One year in Nigeria

A night to remember

2009-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Our stay in Lagos was getting to the end. As a last memory we wanted to spend a night at the beach hoouse. We went together with the Zimburg family, Axi 7, Uli 9 and their parents Marieke and Albrecht. We had a lovely walk along the beach, the kids playing in the pool and the two fathers preparing the moskito nets for the night. The holes in the roofing where noticed and they hung the nets as best they could to avoid the worst places.

The dinner went well, barbeque and happy kids. It started to get dark so we were lighting some candles. The wind started to increase in strength so we engineered a candle holder from an empty waterbottle. The kids lit some candle in and kept under the bar to protect them from the wind.

And then came the rain. We all knew it was rainy season, but we also knew that we could be lucky and get little or no rain. We got the lot. Rain, wind, thunder and lightning. And the rain was pouring down fast and hard. We just had to try and save what could be saved. So we grabbed the bags and threw them under the bar desk to keep the bedding dry, save the cameras etc. I noticed young axi talkking about some candles, but did not pay any attention because we needed to get the stuff out of the pouring rain. Suddenly it was the smell of something burning. Fire under the bar desk. We had put some luggage over a burning candle!

The loss turned out to be three beloved pillows. The place was suddenly covered in tiny wet feathers and meltet nylon from the bags. After this shocking experience and calming down the kids, we went to find them a dry place to sleep. That was surely easier said than done.

They ended up in the storage room on top of some mattresses. Two of them with their stuffed animals. The adults had to look really hard to find somewhere dry to spend the night.
We ended up three of us sleeping on two mattresses in the shower, and one on a mattress on the toalett.

B ut we never lost our good sense of humour, we survived the night, and in the morning everything was sunny and nice again. And Olav was covered with 50 insect bites while the rest of us were spared. And all three of the kids had experienced their worst night ever.

Visit to the woodcarvers shop

2009-05-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went visiting the woodcarvers workshop. There were woodcarving in all stages going on. Some just starting out, some ready carved and being sanded, while other projects were being finished and polished.

The young men working there were sweaty. It was warm, it was stuffy, and they had hard work to do. All work were being done by hand, absolutely no help be electricity. CD racks, done by hand - a lot of work compared to the price they receive at the marked.

In the workshop there were materials and half finnished projects everywhere. For me it looked

like the total chaos, for them this were just the way things were done.

Norwegian Independence day celebrated in Lagos

2009-05-18T02:47:00.000-07:00

The Norwegian independence day is May 17th. In Lagos we celebrated it from May 16th 03.00 PM to the end of May 17th.

We started out at the StatoilHydro compound the afternoon of the 16th with champagne and fingerfood, games and competitions for the children and Hot dogs with sausages from Norway. Then we went marching and singing in our traditional May 17th parade. We left through one gate and came back again through the other. We sang our national anthem very loud and clear, before the children went to the bar for a Norwegian childrens movie and some ice cream, and the adults went to the penthouse for traditional Norwegion food. And the party lasted until 17. of May had started.

Sofie decided to go home with another Norwegian family, so she went from the party to the Chevron complex. The rest of us continued to the beach next morning for a champagne breakfast, a birthday celebration and a relaxing day at the beach.

So May 17th celebration in Lagos is strongly recommended.

Wooden stools

2009-05-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of nice and special wooden artifacts and furniture here in Nigeria. Some more practical than others. So I must admit that I have stuck to the practical ones, the one I think I can use when we go back to Norway.

I have found a really nice and gifted woodcarver (or truth be told - he found me) that are working on several objects for me. He made me a wooden bench with carvings, and so far he has delivered two wooden stools.

They both have the same carved pattern at the top, the largest is supported by 8 legs, the smaller by 6 legs. The smaller is made very dark, while the larger is lighter. Probably done with shoe polish. There will be two more so we can have 4 stools all together as extra space for guests when needed. And when not needed? They can be stacked away like a small tower, one on top the other.

According to plans a wooden chest, two more stools and a bunkbed for Sofie is to be delivered before we move home.

Tuesday night at the movies

2009-05-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

We were several people going to Silverbird movie theatre yesterday to watch the preview og Angels and deamons. But we were told that the film was cancelled.

"How can you announce a movie as a preview and then not show it?" we asked the man told to be acting manager. The answer were that they did this to create awarness of the movie. That is why they had put adverts telling everyone that the preview would be there tuesda May 12th. "But why not show it?" We kept pressuring the guy until he finally told us that they did not know where the movie was, and that they normally change programmes on Thursdays.

What movie should we watch instead? X-men? Fast and Furious? They did not seem like good alternatives so we went out and had a lovely dinner instead.

Sofie has stomach pains

2009-05-11T00:48:00.000-07:00

For the las weeks Sofie has suffered from "tummy ache". First (when I was travelling) the dad took her to the company doctor, to the hospital and they did some tests, gave her pencillin and pain killers and sent her home.

That seemed to help for a few days. Then it all came back again, and friday I spend the day at the hospital with her. Could it be amoeba? Appendix? Food poisining that do not result in vomiting or diarrhea? Side effect of the anti-malaria medicine they have put her on?

Well the took samples of blood, urine and stool friday, and today we are up for ultrasound scanning of the stomach.

Sofie normally eats breakfast at 6:15 in the morning, so now the local time is 8:55 and she is "starving" since she is not supposed to eat anything before the hospital visit today. Just hoping that the are able to find out what is causing the pain, and give her a proper treatment. ...and that we will spend just a few hours there, not the whole day.

Loosing luggage at the Lagos airport

2009-04-30T00:09:00.000-07:00

is not something you would wish upon your friends or relatives. I arrived yesterday as planned (not delayed!!!) and everything went smooth, immigration, passport and Visa check. Then I went down to wait for the luggage. To my surprise suitcases had already began arriving. And my suitcase came. I just had to wait for my second and smaller suitcase to arrive.

Next to me was a family of three travelling together. The had the largest suitcases I have ever seen. And each person had 3 suitcases. So the used three trolleys to get their luggage. In addition they had so much carry-on luggage that I wonder how they were let into the plane? Don't KLM restrict its passangers to one carry-on item? These guys had back-packs, small cabin bags and several plastic bags.

Well, I am getting off track. My second suitcase did not come. So I found KLM grouns staff. She asked me if my name were on a list she had. When I told her no, she told me that then my luggage was not missing. I showed her the luggage tag and told her that I was missing one item. I was told to wait. First after 20 minutes would she get a form and write a "Property Irregularity Report". And she did this in a manner as if she blamed me for my missing luggage. Finally I told her, that I had not misplaced my luggage, KLM had, so please change the attitude. That really did not help. Now she wrote even morre slowly on the form.

I asked what to do next. Then I was told to travel back to the airport the next day and inquire for my suitcase to check if it had arrived! KLM wanted me to spend even more time with this? "And if it is not there then?" I asked. "You keep coming back" she told me.

I really do not think so! KLM stole hours of my evening yesterday, and they are not getting my coming evenings as well. I will write to KLM in Amsterdam and ask if this is the service level they are providing. If so - I will just have to fly with someone else.

To buy a bench

2009-03-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

A while ago I met a salesman at the beach. The fact is I see them at the beach every Sunday, selling table cloths, jewellery, bath towels, bags, and different kind of woodcarvings. Sofie has bought a large collection of wooden animals, and Olav has bought some magical tables.

Well, this particular Sunday I bought a picture. The seller were selling wooden pictures with sand (some were incredible ugly!) and I liked his saxophone playing man. He told me he was selling this for his brother. A brother here is not the same as a brother in Norway, were you share at least one parent to term someone a brother. Here a brother can be a distant relative or a man from the same tribe. But that’s enough about brothers for now. The price for this relatively small picture, were far to high, so the bargaining lasted a long time before he sold it for 2000 Naira.

In Nigeria they are experts in asking all kind of irrelevant questions while bargaining, or giving out their life story so we could fill the conversation with something else than just the naked numbers. It turned out that this guy were a furniture carpenter – and had his portfolio documented with photos in two albums he had between all the pictures. He showed me the pictures, while we were still bargaining for the picture.

After having paid for the picture and put it away, I collected a bottle of water for the man, and went back to look in his other album with his production documented. Suddenly, on one of the pictures were my bench! Just like I would like it to be, so perfect. I became so enthusiastic that I accepted his price 30.000 Naira without hesitating. We worked out the details, how wide, were to carve, how tall the back should be, were to deliver it, exchange phone numbers etc. When this was done the man looked at me and told me I had confused him. Why bargain so hard, from 7000 –to 2000 Naira for the picture and not bargain at all for the bench? Why? I told him the truth that the bench were worth 30.000 Naira to me, something the picture were not.

I must admit when I returned to the coffee table and enthusiastically told the rest of the gang about the bench, they all agreed that I had made a mistake. “You are probably paying1/3 to much. ” Well, possible they are right – I do believe they are. But what a bench!
When I also told them that I had paid 5000 Naira in advance for material, some of the experienced long timers were visible sceptical. And I must admit I seriously doubted my own decision – but it was to late to change it anyway. And I though how much work all that carving would be, and that he had a family to feed. And I knew that a lot of the local craftsmen are hardly able to feed themselves and their family. So I was OK with the deal. And he had told me that the money would be used to buy dry wood so it would not crack.

We agreed that he would deliver the bench in 6 weeks. Based on my experiences here – I interpreted it to mean at least twelve weeks. Tuesday – just two weeks later he called me that he would come to my with a delivery “Wednesday –tomorrow” he said. Woaw! A Nigerian craftsman delivering earlier than agreed upon! That must be the first time ever.

So I was at home at the agreed time, eagerly waiting. 16.15 he came to my door. But he did not bring my bench! Instead he came with a magical stool. And he wanted 20.000 Naira for it. I have lived in Lagos since August, and was obviously naive believing my time of big surprises were gone. So wrong!

I firmly told him that my interest in magical stools were non-existing even if they are nicely carved and from one piece of dried wood out of Gambia. His work were simply beautiful, and I did want them, but not under these circumstances. I told him very clearly that I only wanted my bench like we had agreed. He kept asking my if the magic stool was pretty, and I said yes. It was very pretty, but I did not want to buy it. He did not understand my logic, I did not understand his. Coming with something else than what we agreed upon?

I spent the next 15 minutes getting him and his magical stool out of my apartment while he was working his price downwards all the time. “18.000 Naira ma’am? You want it for 18.000?” When we had reached the gate he were at 15.000 Naira and I was rather stressed.

It turned out that the “furniture man” had used the money I gave him to buy the wood he had carved the magical chair from. And now he needed 5000 Naira for material for my bench. So against little warning voices inside my head, and a louder warning voice from my neighbour and HR manager Henrik, I paid the man 5000 Naira a second time as advance to cover the cost of the material for the bench.

This I told my colleagues in Norway in an e-mail Friday that week. And I received a lot of comments and it seemed like they all agreed upon me being surprisingly naïve, and that I would never see the man again, and not receive the bench. So I must admit I was a bit curious whether I had lost 500 kroner and learned a lesson – or if I would receive the lovely bench from the picture.

Thursday last week the phone rang again. (I has done that in the meantime also– sure – but not with the caller ID “Furniture guy”.) He told me that my bench were ready and asked if Friday 4 would be a convenient time for me to receive it. If so, he and his apprentice would bring it.

Friday – just after 4 security called me and asked if I expected a carpenter with a bench. I confirmed and a few minutes later he was at my door with the bench. And it is just so beautiful. Sofie was thrilled with the giraffes, elephants and rhinoceros carved out on its sides, and the rose in the middle of it back. I will soon post a photo on it, I just need a bit of better bandwidth to do it, so maybe another day I will be lucky. To day – I only get timed out!

And else – the bench provided a sudden scent of newly shined shoes to our flat. This is because here they treat the wood with shoe polish and polishes it till it shines. Something else is that black shoe polish is used to “convert” normal wood to mahogany for gullible tourists. That gives at least the triple price and is well worth the effort-.

And then we found a dead man

2009-03-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

I normally walk around our little peninsula a couple of times a week. Sometimes I walk to work, and some times I walk home from work. To me walking is a good way to reflect over a problem, or to put a problem away before coming home. A bit of fresh air and some movements after a long day in an office chair works well.

Last wednesday I walked home with my daughter who were visiting from London. We had walked our way along Bourdillon road, Alexander avenue and were heading towards Banana Island wehn we noticed that the man we had seen around and under the "home-made plastic tent" were laying in a rather strange position. So we walked around his plastic covering and could see from the colour of his face that he was dead.

Since my daughter had a short time left in the country and were leaving that afternoon, I took the chance that some of all the locals passing by would do something. They did not...as far as I know.

When Rigmor had left for the airport, I tried the security guards at our compound. But guess what - they were only responsible for the security from our gate and in the compound. So basically - they could not care less. So I walked to the main gate and talked with the security people over there - knowing that they are responsible for the security on the whole of Banana Island. Much the same story. From their place we could even see the place where he was still laying. "Dead is dead and no security risk to us" were their responce.

Finally I talked to a member of the Nigerian Police Force. A nice gentleman I have chatted with earlier on (motobikes, soccer, tattos and music). He seemed very uncomfortable with the situation. He understood that I thought he should do something, and he clearly wanted to - but were still rather reluctant and slow. After using a bit of persuation and begging for help he agreed to call some local authorities if he could use my phone. His had no credit left, he claimed.

Well I let him borrow my phone. And while he were talking I noticed the stream of people just passing by the corps not doing anything. To me this was amazing. Some just looked at him, and the walked on - others clearly tried to avoid seing him. It was a chilling experience.

But after talking to local people and people who have lived here for many years I have a better understanding of some of the drivers that prevent you from doing anything, and I understand the meaning of the question the policeman asked me: "Did you touch him?" No I did not, and it turns out that if I had indeed touched him, his relatives could claim I had harmed him and demanded me to pay for the funeral or pay them damage for harming the body. This also explain how a man knocked down and killed on the road just outside our office were left were he fell on the road for hours without anybody moving the body to the the side or off the street - but just covered him partly with some cardboard while they took care of his bike.

The other driver is the reputation of the police. I have now heard stories of people who have reported the findings of dead body to the wrong policemen. They ended up spending hours in the local police station answering questions not even remotely relevant for the case (at least not in our way of thinking). I heard about a German guy who was told to write down all the cities with dates for when he had visited them - the last five years! Not at all an easy task to do for the last year. And the relevance for the dead body? May be to check with Interpol if this guy has a habit of reporting dead people wherever he goes?

After this experience I have asked our local security coordinator at work to give us a briefing on how to deal with a situation like this. His response were great. We just call him - and he will fix it for us.

And friday - the body were gone. I assume someone finally picked him up and got him removed.

Football (soccer for those far far west)

2009-02-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

Today was the day when I would finally go to a local football match. I had wanted to do this for a while but my dear husband is not a football fan, the security responsible told me that a Nigerian Football Stadion was no place for a woman to be alone - so then I had to invite some of my male colleguaes. Luckily - three og them were interested enough to join me. Thanks to Niels, Arne Gunnar and Stein Erik!

Before we left for the game we had a short briefing with security coordinator. He informed us that we would have to bring a police escorts, two policemen. The would be discrete - and not draw any attention towards us. We would not need that being the only four white ones in the stadium area! We were also lucky that the assigned driver came with us to watch the match - so the pick-up after the game were easy. We were also priced for our ability to dress "unattractive" - which I believe was meant to be a good thing.

On the picture: Arne Gunnar, Niels, Sylvester and Stein Erik.

The match was played at Onikan Stadium Ikoyi, Lagos so it was only 15 minutes drive from the office. We arrived shortly after 3pm and took a walk towards the area with seats. The tickets were in two price ranges - 50 Naira or 100 Naira. We went for 100 Naira seats so we could sit in the shadows and watch the game. We were seated all the way back so we could have a good view and some chill from the fresh air.

When we walked towards our seats we came across what I assume must be the VIP area. Leather chairs and tiled steps. It must have been fantastic some years ago.

Well the staion was worn down, and it was small for a match in first division - it seems to be to little room for the players to play! But it was still fun - and some variations from other saturday activities.

Todays match were between First Bank of Lagos and Benin Insurance of Benin city. When we arrived I asked the locals who would win - they all replied Benin. But the better team won - First Bank 1 - 0.

And the condition the played under were the same for both teams. A grassfield without grass in central areas for the game, uneven, slightly bumpy ground that made the ball bounce in peculiar ways from time to time. But some of the players were falling to easy and staying on the ground to long. If I had been the referee I would have carded them for "filming".

Not to far from us - actually just in front of us to the left, were two trompet players and three men to play the drums. And they played and played for the complete 2 X 45 minutes! Amazing stamina! And they made it look so easy. Watching the game while playing trumpet.

Law and order in Lagos

2009-02-25T04:25:00.001-08:00

The population is informed of new laws and stronger enforcement of existing laws by several media. This is from one of the local newspapers yesterday.

In Lagos there are many beggars and they slow down the traffic. There have been signs posted with "No begging" but there will be people begging next to the sign. No several of the most busy roads are off limit for the beggars, and it is also illegal to give money to them. So now I would risk one month in the local jail for giving money to children begging in the street.

It is hard to understand the need for these laws if you have not been here. While we drive in the traffic I am worried that some children begging will be hit and killed by the passing cars and motorbikes. The traffic is so crowded and the beggars are not aware of their security risk. If they get eye contact with a passanger they just rush out into the traffic in the hope of getting some money.

If you are hanging around a shopping centre or a central road you can risk 3 months to one year in prison if you can not document why yiou are there and what you do for a living.
The streets and open areas of Lagos are often littered with empty plastic bags, bottles, paper etc and there is a sanitation day once a month where people try to clean up the mess. Now there is a fine for littering, I just hope that the authorities will innstall trash cans of one sort or another for people to dispose of their garbage.
As I have mentioned on my blog before, there is as far as I know no puplic restrooms. We see people urinating against walls, sitting on the edge of the bridge "defecating" into the lagoon or from the walkways into the open sewer systems. I guess this will still be a problem except for the Central business district of Lagos.

Due to the unemployment rate and extreme poverty people are setting up their small one-man-business along the road, where they can reach customers with hteir services. You will find people taking passport photos, fixing motorbikes, sewing clothes, cooking a meal and sell flowers and drinks along the roads. They will now have to do this without any shade to protect them from the sun, or to advertise their business from.

It is a difficult issue, since I do understand that the authorities try to do something with the problem. My question is - Is this the way to solve the problem?

The Tarzan ferry

2009-02-23T01:45:00.000-08:00

Tarzan is the name of a local "ferry" crossing from Ikoyi to Lekki. A short distance with boat - a potential long one by road with the unpredictable Lagos traffic.

The ferry can cross your car and a few more over, while you go into a smaller paasanger boat that cross the passangers over. We enjoyed the short boat ride friday evening, thinking of the long time saved by not taking the car. The small boat had four people per bench, and were filled completely when we crossed. We were all given life jackets to take on, but not all of them could be fastened properly.

After the boatride, when you leave the boat and the life jacket, you pay for the trip. Total cost 50Naira per person. I know I would like to take the ferry next time I am going shopping at Lekki, the problem were getting from the ferry to the shopping centre in a safe way.

Small World - Big Party

2009-02-23T01:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday we left to take part in a charity fundraising at the British International School in Lagos. It was called "Small world - big party". Everyone payd for the tickets in advance, and food items were sponsored by different national and international organizations and corporations. When we had entered the premisses everything were free.

So we went around and looked at food and drinks and entertainment, talked to people and enjoyed ourself the whole evening. But we were very careful were to take food, and where to avoid.

At the end there were different nations presenting entertainment from their local representatives. we had it all from American cheerleeding to Palestinian men dancing a traditional dance, contemporary dance performances following traditional folk dance.

The writing on the wall

2009-02-12T06:12:00.000-08:00

When out driving or walking in Lagos you see a lot of writing on the walls. Some places you see "This property is not for sale", other places you se adverts for plumber or electricians just by the words "Fix your plumbing" followed by a cell phone number. Other places you are informed of events going to happen. But the writing on this blue gate confused me. If the property has been taken by the court order - this should not be of interest for everyone. I would guess that creditors, former owner and potential new owner should be informed. But the rest of us? Why not send a letter to the involved parties?

Another common text is "Do not urinate here". That is written on many walls in this town. First I found this rather peculiar - but after seen where and how many people are urinating along walk ways, not hiding away at all - I would prefere it if someone put up some facilities and wrote "Please - Urinate here!".

Fences, gates and walls of Lagos

2009-02-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been walking to the office. It is only 5 kilometers, but the walk is nice in the morning, still a bit to warm when it's time to go home. In Lagos I have noticed that everything is fenced in. Mostly different brick or concrete walls are surrounding the compounds and villas of Ikoyi and Victoria Island. And the are not very friendly or inviting - it is a clear message to keep out.

Different methods are used to keep visitors away. At home some places I have noticed a sign stating that unwanted visitors are not welcome. I immidiately feel unwanted and go somewhere else. May be signs does nor work here in Lagos?

Well, to day I took Sofie's small camera with me when I went to work. Example number 1 - of not very friendly walls. A spiral of barbed wire are attached to the top of a rather tall wall. Well, I do not want to try to get over the wall for sure. Barbed wires are used a lot, but often they are stretched out in neat rows, 3 - 5 under each other. I guess it is harder to cut when it is not streched out and lined up.

Exampel number 2 is more used, and probably a much cheaper way of preventing someone climbing over your wall. Pieces of bottles, smashed and worked into the concrete.

Example 3: is rusty iron spikes on top of a tall wall. And they had a very uneven surface as well. So it is definately not something you would like to hold on to.

And it is not only the walls that are protected - this gate has an uneven zig zag of triangles on top to prevent a climb-over.

The winner - metall spikes in several directions attached to the wall. In addition I could hear som rather large dogs( according to the barking I assume the are large - no high pitched barking there) on the inside. I must admit - that this wall would be the one I had chosen if I wanted to bring a tadder and climb up and take a look at what was on the inside. But I will not do it - out of respect for our company's security guys. But when someone goes to this steps to keep people away - then I get curious - away from what?

Safari in Welgevonden-Waterberg

2009-01-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the Clearwater lodges 28.12.2008. We spent two days at the Kudu lodge and three days at Thsethsepi lodge. Two good but different lodges. The Kudu lodge were on a large open savanne where Zebras, wildebeest and warthogs were plenty, and were we saw elephants and a jackal. The Thsethsepi lodge were at a stream with lots of shrubs and threes and we experienced baboons and monkeys and klippspringers.

We have been in Madikwe last year, but this was a different experience since the landscape were so different. In Waterberg there were mountains and valleys, and we never knew what would be around the next bend.

For us it was a lot to learn. Neither Olav or I knew how good elephants were at walking in the mountains. At one occacion the ranger stopped his car and sain elephants. We all looked to some trees close by believing that they were hiding there. Instead they were above us, almost at the top of the mountain, a big herd. We could see them moving around, we heard them breaking down threes and saw some of them climbing upwards with ease.

Ever since I was a girl I have wanted to see a dassie. I read about them on some animal-cards I used to collect. And I was facinated by the idea that these small animals were the closest relatives of the elephant! So last year we went looking for dassies on Table mountain were it is said that they were easy to spt. When we did not spot any we were told it was because we were there on such a cold day. The same happened this year so I had given up the hope of seeing one. Then one evening on our way home from a game drive I saw something cat sized move on a cliff. The ranger reversed the car and then I saw this big Guineapig shaped animal that moved around on the rocks! It was a Dassie. And then we all saw more of them. I still can not believe that they are at all related to the elephant. But they were fun to watch, they were active and moved around and seemed to have a good time.

Christmas vacation

2009-01-11T23:12:00.000-08:00

Since we are living in Africa - our choices for Christmas would be going home to Norway and celebrate the Christmas there - or going somewhere else and celebrate the Christmas. We decided to go to South Africa. We were there last year with our three daughters and our son-in-law and had a good time. So this year we went only the three of us, Olav, Monica and Sofie.

We started out in Cape Town. The two Oceans Aquarium were great for Sofie, and we spent our first afternoon there. She enjoyed taking me to the aquarium were Olav took her last year. So she showed me all the things she enjoyed last year, and found some new exhibition, or alternatively, some she had forgotten. Small colourful fish is still much more interesting than the predators. Starfish you can hold and colourful creatures are on the top of her list.

The 23. we went to Kirstenbosch botanical garden and enjoyed the weather, the smells, the view and the plants. A great place were I would like to return and take a closer look at all the parts of the garden we did not visit this time. We spent our time in the medicin garden and the herb section as well as taking a walk around the garden looking at the pond, and the threes.

Lunch we spent at Bertha's in Simonstown. The food were good but service was very slow..... Sofie had been looking forward to a visit to Scratch Patch in Simonstown, and begged for the biggest plastic bag to fill with beautiful rocks or "gems" when we got there. She enjoyed filling up the bag, and spent close to two hours there doing so. i guess when there are soooo many rocks, you take a longer time than if there were fewer.

Then we drove north towards Kalk Bay and had a nice stroll there enjoying the small town before we went back to our hotel.

Since we were away for Christmas we had opened the Christmas gifts just before we left, and agreed that while on vacation we would get one gift each. Olav and Sofie had bought me a picnic backpack for Christmas, and now they wanted me to open the gift before Christmas so we could go on a Picnic. I did, and the hotel prepared a lovely picnic meal for us and we went to Table Mountain. The weather had changed a bit - and it was cold at the top of table Mountain. Young Sofie insisted on us enjoying a picnic outside, on the mountain, instead of going to the restaurant. So we tried to find a small corner with some shelter for the wind were we ate our food and had some orange juice. Olav had a bottle of wine with him, but it was so cold that none of us wanted a glass of wine with the food. But again the weather changed and we went for a walk. Sofie were eager and wanted a long walk. Not at all a bad way to spend the day before Christmas.

Christmas eve we spent at restaurant called Hildebrand. It was at the waterfront, easy to find. We had good food and wine and a good service from experienced waiters. A place to recommend for sure.

From Cape Town we went to Franshhoek. There were so many wineries and top restaurants in that little town, that it made it very difficult to choose were to go! 8 out of the top ten restaurants in South Africa is in Franschhoek! Well, we had a lovely time, and walkingdistance to everything - even if the locals told us that it was to far to walk.

Christmas season

2008-12-18T02:06:00.000-08:00

I do remember from when we lived in Texas that Christamas started a bit earlier than in Norway, and that is also the fact here in Nigeria. I was away a week in November and when I returned tha office builing were decorated both inside and outside to bring some Christmas feelings.

In roundabouts, otside and inside shopping centers, at the entrance to our compund, everywhere you find Christmas trees, Santa Claus with or without reindeer.

Coca Cola has adapted their Santa Claus to local conditions, the Afro Santa. Sofie were a bit confused of this in the beginning when she first noted the advertisements. Then she has been giving it some thoughts and came to the conclusion that the population in Africa is so big, and the climate so warm, that the ols Santa on the North Pole can not take on the responsibilities for all the continents in the world, so probably there is a Chinese Santa and an Indian Santa as well.

We were out looking for local produced Christmas decorations, and managed to find a few little men and women in traditional clothes to hang on a tree. But most Christmas decoration is imported (from China! of course). And in one of the local malls we found a poster stated that upstairs they were selling Christmas decorations from Ikea. I had to take a look. And the prices!!! there must be some heavy tolls on those decorations - they were at least double the price of what I would pay in Stavanger. But Sofie really needed some Christmas stuff in the flat. so I ended up with a few candle holders and candles.

Gone fishing

2008-12-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

While Marte were here, and Sofie had half a day off from school I took them to the beach to enjoy the day off. Sofie brought two of her friendds, Axi and Ofer. The kids played in the pool, argued a little, ate some food and had a great time.

Then the action started. The local fishers were working to get their net ashore. That was interesting and the kids took off to watch, and then to help. It was hard work, pulling the rope inch by inch when the net was several hundred meters out in the ocean. And it took quit a while before the first part of the net came close to shore.

Marte and Axi were the two most dedicated helpers, Sofie and Ofer tired of the fishing before the net came ashore - their interest were 15 minutes and then back to the pool. Marte and Axi kept pulling the rope until the net came. Then more experienced hands were needed

Men went into the water to secure the catch, and the enthusiasm were visible when this fish were carried ashore. That could provide needed money for the community.
When the net were all on the shore the women picked fish form the net and the fish were divided between the different families. On the picture you see Axi and Marte picking sardines from the beach.

The mistery of the missing Munchies

2008-12-01T05:16:00.001-08:00

Sofie's class at school had a performance just before Thanksgiving. the children had practised and costumes were made. The families were told to bring food to share. Sofie chose a taco dish and were very proud when it arrived at school.

Marte was visiting from Norway, and came to school to see her sister play. We had some excitement in the car going there - Lagos traffic is unpredictable - and sudddenly there were absolutely no movement from the cars in 10 minutes. I visualised my poor daughter performing with no parents present! But suddenly traffic started to move again and we made in just in time.

Their teacher had arranged the classroom with a stage, with small chairs for the fellow students from the same grade level at school, a decorated thanksgiving table and chairs for the parents. A curtain were covering the scene.

Only one or two of the boys had a sudden stage fright blocking their memory for all lines, and were helped by the teachers. The rest of the students did fine! And they were so cute. That teacher for sure has the ability to bring out the best in the children.

The village children

2008-11-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

Every sunday when we go to the beach we meet some of those living in the village. They come to the small pier to carry our coolers to the beach hut. We have stayed in the beach hut overnight once, and got to know a few of the villagers a bit better. The daughter of chief Big john, Fatima is always asking for Sofie if she is not present at the beach. On the photo you can see Fatima with her daughter and Sofie - from sunday.

We went to the beach to take a few pictures of Sofie to prepare for the task of making Christmas cards. On the beach we ran into these three young boys.

When the day at the beach comes to an end and we are heading back down to the pier all the children in the villages comes running to join us. Some of the little ones wants to hold our hands while walking. Sofie has learned by know that she is a popular figure when it comes to holding hands, and some of the children calls out her name to get her attention. To them she must be close to a princess - she don't have to work, she can swim in the swimmingpool, she can drink water from bottles and have cans of juice - all in one day! And she has several outfits. Sunday this little girl was quick to walk over to Sofie to hold her hand. And Sofie took her time walking in the pace of the little one.

I rarely bring my camera to the beach, but this sunday I did. And I carried it so it was visible. The result was that the kids started posing for me. Particular these three little boys. They ran in front of me and posed. The one in the yellow Liverpool t-shirt were very charming and used all his charm to get my attention.

The pier is a good plays for the children to be Sunday afternoon - they know they will receive a treat before they return home. It is not easy for the little ones to get their fair share - and the older kids - particular a few of the boys are very cunning when it comes to get their hands on some candy. Here most of the kids are gathered to be a part of the photo.

It is very obvious that these kids are used to work and help out in the village. We se them carry water, dig up roots, peel vegetables, babysit younger children, climed the palmtrees to get coconuts. This little girl is carrying a younger sibling, even though she is not very old herself.

Carnival at the school - fund raising

2008-11-15T08:11:00.001-08:00

November 8th were the BIG day - the fund raising activities the children looked forward to. Raffles, jumping castle, throwing wet sponges at teachers, and so many more activities. We came when it all started, and stayed almost to the end, and Sofie were not bored for 5 minutes.

In addition there were music and dance performed by students at the school.

Surfing - or playing on and with a surfboard

2008-11-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we were invited to join some friends to a beach used by Lagos Yacht Club, Agogo beach. The ride from the Yacht Club to the beach were fairly short in a small open motorboat. There were plaenty of trees giving good shade for the sun, it was nice and warm and we were in a good company with Marike and Albricht and their two sons Axi and Uli.

Sofie were a bit reluctant to swim in the water to strat with, and walked about with shoes and socks on for at least an hour before she finally gave in and went swimming. She had great fun playing with the boys and in the end she were able to swim out and enter the surfboard.

Furniture - to be continued - it seems

2008-10-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

Well - good news, some of the furniture has arrived! Sofie has received a pretty desk in dark wood, made from scratch. Good work, nice drawers and absolutely perfect size for her. And she has received a shelf for her bathrooms items. And again - good work, nice shelf.

But - where is our bathroom shelf? And the furniture for the veranda? Wonder how many "two - weeks we need to go through before they eventually turn up.

The shelf to organise the closet has arrived, and was totally wrong for the purpose - you have to stack the items sideways into it! Really hard work to get anything in or out! It will need to be re-done.

i was told that it is not allowed to import furnitures into Nigeria. And first i thought it made sense with an internal marked of 148 million people. But after the experience of getting furniture - these guys needs some competition! Someone who can deliver on time and cost and quality.

Fishing net

2008-10-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

In Nigeria and other African countries they have a special fishing net, that we do not use in Norway. It is circalur, and thrown out from a small boat. At the end of the circle- the bottom -lead is attached to make it sink quickly. When they pull the net, it shapes itself like a big bag - holding onto the fish.

from our veranda we have the view of small boats with 1 - 3 fishermen onboard going into the Lekki Lagoon fishing. I often run for my camera - but changing temperatures from the airconditioned flat to the warm veranda leads to dew on the lense. Sso I have not got a good fishing picture myself yet. By searching google Photo I found one that can illustrate the fishing method.

And why am I suddenly writing about fishing nets? I grew up partly on Danish farmland and partly along the coas¨tal line of western Norway, so fishing was one of my childhood activities - and still something I enjoy today.Here in Lagos I am not allowed by security officers in my company to ask the local fishermen to take me out fishing - so I will not do that - but it would be great fun.

I have been trying to get a fishing net like this for my father, who also loves fishing. But I have not been able to get hold on one on the markeds or in the shops. So I ended up asking Big John, a local chief, if he knew how to buy a fishing net. He said he would fix it all for me.

The procurement and production of this net tells a stor of developmental level and economic development of Nigeria. Step one - ask someone he knew if they could make it and get a price.
This misson was carried out and he reported back to me that this could be done and ad estimated price. Then a couple of weeks later there was a need to by the lead - so he needed advanced payment for that. Then this friday - the net was ready and presented. We got to see how to throw the net, and it landet in a nice circle in the sand on the beach.

And I have advanced one more item on my list of christmas gifts.

Nigerian Culture Day at the school

2008-10-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sofie has been looking forward to the Nigerian Culturday all week. So today, she dressed in the Nigerian outfit her nanny Joy has made her for the occation. Joy arrived a bit early this morning and made sure that Sofie was properly dressed and fixed her headband. There were a slight issue with Sofie demanding to wear sock and shoes instead of sandals, but you don't mess with a tired Sofie - we let her wear black dress shoes and white socks.

The whole school was colourful wearing clothing today, staff, students and parents. In the picture you see grade 2 sitting and watching a horseshow on the soccerfields. Some of the parents had even taken the traditional Nigerian head wraps on, and that made a difference for sure. So many colourful hat-like head wraps I have never seen in one place before.

When we arrived at school it was decorated beyond recognition. Leafs from the Coconut palm tree made a new entrance. When we came to the school court female musicians where sitting there whith their rythmic instruments playing.

The tenniscourts were turned into a marked place today, and the student got to practice their negotiations skills - making good bargains with the traders.

Here we are

2008-10-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

I have been asked a couple of times now, to be more specific on where we live, people can't find it on maps. Well, that is probably because there are few maps over the area available on web tools. The beach you see on the satelite photo is the coast line. The right hand side of the beach is Victoria Island where the financial activities, shops, and schools are. Where you see the little blue baloon with an A on, is Ikoyi. That is the island where the Nigerian oil company and Statoil has their offices. From Ikoyi an artificial island is build, shaped as a banana? and given the name Banana Island. We live in the western part of Banana Island, with a great view over the lagoon and to mainland Lagos.

Our neighbourhood consists of apartment blocks and churches. Some big, well funded chirches sponsored by European or American churches, other more locally funded. One of the later is found quite close to where we live. Music and singing heard early in the mornings. Plastic chairs and plastic church in use with an enthusiastic user group. Very loud music from such a small church.

Situated close to a roundabout with heavy trafic is another church which has caught my attention - based on the cool name. The Church of the Assumption. To me that is summing up perfectly what churches and religion is all about.

Well back to our neighbourhood. From the veranda we can see the local fishermen taking their small boats out in the lagoon chasing after fish and shrimps so they can feed their normally large families. Some morning I am wondering why I am not out there fishing instead of fighting trafic, going to the office. But given the numbers of fishers out there and the price of fish - I would guess that there already is a shortage of fish compared to fishers. So I better stay in the office and buy fish from them.

2008-09-29T02:29:00.000-07:00

We do live in the tropical rainforest. It is just a bit hard to nitice when it has been turned into hauses and roads. Yesterday we went to Lekki Conservation Centre where a tiny bit of the tropical rainforest is preserved. We were looking at mangrove trees and strangler figs.

When animals eat the fruit from the strangler figs, seeds are passed out in the droppings and ends up on a branch in a tree. When the seeds germinates and sends roots downwards they establish themselves in the existing tree, and will eventually strangle and kill the tree, and win the race for light.

Sofie was very fascinated by gekkos and lizards of every kind. She stopped at each and everyone we passed on our way. It did not matter that we have the same lizards and gekkos at Banana Island close to our home.

We did hear the monkeys and feel their presence several time, but there were only one spot were we could see several of them clearly. They kept their distance. One of the monkeys were curious of Sofie and came closer and closer to watch her when we moved a bit away. But when she took out the camera it went back to the top of the tree. We did get a few pictures, but not any good ones. When we stopped to watch some young monkeys in a tree, the mother hid and startet to make a lot of noices so we should turn the focus towards her. Even if we were aware of this old trick, it worked. We just had to see where she were - and the kids hid.

Lekki Conservation Centre had well developed trails above the ground so we could walk safely in the swamp areas. But half of the area had thei walk way flooded so we need to come back another time, after the end of the rainy season to see the rest.

Procurement of furniture

2008-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

We moved here in august to a ready furnitured flat. There are always little things lacking like a desk for the childs room, some shelfes for the bathroom and some furniture to relax in on our veranda.
Our company set up a meeting with a lady from a furniture shop the have a frame agreement with. She came to our flat and took measurements and notes and promised that she could deliver this within 2 weeks. This is 6 weeks ago - and I was done waiting. So yesterday i visited procurement, to get to know when something would happen. They called the lady, and the answer was - she could deliver in two weeks time! Procurement seemed very happy with the answer - but I had to ask how we would know that 2 weeks were 2 weeks and not some vague date in a distant future. They got a bit upset with me for asking this from our vendor. I guess it is awfully Norwegian of me to believe and demand that people keep their promises when it comes to deadlines?

A trip to the beach

2008-09-08T03:24:00.000-07:00

The company has rented a place on a beach for us, where we can go and relax on the sundays. Yesterday we joined the others for a trip to the beach. Sofie was a bit sceptical to spending the whole day there, but she enjoyed every minute of it as far as I could see.

There were local craftsmen there selling their tablecloths, skirt, paintings, sword and knives, wooden boxes and elephants etc and Sofie ended up with a rather big wooden elephant. And she has learned to bargain, and got it for a fair price. Its now in our living room.

We also bought a big tablecloth in nice colours with houses and trees on. We liked it because it reminded us both of the drawings of Dr. Seuss. Sofie wanted it on the table when we got back to the flat.

But I had some learning point before the next beach outing:
- buy plastic plates
- buy plastic cups and glass

and do remember
- your coffee
- and sausages for Sofie.

We are greatful than more experienced beach people saved us with coffe and plates. A great thank you to Randi.

Otherwise - being the only child at the beach with no one to play with could become boring. Sofie were so lucky that some of my collegues took her down and into the big waves (To big for her to play in alone) and that she could swim in a swimmingpool owned by a Norwegian couple who had their beach house not far from us.

Our shipment har arrived!

2008-09-03T02:44:00.000-07:00

After waiting for two weeks, our shipment arrived Friday. Hurray! I hurried home from work, the local movers carried the boxes in to the flat and made me sign heaps of papers. Neither Norwegian nor American bureaucracy can compete with the Nigerian one. But still happy - soon we would have our stuff. Sofie had missed her Lego and her Play station, and she was looking forward for them to arrive.

I started rigging the computer, and what an amazing sight! I had never seen anything like it. All the cables, the mouse, the web camera, the wireless internet connector were all tangled up in one big messy heap. It took quite some time to untangle. Have the guys packing never heard about packing units like this one and one? I was starting to fear that this was pure laziness. For me it is important to state that this was done in Stavanger, by the moving company chosen by the company I work for, it was not a local Nigerian company. To me, their work seemed very well executed. The local movers looked also rather shocked when the cords were unpacked, but were far to polite to say anything.

The big LCD screen were wrapped in two layers of bubble wrap and shipped. So when it was unpacked and turned on, it was not a big shock for me to see that the screen was broken - I almost anticipated in when I saw how it was wrapped. Oh, how I envy those who use a moving company that would put the screen in a best possible fitting cardboard box and fill it with chips to protect it while shipping.

Our wireless printer was shipped with the ink cartridges inside. I guess I am partly to blame here, assuming that the people sent to my house to pack my electronic equipment would know what they were doing. An assumption I will never again have. I guess that was being over the limit naive. ALMOST everyone knows that the air pressure in an aircraft is different from on the ground. ALMOST everyone I know have experienced ball point pen having ruined clothes if they have been stupid enough to send a shirt with a pen in the pocket in a suitcase (well some are some so stupid that they learn slow - so I myself have experienced it twice). I assumed that this was common knowledge for moving companies that are supposed to deal with air shipment for big companies. So Sofie’s wireless Lexmark arrived filled with ink from the cartridges squashed into every possible hole in the printer. (In case you wonder - it becomes a sticky brown fluid after air travel and the two weeks in custom.) Off course we tried to clean it. But now the printer is declared "death by airfreight". But then again - a printer is easy to get, you can buy the several places in Lagos, so that is not that bad. But it can easily be prevented.

What is really annoying, and partly tragic is the lack of cables to the play station. We have received the hand controls, the Buzz control, the dance mat, the sing star microphones and the memory card and the play station 2 box. But the person packing this has detached the box from the cables, instead of detaching the cables from TV and electrical sockets on the wall. Imagine packing the play station without cables for electricity? Is this laziness or incompetence? Or both? Based on my experience - packing a play station with all relevant parts are so easy that a seven year old can do it. They do not end up in grand mother’s house without the power cable!

What really annoys me is when I reported this to the moving company they respond by sending me a form that they will send to an insurance company and then transfer some money to my bank account.

No understanding of what they do to other peoples property by not having proper routines and training can not just be paid by money. In my opinion - the person who have packed this should be sent shopping for a new screen and the necessary cables to the play station and then shipping it down here with a 24 hours shipping service and a big "Sorry".
And may be use a competent moving company to ship it for them?

But as young Sofie said; "Good for us that we packed the Lego's our self mum, so they haven’t destroyed them". In this setting I chose not to tell her that Lego are carefully constructed so even a Gorilla playing around with them could not break it.

Next time we move the moving company can handle the Lego's, roller-skates, books, DVD's and CD, and stuffed animals. They were capable of that. But my electronics - a moving company will never-ever be allowed to touch without myself supervising them.

Internett

2008-09-03T02:38:00.000-07:00

Internet has been non/existing in our flat. We have now been without Internet connection the last two weeks(well not entirely true, we were online thursday evening last week and three minutes monday thsi week). In my humble opinion part of the problems are that the owners of our building has made the business decesion to stick to one provider instead of letting the providers compete. To me this seems to be a far from smart move, particalarly when the speed of the "broadband" connection reminds me of a 64Kb modem I used to love.

But then again - we do have electricity (most of the time) and the water is running, both the warm and the cold.

Signing up for after school activities

2008-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

This week it was time to sign the children up for after school activities. I arrived at the school early because I needed to get an ID card. And that was lucky, because know I know what it is to get in line and wait here. At the school the line formed before 1:30 for a sign up event that started 2:25. The line was not too long when I joined, but it quickly grew very long. And that was when the rather nasty show started - mums behaving real bad!
One mother had placed her nanny in the line, and when time to enter the gym for signing up came closer, she exchanged place with her nanny. I did not have a problem with that. But when she invited several of her friends in at the front of the line - I did find that unethical, but kept quit.
As the tension increased, people skipped forward in the line, they joined anyone vagely familiar to get ahead of those who waited as you are supposed to do in a line. But the worst part was not this, it happened inside the gym.

The mums rushed towards the tables where coaches were waiting, to sign their kids on to the different activities. At the Karate table were I headed it was not bad at all, and I signed Sofie up for karate. Then I took a deep breath and headed for the swimming table, waited together with some other polite mothers for the sign up sheet to be ready for signing up. I suceeded for one day. But I had the experience of being handed the sheet from the lady in front of me, ready to sign on, a lady next to me snapped it out of my hands and wrote down several names while she was screaming her success across the room for a friend to be updated, and have the friend sign her kids on that activity. Then I got the paper back and could sign on Sofie's name.

My conclusion is, that the kids with the meanest, bad behaviored mums can go to 5 after school activities, while other kids can go to zero. I am lucky that I arrived so early so Sofie could join after school activities, but for next term I am considering hiring a big, strong bodyguard to sign her up for activities and fend of the bad behavioring mums.

I must add, that most of them behaved like me, waited, formed lined and acted as expected. But for the rest - I wish I had brought my videocamera, then I should have "You-tubed" them. I sincerely hope they don't train their kids to behave anything like it.

I talked to some nice ladies from India - and they said that last years sign ups had been even worse.

Nigeria - the green country

2008-08-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

Everywhere we look small or big plants are making their way. We were out walking in our neighborhood yesterday. Banana Island, Ikoyi. Along the sidewalk, and some places on the sidewalk plants were growing. Some of them I recognise from my mothers living room as plants bought in the flowershop and carefully watered and fertilised. Wonder what she would say if she just walked into them on a little walk around the neighbourhood.

One breed of the weeds along the sidewalk was exceptionally powerful. Taller than my spouse, and found several places. Does anyone know what plant this is? Please let us know.

Una just landet?

2008-08-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Lagos Wednesday 13. of August in the evening. As arranged, we were picked up at the airport and escorted to our flat. A home made Pizza and two freshly baked bread (whole wheat) the kinds Scandinavians like, were waiting for us. The steward had been in the flat and prepared everything for us. It was just what we needed after a long travel.

The traffic down here is probably worth writing a book about, but I guess for those who have not experienced it - they would not believe it. I would never dare drive a car here by myself. People walking in the streets alongside the cars to sell you water, stamps, or pens, Okadas driving around the cars like angry little flies, cars driving in opposite directions to take short cuts, drivers honking their horn so you could wonder if they got paid per honk. I am pretty sure that if I had to drive myself I would have ended up abondoning the car and started to walk instead. We are lucky and are assigned a steady driver who takes Sofie to school and pick her up.

Of some strange reason, nobody ever describes me as a patient person. But I do believe that living here for a year will strengthen that side of me, eventually. It took 4 working days to get my ID card fixed, Two times they took my passport photos but they disappeared somewhere between the reception area in the building and the security offices 20 meters away. So then, when I pressed them a little they ended up searching the whole area and finally found the photos.

We brought only our youngest daughter Sofie with us to Lagos, and she seems to settle in nicely at the American International School of Lagos. She has already made two friends and gotten to know a couple of other kids. Her schedule has become more rigid than in Norway, but she is adapting to getting up 06:00 in the morning, leaving the flat at 06:45 being picked up at school at 14:10. So far, the most challenging issue with the school has been getting the right sized school materials (3 ring binders, not 2 rings etc)

Otherwise I have found myself getting fascinating by the local lingo. They have so many cool expressions.

The first expression confused me even more than the "How y'all doing?" that we met in Texas. I was asked by the passport photographer "Una just landet? "I had absolutely no idea what the man was asking about, so I politely asked if he could repeat the question "did you just arrive in Lagos" he then asked. Since then I have heard the phrase several times.

Otherwise they have a nice expression for walking. "Pick leg for road" or "Put leg for road".

And Sofie's swim teacher was introduced as "He know book, he went to University but he like swimming" . I later found out that "Know book" is a positive description for someone who are clever, or well educated.

In the corridor where my office is hidden away, Betty is working. She is not taller than our 8 year old, but broader. Happy, smiling and funny. She brings coffee and water to the different offices and remember exactly how we want our coffee done. But she thinks I am crazy starting work as early as seven o clock. I heard her telling one of the security guys "Maam come to work so early laik her head no correct" . And after noticing this fun phrase I heard one of the stewards ask the other "Why you dress laik you head no correct?" all he had done was - buttoned his shirt wrong.

Cultural shock no 1

2008-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

So now we have experienced our first cultural shock moving from Norway to Nigeria.
We went to the Silverbird gallery to watch a movie sunday afternoon, Sofie and I. The driver took us to the movie theatre and we went inside to purchase the tickets. Inside, on the ground floor was a young man playing music, but the volume was far to loud! It was like fighting the soundwave moving into the building. Sofie tried to protect her ears with her hands, but it was to much for her, so she started to cry. I noticed that people were "evacuating" themselves into lifts and restaurants to get away from the noice, so we did the same thing. Looked for a cafe' whith glass walls/windows and went in after buying the tickets.

When time approached movie start, we went inside hte right theatre, and luckily, the theatre worked fine isolating us from the noice outside, and playing the sound from the movie just at the right level.

Vaccinations almost done

2008-07-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

Sofie and I went to the vaccination center in Stavanger to get our top-up of a few vaccinations before moving to Lagos. They found out that we needed vaccination against rabies, and that means three shots. We got the first one, then we got the vaccines needed for the next vaccination handed out - and we are to find a doctor to give us the shots while we are ob vaccation in Silkeborg, Denmark. And then we are to have the third shot in august before we leave.

Good to have it all sorted out.

Now we are leaving for three weeks in Denmark.

Preparing for our one year in Nigeria

2008-07-14T00:59:00.000-07:00

We - one of my daughters and I - are going to Nigeria to live and work for one year. My spouse is there already, so soon we will be a family again.

Now we are in the process of getting visa to go there. We went to the police in Stavanger today and ordered new passports - so we could have one passport for travelling while the other passport is being sent away for handling the visa application. Hopefully everything will be OK before friday -when we are leaving for a vacation in Denmark.

The schools in Lagos require use of school uniforms. For us Norwegians that is not common and school uniforms are not sold here. Sofie and I went to London and got her navy blue skirts, white shirts PE shorts and t-shirts, so now we are prepared on that front.

Next step - along with the visa prepararion is what to bring.