in your left hand and thank me later.”
-Jo
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“You’ll have to get used to being asked “Where are you from?” Don’t take it personal, the US is a melting pot, so many different people from different places all over the world. You’ll also be reminded you have an accent. Really! I thought everyone with a voice, who can speak, does =-)That almost always comes right before the “Where are you from” question. Prepare yourself!”
-Jo
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“People are addressed by their first names. Don’t be shocked when you see a youngster address an older person by his/her first name. It’s not that they don’t have home-training, it’s just the home-training style here. Hehehe.”
-Jo
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“Pets, especially dogs are given ”real names“. Don’t be surprised if you’re Emily, Fola, Toyosi and you here someone calling their dog Emily, Fola or Toyosi.” -Jo
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“A lot of jobs require being on your feet for at least six to eight hours. Yes, you heard that right. You might as well start doing some leg workout to prepare those legs =-). Yeah. It might be a good time to begin that roadwork or join that gym.”- Jo
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