Nigerian Culture Day


Emily and her Friends on Nigerian Culture Day


We are totally hooked on our iPods. Between the four of us we have a vintage iPod Mini, two versions of the Nano, an old-school Shuffle, and two iPod Classics. The other day I was messing with mine and happened to hit the most played songs playlist. Top of the list? “Born to Run” I scrolled down past “Life is a Highway”, “Peaceful World” and “What a Wonderful World.” The song titles seem to indicate that somewhere outside of Spokane in 1981 I came down with a severe case of wanderlust.

Our time here has taken us from Egypt to South Africa, east to Kenya and Tanzania, down the Danube River, and to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye. Has that been enough of tromping across the globe? Will a Christmas trip to Thailand, Vietnam, and United Arab Emirates cure the urge to see what is around the next corner?

Sometime next week we will find out if the AIS school board is willing to extend our contract for another year. If that happens, then we will have to decide if we are going to spend another year on the road. Lots to think about. We will keep you posted.


Emily guards her friend Liliana on the Soccer Pitch


Jacob shows his ball handling skills


A Blue Belt in Action

Ready for Nigerian Culture Day

Arriving in Lagos marks the beginning of a long stretch of work. It starts the minute the luggage drops onto the luggage carousel. Lifting nine fifty pound bags on to three luggage carts, wheeling the loaded carts through hundreds of people, digging through your pockets to find the baggage claim stubs so that the bags can be checked, and finally flinging the bags through the window of the coaster in 90 degree heat, it’s a workout.

The next day is spent unpacking the 9 bags, unpacking the things we boxed up, and locked up, and catching up on the sleep we missed in the 12 hour flight from Seattle keeps you moving. You are also meeting the new neighbors and trying to remember their names, while you catch up your old neighbors. Not so much a physical workout, but it is mentally exhausting.

Then work starts. The students and parents are ready to go from day one. Homework calendars, grades, books, and meetings all start from day one. Within a week of school starting the kids start their activities and then Saturdays become another workday.

August is a blur, and September becomes a grind. Not long into September, we all begin to look for two things, the end of rainy season, and the moon. The end of rainy season just means you can walk to work with out getting soaked; the moon means a holiday. Id-El-Fitri celebrates the end of Ramadan and it is totally dependent on the arrival of the moon so its exact date is hard to put on a calendar. Our first year at AIS the holiday was marked as “tentative” and the past two years Tom has tried to predict the holiday. He has failed both times, and this year we ended up with a full week of vacation.

We spent the first part of the week in Lagos, but the whole week on campus would have caused a complete and total epidemic of cabin fever in all of the Rainbolt’s. The only choice was to get out of town for a while, so we joined up with Joseph, Mary, and Yvonne to travel to the Republic of Benin. We had heard about a wonderful beach resort just across the Benin border and we thought that would be a great way to end the holiday week.

Unlike driving from Bellingham to the Canadian border, getting from Lagos into Benin requires a bit of planning. First because of the infamous Lagos traffic, traveling in several cars would be an impossible task. Challenge number one then was to find a vehicle to take all of us to the tropical paradise know as Papa Del Casa. Last year a group went and they used the school van, but on the way back the van was rear-ended. Tom was not very willing to repeat that little adventure, so we needed to find another van. Add car rentals as another task that is difficult in Lagos. No phone book, no Hertz, no Alamo; we were ready to call it over when Tom said we could use a school van as long as we paid Tunde, one of the school drivers, to take us.

The next item of business was obtaining visas. For most places that you visit getting a visa can be done when you enter the country. We have done that for Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. A visa for Benin had to be purchased in advance. That required a trip to the Benin Consulate for visa forms, filling out the forms, passport pictures, and of course the money. Sonny, one of the other driver’s, was willing to make the run to the Consulates with our passports. Then as with all things African it was time to wait. Would the visas be ready before our expected departure? Would the consulate close for the week because of the holiday? When would the actual holiday be announced and what days would it be?

As we inched to within days of our trip, everything seemed to fall into place. The visa showed up, we nailed down security to accompany us to the border, and we actually had confirmed reservations at the resort. Then the next planning nightmare hit us. The paperwork on the van had expired and we could not use it to cross the border. We would have to arrange transportation from the border to the resort, a distance of about 50 miles. In other places this might be easier, but of course we need to add another hitch. Benin is one of the West African countries where French is the official language. We tried to call the resort and see if they would have someone to pick us up at the border, but they only spoke French. We did get another number to call for a taxi service but they only spoke French. All was not to be lost, because it is nice to live in a place where people are willing to help you out. One of the French teachers got on the phone and arranged for a car and driver to meet us at the border.

Wednesday morning the seven eager travelers meet in the garage. Tunde was ready with the van, security was on time and we were ready to head out, but of course, we had one more little hitch. The security that was going with us to the border was from the US consulate and they were going to pick someone up at the border so they had an embassy vehicle that we could all ride in if we wanted. A quick discussion and Tunde was out of a weekends work, although he seemed to be pretty glad about that. The embassy vehicle with diplomatic plates made negotiating the frequent police checkpoints a breeze and within and hour of leaving the compound we were at the border. And it is at the border that our story truly begins.

Now, we have crossed borders in Africa several times. We crossed the border between Kenya and Tanzania twice and the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe. At these locations, the border look likes a border with official gates, an immigration office, and uniforms. The border between Benin and Nigeria was not quite the same as these borders. In fact, the border resembled one of the many go-slows you encounter in Lagos, along with one of the area boy toll booths you encounter when you head to the beach, along with an outdoor office. The diplomatic plates on our car caused bamboo barriers to be lifted, ropes to be lowered, and crossing gates raised, and soon we were parked next to the customs house.

Getting out of Nigeria is not an easy process. It involves several stops. Stop one the passport desk. These guys want to see if you have a passport, they want to look at all the pages in your passport, and they want you know how hard the work at checking your passport, how little they get paid for looking at your passport, and how much they would appreciate a little gift from you honoring their hard work. We offered them our best wishes for them and their families, got our passports back, and moved two steps to the left for desk number 2. The official function of desk number 2 is to record your passport and Nigerian Visa information. In most places, these would indicate the presence of a computer, but the practical tool of choice in countries with undependable electrical power is a large accounting book with carbon paper. This was missing at the border so a copy of yesterday’s newspaper was good enough. Once again, we were asked to appreciate the hard work of the official and again we offered our best wishes and stepped to the left to desk number 3. Desk number three was there to check our yellow health cards. You are supposed to carry these cards with you wherever you travel in Africa and we have had them checked exactly once, so of course we had left them at home. This should have ended our trip to the beach officially, but after a little bit of discussion we found out that this health officer was willing to get us all a yellow card for 1000 Naira a piece. A bargain price for a great Nigerian souvenir so we quickly said yes and soon were in possession of a Nigerian Yellow card complete with inoculation dates. So now on to desk 4. Desk 4 copied down the information from Desk 2, but wrote it in a book instead of a newspaper. They handed back our passports along with a departure card that we filled out with the same information that had been just written down in the accounting book. We were now ready to hand our passports, yellow cards, and departure cards over for the official stamping which actually took place at an immigration window. Of course, stamping passports is hard work and the gentleman doing the stamping is under-appreciated. More best wishes were extended and we were out of Nigeria. The Benin process was much simpler and hour and twenty minutes after we got to the border we were across the border.

Yvonne’s steward, Emmanuel, has family in Benin so he had been tagging along with us. We made use of his French language skills to double check with the car company and sure enough, they were waiting for our bags and us once we crossed over the border. We drove through a few more make shift border gates and we were soon on a paved road headed to the city of Cotonu, where Emmanuel helped us change money.

We enjoyed the beach and were very appreciative of the US consulate vehicle when we headed home, because there were 23 police, immigration, customs, and military checkpoint between the Benin border and Lagos. We breezed through every one of them.


Joseph and Jacob bring Nerf Water Football to Africa


The Beach along the Benin Coast


A Benin Fishing Boat


Diaspora Monument that Welcomes Africans taken during slavery back Home

Sunset on the Chobe River
Jump back to spring break. Sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Johannesburg and I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me in the crowded terminal. He was from South Africa and he was in Lagos to do some work in the Nigerian TV industry. By the way, Nigeria, or Nollywood, is the film capital of Africa. Well, actually it is the made-for-television movie capital of Africa. The gentleman asked how I liked living here. I answered that we are enjoying our time here. That the increase in family time is important to us. That the travel opportunities are incredible. He asked, “But how do you feel about Africa?” Umm, the big question. You hear about people who step foot on the continent and totally fall in love with the people and the land. People talk about feeling they have come home. I think that is the answer this man expected. I answered, “ I like it here.” Like it, but not enraptured with Africa. A wonderful place to travel through, amazing people to know, incredible weather, but at that point in time it was just, “I like it here.”

I wish that the same gentleman had been in Johannesburg Airport when we came back from our spring break trip because my answer became much different. During that week we sat in the mists of Victoria Falls, watched the sun set over the Zambezi River, and fell asleep looking at a sky filled with clouds of stars. After spring break, I understood the power of Africa to capture and fill a person’s senses.

Zimbabwe has been in the news on a regular basis lately as they struggle with runaway inflation and one of the most inept President currently in power. When we arrived on Thursday morning one US dollar was worth 1.5 million Zimbabwean dollars, that night, when we paid for dinner one US dollar was worth 1.75 million Zimbabwean dollars. It is one of a few countries in the world that actually likes the US dollar. In fact, we paid for everything in dollars while we were there.

We had a packed schedule that included a ride through the bush on the back of an African Elephant. A flight over the largest waterfall in Africa and a sunset river cruise. With each outing, I could feel the landscape pulling me into its grip. Rolling green hills, more trees than we saw in Kenya, and feeling of light kept my constantly looking around. In Lagos, I never felt the light, I felt the heat of the sun, or the sweat soaking my clothes, but here I was feeling the sunshine.

We had been told that you could see Victoria Falls from the air as you fly into the airport, and that is not quite true. You can easily see the scar that the Zambezi River cuts as it runs between Namibia and Zimbabwe. The falls are hidden in the twists and turns of the canyon the river has carved on its path to the Indian Ocean. The white spray from the falls rises above the green vegetation and drifts across the town of Victoria Falls. The falls themselves are even more impressive than the cloud of mist that rises above them. The river stretches almost a mile as it plunges into a narrow ravine that can’t me more than 70 yards wide. All the water bubbles in this ravine before it explodes out of the narrow opening at the base of the falls, and shoots down the canyon that provides some of the best white water rafting in the world.

There is so much water flowing over the falls that it creates a constant cloud of mist and the park that sits opposite the falls is officially a rainforest. When you are in the park you can practically reach out touch the falls. You walk through a fine mist with which muffles the roar of the water plunging over the drop off. At many points in the park, you are at eye-level with the falls. From the air, the mist is highlighted with a rainbow, and from the park, the mist is highlighted with jungle green plants. Either way it is an amazing sight.


Victoria Falls from the Air


Victoria Falls from the Park at the Base

We left Victoria Falls and headed to Botswana for a wild life fix. Our first stop was a National Park alongside the Chobe River. The park is home to over 10,000 elephants and we saw them from the road, from the boat, and while we were walking. We saw elephants bathing, elephants rolling in mud, elephants eating, elephants being eaten, and elephants expressing their desire that our vehicle move. Crocodiles seemed to be just as numerous as elephants and definitely higher on the fear inspiration scare. We saw crocodiles swimming in the river, sunning on the bank, and crocodiles feasting on the body of a dead elephant. As the boat approached the elephant carcass the stench nearly over-powered us, but the fascination with the beady eyes and teeth of the crocodiles quickly blocked out the smell. Once again, we were treated to beautiful sunsets every evening.


Chobe River Crocodiles


Elephant from the Water



Elephant Pool Party

The next part of the trip involved a little more adventure. We were traveling to a lodge in the middle of the Okavonaga Delta. There are no roads that stretch into the delta because the water from river would wash them all out during the wet season. So, the next part of our trip began when we climbed into the single-engine plane that would fly us to Delta Camp. As we bounced into the air, I became glued to the window. You could see giraffes and elephants moving across the grasslands below us. There were brown paths that criss-crossed the plains and it wasn’t until I saw a man poling his canoe along the path that I realized we were flying over water. Nobody else noticed this because the bumps and turbulence had taken their toll and they had their faces glued to the airsickness bags. When the plane landed an hour, half later Gina, Emily, and Jacob were too exhausted to cheer, and my hands were filled with full vomit bags. Not the best way to start the trip.

After everyone got some color back in their face, we started the trip to the lodge with Mataode and Ossi, our guides for the next four days. We sat in handmade dugout canoes that were poled through the water trails. As we traveled quietly through the tall grass and water lilies, Mataode explained where we had to stop and watch for hippos, what the splashing sounds we heard were, and how the elephants moved from island to island.


Mokoro Transport

Delta camp is made up of 13 reed cottages and a large dining area at the end of one of the islands. The reed cottages are built around the trees that mark the edge of the island and the lodge sits right on the edge of the island. We walked to our chalet and sent baboons scampering into the trees and were told what to do if we ran into an elephant on the way back to the dining room.


Okavango Delta Sunset

Over the next four days we feel into a routine of waking before the sun came up and grabbing a quick breakfast before we headed out to one of the islands for a morning game walk. Birds, warthogs, impala, an elephant, and a lion all crossed our path on the morning walks. After a couple hours, we would head back to the lodge for a big breakfast followed up with a nap. Lunch and then another walk. A shower and snacks, then we would sit on the deck of the dining hall and watch the day end. It is at these times that I started to feel the pull of Africa. It was not the muggy sticky hot of Lagos, but the true heat of a summer sun. It was not the smoke filled air that drifts across the compound, but the smell of warm grass. It was not the sun reflecting off of a sea of cell phone towers, but the orange sun melting onto the horizon. From the roar of the Victoria Falls, to the sounds of elephants bathing in the Chobe River, to the sound of the elephant pulling grass from under our cabin in Okavango Delta, my senses had tuned into an Africa that I did not quite understand in Lagos.


Okavango Delta Landscape


When we packed our bags to fly back to Lagos, it was with a new appreciation for the chance to spend time in a place with the power to capture your imagination.


Kids on Safari

Jacob enjoying Vacation




Gina and Jana


The suitcases are un-packed and stored away. The boxes have been unpacked and broken down. We have been back at work for two full weeks, so our vacation is officially over and we are back among the working.

When the plane landed in Lagos this time round it was hard to identify the emotions that went with it. We were certainly already missing people from home, we were excited about meeting the new people, and we were glad to be back to a place where we all had our own room, but there still is the nervousness about being away from home and starting a new school year.

We had moved down to a new flat at the end of the last school year, so it has taken a bit of work to make it home. The walls in the flats are all cinderblocks covered with a layer of cement to smooth them out. This means that hanging pictures and art requires the use of a drill, a work order, and careful planning because if not your walls are covered with some fairly significant holes. We also had an unusual ant problem to deal with in our kitchen. When we went to bed at night the kitchen floor would be clean and there would be no sign of insect life. In the morning, there would a small section of floor covered with dead ants; more than 50 less than 100. Most of them dead, some in the process of dying. We would sweep them up and not see any ants again until the next morning. This went on for several days and then it just stopped. The wonders of nature.

Once the construction stopped on the campus, the workers were able to get over to drill holes for us and we spent an evening hanging pictures so that we feel at home in Flat #4. It took a little longer to feel completely at home because some of the faces we expected to be back on the campus this year had a hard time getting into the country. It seems that despite green cards, a job, a place to live, and engaging smiles, if your re-entry visa is expired then the country of Nigeria does not want you here. The Teagues found this out in person when they arrived before school started. Their expired visa did get them immediate seating on the return flight to Amsterdam just hours after they left. They spent another week in Amsterdam, while Tom worked out the visa process and the rest of us kept asking, “Any news on the Teagues?” They ended up missing the first week of school.


First Day of school

So after two weeks of being back we have made our first trip to the commissary and Lekki Market, had our first parent teacher talk about forgotten homework, said our first goodbyes to some friends that are leaving Lagos, attended our first flat meeting, spent our first Sunday at the pool, listened to our first big rain, and have already started to plan our first vacation. Summer in Nigeria doesn’t end, it just un-packs it suitcase.


Local kids watching a soccer match at the AIS Campus

Warning: this blog entry consists entirely of bragging and one-upmanship. If you don’t want to hear about London in December, cruising down the Danube River, or skiing the Austrian Alps then you need to wait until I update this blog again.

Lagos is a city of 14 to 16 million people depending on which census figures you believe, but on the Friday of Christmas break the airport is very much like a small town. You pass cars and students from school wave at you. You can do parent conference as you stand in line to check in. You could do a civics lesson with your class as all of you wait to clear immigration and security. The school board could meet in the business class section of the flight to Amsterdam. We couldn’t resist this kind of fun so we joined the party.

We got the now traditional McDonald’s fix in Amsterdam and then we grabbed our bags and checked in for our flight to London. After the marathon, it takes to get out of Lagos and the middle of the night flight from Lagos to Amsterdam the 45-minute flight to London was a walk in the park. The kids are getting to be pretty savvy travelers and when we got to Gatwick they grabbed their suitcases and pretty soon all four of us were on the train headed into London.

At this point in time, all of us had been up for 24 hours, and we were on the verge of being grumpy so we grabbed a cab to our hotel. The fun part of the whole holiday season was about to start because we had talked our family into meeting us in Europe for the holidays. Gina’s parents had arrived in London earlier that morning and later in the week we would meet up with my parents and sister and brother-in-law in Germany.

Warning: travel advice regarding London Hotels.

Earlier in the fall, I had spent several hours surfing the Internet for the perfect London hotel. I knew the area of the city we wanted to be in and I new the price we were willing to pay. I thought I found the perfect place, not far from the British museum and it had a room for six people. Talk about cutting our costs. Gina’s parents were already checked into the hotel when we arrived, and as you can guess with their bags in the room and our bags in the room, we had a room full of beds and bags and no room for us. The next problem was a little more complicated. Six people and one bathroom. A bathroom half the size of a standard airplane bathroom. You could sit on the toilet, shower, and brush your teeth at the same time if you wanted. Not going to work. The last problem was environmental. Lagos in December is steamy hot and tropical. London in December is freezing. Teeth chattering, hat and glove wearing, wish I had a heavier jacket freezing. The room had a small portable space heater and not much more. I had booked the room for six nights, but it took 6 minutes to know that it wasn’t going to work. We talked to them at the desk and the next day the moved us into two rooms. Still no heat, still the world’s smallest bathroom, but there was some room.

The next morning we became aware of the next problem with the hotel: over efficient breakfast room staff. Breakfast was over at 9 am and the meant 9 am. At 8:59 your plate was removed, your yogurt was taken away as the spoon went to your mouth. and every known chemical cleaner filled the air. That day we picked up a London guidebook and the first section we turned to was “mid-priced hotels.” So, what is the travel advice? Everything looks good on a web page.




In Front of the London Eye

Waiting for the Tube
We spent the week dragging Gina’s parents on walking tours, shopping trips, up and down tube stops, and through museums. We all went and saw “The Lion King”, Gina and I saw “Wicked”, we ice skated in the moat underneath the Tower of London, took a flight on the London Eye, and stopped at every Starbucks we passed. A great way to start our Christmas vacation.

Jacob Tries to Enter the Ministry of Magic
After a week of London, which is like 51 weeks to short, we hit the road again. Although, Gina did try her best to extend her stay in London. It seems that security screeners in London really take the no liquids on the plane rule very seriously. The kids and I zipped through but Gina got to empty every scrap of paper from her pockets, purse, and carry-on bag. Once Gina got to the gate we headed off to Munich to start the next part of our trip. Gina’s parents left London from Heathrow at the same time and we would meet up with them again in Munich. My parents, and Colleen and Craig were already in Munich and we would meet up with them at the hotel. We would have one night in Munich and the next day we head to Passau, Germany to start a 9-day cruise down the Danube River. One night in Munich, just enough time to have dinner at the Augusteiner Brew House. That’s right we were in the land of big beers and we would be drinking big beers, and I meant to make the word plural.

Warning: This section of the blog contains horrific suitcase stories.

We had been in Lagos since August and we needed to be re-supplied. Last year we spent part of our vacation cruising Target for those supplies. This year we spent days cruising the Internet and have packages sent to family members. We also sent Costco list to family members begging them to pack a little extra. In addition, we asked Gina’s parents to pack along all of our winter jackets. The end result was that when the whole clan gathered in the lobby the next morning to head to the train station we had 10 people and 16 suitcases. We were three blocks and two sets of stairs away from our train to Passau. We lined up tallest to shortest, both the luggage and the family, and we stacked what we could stack and we headed to the airport, giving ourselves plenty of time to make the train. It was quite a military like operation that worked perfectly, and for at least four of us (Gina, Colleen, Craig, and myself) it was a little bit of an aerobic workout.

The train ride lasted an hour and with the 10 of us and all of our suitcases, it was pretty much a private train car. It was a beautiful trip through rolling hills, and small towns dusted with snow. It was really beginning to feel like Christmas. It took three cabs, and two cell phone calls to get the whole family to the boat, but we made it in time for dinner.

With Santa
The cruise was an incredible way to spend Christmas. The food was great, the rooms were warm and comfortable, and the staff was truly friendly and accommodating. We had a tour in the morning, and were back on the boat for lunch, free time in the afternoon, happy hour, then dinner, and activities after dinner. We spent time at the Christmas markets in Passau, Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest, where we drank hot-spiced wine, at sugar glazed cashews, and bought nutcrackers. In Salzburg, we had a lunchtime choir concert; in Vienna, it was evening of waltzes. Christmas Eve we had visit from a Santa with a Dutch accent and Christmas Day featured an organ concert inside of one of the oldest Benedictine Abbey’s in Austria. The Danube River offered some beautiful scenery and for 8 nights, we could keep all of our suitcases under the bed.

Christmas Market
The highlight of the trip was the time spent in Slovakia and Hungary. Bratislava is an amazing city. It is big and small, old and new, free market and still hurting from communism. As our guide would say as we looked at another large, gray, concrete building, “On your left another wonderful reminder of the colorful days of communist suffering, excuse me, I meant to say the communist era.” Emily and Jacob loved the city because they got another McDonald’s meal. Gina did a little shopping and we spent a lot of time wandering through the pedestrian area of the city.


McDonalds meets Communism
One of the nicest things about sight seeing from a cruise boat is that you see one place and while you are eating dinner and sleeping, you arrive somewhere new. After we left Bratislava, we cruised down the river to Budapest. Once again another amazing city with huge monuments left over from the Hapsburg Empire. The Danube River divides the city into half, one side is hilly, and the other side is fairly flat. All of Budapest’s big buildings sit on top of these hills. From Stephens Cathedral you can look down over the whole city. It is very dramatic.

Budapest ended phase two of our holidays; phase three involved getting 10 people sixteen pieces of luggage, carry-on bags, cameras, and Christmas market purchases on the train in Budapest and off the train in Bad Gastein, Austria. Does that sound familiar? Yeah, been there done that; so let’s add a little twist. We have to change trains in Salzburg. Simple, we have been into Salzburg and the station is fairly small. Ok, more of challenge; we have to do it in ten minutes. Yeah….That is more of a travel challenge.

The planning began 15 minutes from the Salzburg station and it went like this: Gina first off with the camera and a carry on. Her mission: find the platform where the next train left from and a luggage cart if possible. My dad and Fred with a carryon and the kids to establish a luggage collection point, Joyce and my mom would follow them. My mom would look for Gina and the luggage cart if we needed to move and Joyce would make sure Fred manned his position. Craig manned the door, Colleen grabbed the luggage in the compartment, and I knocked over people getting on the train as we moved luggage off of the train. The whole time I would be chanting, “We need to learn to travel lighter.” The plan worked like a charm especially since the next train left from the other side of the platform we were on and it was ten minutes late and Fred never left his luggage receiving post.

Bad Gastein is a spa town in the Austrian Alps about 40 minutes outside of Salzburg. We spent the New Year’s holidays swimming in the heated spa, skiing, and watching the locals send bottle rockets and other explosive devices into the crowd. All in all a restful, beautiful place to spend time with family. It was really an amazing to travel through all of these wonderful places and at the same time get to share the experiences with our family. Just another reason while we will never regret agreeing to teach in Lagos.

Wow, it has been a long time since October…and there has been nothing new on the blog page. So much for keeping everyone informed and up to date about what the Rainbolt’s have been doing here in Lagos. Are you ready for a month-by-month recap?

October: The big even this month was Gina’s big trip to Ghana for a teacher’s conference. Now we went to Ghana last year for Thanksgiving and we had no problems getting there, no problems getting around the city of Accra, and we actually enjoyed our stay there quite a bit, so Gina was quite excited about the trip. She went to get her Visa to travel into Ghana. Then the fun began. In order to get a visa you need a passport, and Gina’s passport, along with mine, Emily’s and Jacob’s, was in the hands of the Nigerian government. The school had taken everyone’s passport, because we needed to get Nigerian re-entry visas. This process had started in August when we arrived, and the school’s liaison to the immigration department still had not returned them. So, unless the passports came back, there would be no Ghana visa, and no visa, no conference. No conference would mean a very unhappy Gina. Gina started with emails to Tom, but no passport. Conversations with Tom and then phone calls to the liaison, but no passport. One week before the trip, and no passport, so we upped the harassment. One day before the trip, and Gina was still with out a passport, but according to the liaison guy it was on its way. Any minute it would show up and all would be good. Any minute after lunch, it would be at the school. Ok any minute after lunch it would be there. Well, maybe it would be there before three. No problems, a guy would have it to school before six. Nothing.

Gina came home that night and packed her bags just in case. The bus was leaving the school at noon and the plan was that Gina would go ahead and ride it out to the airport, if the passport was there it was on to Ghana. If not, a long quiet ride back to the compound.

We said goodbye and then the wondering started. Would she get to the airport? Would she get on the plane? Would she have to come back? This is entertainment better than anything on cable. Gina got on the bus and headed to the airport, just before the bus left VI, the guy called and said he had Gina’s passport and he was on the way. He was on an okada and would be there in a minute. The cell phone was passed to the driver and a series of plans were made. Just before the airport, the bus pulled off into a restaurant parking and sure enough after a few minutes Gina’s passport appeared on an the back of an okada.

Passport in one hand, ticket in the other it was time for the next challenge. Technically, they will not let you on the plane without the appropriate visa. Gina needed to do some fast-talking, and she needed the help of our two Nigerian teachers, Dominic and Alfred, who were headed to the conference as well. Between the three of them, they convinced the ticket agent, the Nigerian Immigration official, and the security officer to let Gina on the plane and she would have no problem getting her visa once she got to Ghana.

Some more talking at the airport in Accra, but with the cold hard cash and the fact that many other teachers were coming in to the conference it didn’t take much talk and Gina was on her way to the La Palm Hotel and 5 days of dinners, workshops, and some serious off compound time.

Meanwhile back in Lagos, the kids and I were getting ready to be bachelors for a few days. Not a problem because how tough can it be when someone is cooking your meals and cleaning, and you have a nanny on duty? Well it turned out to be a little tougher than we thought because the moon came up early. Let me explain. During the first week in October is the Muslim Holiday Ed El Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The exact date of the holiday is not fixed because according to Islamic law you have to see the crescent moon. We try to get an approximate date on the calendar for the holiday, but it really comes down to when the head Islamic cleric in Nigeria says the holiday occurs. Well, the day after Gina arrived in Ghana we were on holiday. No Juliet to cook and clean for us, no Mercy to watch the kids while I played tennis, oh this was going to be work. Well not too much work. We played, watched movies, hung out the pool, and enjoyed a break from school and work.

November

Thanksgiving vacation is short and sweet here in Nigeria. The weekend before we have the big tennis tournament. The Rainbolt family finished out of the money, but we had a great deal of fun anyway. Then we have our big turkey dinner that Sunday. We work Thanksgiving morning we then we headed to the airport. This Thanksgiving we were going to head to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria with the Teauge’s, Slater’s, and Yvonne Solmiren. Through the friend of a teacher at the school, we had rented a flat in the capital for three nights. As an added bonus, our Thanksgiving Weekend coincided with the Abuja Carnival, which is a huge cultural carnival. On Friday we headed to the Masquerade, where traditional dancers and musicians from over a hundred tribal groups performed. The music and costumes were amazing. Part of the fun of the day was our celebrity status. As some of the few “oyibos” in the crowd, we were interviewed several times. At least half of the dancers wanted to have their pictures taken with Emily and Jacob, although Emily and Jacob were not very willing to pose. That afternoon we headed just outside of town for the same time of event, but featuring the Islamic tribes from the North of Nigeria.


The gathering is called a “Durbar” and the traditional clothes, horses, and camels were amazing. Later that day an AIS Parent, Mr. Abba treated all of us to dinner. He was an incredible host with a first hand knowledge of Nigerian Politics and history. After dinner, he had arranged for us to meet with the current Presidents daughter. She was a gracious host and spent some time talking about her father’s election and goals. Also, she spoke of some of the Non-profit organizations she was working with to address the needs in her home state.

The rest of the weekend we spent lounging around the pool eating suya. Not a bad way to spend a Turkey Day