Sunday outing

It is Sunday and after a very long week that included working on Saturday, we went on an adventure. Andrew has taken up driving which as I have mentioned is a very different animal than driving in the states. He is of course good at it but that doesn’t keep me from worrying about what might happen if we get a flat tire. (I am sure it would be fine…I hope) We took a little jaunt down the rode to the local wild life conservancy, Lekki Conservation Center. We parked congratulated ourselves on our safe arrival and set off.
The first encounter is the main building that evidently becomes a place of worship on Sunday. We didn’t go in for obvious reasons but could hear music all around. People love their Sunday worship here and the streets are alive with music and prayer. There must be a “church” every 100 feet or so. The music and singing are quite beautiful. I ponder conversion for a brief moment but think better of it.
A man meets us and charges us a nominal fee and shows us a couple of turtles and the path. The turtles were amazing. One they claim was at least one hundred. Harper thought they were pretty cool and even touched one on our way out.
The path was a boardwalk through the swampland. It gave a pretty generous picture of what this area looked like before it was what it is now. It was straight out of “African Queen”. We did however have an agenda and were searching for something particular.
The park has all kinds of animals: crocodiles, lizards, crab, lots of birds, and monkeys! We were looking to fulfill the African dream. Feed monkeys bananas…right? We were equipped with our bag of bananas, camera and determination. We stalked into the swamp and almost immediately heard rustling in the trees above us. We tried to put our banana out on the railing to see if they would come down. It did not. I fact threw some nuts down at us.
“Oh well.” We’ll go look at crocodiles. Harper was wary (smart guy) walking on the boards. He reminded me of my mother getting onto an escalator. Very focused and a bit worried. He could see down through the boards into the water but I showed him you could step on the cracks and you wouldn’t fall through and he got it pretty quick.
We walked around with our bananas for about an hour and saw beautiful butterflies, some fish and little birds. No monkeys. We did get to climb to the top of a huge Magnolia tree. (See pics on FB) Harper was getting tired and it was hot. So we headed back to the car. Suddenly we see the monkey hanging out on the railing curled up like a cat. Then, the trees erupt and three monkeys start coming in. Andrew is so excited. (TheHarpervideos on u tube or check Andrew’s face book)
We feed the monkeys bananas. One we nick named “Scarface” looked at Andrew like “Give me the banana and I won’t kill your family.” They were so close. If I didn’t already have a Harper monkey on my back I could have reached out and touched them. It was a much-needed escape from the rat race at home (our neighbors trapped their rat…yucky) and a proud moment in our family evolutionary history.

Alone in Switzerland

I am alone in Switzerland. I don’t remember the last time I was alone. I am sitting in front of a bay window with a view of the Swiss Alps that looks as if it were painted for a movie set. I can see the snow gently falling, each day the level drops a little further down the mountains. I imagine that when the snow reaches the village I will be back in Lagos sweating. The paradox makes me smile. I am wearing a turtleneck and jeans that make me think that fall is coming back home. It has been raining here until today and the sun is out. The fog has rolled into the valley and drifts over the town below creating holes to look through that frame sections of the village into perfect circles. The effect is like looking through a periscope. I of course, wish Harper and Andrew were here because it is just so amazing. Being here has also highlighted how different living in Lagos is compared to a western city.
Lagos is indeed a third world country and it does wear on you. I hadn’t really noticed until I came here. It is interesting to watch the kids from Nigeria feel as uncomfortable here in Switzerland as I feel there. There is an appreciation but still a longing for something familiar. Nigeria is their home. My perspective is of a foreigner, obviously, and will always be. It is an interesting juxtaposition; I am teaching from and American point of view (which they sort of understand) without any understanding of their scope of where they are from. I am used to teaching kids with my sense of the world. It is neat to think about.
Some of our students have been all over the world and they don’t have the perspective of the country they are from at all. They are being called “third culture kids.” They may have been born say, in Lebanon or the US but have only spent a few years there so they don’t have any real ties to that country, yet they have traveled all over the world. Maybe they are the new citizens of the world. It is a very different idea of place and belonging. I just ask people who are in the international circuit or who move a lot, where do they consider their hometown to be. Most say it is where their friends are. I wonder what the “third culture” kid will say.

Nigerian countryside

Jetting through the Nigerian countryside with the Mitchells, Harper, Andrew in the back and our driver Philip, when Abba’s dancing queen comes on and I am slapped with a memory of living with Aitor on California Ave in West Seattle. Pie minutes, the grilled ham and cheese sandwich maker and the swimming pool bed dance across my thoughts. Philip slows every minute or so for massive pot holes and people dressed to the nines for church. It is a little like driving in a video game. There are no lanes and people just use their horns to let people know they are there and not to run them off the road. The horn is a safety device rather than and instrument of disrespect. Now, Donna summer is on the “ Bitches from Hell” compilation as we slow into a little town. Sandra rolls down her window and the smell of garbage; rancid water and heat enter the car. People are crammed into taxi’s or mini-vans probably at least ten-fifteen people per car. Oil trucks litter the side of the road. I assume most of them are functioning though most of them are in some sort of state of disrepair. The sides of the roads look like truck graveyards. Then, we pass some actual burned out stripped trucks and I can tell the difference between functioning trucks and broken trucks.
“Ahh Freak-out” plays now. And it is freaky. Freaky how extreme poverty becomes the norm as I glance out at the shanty’s literally feet from the car. Pieced together with scraps of wood and tin. Philip casually says “someone is dead. When we ask he says traffic is bad because of an injury.” Not unlike the states. We pass the accident. “I will survive” pipes in and I hope so… for the accident victim.
We pass an ad for a phone company, “I call my Madam for free”. I think I am a “Madam” and realize how many of me can justify and ad campaign and advertising. I am a little sickened and of course guilty. We are coming into what I think is the outskirts of Lagos proper. It looks like the outskirts of many major cities in the states, bigger industries, billboards, building supplies, car dealerships, truck and suburban life. We even pass a huge gas station with a “mini mart” and lumber mill like back home only ten years old. Traffic is getting thicker as we are at least half an hour from home. I see more apartment buildings. Ricky martin comes on matching the quick pace of traffic. I would giggle to myself that Rick M is on the “Bitches from hell” cd, but a car comes so close to us that I have to stifle a gasp.
People are staring into our car and I remember, "We are a car full of white people." We enter a real freeway and Philip tailgates a car in the fast lane. I am warmed by the familiarity and smile. Philip backs off. He is a good driver.
“Bananarama?”
We pass the airport and I recognize it from a news segment about street and city management. We are passing a village built on stilts. It has been here for probably centuries and I can imagine what life was like here before a city. Harper is waking up but not yet. We pass an open burn pile and the smell turns my stomach. We are nearly home. Janis Joplin sings of her Bobby McGee and I am thankful.

New car

Andrew and Harper are downstairs at the big toy. I can see them from our kitchen window three flights up. The toy is a three-story jungle gym, with swirly slides and all. It is the first day of Saturday soccer and there are children and parents running everywhere. Andrew and Harper are hanging back observing the organized chaos, perhaps deciding when it will be their turn to participate. It is rainy and overcast and reminds me of home, I have the first glimpse and pangs of really missing my family and friends. I suppose that means we are settling in a bit. I am writing this and making an egg sandwich, which reminds me of Miles (Andrew’s Dad) for some reason. The dark cloud is bringing more rain. When it rains here it really pours. You are drenched instantly the only difference is that it is still warm. It a little like walking into the bathroom after someone has taken a long hot shower but still I like it.
Some time has past now; we have taken our first adventure in our new car. It is a Nissan Exterra. It cost us more than any car combined that we have purchased so far. We are sharing a car and driver with our neighbors. Philip is our driver and I like him a lot. He seems honest, tries very hard and is really nice to Harper. It feels good to have a car and some freedom I have already been getting a bit of cabin fever living right next to work, campus is already feeling small.
Today while we were out we bought phone cards off the street because I ran out of minutes here. The cards actually worked. (Often times they don’t) We also saw a man with a full mattress folded in half stuffed with goods on top of his head riding on the back of an okada. It was amazing.

New car

Andrew and Harper are downstairs at the big toy. I can see them from our kitchen window three flights up. The toy is a three-story jungle gym, with swirly slides and all. It is the first day of Saturday soccer and there are children and parents running everywhere. Andrew and Harper are hanging back observing the organized chaos, perhaps deciding when it will be their turn to participate. It is rainy and overcast and reminds me of home, I have the first glimpse and pangs of really missing my family and friends. I suppose that means we are settling in a bit. I am writing this and making an egg sandwich, which reminds me of Miles (Andrew’s Dad) for some reason. The dark cloud is bringing more rain. When it rains here it really pours. You are drenched instantly the only difference is that it is still warm. It a little like walking into the bathroom after someone has taken a long hot shower but still I like it.
Some time has past now; we have taken our first adventure in our new car. It is a Nissan Exterra. It cost us more than any car combined that we have purchased so far. We are sharing a car and driver with our neighbors. Philip is our driver and I like him a lot. He seems honest, tries very hard and is really nice to Harper. It feels good to have a car and some freedom I have already been getting a bit of cabin fever living right next to work, campus is already feeling small.
Today while we were out we bought phone cards off the street because I ran out of minutes here. The cards actually worked. (Often times they don’t) We also saw a man with a full mattress folded in half stuffed with goods on top of his head riding on the back of an okada. It was amazing.

Fabric

At school, we have a Nigerian culture day. On day two, we were informed that we were to have an outfit to wear to the celebration. Today someone had called a fabric vendor to the school…of course being deprived of shopping I had to look. Wonderful prints nothing like we see in the states. I am so excited that Andrew also gets a customary outfit too. The standard Nigerian wear for men is a matching two piece highly patterned tailored shirt and pants. The only equivalent I can think of in the states are high quality pajamas. I really want a quilt out of all of the scraps. As for seeing Andrew and Harper in matching outfits, I can’t wait. As for my own dress, I guess custom is to take a picture from a Nigerian magazine and take it to the tailor. Oh yes, you have a tailor, or will have and as with everything the price is negotiable. You can get an dress or suit made anywhere from $20 to $70…pretty cheap if you ask me.

Status and skin

Lagos seems to be warming up though the thunder and lightning come on periodically, darkening the sky pouring and disappearing almost as quickly. I like the downpours it reminds me of my home in the northwest and Burns Oregon.
We have managed to procure a driver and are looking for a car. He seems to be a very nice man and we were surprised and disappointed when he did not show up for work today. Then, he finally did show up. He called Andrew several times. It turns out that he had been hit on his Okada. Okada are little motor bikes that jet around here everywhere. They are terrifying to watch and I can say I will probably never ride one here. People do. I have seen a family of four, small children and all riding down the streets. He was pretty badly injured. Andrew took him to our school nurse who suggested he go to the hospital because of the swelling in his ear. Someone we work with who has been here a long time strongly suggested Andrew not accompany him to the hospital. He said it will make it way worse for him to get care. Our status and our skin. I wonder if he will actually go at all. What would definitely be an emergency room visit in the states could and does go untreated here. And of course we are slapped with our useless guilt at having been disappointed and somewhat responsible for him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is difficult to feel helpless when wanting to help someone and trying to grasp that what I consider help (taking someone to the hospital) would actually cause more conflict than good. The sun has come out now. Harper is resting and I sent Andrew outside to play softball but it looks as though a dark cloud may be coming in.

Well, It has been a whirlwind first week here at school. Acclimating to middle school has been quite an adjustment but so far it is good. We are on a mad hunt for a car. Harper is busy pressing the volume button up and down so if this post is a little scattered it is because I am very distracted. Nigeria has been okay so far. Shopping is still a challenge and I can see a future where getting off campus will be imperative. I thought Whidbey Island got small at times. Bee=p beep beep…Harper has been enjoying the pool privileges. Beep beep vroom… Today Harper was chasing the brightly colored lizards down the sidewalk. Things here seen pretty urbanized and then I see something like lizards and flowers in bloom and I can imagine what Lagos may have looked like before modernization. We saw butterflies today and my first thought was “how beautiful”. …Then, “I wonder if it’s poisonous.” Most things on campus seem familiar to home except there are glances of things that remind us we aren’t in the states. Like the water we have to filter and the lack of chocolate. People become hoarders of things like chips from the states, good coffee or meats that they know are okay. But for the most part you don’t think about it. I don’t even give people who are in amazing African print fabrics a second glance any more....beep

Aitor

It is intense yet surprisingly normal. What is really funny is that someone with a basket full of full bodied fried fish on their head, someone with a stack of fifty pairs of socks on their head and someone riding four stacked on a little moped taxi is considered normal but that white girl over there walking down the street is the biggest spectacle ever. Pretty funny.
This city is huge decrepit and vibrant at the same time. Don't ask me how to get anywhere; it's like a national geographic magazine every time you go out. However here on campus is a very small bubble and at times you almost forget that you are in Nigeria.... until you go shopping...you absolutely have to have a driver. Finding produce that doesn't horrify you has been the hardest but I had measureable success today after I got up the nerve to talk with a street vender. Of course I probably got the "skin tax" as they call it but I don't mind most venders are scratching out a living. The unemployment rate is so high here.
It is a city- a very big city. As a city it is intimidating so far but each day something is falling into place as the reality of being here replaces the expectation of coming. A routine is beginning to develop.
Harper is still three going through a whiney phase. I am still a teacher and need to get my classroom ready to teach. Andrew and I are still doing what our relationship does.
But I would be kidding you if I said it was "normal" yet.

However, it hasn't been too hot yet and it even rained. 85 everyday but they keep saying this definitely will not last. A parrot flew by today all green and yellow just like in a pet store.
Philosophically everyday has tested my cultural norms and expectations. Hiring a nanny and steward is just weird. Hearing people talk about "them" and us and conversations about how some help is treated or paid is appalling and fascinating. Mostly it leaves me torn. Is this exploitation or actual help? The nanny we hired is also very old. (My guess is that she is at least 70 though with black folks it is hard for me to judge age) So of course I was realizing how ageist I am too! Should this woman have to work and how much do I pay her. Andrew and I decided that we were significantly increasing the going wage for our employees. (Average $150-200 a month) So we paid our conscientious so we would feel better. I guess this is why I will never be rich. And you know how I love a good deal but these are people’s lives here.
On the other hand other goods are through the roof expensive. Apple juice $10 Ziploc bags $10 cheap wine $10 (this might be my Nigerian persona: wino) We saw regular parmesan cheese for $70 ...and definitely don't expect to find it in one place. And expect anywhere you go to take at least three hours minimum.
Overall, it is an adventure as far as knowing what I think about anything here or our decision to come the jury is out not that any of that really matters either.

Were here

Ahh where do I begin. We have had a power blasted couple of days but are settling in quite well. Nigeria is hot but not too bad this time of year. Rene and Miles left yesterday to Paris. It was wonderful to have them here to help us put our minds at ease. Let me just list all that we have had to do in the past three days.
Find a nanny...Florence
Restock a kitchen
Clean a gross apartment
Acclimate to shopping with a driver
Meet new employees...(most cool)
Suffer through jet lag (so weird)
Travel through the city (traffic is its own personality)
Hire a steward
Go to the market
Get a new classroom
Change money...you don't use banks
Learn how to use the money
Figure out how to shop (still not done)
Explain to Harper that we aren't moving to Africa we are in Africa
Realize that I am a spectacle and that some people notice I'm white
Join commisary
Go to Lekki market...its like national geographic come to life
And more...
Yikes! Needless to say we were a bit shell shocked

one week before take off

Here we are just one week before we go. We are really doing this and all I can think about is how do I learn to not to dress in layers. We took our first round of malaria meds tonight beginning a new two year Sunday routine. I am cherishing every moment on Whidbey this summer along with the bliss and need of hot shower, jackets and blankets. Saying "good byes" are hard and I take solace and comfort in that we will see everyone next summer. We have such a wonderful group of supportive friends. Now do I take stomp rocket or dinosaurs.... that is the really tough question...forget layering.

I just finished school today at South Whidbey! Hooray!
We just booked our flights today for the trip! I called the airline already because they wanted to book us all behind one another. I assured them that having a three year old next to a stranger was not an good idea.
This is really happening! Now, I just want to enjoy the next month on beautiful Whidbey Island.