Our Nigerian Adventure - Part Two

We spent most of our time on the Chevron compound, so I'm starting off this post with pictures of the compound. 

In the picture below you can see in the background the wire fence and stone wall around the outside of the camp. The house where the Lees live is near the end of the compound, so it's a good place to ride bikes and take walks.

It didn't rain much while we were there, but I thought this was a sweet picture of Grace with her umbrella on a day it did sprinkle.

It was hot and humid the whole week we were there, so playing in the hose on the back porch was a fun activity.

This is a view of the Lees' backyard.

There is a gardener who works on the yard almost every day, and Sophia likes to get out and help her.

Of course Grace wanted to get in on the act, too. Too bad kids don't want to help with chores when they're older!

Kent and I spent part of almost every day out looking for lizards with the girls in the backyard.

One day we had a picnic lunch out on the back patio.

Here's Grace doing her exercises with Granddad.

There's a nice pool on the compound, and Grace and Sophia were invited to a birthday party at the pool while we were there.

Not a close up picture of the Lees, but a good overview of the pool area.

Both Grace and Sophia had soccer lessons while we were there, so we went to watch them.

Grace was mostly just adorable and cute,

but Sophia was learning some soccer skills.

We did some shopping out on the economy. We went to a grocery store that looked like one you'd find in the US.

Kent and I were both impressed with the abundance and variety of the flowering trees and bushes.

We loved all the bright tropical flowers.

Some were very unique and unusual, like the one in the picture below,

I wanted to show the beautiful side of Nigeria before I showed the pictures of what we also saw as we drove around the area outside of the Chevron compound.

We saw mostly run down buildings and roads in terrible condition.

We were reminded of the conditions we saw driving around India, There we saw cows in the road, and in Nigeria we saw goats.

An example of what the roads were like if you got off the main freeways.

These little taxis were just like the ones in India.

One evening Adri took us to the Hard Rock Cafe. Russ didn't come because he was home with a sore back.

I had no idea Grace was making this face when this picture was taken, but it's pretty funny!

We went early and pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves, so we had good service.

The Hard Rock Cafe was on the beach, and this was the view from the outdoor patio.

One afternoon Adri, Sophia and I went to the movie theater at the mall to see "Zootopia". It was a nice, modern theater.

We went to an outdoor market to shop for souvenirs.

I looked through many stalls and bought a wooden nativity set.

Adri was also shopping for some souvenirs.

Kent and I had a bit of an adventure on our way back to the states. We were taken to the airport on Saturday afternoon by the Chevron shuttle bus and dropped off at the airport. We were there several hours early, but had brought books to read to kill the time. Well, there were all sorts of delays for our extremely full flight which was supposed to leave at 10pm, and by 2am the flight was cancelled altogether. We then stood in line to wait for a bus to take us to a local hotel, and we arrived at around 5am. We crashed into bed and slept until about 10am.

The hotel was very nice and we had most of the day to wander around.

A nice buffet was offered for both breakfast and lunch. As a side note, there was another buffet offered with Nigerian food. I tried to eat it, but it was sooooo spicy that I couldn't eat any of it. The manager of the restaurant kindly showed us to the buffet set up for foreigners.

Though even for foreigners there were some foods I thought were unique to Nigeria.

There was a pool out back but we didn't use it. I'm just including it in the photos to show what a nice hotel it was by Nigerian standards. (Recall the photos above)

We were back to the airport at around 3pm to wait for our 10pm flight. I took the picture below because it was a good representation of the clothes the Nigerians wore.

There weren't very many places to sit in the airport. I chose this spot because it was in front on an air conditioner. This was in the area before we went through security. We knew from experience that there wouldn't be anywhere comfortable to sit near the gates, so we waited until the last minute to go back there.

I'm including this photo to give an idea of how old fashioned, uncomfortable and un-airconditioned the airport was. This is the area where people waited to get onto the airplanes, and why we weren't in a hurry to get there.

Here's where we spent most of our time, standing in front of the one air conditioner that was working. We ended up with a bonus day in Nigeria, but we survived it just fine!

Our Nigerian Adventure--Part One

As soon as Adri and Russ learned they would be living in Nigeria for six months, we told them we'd be coming to visit them. Actually, we would have gone to visit them wherever they went to live!

Our adventure started by going to get our very expensive yellow fever shots before we could apply for a Nigerian visa. Our next stop was at the building below, which is the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC. I went in one day during lunch time and picked up Kent so we could drop off our visa applications. We'd been told some horror stories about how long it could take to get the visas, but we were told to pick them up in exactly three weeks, and sure enough, they were ready right on time.

We flew out on a Thursday evening. Our plane was packed, mostly full of Nigerians.

When we arrived in Lagos after we went through customs we were met by some security men employed by Chevron. They waited with us until our checked bags came and until the Chevron bus came to drive us to their compound.

 We took this picture outside of the airport as we waited for the bus to come. It was so interesting to see the people walking with loads on their heads. And if you look closely you'll see that the woman with the red bag on her head has a baby strapped to her back.

It was about an hour drive from the airport to the Chevron compound. The houses on it reminded me of the Sagamihara housing area we lived on in Japan. We arrived on a Friday evening just as the Lees were sitting down to dinner. Good timing for us!

The next day we went to a conservation area near the compound. It was a lush, jungle area.

 Grace doesn't seem too sure about riding on Granddad's shoulders in this picture!

   I thought this was a cute picture of the three Lee girls.

 Here we are chilling in one of the grass huts like the one behind us in the next picture.

 We saw quite a few monkeys in the trees as we walked through the park.

As we were leaving they got more bold. You can see Sophia wasn't too thrilled to be so close to a monkey!

 Here Russ is trying to make friends, but most of us were worried they might bite and didn't get so close.

The other two animals we saw at the conservation are was peacocks,

 and this big tortoise. And that (besides seeing lots of lizards) was the extent of our African "safari"!

The next day was Easter Sunday, so we were up early and ready to go to church.

 Here's a picture of Grace in her Primary class.

 This was the only picture Adrianne could get of Sophia in with her age of Primary children. She looks so reverent!

 For the Easter program in Sacrament meeting the Bishop read from the scriptures, and the ward choir sang several songs. There wasn't a piano so the choir and congregation sang acapella. I was especially touched when the choir sang, "I Believe in Christ". Here are the girls coming out of the door of the church building.

The church members were very nicely dressed, and many members of the congregation greeted us by saying, "You are welcome."

The building was surrounded by a high wall topped with barbed wire, but the sign was the same as it is throughout the world. Some day I'll make a list of all the countries in the world where we've attended church.

 The picture below is of the street where the church was located.

 This was the scene right next door to the church, so you can see it wasn't in the most prosperous part of town.

After church we were invited to a potluck dinner that one of the families on the Chevron compound was hosting. Here's Grace letting us know she was ready to leave.

 When we got home the girls painted Easter eggs. I love they way Sophia and Grace are so focused on their eggs!

 Below is the Lees' backyard.

 I can't believe dark-haired Adri has two blonde girls!!

 If you exit the gate from their backyard, this is what the walkway looks like to go behind the other houses and to the sidewalks along the streets.

 Here are the girls ready to go to the Easter egg hunt at the community center on the compound on the Monday after Easter. Adri helped to set it up and decorate for the activity. Love the bunny ears, rain boots, and big smiles!

There were some crafts and activities for the children to do before the egg hunt.

 Grace got to paint another egg!

 Another cute photo op.

The kids from the Chevron camp lined up before the egg hunt began.

 It Grace a while to get the hang of collecting eggs. She was just glad to be there.

 Sophia knew just what to do. Notice the legs behind her; those are Kent's legs.

 He took this picture of Adri and me while we were taking pictures of Sophia.

 It was fun to help the Lee girls celebrate Easter in Nigeria!