Well, we made it here safely! It's been about a week and I feel at home here in Nigeria.
I want to rewind a little bit and describe the last week before we left. It was a crazy busy week, but we did get everything packed up for storage, air freight and our 8 suitcases! We even had some time to have dinner with friends at Pappasitos, J play some golf, and me have brunch at Ruggles Green. We also spent 2 nights out in Katy for dinner at my sister's house. Mom came down so we could use her car after I sold mine. It was a very sad day for me, as that was baby!
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| goodbye, it's been a fun 6 years :( |
So of course Mom cooked all kinds of food for us Friday and Saturday nights. Then our "last meal" was watching the Texans game at Buffalo Wild Wings on Sunday. J just had to have some Asian zing one last time! Then off to the airport with Mom and Melissa (who left early from the Texans game just to see us again) and some last goodbyes.
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| the last of the kitchen cabinets cleaned out |
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| four suitcases packed and read to roll |
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| four more suitcases almost ready to be zipped and locked |
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| our last pic in the Houston apartment |
The flight went well. We were in Business First, so that helped a lot! We were a little late taking off because the flight attendants had to constantly ask the passengers to sit down in their assigned seats and buckle up before they could move back from the gate. However after some wine and spinach pasta (Jason had rack of lamb, not bad for plane food!) we watched 21 Jump Street (hilarious!) and then he dozed off while I watched Step Up Revolution. He did not want to watch with me for some reason, although I'm proud he knows who Twitch is :) I put in my ipod and my eye mask on and dozed off pretty quick. I slept on and off for about 6 hours, then awoke to have breakfast and an hour of listening to music before we landed.
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| ready for the long flight in my comfy seat |
The airport was not too busy (according to Jason, who has seen it before with super long immigration lines). So I showed my visa and yellow card of vaccines and was welcomed to Nigeria several times. It took a while to get our trunk as it goes to a different location than the rest of the luggage, but after about an hour getting all of the bags, some guys helped us out in the hot sun to the car. There I met Ino, our driver, that I have heard so much about. He has been with Hercules for like 25 years and always asked Jason how I am doing. He is great and will be much help when I start to venture out while Jason is at work.
Monday evening we went to dinner at J's boss's house. I had met him and his wife in Houston, as well as their kids (they are 2 and 6, I think), but this time I got to actually talk to the little ones and they are so precious. Jason had already warned his boss that I may spend more time with the kiddos instead of the adults, but I'm a sucker for the little ones. We had steaks, potatoes and corn on the cob, so a good welcome meal! I spent the rest of the week unpacking, laying by the pool, working out, and going with Jason to lunch and grocery stores. There are quite a few stores around us so it was fun to figure out which ones had better selections of different food.
I had no problem getting use to the time difference (we are 7 hours ahead of central time) since I got to sleep in every morning! Jason would call me around 9:30 or 10 to make sure I was out of bed and not trying to sleep all day :) We met up with another young couple on Thursday night for dinner at a Thai restaurant. Jason plays golf with this guy from Britain and had met his wife (from Ohio) before, so was excited for us to meet. She is in a similar situation, not working yet but here since July and still trying to get into a routine.
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| The rooster across the street (aka J's alarm clock) |
Friday night was the Sail Around the World party at the Lagos Yacht Club. Jason had to work the tent sponsored by Hercules for the Republic of Texas (separate from the USA tent) but I went around to tents from many other countries with Adeola (Jason's boss's wife). Every tent had some foods to taste and drinks from that country so I definitely ate and drank a lot from 7:30pm to almost midnight! I will say that the Texas tent was the best food with the brisket and beans (even though the pasta and pizza from Italy was delish!) There was also a band that played a lot of fun music like Journey, so we had a great night.
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| blurry but tried to capture the women African dancers by the Nigeria tent |
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| The Republic of Texas tent |
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| playing the bongos |
Here are my first pictures. Not much has changed in our apartment until we get our shipments in, but a general feel of what we are dealing with :)
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| One half of my closet, still waiting on our hangers and the rest of my clothes to get here |
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| the other half of my closet |
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| our stockpile of goods in the guest room closet |
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| The huge house around the corner from us that we can see from a bedroom window (I'll get a better pic from in front one day). And you can see all the trees around us; it's no desert here in West Africa! |
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| Bridge being built to Lekki (will take another pic when it is all lit up at night). It will open in about a month and will be a quick route to a huge supermarket there. |
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| view of the pool from our window, as well as the neighboring apartments |
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| Master bath (separate shower and tub) |
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| Guest bath that I took over until we get bedroom furniture |
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| inside view of the bar that we are slowly trying to fill up. |
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| current living room setup until the couches come in and entertainment center made |
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| laundry room with our 2-in-1 washer/dryer |
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| storage closet with our deep freezer (I'm ready to fill that up with meat after our next trip home) |
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| view of kitchen after leaving laundry room. |
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| water cooler, refrigerator, and pantry |
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| the office, not much change yet, but where I "work" during the day |
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the first meal that I cooked with the help of the steward (took the pic just for you, Mom)
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