The Shopping Experience

We made arrangements with some new friends: David and his wife, Renee, to take us to the 3 major shopping areas to buy some things. Dan and I are not really prepared with a list, nor are we ready for the prices. Things are so expensive. (between $9-$12 for a box of cereal!!) We buy very little, only basics we know we will use.
The first store we went to is Goodies. It has 2 levels. The bottom level is a simple grocery store with a cheese counter, meat counter and bakery. We are not ready to experiment too much so we stick with what we know. There are some items and brand names we know and others which are imported. We try both. The upper level of Goodies carries simple furniture and home decorations along with household items. But, again, very expensive.
Next we battle traffic and go to Park n Shop. The layout is similar to that of Goodies with two levels. Groceries on the first level, but I did not travel upstairs to see what is available there. Here we can buy a phone for me to use locally. They can sell us the phone, but we must go somewhere else to buy minutes for the phone.
Lastly we go to the The Palms Mall. There are many different stores as well as a coffee shop and movie theater. We look into one store called GAME. We are told it is a lot like Target, but we do not stay to look around. Another popular store in the mall is Shop-Rite. Again, another grocery store. Here there is a greater selection of fruits and vegetables along with staple items and cleaning products. The crowds are crazy. None of the stores take credit, so everyone must walk around with wads of cash to pay for their purchases.
Here in Nigeria we use the Naira as the form of currency. They come in bills and some coins, but most stores to not accept coins. Notes come in denominations of N5, N10, N20, N50, N100, N200, N500, N1000. Just to give you and idea; N1000 is about $8.50. We were told to keep our money separated into different pockets, just to protect ourselves and allow for “dashing” when we need to. Dashing is paying a little something for a service. It could be the area boys who carry your bags, or an attendant who helps to stop traffic so you can back out of a parking spot.
Later in the afternoon, Dan and I do venture out across the street to buy a few vegetables from a local woman who has a stand. Another new thing… soak all the fruits and vegetables in water with “Milton” (a bleach solution) for 20 minutes then soak in clean, distilled water, then allow to dry. We probably paid too much, but we did not do a very good job of making our point. We will have to get better at bartering. Bought apples, a cucumber, and a pineapple that smelled so sweet and delicious.
Things are different, but the more we get around, the more accustomed we become to the mannerism of the culture.