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?"

Lagos Departure Almost Here

Well, we have our flights booked, the girls are registered at their new school in Lagos and we are ready to go. We depart from Houston on 28 December, 2007 and won't return for a visit until Christmas 2008.


This has been a long time coming as the girls and I have been back in Texas without Darren for a year next month and it's getting pretty old. We are ready to join Darren in Nigeria and have a family life again. It's been hard on all of us, but I think the girls in particular. They really miss being with their dad.


Life will be much different for us since the last time we were in Nigeria, no more house, we will be in an apartment building called Niger Towers. I'm sure this will take some getting used to, not having a yard etc. We will have our same staff (they are coming with us) so this will make the transition much easier for us.


The girls will have to get used to the big new American International School of Lagos (AISL) http://www.aislagos.org/ though it looks like it has much to offer and the curriculum is pretty much the same as to what the girls have now. They will have a much easier time coming back to school in Texas when we return for good.


The girls are anxious to see Coco and Indy (our kitties) that have been in Nigeria with Darren. I'm already preparing myself to mourn our puppers (my beloved greyhounds) my greybabies are my life (besides my kids) and I will miss them dearly. We lost one of our babies (Spur) this month and we now have Spirit so we still have four greys. They will be staying with our friends in Oklahoma again and will get lots of love and attention just not from me. I missed my puppers most when we were gone last time I hope I can handle it again.


Here is a picture of our new grey......... Spirit


































IN LOVING MEMORY OF KANSAS SPUR Aka.SPURZIE GIRL

Lagos Bound

Well, I know it's been a while since I've written, but there was really nothing new to report....until now.

Since Port Harcourt is in such a mess the company has been replacing expats with Nigerian employees and Darren is one being replaced along with many others. He was also offered a new position in Lagos, which is also in Nigeria, but not on high security alert like Port Harcourt. So, he will be in his new job sometime in October and will be waiting for a flat to move into. We are planning on joining him in January after the Christmas break. Life in Lagos will be quite different than Port Harcourt as we will all be in highrise flats not houses with our own yards and pools etc. I assume life won't be as laid back as Port Harcourt but we'll see. The girls will be going to an American School instead of a British School. The school is also a great deal larger than the one in Port Harcourt, more like the size of elementary schools we have here. They will also have uniforms to wear, oh they will also have to ride a bus to get to school as it is not near the housing area. That I'm not to happy about, my girls don't catch the bus here in Texas to go to school (I bring them) but they'll have to catch a bus in Nigeria......

I'll write back when our plans have been made for our move.

Cheers