Rainbolt Travel Diary

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