agujas del reloj

this building used to be the pakistani embassy workers residence and now it is all indian expatriate families. there is a 20-year-old liberian-nigerian girl who works as a maid for one of the families named patience. she said she works to pay for her school, 5000 naira (~$35) per month. she is in the eleventh grade now. she got braids in her hair so that it won't get all tough, she claims. interestingly, she has a friend also named patience with the same hair style, who had come to visit her last night. she said she is planning to get a degree as an artist then a lawyer, at which point she will have a job with a high salary, 30,000 naira, she estimates, then she will be able to pay me a visit in the united states. niyi came for a visit the same night. the guards sent him up through the servants' entrance, being a young nigerian who was not a professor or tutor. we went to a chinese restaurant and surya's mom told me to tell our waiter the line i had learned in yoruba, and i shook my head profusely, until i realized that i had in fact learned two lines, the other meaning i want food (as opposed to 'i beat you'). mo fe jeun. he shook my hand and this won our table a 10% discount. that and surya's pidgin. he later asked where i was from and i say united states.
"united states. number one.
-i suppose, number one economy
-number one in everything. how is life in america?
-i suppose it is good. we always have electricity and water.
-you always have food too. food is cheap?
-yes. some food is cheap, some is not.
-more privilege, more choice.
-is life easy? do you have to work hard?
-we work hard, but we have more privileges
-number one"