We're Back!!!

Well, we made it back from our trip to Nigeria. It's going to be very difficult trying to explain how Nigeria really is. The drive from the Airport to the Residential Area was very rough for me to see. Let me put it this way, think of everything you've heard about Nigeria and Africa as a whole with all the poverty etc. and it's 100 times worse than what you can imagine. But the Nigerians are smiling all of the time and are on the move. They walk everywhere rain or shine and they always look busy. I didn't take pictures of the villages because I wasn't sure if that was okay to do, I know you can't take pictures of the police so I didn't want to take pictures without asking permission, I'll try to take pictures next time. On the drive all I could think of was how I was going to explain what we were seeing to Jade and Lexi when they are with us. You know kids say whatever comes to mind.

The DRIVING....OMG it's an art only the Nigerians can manage. They have people everywhere, cars coming from all directions, horns blowing, motorcycles everywhere with three sometimes four people on them and it's nerve racking. Traffic jams cause all cars want to go at the same time inching the way until someone just pushes through, it's WILD!!!

Garbage everywhere, just thrown in the street, people cooking on open fires right next to the road, burned out automobiles left everywhere and we're told occasionally you will see a dead body on the side of the road which is left until someone from Shell removes it. The custom is whoever picks up the body is responsible for the burial and nobody has the money for that so they are just left until someone from Shell takes care of it which is usually two days. Prior to Shell taking care of this they would stay for months so two days is really good.

Shell's Residential Area (RA) is very nice, we checked into the Guest House which was two rooms and a bathroom and we were assigned a staff driver (Solomon) who was available to us from 7:00 AM - 6:00 PM, if we didn't need him he just stayed in the car outside our room until we needed him. We met wonderful Expats who showed us around and gave us information on living there, everyone was very friendly and helpful. We were taken to see the school, club, golf course, tennis courts, pool and playground and also saw some houses. There is usually a wait for moving into a house and you have to stay in the guest house while waiting for one to come available which will be hard with two kids and a kitten. We did meet one guy in Darren's group who will be leaving around the time we are moving there so we went to see his house and talk to the Housing Department and we're hoping we can get his house but don't know if that's possible since some others have either been waiting. The only thing is that we have children and they usually try to get families taken care of.
Well, that's enough for now I'll post a few pictures later of the RA and some of the beautiful plants and trees.

Departing for Africa Look/See Trip

Well, the day is approaching for Darren and I to set off for our Familliarization Trip to Port Harcourt. We will be leaving next Saturday at 10:00 PM and will be flying into Paris then from there we will arrive in Africa at 4:30 AM Monday morning. Pretty long flight with all the time changes.

This trip will be a bit nerve racking for me as I will have to take care of my ankle. For those of you who don't know, I went to Lake Charles, Louisiana last weekend with my sister Erin for some Casino fun and while there on the second night I fell down some stairs and sprained my left ankle really bad. I felt like such a big Loser and ruined the rest of our weekend by having to be brought to our room in a wheelchair. Erin drove me home the next morning and took me straight to the ER in Tomball. I had no broken bones thank goodness, but was on crutches and had to go to Houston the next morning to apply for my passport and get my shots for the trip. On Tuesday my dad took me to an orthodepic doctor and he gave me excersises to do and when I informed him of my trip to Africa he told me I had to start taking one aspirin a day to thin my blood and to make sure I walked the length of the plane every 30 minutes so I wouldn't get a blood clot since this could kill me instantly. Due to all the bruising in my ankle and foot I'm at much greater risk for getting a blood clot. Only me guys, only me.

I ordered some bamboo circular knitting needles so I can work on my knitting while flying and I just hope they don't get confiscated. I read all the information on knitting items allowed on the plane and bamboo is the way to go, I just hope they don't get picky about it. Not sure how the African airport will be though. I may have to do some more research.

On a side note....Darren took our new kitty Indy to the vet yesterday for a check up and found out that she is a HE. Evidently I'm not good at checking this on kittens cause I swore Indy was a girl. Oh well, we just have to remember to call HIM instead of HER.

More when we get back from our trip and I'll be sure to post some pictures of our new home to be.

The Look/See Trip

Well, Darren and I found out today that we are leaving for our Look/See Trip to Africa on Saturday, July 29th. We will depart from Houston and arrive in Paris then off to Africa. We will arrive in Africa Monday morning. We will be meeting Darren's new manager Mark and some of the Expats that are living there, tour the facility and camp and have a few days to check out the area. We will take photos of the area so you can get a first hand look of what living in Africa will be like.

The girls and are I are taking Passport Pictures tomorrow then on Monday we are heading to Houston to apply for our Passports and expidite the process. Then Monday afternoon we're going to the Medical Building at Darren's office and I'm getting my first round of vaccines. We also have to decide which Malaria pills we want to take, some you take daily and some weekly, I think we're leaning on the daily ones since they have the least amount of side effects.

More to come later.