Blowing grammar

Each day brings more suprises. We had a very productive day yesterday, inventory-ing and relabeling the samples. The process was slow and mildly painful, but we persevered and managed to finish. Upon nearly finishing, however, we realized we were nearly out of liquid nitrogen, which is essential for storing our samples, especially since there is electricity for maybe an hour or two a day. So one of the lab members is making an emergency trip to Lagos for more, hopefully saving the day.

Seeing the situation in this country has made me think a lot about the priviledge and opportunities we have had growing up in America. Christian says that only about 5% of the population here graduates from any kind of school, and maybe 25% attends school at all. I asked why he though that was - would more schools help? Maybe, he said, but the real problem was the lack of jobs when you finish. Why go to school if there is nothing to do when you're done? You might as well just start working immediately. Because of the corruption, the jobs rarely go to those who deserve them, so there is very little incentive to get an education.

This lead to a discussion of the corruption in the government. He told us how the politicians do not even try to campaign with educated people, instead going straight to villages and buying votes with bags of rice or similar things. Many people distrust the educated, and when someone with too much education runs for office, people say he is just "blowing grammar." It's a shame, though we can't really judge, since America has anti-intellectual elements of its own.

Anyways, we are off to lab again now, to continue organizing the collections and working with the members of Christian's lab to get everyone on the same page with our data collection system. Kristian will also give a talk to the department today. And everyone cross your fingers our liquid nitrogen arrives!