Saturday, April 26, 2008

Holiday in Ghana

Hi all,

During our Spring Break Holiday we went to Accra, Ghana which is a small African Country which takes about a 50 minute flight from Lagos. Ghana is a small country that has it's stuff together, it's very clean and safe and the locals are just lovely. We were only there a few days and mainly stayed at our hotel but we had a great time.


Here are some pictures of the kids at the hotel pool:




Sunday, March 23, 2008

Why is Everything Broken Here??

I know, I know, it's been a while since I last posted, but lots has been going on.

First, let me say HAPPY EASTER!!

We've moved into our new home here, and it's not in Niger Towers like we were originally going to move to. Thank goodness I talked Darren out of that place, electricity is always out and the generators don't kick on, the water always goes off as does the AC and you know how hot it gets in Africa.

We are now residents of Shell Two on Second Avenue which is the "BEST" family residents here. We have the most kids living here and Jade and Lexi have friends from school and Port Harcourt living here so they have friends and so do I!!!!! We are on the bottom floor which is great for when the electricity goes out we won't have to walk up 5 flights. We have a nice pool and kiddie pool, and a covered area where you can have BBQ's and parties, two little playgrounds, a tennis court (lessons for the kids on Friday after school) a squash court and a gym. OK enough of that, now to the title of this post.
"Why is Everything Broken Here?" that's what Lexi asked us on the way from the airport when we arrived here. Lagos, like other cities in Nigeria at one time was a beautiful thriving city and after the war in the 60's it just got destroyed and never recovered. They have building that are falling down, trash everywhere (although some areas do try to keep it clean) and people and cars everywhere. Lagos never sleeps, there are always people, cars and Okada's (motor cycle taxi's) on the go always. Darren even has a building near his office that has partly collapsed and people are still working there.

Here is a few pictures of the traffic and Okada's you see on a normal drive to the grocery or to the kids school:
Okada's have 4 people on them sometimes and you should see what some of the passengers carry. I've seen one with the longest ladder raised above his head going through bumper to bumper traffic. I never seem to have my camera with me on those days.




More later when I can take more pictures and we are on Spring Break now and we're going to Ghana (two countries away) for three days so I'll have more pictures from our trip.
Cheers

Sunday, February 03, 2008

LAGOS, NIGERIA - Centre of Excellence

This is the first post since we've arrived in Lagos, Nigeria on 29 Dec 2007. As of today we are still living in the Eko Hotel and waiting for our flat at Niger Towers on Ikoyi to be available for move in. We were told that Monday, 4 Feb 2008 would be the day the flat would be ready for move in, but this is Nigeria and nothing is ever ready the day they say it will be. So we're back to waiting. We took a drive by Niger Towers on Sunday and low and behold they have actually done some work. We now have electricity, shelves in the pantry, exhaust for the dryer and the water should be turned on soon. Progress in two days, it's a miracle.

Living in the Eko Hotel does have it's advantages though. We don't have to pay for meals (unless we decide to eat outside of the hotel) they have about 6 resteraunts on the site, Steakhouse, Poolside Cafe, Sports Bar Buffet Resteraunt, Oceanview Pearl Chinese and Coral Cafe, Skye Resteraunt (not open all the time and we haven't been to that one yet) and a Coffee shop with the best breads, pasteries and all kinds of flavored ice cream. The staff is wonderful, helpful and totally love the girls, they just fall all over them when they walk in. There is a large pool, tennis courts, workout facilities, sauna and a small bookstore that I've purchased many books of Nigerian authors that have been just fabulous reading. The hotel is very close to the girls new school, American International School of Lagos.


The school is fabulous and the girls love it. They have teachers that they love and wonderful classmates from all over the world. Jade is even learning a little Hebrew so she can communicate with a new girl in her class that doesn't speak English much and she is learning English. They both have French class Jade had is twice a week and Lexi only once, but they seem to enjoy it. They are behind since they started in the middle of the school year, but they are doing fine.


Our driver Emeka from Port Harcourt is here with us now, and is learning the area and as soon as our flat is ready Alice our Nanny and Glory our Cook and our beloved cats Coco and Indy will also be joining us here. We are so happy our Port Harcourt staff asked to move with us here, the kids love them and they love the kids and that will make such a big difference with living here.

I guess that's it for now, it will take some time to talk about Lagos, the poeple, the driving and the area. I already have the name for the next post, it was something Lexi our 5 year old asked when we were driving from the Airport to the Eko hotel and it pretty much sums up Lagos, here is the title of the next post.......

"Daddy, why is everything broken here?"