Out of Africa

Pompei - 15 October 2010

2010-10-24T07:32:00.001-07:00

Some buildings appear to have very little if

any restoration while others appear to be almost completely restored. I don't know if they will be completely restored in our life times.

Much of the time, we weren't sure what we were looking at but much of the time we did. It was all amazing. The article is below right. You can enlarge it and it tells about all the devastation.

These were different living spaces and other spaces some we were not sure what they were used for, but they did an amazing job of putting it back in order and back together, as much as they have. We were blown away by wall frescoes like the one below center that appeared done at least in the last century. If you will read the article I am about to upload called the Eruption of 79 AD, you will get a glimpse of what happened.

It was so amazing to find things like this pot which had other decorative things with the same lion heads as decor in the same area that didn't look like they could possibly have survived. There were appx 20,000 people living in Pompei at the time of the killer volcano.

So here is Chris, looking a little tired after our five hours of trekking. In the background, you are looking at the forum, and much further in the background is Mount Vesuvius that wreaked
such havoc in the lives of the people of Pompeii killing most if not all. The initial spew of lava sprayed straight up 60,000 feet or 20,000 meters. Mount Vesuvius is not close to Pompeii but the initial spray of lava covered many of the homes and other buildings. While so many had rushed to their homes for safety, the first rush of lava also caved in the stone roofs of many of the homes. The lava continued for to flow and spew for about a day and by this time, even the wise one who had decided to try to escape to the coast had breathed so much of the gaseous fumes that they were also killed. There were no survivors.

One last glimse of the old city in the process of coming back to life.

In the morning we stopped by for an expresso and croissant, but in the afternoon we stopped for food. After the pizza in Napoli, I settled for a nice salad with rucola, cherry tomatoes and chunks of Mozzarella cheese!.. Yummy! I also had freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice that was the best I have ever tasted.
These photos represent the end of our Italian holidays. We took more pictures in about 5 hour in Pompeii than any other single place we visited. It was just so incredible. Chris saw it about 40 years ago with his father and could see major changes in the reconstruction of the old city. It is ongoing. If we go back to Italy, I will definitely want to see it again. We are on the train now enroute to Rome where we will spend our last night and begin our journey back to Lagos at 6 a.m.
These photos represent some of the Italian countryside which was truly beautiful. Most of it looked much like this, some with more or less trees and mountains, but all very beautiful.
We hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed our trip!

China, Tibet and the highest elevated train in the world!

2010-03-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

Between the trip from Lagos, the stopover in Doha and the trip from Doha to Beijing, we had been traveling about 24 hours when we arrived in Beijing. We went by cab to the hotel to pick up our train tickets and then by cab to the train station. After a couple hours wait, we boarded the train to Lhasa - a 48 hour ride from Beijing to Lhasa. (One thing we hadn't counted on was going 3 days without a shower.) We could have stayed overnight in Beijing and then boarded the train. Hindsight is such a great teacher! Fortunately it was cold. We had soft sleepers, lower berth which we learned means two bunk beds with about 18" between. We shared our sleeper with a man and his son from Denmark. Each sleeper car has its own dining car so plenty spacious there and you could order food and/or drink any time of day. The entire trip we were at 12,000 to over 18,000 ft high. There was an interesting small contraption just above my bed that was for oxygen. The first morning we woke up, it was blowing full blast!

On arrival in Lhasa, we were met by our guide and driver and taken immediately to our hotel. The hotel was an A+ hotel, very large but with very few guests; expected since it was the off season. We learned after a couple of days and quite a few phone calls that they turn the heat on at 6 p.m. and turned it off at 6 a.m. That was a challenge. Also, the hotels restaurants were closed but they did serve a buffet breakfast. We found an internet cafe two doors down from the hotel that had great food. We were there every day and it was our only source of internet. Our daily outings with the guide and driver were usually 3 to 4 hours because it was so unbelievably cold. One day, we went high into the mountains to visit a glacier lake. It was colder (if possible) and windy. It was incredibly beautiful but we only stayed a few minutes even though it took 2 hours to get up there and another 2 hours to return.

The most touching thing we saw were the hundreds of Tibetans who had come from afar, some had traveled 3 to 6 months by foot to get there, and for most it would be their one-time pilgrimage to the holy city. It made me feel rather insignificant as a tourist who had traveled there in comfort and stayed in a hotel instead of sleeping in the streets, or outside the temples. The temples were incredible but some we had to climb so many steps, I felt like we were on one of those mountains we saw. It was a wonderful trip and we will never forget it.

We had a little walhalla over the train tickets the night before we were to leave Lhasa. The local agent said he had the tickets. Chris said "fine, bring them to the hotel." He said he couldn't do that but would meet us at the train station the following morning. Chris told him we absolutely would not accept anything less than lower berth sleepers. Next morning, we arrived at train station with guide and driver and waited. About 15 minutes before our departure, the agent arrived and came to the car window. Chris rolled down the window and looked at the tickets and of course, they were not what we had requested. Chris gave him a piece of his mind and then told the driver to go to the airport. There was some haggling back and forth but we finally convinced the driver to take us to the airport. Our original agent got involved in this and was furious at the local agent. When we arrived at the airport, we quickly learned that there is only one flight per day to Beijing. It was full and leaving in 10 minutes.

Shortly we received a call from our agent who had booked the trip who told us he had booked a trip for us to Chengdu where we could stay overnight in a beautiful hotel in China town. (It was a huge city with only about a two block Chinese section in the downtown area.) He also made the local agent in Lhasa buy the tickets and bring our boarding passes to the airport.

Bottom line, we had an afternoon and most of the next day in a delightful place and the agent had recommended the Panda Park for the next day. We had great food, a great old Chinese hotel and the Pandas were the most fun of all. After the Panda Park, we returned to our hotel, retrieved our things and returned to the airport. Jasper would love that Panda Park!

Since we still got back to Beijing one day early, we got to have 5 days in Beijing instead of 4. We did no tours. We just did what we wanted when we wanted and played a lot of mahjong on the entire trip. In Beijing, we ate at Food Street which is a huge tourist, as well as local attraction, and a few other places as well. And of course, we hit shopping street and the pearl market where Chris bought me a Chinese I-phone. All in all, it was a great trip.

All photos may be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp

US Home Trip November 2009 - Part 1

2009-12-14T22:41:00.000-08:00

In the last picture, Brice and I are sitting out on the patio of Casa Vida, guest house in Alpine where we stayed. Then Paige and Brice with cowboy hat and Chinese army hat. What a pair!

There is also a picture of Arlington West created and installed on Kokernot Ranch by Alpine Artist, Tom Curry. And speaking of Tom Curry, we met Tom and his wife Susan at their gallery in Alpine and what a pleasure that was! See picture of me with Tom and Susan. Also, there is a picture of Chris and I (dancing partners) standing in front of Tom's painting "Dancing Partners".

Val, I finally found a picture of your face, and sorry but I couldn't resist one backside picture!

Enjoy!

ddp

US Home Trip November 2009 - Part 2

2009-12-14T21:06:00.000-08:00

Val, sorry I didn't post any pictures of our time with you since your bro only took pictures of our backsides, but we did have a great time with you.

Chris was excited about taking the children to Chinati Foundation/Museum. Most of the pictures from Chinati are Dan Flavin Exhibits which are displayed in 6 different buildings. Val says she and the kids were not as excited about the minimalist art as her brother. Please note Brice with the Chinese army hat we brought him from China. The chair is a Donald Judd type chair. While it doesn't look that comfortable, it is actually quite comfortable and we may get some made here in Lagos.

After Alpine, we moved on to Dallas for the last portion of our trip including Thanksgiving Day. The first picture shows Jasper sitting on Uncle Kevin's head and to the right is my long time friend, Tom Hooper.

I presented Jasper with a Taekwondo uniform from the Grandmaster, and we did a few beginner things that I learned when I first started Taekwondo. It was fun and Jasper follows directions very well. On Friday, we went shopping and did we ever have fun! Afterward, we played with the scooter, the remote control airplane and the kite that we bought Jasper in China.

The picture with David, Jasper and me was taken because I wanted to see the adorable pants and top we bought for him in France in February. It fits perfectly now which I was hoping for last February when we purchased it. Jasper is still willing to hold our hands to cross the street, as demonstrated in the picture with Rebecca and I, but he is getting more independent with each visit. We had a great visit with all our children.

Kenya Safari

2009-09-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

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We arrived in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon and were delivered to our hotel. The first pictures of Nairobi looking down from the hotel, and also looking straight down at the Port Cochere. We got a good night's rest and were ready to go at 5:00 a.m. the next morning. It was a nice drive from Nairobi to Samburu except the roads were pretty bad.

The country is very agricultural. We saw many small to medium farms and a few large commercial growers. In places their farms were vertical like in Peru. We could see Mount Kenya for a long time before we got close to it. It is the second largest mountain in Africa. We crossed the equator on our way to Samburu Game Reserve and made it there in time for lunch. At 4 p.m., we went on the first game drive. We had a great time there although they have had no rain for two years and it was sad to see some of the animals suffering. The elephants have it all figured out. They can drill water with their trunks; quite amazing.

We spent two nights at Samburu and were ready to move on, even though it meant another rough ride. The game drives were not excactly a piece of cake. The land on Samburu reminded us a lot of our 20 acres on Kokernot Ranch just outside Alpine, Texas, and also the sunsets were a lot like Alpine.

We were very excited about going to the Treetops Lodge. First we stopped in town at the Outspan hotel for lunch and to store our luggage. You are only allowed a small backpack or ruck sack. We said goodbye to our driver for our overnight outing. It wasn’t too far from town on a mountain top. The Treetops Lodge is built on stilts in the middle of water holes for the animals so you stay inside or out on the viewing decks and watch the animals come for water or sometimes for dinner. The Treetops Lodge was originally built in 1932, but was famous for being a favorite of then Princess Elizabeth, and she was at the Treetops in 1952 when she received the news of her father, King George VI’s, death. They actually had to postpone her coronation for a day or two because of rain in Kenya. She last visited the Treetops in 1986. We stayed next door to her Suite.

In the afternoon, we checked out the observation decks and sat in the bar munching on biscuits and drinking coffee and tea. Our room had a large viewing window as well. We had a lovely dinner with two gentlemen who were friends, one from Spain and one from Argentina. We slept well the entire trip, but at Treetops, you have a special switch in your room that turns on a red light meaning you want to be notified of animal sightings at the water hole. If your switch is on, you get on buzz for a hyena, two buzzes for a lion, three buzzes for a leopard or cheetah or four buzzes for a large mammal. We decided to start with the switch on and if it got too obnoxious, we would turn it off. We slept peacefully until 3 a.m. when we were buzzed for a large elephant. We sat up in our respective twin beds (didn’t even have to get up) and saw the elephant. Chris took a picture, turned off the light and the switch and we returned to a peaceful sleep. It was a charming and memorable place with a lot of history and trees growing up through the building.

From there, we returned to the Outpost Hotel in town, had a nice lunch, picked up our bags and headed for Lake Nakuru. We stayed in the Lake Nakuru Lodge, also a well known older place, and mostly know for having the largest population of pink flamingos in the world, although they do come and go. They also have a wonderful sanctuary for both white and black rhino. The black rhino was the only animal that we didn’t see for the second time on safari, but we saw plenty of whites. My favorite part of the trip was seeing the huge numbers of pink flamingos although most we couldn’t get that close to. We also enjoyed seeing several white rhinos. One night there and then we were off to Maasai Mara for the last two days of our safari.

The last two days of the safari were spent at Maasai Mara and what a treat that was! The people were just wonderful and every game drive was a new and very special experience. The Lodge was lovely and the grounds were beautifully maintained. We saw new and different trees and flowers. We saw 20' poinsettia tree; unbelievable! There were no hungry or thirsty animals on Maasai Mara. The lions were alternately lazy and also very playful. (No we didn’t play with them!) One day, we saw three cheetahs sleeping under a tree, a most unusual find.

We arrived on May 3 so we had two days at Maasai Mara, through the gates and climbing up to Mara Sopa Lodge where we stayed. We saw many elephants and lots of babies as well as giraffes. Since it was migration time, we saw great numbers of wildebeest and zebra. The land was mostly high desert but also had a lot of water and green trees and bushes, beautiful fields of grasses as well. Our best lion sighting was a pride of 9 lions! They seemed to be posing for us, having a lazy afternoon. Another big surprise, we had never seen a spotted leopard and we saw one in Maasai Mara up in a tree devouring a full grown zebra several times his size. YUK! It was rather amazing though!

On our last game drive, we saw 8 to 10 hippos in the water with at least two babies. We learned that they stay in and mostly underwater all day and go out and eat grasses at night. At the same stop, we also saw a young crocodile, and on the drive back to the lodge we saw an ostritch. Wow! At lunch the last day, one of the servers told me they would be dressing in their Native dress that night so Chris and I decided to join them. We went down to an old village and bought Maasai cloth, bracelets, neckbands, anklets and a lion’s tooth for Chris and a decorative belt for me. They don’t sew, snap or button their cloth but rather wrap pieces around them. Some of the men just wrap like a blanket. It book us 1 ½ hrs to get dressed but was worth every minute of it. When we walked into the full restaurant, all eyes were on us. We were pleasantly surprised that so many of the Maasai people complimented our dress and told us how honored they were that we chose to observe their tradition. We had a combination of Maasai and regular food. There was also a party of about 40 or so Indian people in attendance that night who kept coming over and wanting their pictures made with us. What a wonderful and fun celebration!
After a leisurely breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed back to Nairobi where we spent our last night before returning to Lagos. What a memorable trip!

Five stars for Maasai Mara
Four stars for Treetops
Three stars for Lake Nakuru

Mom & Kevin's visit

2009-08-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

Mom & Kevin’s trip to Lagos

I rode the Shell bus out to the Lagos airport on the mainland on Tuesday, 11 August 2009 to meet Mom & Kevin when they arrived. I was very excited and since I was going solo, I wore my Taekwondo uniform because people treat with me with a great deal of respect when I am wearing my uniform and while they may not be sure I could do any harm, they also are not sure I couldn’t.
Of course, first step off the bus, there’s Michael (the airport Shell guy) at departures where I had to get off the bus. He said I wasn’t on his list and wanted to know why I was there. I told him I was meeting family and had to take the early bus so I wouldn’t miss them. He took me by the arm and said he was parking me in a restaurant upstairs out of the mainstream and would later escort me down to arrivals. So at about 15 before their arrival, I called Michael and said I was ready to go. He said no, he would come get me when the plane was on the ground. Finally he came to get me, took me down two flights of stairs and outside to await their departure from baggage claim, and of course he turned me over to two other Shell guys who were working departures.
After waiting another hour, finally I saw Kevin walk out the door and I was so excited. In a moment or two, here came Mom behind him. What a thrill for me! One of the Shell guys took their luggage and led us to the Shell car park. They had a bus waiting and we were the last passengers to board so immediately began our commute back to the Islands. We have been here over a year now so I forget how visually stimulating the sights and sounds are to someone who has never been here. They were totally amazed. We made it home in about 45 minutes. Chris had waited up for us but excused himself shortly after our arrival.

We were all amazed at the reverence with which Mom was treated wherever we went. I guess when you consider she is 82 years old and the average life span of a Nigerian is 42 years, that just might have something to do with it. I’ve always said the best part of Nigeria is the people and they proved that one more time in the way they treated my Mom.

We had something to eat and not long after, we were all ready to call it a night. In advance of their arrival, I had made a list of things to see and do that would keep us busy for a week. I had not taken into consideration the jet lag and the 6 hour time difference you have to adjust to so needless to say, the first day, I crossed off the list because there was no way we would be leaving for the museum talk at 9:30 in the morning. Once they were up, dressed and ready, we opted for an easy day. I had Samuel, our driver take us to Lagos Island so they could see the downtown and the building where Chris works, then we drove along the waterfront to Oceanview Restaurants and Bakery, one of my favorite coffee houses and the very best chocolate croissants in town. We had a nice leisurely visit there and bought some freshly baked bread for the week and then returned to Niger Towers.

Everyone who comes here is totally fascinated by the Okadas and we were too at first. Now, they are just part of the landscape. Mom wanted to take pictures every time she saw ten or more at one stop, sometimes there are more like 100 or more. And of course, when we have a two lane street, the cars manage to form four lanes of traffic with Okadas weaving in, out and around us all. Okadas are motorcycle taxis and they are the fastest transportation in town. I had to tell them of my recent adventure of riding the Okada to the gym one day. The gym is only 5 minutes from the house driving but about 45 minutes to walk. Chris needed Samuel that day so at about 15 of 11, I went out and asked one of the guards to call me a taxi. He walked out the gate with me right behind and started trying to flag down a taxi; even the empty ones weren’t stopping. About that time, an Okada stopped to leave a passenger and I told Obie I would ride the Okada and started walking toward it. He said “Oh Madam, I can get you a taxi.” I said, “That’s okay, I want to ride the Okada”, so he walked over with me and asked for the passenger helmet and told the driver he must be very careful because I was very small. I made it very fast and the ride was exhilarating. I knew I would have to do that at least once and was glad I did.

The days quickly became a week and we hadn’t done half the things on my list. Mom’s only regret was that we didn’t get to go to the wildlife park. We left on Monday to go but it was extremely cloudy and Kevin decided that walking through this wildlife park held no appeal to him whatsoever, so we compromised and went to Chocolate Royale instead. (That’s a glitzy newly rebuilt coffee house and bakery/restaurant.)

We saved our “out of town” trip until Saturday so Chris could be with us. We drove to Ibadan, about 2 hours from Lagos to see the huge markets they have which include a lot of fabrics. I have wanted to shop for fabric to make a traditional Nigerian dress and Mom loves to look at fabric. Ibadan is touted to have at one time been the largest city in Sub-Saharan Africa, and I believe. I think maybe Lagos has outpaced them but there are a lot of people there and we probably weren’t even half way through the maze. We had to hire an Okada to lead us to the part of the market we wanted to see and the sights were unbelievable. We got to the place and the Okada stopped so we stopped. The market goes on for miles and miles but he stopped in front of a high end fabric store, not what I had in mind but that’s where we were.

The little hut had standing space of maybe 6’ X 8’ at most and we all went in, Mom, me, Kevin, Chris and Samuel, our driver. I’m surprised our Okada guide didn’t come in to, and they had about four people working in there. It was actually hilarious. I was first in so could not have gotten out if I had wanted to. What I had in mind was a pretty cotton fabric in brown with a subtle yellow pattern that I could wear to the market or anywhere else I go, but they had one kind of fabric. It was quite beautiful but heavier than I had in mind, maybe 26” strips, probably 62” long with fringe on each end.

The women in the shop could not understand me and I could not understand them so it was good to have Samuel there who usually understands Chris. When I finally found a brown with a delicate yellow pattern, I was ready to give in to the fabric when Kevin says “no, Mom, brown is not a good color for a fabric that is so formal”, so here we go again. There was no mirror and they had dragged out so many different fabrics, I was about knee deep in it. I felt very claustrophobic and pressured and was ready to go somewhere else and both Kevin and Chris said here we are, you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to have an elegant Nigerian dress so I caved in and started looking at other colors and finally agreed upon a burgundy with a pale yellow stitched design. They said I needed four strips for a blouse/top, a full length skirt with flared bottom, a wrap and a headdress. By this time, Chris was looking at fabric and had selected one for his traditional Nigerian dress that he can wear on Fridays when they have “go African” day.

We went to the car and told the Okada boy we wanted to go eat some chicken and he headed us back toward Lagos and eventually pulled over at a Chicken Republic and we stopped for lunch and then drove back to Lagos. I realized later this was totally not what I had wanted for my Mom and we didn’t even get to see any of the Aso Oke. I was glad to see Lagos when we returned but sorry we didn’t take the time to look around a bit.

On Sunday, we had lazy day. That’s what Chris and I always do and Mom and Kevin were all for it. We played Mahjong every day. Kevin would get up, get his first cuppa coffee and say it was time for morning Mahjong. We would play a couple of games to start the day and usually a couple to end it.

We did make it out to Lekki Market one day. That is a must for all visitors and it’s made especially for owibos. Mom had a great time shopping and I introduced them to our favorite artist, Darlington. We had to have our picture taken with Darlington. Mom got lots of souvenirs so she was happy.

One day, I suggested we go to Terra Culture for lunch and there is also a gallery and a bookstore there. Kevin had to work or study or something and so declined the invitation but Mom and I had a nice lunch and had a private viewing of the current show hanging in the gallery.

Tuesday, we didn’t leave the house until 4:45 p.m. They both needed a big part of the day to pack up in a relaxed manner. We caught the Shell bus that leaves 2nd Ave at 5:10 p.m. and it left right on time. We made it to the airport in record time. We were the only ones on the bus, Mom, Kevin and me and it was a big one. The luggage was loaded on the van behind the bus and last but not least, our escort followed closely behind and was loud with the horn and sirens periodically.

As we stepped out at departures, there was a Shell guy who helped us off the bus and another one who retrieved our luggage from the van. We went into the airport (it was only about half full) and Mom and Kevin’s eyes got big. The Shell guy said “follow me” and we did as he pushed, pulled and tugged his way through with the luggage while making room for us. He put Mom’s luggage on the table for immigration, told Kevin to hold back, said a few words to the woman and she waived us through. We had a few forms to complete so walked back toward the door to go into for pre-board and security and found a wall that we could write on the complete the forms. Once all done, I looked at Mom and she had tears in her eyes. I gave her a really big hug and told her how much I appreciated her being brave enough to make that long trip and what a thrill it had been for me. A hug for Kevin and off they went. I sure missed them the next day.

Then I went down two flights of stairs to arrivals. I walked to the street and started toward the Shell car park and once again Michael appeared to escort me there. The ride back was uneventful and Chris was home when I arrived. The week passed so fast. I am sure I am forgetting many special moments but those of you who know Mom or Kevin will be hearing much more about this trip. What else can I say but that it was a pleasure to have you both and we look forward to the visits to be made by the rest of our children.

Adios for now!

Donnie

Loving life in Lagos!

2009-07-18T04:25:00.000-07:00

When we stay in Lagos for a while, we start buying things. You know there's not that much to do here. So we have added a few Darlington paintings that you may not have seen. The firt one showing is the first painting we bought from him about a year ago, "Dreams of an African Child". We have since had it framed and have found a framing style that we like with his work.

So, a couple weeks ago when it had rained all week and was continuing to rain, Chris thought it would be a good day to go to Lekki Market, so off we go. We were also looking at antique doors. We wanted to buy one of the antique doors to use in having a coffee table made with door inset in top and covered with thick glass. It's a mess out there when it rains as you will see but we made it there and back with no big problems.

Darlington was having trouble getting in from further out Lekki Peninsula, so we looked at doors first, and they were coming out of the woodwork. The only thing we saw that we liked was a day bed that could have been used as a coffee table, if we didn't mind that it wasn't flat and smooth. We gave and took a few cards and word had reached us that Darlington had arrived.

The first three paintings are some we looked at but didn't buy. The two we bought are the ones that Darlington and I are holding up. One is "Dreams of an African Child II" (of course, we had to have that; we own it's partner) and the other is a truck that Chris thought was truly a wonder. Darlington said we couldn't take the truck because it wasn't finished, but I reminded him that he was coming to our house on Thursday and could add the license plate number then. We also had another painting that was unsigned. I don't think I got the title of the truck piece.

And yes, that lake you see in the road is the road to Lekki Market and in addition to the water, it has huge holes you can't see. We did drive through it with no big problems. The other traffic pictures are just examples of the "go slow", the various forms of transportation and traffic as usual.

On Thursday, Darlington came over and spent about six hours with me in our flat. To begin with, he had never seen his work hanging in someone's home and we now own about seven of his works and all but the last two have been framed. He was truly amazed and wanted to walk all through our flat to see what other art we had. I remembered to get titles on all but two that we didn't know the titles. I also spent a long time with him asking questions and gathering information for his bio. We are going to have a little Art Exhibition and Sale for him here in our flat on Saturday, November 7th, so I told him to start painting! And eventually, he got out his paint and brush and signed the unsigned piece we had and then painted the license plate number. Chris had asked when we got home with the truck piece of I thought Darlington would mind using ZAZEN on the license place, and that is what he did. He even added a small TX up in the corner, then he started to touch up a couple of places. I asked him when he knew he was done and he said not until it was out the door. Darlington A. Chukwumezie is only 24 years old but it very talented and paints in a lot of different styles. We also spent time going through some art books, especially the three from another artist I found in Starbucks in Houston ten years ago when he was 25, John Palmer. There are definitely some similarities. Darlington is destined to be one of the premier artists of Lagos and Nigeria in the next 10 years.

We also found a wonderful artist/builder at Lekki on our last visit named Yusuf Fatai. He has been over a few times now and we have forgotten to take his picture but we will. He built the very beautiful Chinese mahjong table and four chairs. I have him a picture of the table I wanted but told him I didn't really have any ideas about chairs. The table he built is very close to the picture I gave him but much, much nicer. It is solid mahogany and very heavy. He said he wanted it to last my lifetime, and I told him it would probably last several lifetimes. It is very beautiful and Chris and I are very pleased with it.

Since then, he made me a set of shelves for my bathroom. I need a place to keep my stuff. We said use a lighter weight wood and lighter color so it would look good with the bathroom and master bedroom. When he delivered it, it was so pretty, I hated to hide it in the bathroom. And of course, it's also mahogany. Very talented artist. His next job for us will be to build the coffee table.

So, the picture with the door and the kneeling man and me is the door we bought and the man is Tanto Yusuf, the dealer. The door is about 4" thick, very heavy, and made of ironwood, probably. It is about 200 years old and is Yoruba which means it's from this part of the country. There is one blank space in the door which is part of the story but I think it just looks empty, so I am going to add some Nigerian beads in there, the big decorative kind. The artist Yusuf will have to come get the door in order to build the coffee table. I am sure we will treasure it for the rest of our lives.

The two shots at the end are a couple of pictures Chris took from our front balcony. We don't see the sun too much this time of year, but no complaints here; the rain keeps it nice and cool. Life is good here! We are having visitors, Mom and Kevin from August 10-17th, and we are going on a Kenya safari on August 29th. And last, but not least, we are coming to the US on September 18th and will stay until October 17th. Hope to see a lot of you then!

Stay cool!

Chris & Donnie

TAEKWONDO!

2009-07-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

It all began with our joining BMS in December. BMS is a gym, spa, and training center for all sorts of sports, etc. They have a small but full gym with experienced trainer, a spa with Thai women who offer every service imagineable, a small outdoor pool, a sauna, a Yoga (and other sport) hut and a very high quality restaurant.

The picture on the very bottom is Grandmaster Emmanuel E. Ikpeme, Black Belt 8th Dan, just one step away from becoming a Great Grandmaster. Grandmaster offers Taekwondo, Yoga (his two main arts), Palates, Taebo and Kickboxing. He teaches at BMS 6 days a week, has morning Taekwondo classes at Lekke Phase I three mornings a week, has Yoga classes at a new place here on Ikoyi Island three afternoons a week, has Yoga classes for a bank's officers three afternoon a week, and then has has Taekwondo classes at his own club at the National Stadium on mainland Lagos three nights a week.

I started Yoga with him in January and after a couple of months began to have an interest in Taekwondo. I knew I needed to put in some mean time in Yoga getting stretched and strengthened before I could even think of that. After three months, we mutually agreed that I was ready and I began Taekwondo on April 1. In April, when we were in China, I bought the uniform and then the fun and hard work began, and it is hard work.

I didn't have any lofty ambitions, but Grandmaster has us on a schedule and said we would have grading and trails for yellow belt at the end of March, and so we did. Now he says in two months, we will have grading for advancing to 7th keup. Immediately after that we will start working toward the blue belt. He says I will be a black belt in two years. Who knows? Miracles do happen.

I feel very fortunate to have found such a high level professional to train with. Taekwondo came to Nigeria in 1975 and that is when GM started his training. He attained black belt in 1977 and has continued to work his way to the top. He started doing Yoga when he was 13 years old and is the founder of the Nigeria Yoga Heritage Foundation and the Coordinator for the Nigeia Taekwondo Foundation.

I do continue my Yoga and hope to continue it for the rest of my life. Both Yoga and Taekwondo are great disciplines, a great deal of fun and a lot of hard work. My present schedule is M-W-F from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., six hours a week. What it has done for me is help me get my body back in shape and fired up my metabolism like nothing I have ever tried. Amazing! I think I will keep doing it.
I was also inspired by my son, David's devotion to Kung Fu when he was in Jr. High, and always thought I would like to try it sometime.

And here we are and that's that! BTW, you can see all the pics and many more at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp.

Chris and I are most happy that Mom and Kevin are coming for a visit in August. Also, we will be in the US from September 19th - October 17th and hope to see a lot of you during that time. We have a schedule of where we will be when so would love to have any of you join us at one of our stops. Please get in touch if you are interested. We always like to hear from friends and family.

Love,

Donnie

A glimpse of the Himalayas..........

2009-05-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Chris is good to pay attention to outside the plane and this time it had a big payoff. We got to see a lot of the Himalayas enroute to Beijing, all snow covered and beautiful. We have wanted to go there for a long time, so maybe another year or so, we will. Anyway, we got a nice glimpse. Simply stunning, enjoy!

First two days in Beijing!

2009-05-03T02:50:00.000-07:00

The first day, we went to one of many interesting markets. We bought some very cool beads and a Mah Jong set. I don’t remember what else we did the first day but probably not much. I think we walked around in the neighborhood some to see what was available there. The next morning we were up early and went to The Forbidden Garden. We thought we would get there early before the rest of the tourists. Ha, what a joke on us! There were already thousands of people there when we arrived and they kept coming all day. One of the most remarkable things we noticed was that probably 98% of the tourists were Chinese. This surprised me. And it was here the other curious thing started with Chinese people wanting their picture made with me. Chris thinks a lot, of not most, of the Chinese tourists came from other parts of China and probably some had never seen a light skinned person before and perhaps they wanted to show the picture to people back home. Who knows!

The Forbidden City was truly awesome and it went on forever. We finally took one of the side tours where it was less crowded and after a while decided it was just too crowded for us. Then we went to shopping street and shopped around some and went to a Chinese mall. I was looking for a Taekwondo uniform which we eventually found. Last Friday, I had my first Taekwondo class. I will be taking three times a week; one hour of Taekwondo followed by one hour of Yoga. The Yoga helped to prepare my body for Taekwondo.

The next morning we headed out for Tiananmen Square. On the way there we met a young Chinese man who persuaded us to walk through a beautiful park that was part of the Olympic reconstruction. It was quite beautiful. He told us he was an art student at the University and when we got out of the park, he asked us if we would like to come see some of his work, only a few blocks away. So, away we went and yes, we bought one of his paintings. Or was it? Whoever painted it, it was very nice and he was a nice young man raising money to go to an art exhibition in NYC. Then we continued on to Tiananmen Square.

I don’t remember who told us about Bei Hai Park, but that was our next stop and we did take a taxi there. We had already walked enough for one day. Bei Hai was absolutely beautiful, like an Oasis in the middle of this beautiful city. There was a round house, a park and a lake with an Island in the center. Part of the Island was in the park but part of it was residential housing. We decided to rent a boat. Our choices were paddle, row or battery operated so we chose battery operated. Chris had never driven a boat before so he was pretty funny but we had a great time out on the water. At times, the hardest part was avoiding other boats. After the boat excursion, we walked across a bridge to the part of the park on the island. There was a temple and like the other temples, there was one after the other and all up hill. We walked up a lot of steps that day. We definitely got plenty of walking exercise while we were there. One nice thing about being at the top of the hill, we had some really great views of the city.

Beijing, The Great Wall

2009-05-03T00:57:00.000-07:00

The Great Wall trip required that we had a guide so of course, on the way there we stopped off at the Cloisonné factory and gallery as well as the Jade factory and gallery. Apparently we didn’t take any pictures there. The greeters at the Great Wall are the black bears. She was a hungry bear too. You could buy chopped fruit to throw to the bear.

There were two options on getting up to the Great Wall, walking/climbing or taking the tram. We chose to take the tram. It only took us about half way up and some walked to the top. We walked a little further to get some good photos and decided that was far enough. The green picture of Chris is a self portrait on tram ride in a tunnel.

At the end of the pictures, we included a few pictures of our spacious hotel room. It was the Kapok Hotel in the heart of Beijing, about two blocks from the Forbidden City and maybe six blocks from Tiananmen Square. We could walk to “food street” for street food. This was about a block of street vendors who sold anything you can imagine on a stick, battered and fried, including scorpions, other bugs, star fish and many other things. We had dinner there one night. I stuck with the safe vegetarian choices. We didn’t take any pictures because it was usually evening and I guess we didn’t think to bring the camera.

Just beyond food street was shopping street. In one direction, car traffic is no longer allowed and you can walk up and down the street and shop. There were a couple of malls there and one day we had a big Mac from good old McDonald’s. That may have been the best meal I had. The food we have in the US is not real Chinese food and I knew that, but I will be glad to get back to the US to have some real Chinese food as I have always known it.

Beijing China

2009-05-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

This day we walked over to a Hutong (old Chinese neighborhood) where the Chinese live, work and shop. It was most interesting. We bought peanuts on the street just like we do here in Lagos and found a delightful little tea house where a young woman named Alice and her 6 year old daughter live and work. She showed us how to make real Chinese tea and sold us a couple of tea pots and some of our favorite teas. The shop is just one room, and there is one tiny room in the back where they live. (There is a community bathroom about a half block down the street.) They seemed very happy and content with their life.
In the pictures where you see the head of an old man on a bicycle, we were riding behind him in a buggy pulled by the bike. It felt good on the little side streets but when he turned onto the big boulevards’, we were scared for our lives. He did get us to the pearl market in one piece. (When we left there, we found a cab to take us back to the hotel.) The pearl market was interesting and fun and enormous. Prices in general in Beijing were very reasonable if not downright cheap on Chinese merchandise. However, the American shops are not for bargain hunters. They had wonderful bead and antique markets that were tons of fun.
The next day, we took a cab to the Olympic park. It was delightful and we were glad we went. For about $10 US, you can go into the “bird’s nest” stadium where they had the opening ceremonies as well as other events. We were surprised to see how many people were in there. This was the second time since we were there that people wanted to have their picture made with me. Chris thinks it’s the white-blonde hair and red lips that make me stand out in a crowd. Anyway it was fun and we stayed there for a while, like many others just awed by the stadium.
On our way back to the hotel, we went to the Yonghegong Lama Temple. It was the largest temple we had ever seen and very well maintained to be so very old. Many visitors go there and buy incense and add it to the large incense burners. Like the other temples we saw later in the trip, there would be a portal to enter with numerous buildings and one very large building straight ahead. You could walk around, see the Buddhas, walk out the back and find another portal and more temples. There were also some very old trees in some of these old compounds that looked both old and wise.

China, the last two days

2009-04-28T02:46:00.000-07:00

This time I am actaully starting at the end of the trip so the sequence will start at the beginning, once I get it added and require a few blogs. So, after a week in Beijing, we left on Friday morning by train to go to Chengde (pronounced Cheng-duh). We wanted to go to Chengde to see the very old (hundreds of years)temples so we also stayed in a Buddhist monastery that had been converted to a hotel. In the pictures, the red double doors were the doors to our suite. Chinese furniture is very beautiful but also very uncomfortable. The bed are only somewhat softer than Nigerian foam mattress.

It was quite beautiful with antique Chinese furnishings and all the very young staff were dressed in beautiful Tibetan costumes. No one there spoke English and actually I don't think we found anyone in Chengde that spoke English. They served Chinese breakfast buffet. At dinner, they were having a special program that was so loud we couldn't think much less eat so we requested room service.

We only had time to visit two temples. It takes a long time to visit a temple. You enter through a portal into a compound with several buildings. The main building is usually straight ahead and after you visit the main building you leave at the back and enter another portal, and this goes on and on, and in Chengde was also on a hill so we were continuing to climb higher and higher. The temples were very beautiful and one had a Buddah so tall they had to build a very tall building for him. The temples in Chengde were not nearly as well maintained which Chris though added to their charm.

Since the train is about four hours, we only had a half day on Friday and another on Saturday morning. Apparently not a lot of tourists go there because we really stood out like a sore thumb where ever we went. One of the funniest of those times was the day we were leaving, we took a cab back into the main part of town near the train station and wanted to check our email. (Buddhist monasteries do not have wi-fi.) So, we walked around until we found a signal a couple blocks from the train station and got a signal and connected. We had the baby Dell, only 4 lbs so we are standing on the sidewalk and a crowd starts to gather around us. There was actually one young Chinese woman who spoke English and wanted to know what we were doing. We told her we were checking email and she didn't know what that was, but for most of the people in the crowd, we were pretty sure they had never seen a computer before.

Before we took the cab into town, we took a walk in a residential part of town just up from the hotel. It was very interesting to see how and where people lived. We met a lot of parents with children. I loved the little Chinese children but they were mostly afraid of me. Here in Lagos, the little children usually like me.

We arrived back in Beijing and had arranged to stay at a hotel out by the airport since our flight was leaving at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. It was a huge hotel and we thought we might be the only guests. That was rather wierd. Needless to say, we got up very early on Sunday and started our journey back to Lagos. I thought it was such a great schedule to leave Beijing at 6:30 a.m. and arrive Lagos at 7:30 p.m. but I was not taking into consideration there was a seven hour time difference plus we had at least two hours in Dubai when we changed planes. But I stayed awake, alert and fairly functional for entire time. It was a truly great trip.

Having started at the end, I will work my way up to the beginning.

Love to all,

Chris & Donnie

Plum Village, Meditation Retreat in South of France

2009-03-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

Ah, and I saved the best for last! Actually, I entered the pictures and comments in the order that we saw and did. The reason we went to France in the winter time was because we wanted to attend the retreat at Plum Village with Thich Nhat Hanh who prefers to be called Thay, Vietanmese for teacher. Thay is a Buddhist monk who was kicked out of Vietnam during the war because he was promoting peace.

Thay is a writer, a poet, an artist and a teacher. He is 80 years old, and has written over 60 books and is still writing. He never slows down. Not sure when he opened the first Plum Village but it now has four locations, three are walking distance and the other is a 20 minute drive. We stayed in the Upper Hamlet. The closest one to UH is a very small hamlet that is only open in the summer. We also visited New Hamlet and Lower Hamlet.

I first learned about Thich Nhat Hanh about 12 years ago after we moved to Houston. We went to our first retreats while living in Houston and they were lead by two women who were trained by Thay. He is a remarkable man and loved and revered by all who know him. Much of the proceeds from Plum Village, including all the proceeds from his caligraphies and all the profit from the bookstore go to Vietnam to provide books and meals for school children. He is now allowed back in Vietnam where he has been instrumental in getting schools opened and children fed, clothed and educated.

You will see in one of the pictures our daily schedule on the white board. Most days, the schedule for the next day would be posted on the board when we came to dinner, but sometimes later. I believe the picture I chose has the schedule for Lazy day. Once a week, they have lazy day and it can be any day. The schedule is subject to change without notice and varies greatly from one day to the next.

We met people from all over the world. Most of the young Monks and Nuns are Vietnamese but not all. Plum Village is also a refuge for young men and women who are at a crossroads in their life. My understanding is that they may stay at Plum Village for as long as 6months or maybe more until they find their way.

Some mornings we had a 5 a.m. bell for a 5:45 meditation in the main meditation hall. Meals were more consistent at about 8 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. Everything else was very flexible. Thay is not always at Plum Village but we were thrilled that he was present while we were there. He came to several meals in the dining hall during our week, and made two talks while we were there. We attended an all day event at the New Hamlet as well as one at the Lower Hamlet. (The New Hamlet is 8 years old.) The first one was Lower Hamlet and was named Plum Village because of the beautiful plum orchard to which much has been added. All the hamlets are surrounded by vineyards as this is the heart of vinyard country. Some days, we had work meditation. The first day, I volunteered for kitchen cleanup. I didn't volunteer for that again; too dirty!

In one of his talks, Thay told us about someone from the outside asking him if he had children and he said yes. The man then wanted to know how many children he had, and he said about a million. It was very obvious when he was in the dining hall at the head of about six long tables, end to end with appx 40 young monks lining both sides that he was feeding and caring for his children. We all felt like his children.

It's hard to say what was the best part. On our last night when we were packing up and cleaning our room, Chris said this was the first time he had ever taken a vacation that he felt rested at the end. I think that speaks volumes. What we saw and what we felt was love, joy, generosity, and a mixture of people who normally would not mix. It is quite indescribable!

We are happy to share another very memorable trip with you! And next month, we are going to China for ten days. What a great assignment we have here, and a great life!

We wish you a great one too!

Love,

Chris & Donnie

Plum Village, Meditation Retreat in South of France

2009-03-03T01:33:00.000-08:00

I should say Plum Village, Part 2:

This additional posting is really just pictures. These pictures were taken by Kian Bakhtiari and he was kind enough to come to our room on our last night and download all his pictures on our computer. Kian and his father arrived the same day we did, and we were allowed to witness a major transformation in Kian over the week. We were very happy to meet both he and his father.

This was just another instance of the humility, generosity, joy and love that we shared with many others. What a wonderful experience it was! As Chris said on our last night there, "this is the first time I ever felt rested when I was at the end of a vacation." I could not have agreed more.

The third picture from the top, guy in middle with blue jacket was birthday boy. He went to town and bought all the ingredients for several mammoth birthday sheet cakes, starting with 20 lbs of flour. It was chocolate on chocolate so was loved by all. The pictures you see with the big paddle, they are making the cake and big paddle was used to stir the enormous concoction. One of the fun and funny times. We had chocolate cake for days.

Enjoy the pictures! I will eventually get all the photos uploaded to http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp/, but at present, that site has a problem. I will either get it figured out or get in touch with google; probably get in touch with google.

Bon jour!

France by train.....

2009-02-27T01:02:00.000-08:00

Enroute to the South of France by train.....

I always get the pictures backwards, but oh well. From Paris, we took the train to Orleans. We had time to walk the downtown part and enjoy the city. We found the Brice store a couple doors down from our hotel. Brice, I'll bet you didn't know you owned a store in France. The downtown part of Orleans does not allow street traffic, but you do have to watch out for the trams, otherwise, you can walk where you wish.

Orleans is the first stop in the Loire Valley. We didn't stop at every little hamlet or we could not have kept our schedule, but we enjoyed seeing the French country side as we got further into the trip.

Tours is actually the last stop in the Loire Valley and we chose to stay overnight there as well. We stayed in a B & B over 100 yrs old that was just delightful and only a few blocks from the train. Again, we had plenty of time to walk down to the old town part and other sites in the city.

Bordeaux was our last stop before heading to the retreat. We entered one door of the train station and out the back to catch the tram. We rather liked Bordeaux and spent another night there after returning from the retreat. Bordeaux is much larger than the other cities we visited enroute.

The next morning, we road the tram to the railway and boarded a train to St. Foy La Grande for our retreat. Plum Village and the retreat will be the third and final story of our time in France, and most definitely the longest. We actually have two sets of pictures for Plum Village. Chris took about 100 pictures and Kian, on of our fellow retreatants took a few 100 and was generous enough to download them on our computer before we left.

Paris

2009-02-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

As with most trips, we started to plan this trip about 2 months out starting with airline reservations. Done, check that off the list. Then we started to plan what we wanted to see and do and began making hotel reservations. And of course, in this case there was also reservations at Plum Village, the meditation retreat. All done weeks in advance, file made and ready to go.

While I packed at least a week before, most of it anyway, Chris is a last minute kind of a guy, so he comes home on Thursday, January 29 and said before he started packing, he would login and print our boarding passes. In a few minutes, he returned with a panicked look on his face and said "Donnie, is this the 29th?". And I said "yes, of course, and we leave on the 30th." He said "Donnie, our reservations are for tonight." Then we both got into high gear and got things done, cancelled appts here for Friday, notified Samuel, our driver that we needed him to take us to the airport. Yikes, that was temporary insanity, but we laughed about it many times once we were enroute. Oh darn, we have an extra night in Paris.

Paris was fabulous! It's a magical city and reminds me of New York, or as Kevin says, maybe NYC on steroids. We had great times, probably saw only about half the things we wanted to see but it's not the last time we will go, and there is only so much you can take in when it's below freezing every day, some days with rain and one with snow.

I would have to say what we enjoyed most was the modern art museum and the Picasso museum, but it was all good and we had a great time.

The next part of our journey, we go South of Paris through the Loire Valley by train with an overnight in Orleans and in Tours, then an overnight in Bordeaux before leaving for Plum Village where we spent the next week. These I will continue to post, but as separate entries for the next few days. Every part of the trip was special.

Two of the pictures in Paris are from a wonderful designer children's shop. The shop owner was also the designer and they make the clothes right there in the small shop. We were able to pick up gifts for our twin great nephews who will be arriving in a few months as well as something for grandson Jasper.

What a great time we had, and also some very good food. Lots of good pastries, coffee and hot dogs along with some more substantial meals. More to be revealed!

Cheers!

Donnie

OBAMA!

2009-02-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

For many of us (appx 25,000), the race began on or about February 28, 2007 on the banks of the Colorado River/Town Lake of Austin, Texas. Chris, Valerie and I stood in a light rain for part of the three hour wait to see the Obama we were hearing so much about. It was worth every minute of the wait; Obama does not disappoint. It was very early in his campaign and the largest audience he had spoken to. We didn't have a camera but Chris took pics with his phone. We saw Obama again in Austin sometime in 2008. My decision was made.

The Patriarca/Kirk family was well represented at the Inauguration by Valerie and David Kirk, and by Christopher & Brice Patriarca. Those are the ones I know of. Many people like me joined them by watching the TV from beginning to end. That was a wonderful, historic day and I am grateful that some of our family members were there to see it live and in person.

Now one thing that baffled me was when I saw that Paige was also there. I told Chris that I didn't know Paige was going and he said no, he didn't either, but I showed him the picture. Later, he talked to Paige and we learned that she had asked to be pasted in since she couldn't be there in person. Well done Christopher!

This was a campaign, election and inauguration that I believe we will all remember for the rest of our lives. More pictures are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp

Well done family!

Cheers!

Donnie

GHANA

2009-01-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

GHANA

Before I tell you about Ghana, I thought you might enjoy seeing what Chris (your dad, your brother, your stepdad, your uncle, your son-in-law, your friend) does at Shell. Actually, this is only one of many things but I enjoyed the picture. Recently, Shell or someone decided they needed to be using threaded pipe. Chris has a lot of experience with threads and pipes from his days at Mobil, so he now has a group of men he is teaching to be inspectors. I hear it’s quite a challenge, but it made a great picture! I also hear he is a good teacher.

What we enjoyed on the drive from the airport to the hotel was how clean the streets and sidewalks are. And they have traffic lights that work, and people actually obey the laws. They do not have Okadas and in a two lane street, they only have two lanes of traffic rather than four. We chose to stay in a central in-town hotel rather than a beach hotel. We intended to go to the beach but never made it. I hear their beaches are awesome. Their harmittan is a lot worse than Lagos. It was hotter and also a lot more sand in the air.

The first day was our art market day and we had fun haggling and left with a few trinkets. We saw some of the same we see in Lagos and some different things as well. On the second day, we walked to the museum. Their national museum is awesome and we spent a long time in there. While there are ongoing markets in Accra every day, Saturday is big market day, and everyone comes out. In one of the photos, you will see a woman carrying a very large pan of live chickens on her head.

We had a fortuitous meeting with a young artist in the hotel. His name is Brains, but he paints as B Joe. We will make better pictures after we have a chance to get them to a framer. You will see them stretched, framed and hung in a later blog.

On our last day, Chris wanted to walk to one of the old forts. It looked a little far and we both only took Croc flops to wear on our feet, but we decided to go for it. It’s a funny thing, Chris and I can be hopelessly lost but we will both have strong opinions about which way we should go, and we are usually both wrong. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. And that was the day it was so hot and with a lot of wind and dust in the air. We took a cab back to the hotel and played canasta the rest of the afternoon. When Chris decided to take a nap, I went down to the lobby to use the wifi, and got to see the wedding party parade through the lobby. They spent two days decorating the pool area and grounds and had a lot of friends and family. Many were dressed in traditional dress and some more contemporary. Very interesting.

Home on Ikoyi Island

2008-12-17T04:48:00.000-08:00

In the first shot, you will see my husband, Chef Chris making a fabulous dinner for 5 close friends we met while living at the Eko Hotel and our new neighbor, Nick with whom we share the 6th Floor. The 3 course dinner included African Tabouli, Ravioli, Homemade pasta with meatballs, Eggplant Parmesan and for dessert, Chocolate fudge pie with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with Cabernet berry sauce. What a great dinner and a great evening with good friends. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures while they were here, but some of them you saw at St. Andrews Ball.

This is an odd assortment of pictures; some are mostly for Val and my Mom. The next one after Chris is the master bedroom with the new curtains. (We bought curtains/draperies for the entire flat while we were in Houston.) Val should recognize some of them because we looked at them while we were in Dallas at West Elm. There are a couple of pictures of our front and back balconies with plants, both old and new and all are growing. (Everything grows here!)

We have new additions to our menagerie. Meet Joliette, Jollof and Little Joe, the three new giraffes. They may not look like it in the photo but Joliette is about 5’ tall. They are from South Africa and we bought them from a departing expat. We always have a red wall and this home is no exception. The red beaded lamp is a recent addition, just in time for Christmas.

The flowers were purchased for the dinner party, although we buy flowers every now and then. They are very exotic and interesting and also inexpensive. These were probably about $11 USD. The table setting I knew Val and Mom would enjoy; looks like Chris and Donnie with the addition of African placemats and napkin holders.
The last two images are a homitan sunset, quite lovely! We are around for most of the holidays until the day after Christmas, then we are off to Ghana for four days. Ghana is a very small country to our North (I believe). It’s also on the coast. We will be in Accra, the capitol, also right on the coast.

If you wish to see the complete set of photos, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp

We wish you and bright, happy and joyous holiday season and hope to hear from some if not all of you real soon.

Love to you all,

Chris & Donnie

The St. Andrew's Ball

2008-12-02T01:47:00.000-08:00

The St. Andrew’s Ball is an annual celebration presented by the Lagos Caledonian Society. Chris and I had the good fortune of being invited by John and Jane Yule, our friends from the Eko Hotel days, and now neighbors at Niger Towers. Also, at our table were John and Christine Whitfield and Mike and Monique. We all agreed afterward that our table had to be one of the liveliest and most interesting of them all.

Most all the Scotsmen wore Kilts, or a tux or other formal wear. It was fun watching the event as well as participating. The band was great, and the bagpipes were wonderful. The Scottish dancing is fast, fun and for Chris and I, fun to watch. A lot of it was way too difficult for two people with four left feet. One of their dances was the “Cotton-eyed Joe” from US Country & Western dancing with a Scottish twist. Towards the end of the evening, our group convinced us that this one was easy we could learn as we go, so up we went.

Overall, we had a wonderful evening. Beforehand, we were wondering what we would do for 8 hours, but at the end of the evening (or I should say the wee hours of the morning), we marveled at how fast the 9 hours passed. You couldn’t ask for better as Host and Hostess than John and Jane. They obviously have had lots of practice.

Everyone at our table was interesting and fun. The food was good and the bottles kept coming. I am quite sure that Chris and I were the only ones there who were sober as a judge at the end of the day, but we had just as much fun as anyone there. The pictures say it all!

For us, it is another of the great cultures we have the opportunity to experience. Thanks to all who made our evening wonderful.

Cheers!
Chris & Donnie

Last half of October home leave

2008-11-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

It was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it but we will know to plan less and travel less next year when we come, and not add a week in Peru.

After Peru, the next stop was Dallas. The first couple of days, we hung out with Valerie and Kevin. That was very relaxing and fun. On Friday, Chris and I got to have a home visit with Jasper. (His Dad took him out of school at noon so we could have the afternoon with him.) We always have fun with Jasper. He never disappoints. He had grown a lot in six months.

Friday night, we had dinner with Kevin and Bill Day. Saturday we spent the day with David, Rebecca and Jasper. We took Jasper Christmas shopping. He’s a big boy who knows what he wants and he loves to shop. The big hit of toy shopping was “Wall-E”, a robotic toy that Jasper had great fun with. Saturday was also David’s birthday so we arranged a dinner with the family including Kevin and Bill. It was a lot of fun. On Sunday, we spent more time with David, Rebecca and David and took them to lunch before we headed for the airport.

Next stop: Lubbock and on to see Mom. After a couple days at her house, we headed to Alpine with Mom. We spent 4 very busy but relaxing and fun days with Mom who had never been to Alpine. We looked at property, showed Mom the 20 acres where we intend to build our retirement home, shopped and had a great time. And of course, we took her to see Marfa and the Marfa lights. The night we were there, the lights were not as active as they have been most of the times in previous visits. We stayed two more days with Mom at her house before we headed to Houston, our last stop on the journey.

We thought Houston would be really fun and relaxing, hanging out with friends, shopping and going to movies. But in reality, it was very hectic and we had too much to do. We did see one movie and a few friends but spent most of our time shopping for things we wanted to send in our air freight shipment. This included buying draperies for our flat, tennis shoes, tennis shoes, etc, oh and don’t forget the scrubs for Emmanuel. We went to the dentist and voted on Tuesday. Had to go to a different dentist on Thursday. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. Chris took the items we had collected/purchased to the air freight company for shipping.

And yes, we are already planning our next two trips!

Ciao!

Donnie

Last day of Peru trip

2008-11-12T02:31:00.000-08:00

The last day of our Peruvian visit was very memorable. We saw and visited more ruins but the highlight for the both of us was a visit to the home/compound of a Peruvian couple. They welcomed us into their life. The woman showed us a lot of the herbs and grains she cooks with and also allowed us to try some potatoes dipped in clay. Chris took one bite and had to go for water. She also had a platter of fresh cow cheese, so we ate the rest of our potatoes with cheese; much better than clay.
They are totally self sufficient, raising their own vegetables and cows as well as guinea pigs. They have their own alpacas for making their clothing and also the beautiful rugs, and yes, we brought one home but could only accommodate a small one. They were warm and welcoming and wonderful. What a treat the home visit was! He demonstrated the primitive tools he for farming.
By now we are on sensory overload and ready to get back to the states, but we will always have many fond memories of our time in Peru, and probably return there someday. There is a lot to do and see there.
Additional photos for each segment of this trip may be seen in our public albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp.

ENJOY!

2008-11-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

Cusco to Puno & Lake Titicaca

This turned out to be an all day bus trip with several interesting stops. However, since we liked the train so much, we would much have preferred riding the train from Cusco to Puno. It still would have been about as long but so much more relaxing and less confining. (We will remember that when we travel from Cairo to Luxor.) Mostly the trip was long and tiring so we were very glad to see Puno.

Puno is a lovely city and we stayed downtown one block off the plaza. We enjoyed walking around in the evening and found a wonderful place close by for dinner that was probably the best meal we had in Peru. There was a lot of shopping open on both Saturday and Sunday evenings as well as the street vendors. We shopped both nights!

The most beautiful part of this leg of the journey was Lake Titicaca. Nothing could have prepared us for that. It is the highest navigable lake in the world and huge at about 14,000 ft altitude and its huge! My favorite part of our all day lake adventure was visiting the reed people on the reed island. There are several reed islands with reed houses and reed boats. That is their life. The woman Alicia invited Chris and I to come inside her home where they have reed beds and clothes hang on the walls. It was from Alicia that we purchased the red tapestry. We also got to take a ride on the reed boat. What an interesting people and lifestyle!

Next, we took a long boat ride to an island where we were scheduled to have lunch. Islands there are just like the country, vertical. Guide said an easy 45 minute walk. An hour later I was still wondering where the top was. Eventually, we realized we had circled the island completely. I was exhausted; once again, it’s this thing of breathing and walking at the same time at that altitude. We decided we probably won’t make it to the Himalayas after all. Darn! Had a good lunch and then made the 2 ½ hour boat ride back to Puno.

One more brief segment will close the Peru trip. Maybe tomorrow?

Donnie

Machu Picchu

2008-11-07T00:28:00.000-08:00

We traveled by train from Cusco to Agues Calientes to see Machu Picchu which proved to be very scenic and overwhelmingly beautiful. We took Val’s recommendation and stayed overnight in Agues Calientes so we could return the next day. It really is too much to take in all in one day; first day with tour guide and second day alone. It is one of the two most spiritual places I have ever been. It is hard to imagine that these were built 6 or 700 years ago. Some restoration has been made but for the most part, it is very authentic and as it was left by the Incas. MP is at about 14,000 feet. It is hard for me to breathe at that altitude, much less breathe and walk at the same time. It’s really hard to describe so I will share the experience with our photos. They say it all!

It was enjoyable to walk around Agues Calientes in the afternoon and evening. We were glad for the overnighter.

On our second day, we had a meditation in a sacred private place we found. Only on our way back to the trail were we told that we were not supposed to be there. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who thought it to be a sacred place. We enjoyed exploring the places and areas that we didn’t get to see up close the first day and have a few daring moments. (David always said Chris and I were into extreme sports!) We are definitely slowing down but will probably always be adventurous. I certainly hope so. Everyone loved the Alpacas and Llamas and we were no exception!

The other gift of this segment of the journey was the train ride to and from. Neither of us had ever traveled by train. We were in a club car and they served a meal. The train had a vista dome so we could see up and out; very good for taking pictures. Train ride was probably about four hours and the slow going also makes for better pictures.

On our return trip, after we were seated a group of Japanese boarded and two Japanese women sat opposite us. One of them had purple hair in the front and Chris and I were just sure she had discovered Lawrence Kibbedaux in Houston. Lawrence had wanted to get his hands in my hair for years so before we left Houston, I have him one shot at it so he gave me a purple starburst in front. The Japanese women spoke no English and Chris knows only a little Japanese. We had a great fun time with them as you will see by the pictures. Language doesn’t have to be a barrier.

There are many, many more pictures that are or will be appearing in our Picasa Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp

A very memorable time and place!

More to come,

Donnie

Peru Trip - Cusco & Sacred Valley

2008-11-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

Chris and I departed Lagos on 30 September for our trip to the US and Peru. We had many interesting trips during that time. We flew into Atlanta and drove to Charlotte NC and hung out with Brice for a day. Had lunch with him at his workplace, a very interesting and eclectic place. Next day, we picked up Paige at Charlotte airport and the four of us drove to Roanoke. On our way, we picked up Ashley at Virginia Tech; what a beautiful place it is! We met big Chris at his favorite restaurant for dinner. Had a great weekend with our Patriarca children. It was good having everyone together. We also got to see the house Chris and Ashley are moving into. They live in a cool part of Roanoke and are walking distance to downtown. The Patriarca children planned a surprise birthday for their father which was fun and very thoughtful.

After driving Paige and Brice back to Charlotte we stayed overnight at the edge of town so we could head back to Atlanta first thing Monday morning. On the way to Atlanta, Chris got pulled over for weaving. We are still laughing about that. Made it to Atlanta with room to spare and boarded our flight for Lima about 5:30 pm. Arrived in Lima at 10:30 p.m. and were met at airport and driven to hotel. We only got to sleep about 4 hours and were picked up and driven back to airport.

The flight from Lima to Cusco was very interesting because we could see that all of Peru is mountainous. Upon arrival we had to get out and walk the last six blocks because there was a strike by the farmers over high gas prices that affected us several times on the trip. Thankfully we had help with our luggage! It was all uphill and actually, the whole trip was uphill and it wasn't easy. The hardest part of being at 12-14,000 feet is breathing; then you are expected to breathe and walk at the same time. That's a little much!

We stayed in an old and quaint hotel in Cusco. Chris took some pictures on of the inside about the last day we were there. As soon as we checked in, we were whisked away for our first guided tour in and around Cusco. We had mild rain the first day which made it seem colder than it was.

On the second day, we went to Sacred Valley. It is called sacred for a reason. Many wonderful surprises awaited us. Many gifts, not to mention the gifts from the angry farmers who left everything from pebbles to boulders on the highways. Seemed like we were driving an obstacle course. While there we went to a village and visited the studio of several Peruvian women who walked us through the step-by-step process of taking the Alpaka wool and dying it with natural dyes, then spooling the wool and lastly creating the design and product on the loom. They said they don't sit down with a design in mind but rather just let it come. We purchased a beautiful table runner from the woman who said she spent three months in making it.

We had a fabulous lunch on our drive between stops. There are a lot of advantages of being on tours like being met at airports and prearranged everything including transportation. There are also some disadvantages like never getting to do anything on your own, not being able to stay as long as you would like at some places and having more time at others than might be desirable. It's a trade-off but in a strange land for our first visit, it was probably the only reasonable way.

The Peru trip continues in separate phases, so we will end this phase here.

Thank you to our Patriarca children for being present and making our visit to the Northeast memorable.

Chris & Donnie

Last blog before US tour!

2008-09-26T02:04:00.000-07:00

It’s Friday, 26 September 2008, and we are down to the wires on preparing for our departure. We will leave Lagos on Tuesday, 30 September for our 33 day US and Peru tour, and we are very excited about the trip. Don’t know if we will ever want to take a trip this long again, but that is what we are doing this year. In the US, we will be visiting Charlotte NC, Roanoke VA, Dallas, Lubbock, Alpine and Houston in Texas. Good news is that at least two days of our home leave are Nigerian holidays so those will give us a couple extra vacation days for this year. There may also be holidays that come up while we are gone. Their holidays are not always planned very far in advance, like Chris may get a text message on his phone that tomorrow we will be celebrating “Independence Day”, so don’t come to work. We may not get to celebrate Presidents Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day or Thanksgiving, but the Nigerians celebrate everything and they are all holidays for us as well.

I decided to post one last blog because I have a few new pictures to share and wanted to have a separation in before and after. We will certainly create a lot of great memories and hopefully some great pictures while on our US trip. We purchased a few new pieces of art the last time Chris and I went to Lekki Market together. I seem to have been appointed (unofficially) as the guide for new ex-pat wives for their first Lekki Market. Hey, I had a good teacher! And of course we will be bringing goodies from Lekki Market for family members including Jasper.

Of the art, the large horizontal piece is “Apapa” (a place) and is by Darlington who painted “Dreams of an American Child”. The vertical is titled “Three Wise Men” by Osaretin Osadolor. No more art for a short while. When we return, I will have curtains made and then there are a few pieces of furniture we want to have made. And of course, I will need to replenish my collection of beads after sharing in the US.

The flowers Chris bought me to celebrate finally getting the dining table cleaned off, although they were too tall to set on the table. I don’t know exactly what they are. They look like birds of paradise, but I have never seen any with the part that hangs down; very interesting and colorful like everything else here.
I also took some pictures of our front and back balconies which I immediately started filling with plants in pots. You will notice there are a couple of empty pots for plants I haven’t bought or found yet. I have seen a bamboo palm with a red stalk that is quite the most striking thing I have seen, but I have not found any for sale yet. I also decided not to add anything else for Emmanuel to have to water while I am gone.

And last but not least, I took a picture of our driver, Samuel with the Hyundai Santa Fe that is our car while we are in Lagos. We got the windows tinted last week and they are so dark I don’t need sunglasses! Samuel keeps the car immaculate. It was unfortunate that I remembered the camera on a rainy day. Oh, we, get over it Samuel.

I am in a US state of mind since that is what we have been plotting and planning and looking forward to. We know when will see our families and a few friends but if you are or will be in one of the cities listed and are not on our calendar yet, please call or email.

Hope to see you real soon!

South African Safari 2008

2008-09-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

We didn't really know what to expect of this first Safari adventure, but of course we are very open minded and mostly flexible; okay, not always. To say the very least, it was an adventure we will treasure for our lifetime. The lodging was fabulous, the food was wonderful and our guide was a hoot! He made it fun for us even on the days when we weren't able to find what we were looking for. It is one of those experiences where if you can't find the one you love, love the ones who appear in your path.

One of those near empty days, we had a French couple with child and an elder gentleman from Australia who had just joined our group. (We felt very privileged to have enjoyed having the guide to ourselves for the first two days.) We couldn't seem to find anything other than Impala and they show up everywhere. Guide drove us to a watering hole which is often times a good place to find game. He stopped the jeep, got out, walked over to the water's edge and picked up a big handful of green mud and then proceeded to paint his face. We tourists just stared at him and he said "okay, who's next?" My first thought was 'you gotta be kidding'. Surprisingly, the very conservative French man was the first to follow and Chris was the second. And of course when we left the water hole, we were all wearing our green mud faces proudly and we got a lot of attention. You will see pictures of most of our adventures by clicking on the following web link, or by doing a copy paste:
http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp/SouthAfricanSafari2008

On another slow day, the French couple were gone and we had a British couple who had joined our group. They were full of questions and the Guide knew everything there is to know about dung. He could distinguish between elephant dung and rhino dung and also between white rhino dung and black rhino dung. We had stopped by a big pile of white rhino dung and he was explaining why they spread it around like they do. We asked about the pile of smaller dung pebbles in it's midst. (It was maybe impala dung.) So, Guide said the impala dung is great for a dung spitting contest. That was another of those wide-eyed moments for us tourists. He drew a line in the dirt, proceeded about six feet in front of the line and drew a circle. Then he went over and picked up a handful of the dung balls, walked over behind the line, popped one in his mouth and spit it dead center in the circle. He did one more, but could not rouse any takers for a contest. We all had to pass on that one.

Our meals were at the main lodge, all entirely gourmet and well prepared. We did take a cooler for drinks and a trayed provided by the kitchen for something like a tail gate party at each of our driving sessions. We went out twice a day, once just after daybreak and again in late afternoon until after dark. On two different evenings, the Chef and kitchen staff prepared dinner over an open fire and served it as if in a fine restaurant complete with candle light, large torches to help keep us warm and at one some African singing and dancing by the staff. These are a few of the many experiences we had and enjoyed. You will get more of the flavor from the pictures if you care to check them out.

We realized how grateful we are for being where we are and having the opportunity to do these things and look forward to many more. We also know that since we are living in Africa, this is the time to really take advantage of the ability to travel here. And last but certainly not least, we are grateful everyday for having this opportunity and experience.

We look forward to seeing you in less than a month now! We are very excited about our US tour in the month of October.

Love & kisses,

Donnie & Chris

2008-09-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

Cape Town and the Cape, 2008

2008-09-02T01:33:00.001-07:00

We are back from a wonderful trip! What great memories! I knew I wanted to go to Cape Town but didn't know why until we arrived. Cape Town is beautiful, and we spent two days driving around the Cape which is indescribable. The first day our destination was the Cape of Good Hope. It was cold and windy and easy to understand why there have been so many ship wrecks there. The wonderful surprise was the African penguins! We saw them close to the the Cape of Good Hope, and then on the second day of driving the Cape, we found a lesser known spot where they are thriving. Just a while after the picture at the Cape sign with Chris and I, there is a picture of an ostrich about half way up the mountain, and the baboons were also unexpected. Part of our second day drive we looked for and spotted several whales. Apparently they come up into the Cape area at mating time.

The beauty is breath taking and everything is so clean and fresh. It reminded us a lot of some parts of Canada. The vegetation was beautiful and the calla lillies grow wild there. At the best whaling spot we found, there was a seafood restaurant built into the side of the hill just below where we were viewing. We had a wonderful lunch there and were able to see the whales a while longer.

We stayed in Cape Town at the Mandela Rhodes Place which we would highly recommend to anyone. They have loft apartment units and a high rise with more standard type rooms. We had a loft with an open floor plan complete with washer and dryer. We went to the open downtown African market but Chris would only let me buy 5 more strands of beads. He doesn't seem to understand that I will be sharing beads with a lot of folks back home. Besides, Paige and I know that a girl cannot have too many beads.

The weather range was about 45 to 60 while we were there, probably mostly 55 to 60 during the day. This is end of winter there but I expect it never gets too warm there. On our next visit, I will vote to go during mid summer which would be about mid October.

Once again, I found it necessary to create two blogs since the Safari trip was such a big deal for us. It may get published tomorrow but not today. I have Val calling at 1 p.m. and have to leave at 1:45 for Mah Jong. So, tomorrow morning, I will try to get the blog and pictures posted for the safari part of our trip.

To view more Cape photos, goto http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp/CapeTownAndTheCape2008

We look forward to seeing you real soon. It's only about 28 days until we leave for the US.

More tomorrow morning!

Donnie

The container story..........oops, end first!

2008-08-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

We were just leaving the mall when we received the call on Saturday that the trucking coming was on the way with our container. It was a few hours later, close to dusk, when they arrived. There were six men with the trucking company, and it took all of them, most of the guards, some men from the provast and Chris and I upstairs holding our breath to get that truck backed into the appropriate place for unloading.

It was frightening to watch and with some pretty close calls but at the end of the day, we had our things in the flat and everyone went home. We have been sleeping on a rock hard bed since we have been in the flat so we had one and only one goal; to setup and make up our bed and get in it. Best night's sleep we have had in ages. Every night now, if feels luxurious to climb between the sheets. It is amazing to us how much we took for granted before. There is a great lesson for us here everyday in our daily life here.

Ciao!

Chris & Donnie

Vegetable Market, shopping & life

2008-08-14T04:49:00.000-07:00

The above is a picture story and very much a part of our everyday life. Most of the pictures represent one of many markets where we shop. It's a downtown Lagos market, very old, and what I enjoy most about it is the children. They are just wonderful! You know with children, there are no cultural or language barriers. One big smile and they will follow you anywhere. Most of our shopping I do during the week but since we have to buy fresh veggies and fruit at least twice if not three times, sometimes Chris gets to help.

The second to last picture (I think) is Emmanuel, our Steward. He is big and strong and works very hard. He is learning to cook so that I can now ask him to make Tabouli and he does it with no help from me and no questions asked. Yeah Emmanuel! (aka African Kevin)

To briefly catch up, our container arrived on Saturday evening, so this time there is an extra blog with maybe all pictures and no words but it tells a story that was pretty scary while watching it from the 6th floor balcony of our flat. You will understand what I mean when you see it!

We are leaving August 22nd for our first big outing since we arrived. We will be in South Africa with four days in Capetown and four days on Safari at a private game reserve closer to Johannesburg. So, there will probably be no other posting until about the first week of September but there will be some great pictures from that trip.

As most of you already know, we are making our first US tour in the month of October, so I have pretty well nailed down dates and visits and I will be sending that out soon, before we go to South Africa. We have tickets for both trips and we are quite ready to get away.

Have a nice viewing and send us an email when you get a chance.

TaTa, as my Scottish friend says!

The Patriarcas

More about art and reality……..

2008-07-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten that Chris had taken a picture of Darlington (the artist who painted “Dreams of an African Child”) and me when we purchased the painting. What a beautiful painting for our dining room in Africa.

Now about Lagos……….a response from my last posting from my friend Robbin about how modern Lagos looks made me realize that I have been showing/telling about all things good without letting you know about the bad and the ugly. So, this week is about reality, and I may even post some extra pictures. After all, everyone knows that 1picture is worth 100 words.

Lagos is a major business megacity, more densely population than NYC in probably about the same size space. We realized living at the Eko Hotel that there are people coming in and out daily from all over the world. There is a crazy excitement here that you can feel. It is constant motion and sound, and never more so than when you are driving in the car. There is also extreme poverty that is heartbreaking and filth that is unbelievable.

Lagos is a major, growing city and expected by the UN to be the third largest mega city in the world by the year 2015. The biggest problem is that the city has no infrastructure. I have not seen more than 2 or 3 traffic lights here and everyone drives like maniacs. Because most of the population here cannot afford to own a car, there are thousands of motorcycles. The bikers here are also making their living with their bikes. They are called Okadas and they own the road. You will see them parked in small to large groups all over town just waiting to be summoned. They have all but replaced taxis in this town. They cut in and around car traffic and get you where you are going in a fraction of the time it take in a car. You see men and women in business suits riding on the back of the Okadas bikes, and Chris has seen a family of five on one bike. The Okadas can get mad at each other, but you cannot get mad at an Okada, and God help you if you hit one with your car. You will almost instantly be surrounded by 200 or so of them yelling and screaming and beating on your car. We have safety rules about what to do if you hit an Okada. Number 1, you do not get out of your car nor do you lower a window. We have a number programmed into our cell phones that Chris says calls the Cavalry. You tell them where you are and they are there in less than 15 minutes. They take care of everything with the Okadas and everyone goes there merry way.

There is a tension here that you feel but I don’t think it’s more than you feel in any big cities. We take a lot of precautions here but not more than we took living in Dallas or Houston, well with the exception that we are not allowed to drive here and we are advised not to go out after dark. For some people, that would be a big problem. For us, it fits perfectly with our schedule since we go to bed by about 8 p.m.

Fact: 821 Nigerians die every day from malaria; that’s 34 per hour. Worldwide, one person dies every 30 seconds from malaria. We expats take one malarone per day and have no problems. Malarone in the US is expensive about $250 for a 30 day supply, but we are also well aware that we pay more in the US for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the world. Out of curiousity, I want to find out how much malarone costs in Nigeria.

So, no infrastructure, extreme poverty, and filth in a country that is so rich in culture and natural resources is hard to understand sometimes. For us, it is only a matter of mostly minor inconveniences like power outages, taking malarone, sharing a car and driver, (not that I want to get out that much), and having very slow internet except for early in the morning. The only thing that I can see that the government does for the people is discount the cost of gas at the pump, approximately half the cost of gas in the US. Mostly the ones who benefit from the gas savings are the wealthy Nigerians, the expats and the Okadas.

The other thing that is an inconvenience is that all of Nigeria is a cash only society and the largest currency you can get here is 1,000 Naira which is less than $10 US dollars. I had to go to South African Airways last week to pick up some tickets. Chris had to pick up money from the bank in the Shell building the day before which happened to be payday. He went a little later to cash a check and all they had left was 100 and 200 Naira notes, so I went to the SAA office with a travel bag we use as an airline travel carry on.

We feel good about spending appx 80% of our grocery money with the street vendors who have wonderful fresh fruit, veggies and eggs.
With all that said, every day we find a lot to be grateful for and realize that for us, the benefits far outweigh the inconveniences. And the experiences we are having are very rich.

The African Collection

2008-07-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

While this is not the first of the African collection, it is two new additions. The beginning of the collection goes back several years to Chris’s first and only trip to Johannesburg where he purchased three pieces that are considered antiquities and which are in our container, so that when we return to the US, we will have to pay tax on. Oh well.
When we were here in January, we purchased our first African folk art painting. Then, the first month we were here, we purchased the carved ebony standing man and woman. We heard recently the traders at the Eko were going to be moved out of the Eko compound. The entire time we were at the Eko, we kept admiring the giraffes, but didn’t have room for them in our hotel room and we also wanted to look at Lekki Market before we bought. They have some at Lekki but not nearly as nice as the ones from Eko traders, so last weekend we went back there and bought the two we wanted. While they look rather small in the pictures, they are about four feet tall and very charming. Please meet Ralph and Raphaella.

We saw this painting at Lekki Market about a month ago and loved it. We didn’t have the money to buy it then but Chris said we would return in a month and if they still had it we would buy. We went back on Saturday and purchased it. This is titled “Dreams of an African Child” by Darlington A. Chukulumezie, 2008. The photo doesn’t do it justice but we love it. We bought hooks at the Game before going to Lekki, but we forgot that we also needed wire. Oh well. The painting is very well done and also has an emotional pull that probably hooked us as much as his very fine painting style.

They have everything at Lekki Market. It is the Oyibo market. So, we also purchased our fruit and vegetables while we were there. It’s not that far away, out on Lekki Peninsula, but a rapidly developing area. It didn’t take too long to get there, less than a half hour, but well over an hour to get home. It started raining on the return trip which always makes bad traffic worse.
Last week, I had my first lesson in Mah Jong, so for the rest of my time here, every Tuesday afternoon, I will be playing Mah Jong. I came home and ordered four books on Amazon, waited a few days and ordered a set.

The big thing we are doing now is planning our first home visit in October. Chris is taking the entire month of October for our visit but one week of the trip we will spend in Peru. Our trip is very complicated and we are now in our second revision and there may be more. We will be visiting Charlotte, NC; Roanoke, VA; Dallas, Lubbock, Alpine and Houston. We are using Atlanta as our home base, mostly because we like the direct flight between Atlanta and Lagos via Delta.

That’s all for now! We enjoy hearing from you and look forward to seeing some of you on our home visit in October.

Ciao!

Chris & Donnie

Niger Towers - Our new home

2008-07-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Our new home and neighborhood………

To see all the photos from this session, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp

You are welcome!

For the longest time after our arrival, we couldn’t figure out why the Nigerians kept telling us “you are welcome” before we said thank you, but after we read about the Eyo of the Eko, we understood that they are telling we are welcome in their country. They are very gracious and friendly and very curious about Owejbos (light skinned people) especially those of us from the U.S. So, you are welcome to view our family album with all the photos if you have the time and desire. I can only add about 3 or 4 to each blog.

I feel very welcome here and interestingly enough, even more so by the Nigerians than the Owejbos. We are quite comfortable here and adjusting to our new life quite well. Chris gets more involved in his work every week and is quite satisfied with what he is doing, and they are learning that he has much more knowledge and skills than just the specific reasons they wanted him for this job. It’s a win-win.

Seems forever since I have blogged, but there was the preparing to move and then the actual event, then hiring a Steward and then the settling in. We are now settled in. Today Chris and I went for a walk in the hood and took a few shots. I will share a few within this blog but also I will give you the URL for the collection because it includes the outside of our building, the outside of the compound, our walk to get a bucket of dirt and then the insides. Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed the walk.

We like Niger Towers a lot. We checked every single thing the day before moving and then we moved in and immediately made a list of about 6 things that were not working or had not been completed. Every day or two, we would get one thing done, and finally Chris sent an email to his Shell contacts and reported that we had asked repeatedly for a clothes dryer that worked and the new front door lock had amazing deadbolts but they needed to be adjusted. He told them if they could not get those two things done by Friday to please make us a reservation to go back to the Eko. It was a security issue among other things. We weren’t exactly without clothes. Our Steward, Emmanuel, was washing the clothes and drying them on the shower racks in the four bathrooms. Within two hours of Chris’s email, a man came to work on the deadbolt issues and two other men came with a brand new clothes dryer and another came with three telephones and installed our landlines which we didn’t even know we were getting.

Emmanuel is a joy to have in the house with me. I first met him when our airfreight shipment came in and was delivered at Alan’s flat since we had no home. Alan arranged for me to go over in the daytime when his Steward Emmanuel would be there. I asked him a few questions about how much he worked for Alan and for how long and did he work for anyone else. It sounded like he was full so I didn’t go any further, but I really like his presence. When I finished up with my airfreight research, we were walking to the door and he looked at me and said I want to be your Steward. I told him I would like very much to explore that with him at a later date. Bottom line, we have Emmanuel Monday through Friday from about 10:30 or 11 to about 4 or 4:30. He is a dream.

There is another interesting thing about Emmanuel. He reminds me so much of Kevin it’s not funny; yes, Kevin, my son. He is just a darker version. They are the same size, same build. Emmanuel can cop an attitude in an instant but mostly he is very calm and peaceful. He is 6’ tall so I will always feel safe with him when I go on my excursions. Chris likes him because he loves to iron. He even irons Chris’s tighty whities.

So, the pictures represent our new home, some inside and some out. Within the compound, there are three buildings, Block A, B & C. We are in Block B, 6th Floor, and Flat 12. There are two flats on each floor and each floor has an elevator lobby with the front doors to the two flats. The flats on our side have four bedrooms, four ½ baths. All the floors are hard surface floors with marble in the entry, living and dining room. I love plants so one day, I had the driver stop at a corner where they sell pots and plants and bought 3 pots with stands and two plants.

The thing today with taking a walk with the pink mop bucket was to get some more dirt. On our way home from the movies yesterday, I spotted at large pile of dirt not far from our home. I wanted to take both Emmanuel’s pink mop buckets (hey, he picked the color, not me), but for one of those Chris reasons that I don’t always understand, he said we should start with one. After we returned, he said next weekend, we can go back and get another bucket full. I loved the picture of him with the pink mop bucket.
Some of you know already that we have been learning to deal with power outages, flaky internet (at times) and internet outages, being stuck in elevators, etc. I set up that Skype phone with a Houston number before we left and it was great at first but then we started to have problems. We believe we have found a resolution. It has call forwarding and now that we have a landline, we forwarded the calls from the Houston Skype number to the Nigerian landline. So, Walla! You can call 1.832.632.7477; it will ring into to Skype, then after a pause it rings into the landline. We do have to have Skype open on the desktop for this to work but it works. This is also dependent upon having both the electricity and internet up and running, but electric outages are far less here that at the Eko, and we also have backup generators.

Oh, and one other bit of good news! Our container has arrived and Chris has given them his passport which they will keep until our container clears customs. They tell us about 4 to 5 weeks. We can hardly wait to have our stuff! Even if borrowed stuff is better, it’s not our stuff.

That’s about it for today. It’s near time for our new version of 60 minutes which we always watched back in the US on Sunday evening. Let us here from you anytime. We are always glad to hear from family and friends. And remember, you are welcome!

Adios!

Beginning of Week 7

2008-06-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

Another week down and with a lot of new experiences and a lot of rain. It is the rainy season here and lasts through August. We learned to love rain in Houston. Here though, in addition to the usual power outages, a thunderstorm screws up the TV, the internet, the lights followed by the water. It's okay to be without any of those for a period but the most difficult is losing the internet because unlike the electricity for which there are backup generators that kick in, the servers can be down for a while and when we lose internet, we also cannot use the Skype phone. Bummer!

Our new driver, Sam, is wonderful. He is a very good driver, very patient and yet also has some fire in him. He has a quiet dignity and strength and is very comfortable and easy to be with. What a blessing!

This week, we were trying to close on some property we bought in Alpine, Texas and needed a notary public, which in the US we take for granted. We received the Fedex Pak with docs on Monday, but found out the American Consulate is only open from 7:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. each day. So, on Tuesday, we drove in the rain to the American Consulate and stood in line to wait our turn. After a couple of hours and several conversations with different people we finally met an American woman who witnessed our signatures and notarized our documents.

Then we headed for the nearest Fedex office. There are not that many and no drop boxes. I won't bore you with a blow by blow, but after five trips to three different locations and $75 in cash, we finally got that priority fedex going back to the States. Don't even think about sending me an overnight letter, to begin with there is no overnight service to or from Nigeria and it costs $75 for 7 oz. It took 10 days for the priority package to get here which included one US holiday and one Nigerian holiday and two days in customs. It took less than 48 hours to return it to Alpine. Everything is a new adventure!

This past week, we had a good deal of socializing. We are meeting other Shell expats here at the Eko (one couple has been here 3 1/2 months), and also there was an out of town visitor that we entertained. Made the food seem a little better to enjoy it with interesting people, but we were glad for the weekend to rest up.

One morning last week when I was returning from breakfast, this beautiful black Goddess stepped onto the elevator. I complimented her on her beautiful attire, very traditional Nigerian complete with matching headdress. She immediately said she made it and she could make me one too. "Just follow me" she said; "I am late for an appt." So, I followed her up to the 11th floor and we rushed down a hallway and into the room of a Japanese man who had beautiful fabric samples everywhere. She threw her large bag on the bed, gave me a pen and paper and asked me to write down my name and number. Then she pulled out two huge stacks of US currency and gave it to the Japanese man to pay her bill. Within minutes, we were going back down (I got off at 10)and she said she would contact me next week. This was one of many frequent occurrences of meeting very interesting people. What a joy!

Nothing big on the agenda for this week, but we never know what a new day will bring. I do hope to get to the Outpost on Ikoyi Island this week.

Ah, a few pictures from our trip to the French bakery and coffee house, a new Sunday habit we cherish. One is the front of the hotel which is difficult to show in one shot, but beautiful grounds and flags in front and back from around the world. Also, the lobby which is open 24 hours daily is an open air lobby. There is also a spacious circular driveway that is filled many times daily. Very interesting gekkos here, along with people. The sculpture is The Eyo of the Eko. Originally, Lagos was called Eko, but when the Portuguese took over many years ago, they changed the name to Lagos which means Lagoon in Poruguese. So many people coming and going on a daily basis. There is a lot of big business in Lagos.

End of week 4

2008-05-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hello from Africa! We are still in the Eko hotel. We have selected a flat and been approved by the building committee. Our container is still on the docks of Houston but we will be able to use float furniture (loaned from Shell). We are presently wait listed for float.

In the meantime, the Eko has three separate parts and six restaurants. It covers an area equivalent of several city blocks and is quite comfortable. So everyday, I make peace with being here and we don't have to pay for anything except internet.

Chris has hired a driver named Sam. I haven't met him. He starts Monday. Our new car hasn't arrived yet but Shell will allow us to continue using a loaner car.

We had an interesting experience last weekend at the mall, where we went for the movie, a different mall this time. It was time to buy me a phone, so we passed several different stores walking through and when we saw the Nokia store, I decided that would be good because I trust Nokia phones. We selected a real basic phone, paid for the phone and were when we told the clerk we wanted to use Glo as the provider, he told us we would need to go down to the Glo store and buy a Simms card for the phone and then come back, so we did that and then came back, and he had some kind of issue the the card, so all three of us walked back to the Glo store and finally got phone, simms card and cards with minutes. You don't have to pay a monthly fee. Once you have all of the above, you just buy minutes, but we have to be sure to buy Glo minutes or they wont work in my phone, and you can buy minutes on the street while waiting in traffic. So, now I am gloing!

Everything is slowly coming together and falling into place. Chris now has desk, desk phone, cell phone, smart card, driver, and he is getting into a new rythm.

Yesterday, we celebrated our first Nigerian Holiday: Democracy Day, and the Nigerians are very serious about their holidays. We don't get the American holidays, but the Nigerians have a lot more holidays than the US, so we are okay with that. We celebrated by having a day off and doing our Sunday routine.

We continue to be amazed at the weather here. The highs are usually in the 80's and 70's at night. It is unusual for the temperature to be above 90. So, it is 70's to 90's year round. What a great place, this tropical island!

I am posting a few pics. When Chris went with me to see the flat I had selected, he brought the camera. The only picture he took inside the flat was of one of the closets in master bedroom. The flat has a front balcony and back balcony so he also took pics of the view from the front balcony. I think I have some pics we took before of Niger Towers because we actually decided in January that was our preference. Also, there are some pics of the construction of a new car park at the hotel.

Stay tuned!

Weekend Number 3

2008-05-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

We are at the end of about 5 weeks in hotels, and we still like each other. The most difficult thing about living in one room is keeping it organized. I am a stacker by nature so out of sight can mean out of mind.

As those of you who know us know, Chris and I have a movie date every Friday night. Now he no longer gets every other Friday off nor does he get off early on Fridays, so as of yesterday, we have switched our movie date to Saturdays. Chris passes a vertical mall with a movie theatre on his way to work every day so it seemed a natural to go there since it's closer. We chose to see Nim's Island. It piqued my sense of adventure. Our driver picked us up and dropped us at the mall. We went in, bought our tickets and popcorn and went in and sat where we always do front and center, not all the way to the front but a few rows back. There were only a couple of other people in there and it was about 10 minutes to showtime. So, lights out and previews start and all of a sudden, the Nigerian children appeared in mass and we were right in the middle of their sitting area so they were all around us, and they are loud. The adults are loud but the children are louder. Wow!

Anyway, it was a great movie and we enjoyed it. It was also a reminder that we are minorities in Nigeria so we always need to be mindful and respectful of that.

Today is Sunday and we are having a wonderful lazy one. Our driver is off on Sunday so we work out, shower and then walk a few blocks to a coffee house with wonderful French pastries. Chris in now snoozing with car racing on TV in the background. He is in heaven.

Maybe later we will go for a swim, either before or after brunch.

Later gator!

End of week 2

2008-05-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

We are still here, and loving it. Each day, we love Lagos a little more. No doubt there will be days we hate it and feel like we must get away, but it is a city rich with art and culture. (And when we start to hate it, it's time to take a trip.) What a gifted and talented lot they are, these Afrikans! Chris and I got to attend an art show on Saturday at the American School hosted by the American Womens Club. There were quite a few artistans there showing and selling their wares. We bought our first artifacts, a standing man and woman carved in ebony. They are quite charming! I will add a picture.

Problems with the first flat I viewed at Niger towers. Went back today and made another selection, exact same layout except backward which I actually liked better, so if Shell approves and they had already approved us for the other one, we might be moving in the end of next week. YEAH!!!

The Eko is a lovely hotel and we have a view from our balcony of a huge lagoon separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow strip of sandy beach with beach houses. I will also add a picture of the view. There are hundreds of people from all over the world in and out of here each day. Sometimes it's interesting just sitting in the lobby and watching people. And if I feel like having lots of conversation and getting a lot of attention, all I have to do is wear my Obama tee shirt. The Nigerians are crazy about Obama, and most of the other people also hope the US elects Obama!

2008-05-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

The beginning.........

2008-05-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

My husband, Chris and I left the US on Thursday, May 1, 2008, and arrived in Lagos, Nigeria on May 2nd. For any of you who want to come for a visit, the Delta direct flight from Atlanta to Lagos is great! We stayed on the generous hotel grounds the entire weekend except for a Saturday night outing to the International Boat Festival with lots of food from different countries. Not sure I will ever acquire a taste for traditional Nigerian food. It's hard to get past the smell.

Yesterday was our first day at work (and yes, I did have to go with him). Spent most of the day with HR people and when in Immagration we learned that I was also supposed to get a different kind of Visa. So, I can only stay here 3 months at a time and my tourist visa expires the end of December. Looks like we will be making a trip back to the US sooner than we had planned, probably around the first of October.

It is summer here with highs mostly from mid 80's to low 90's with a high humidity. Being on an island, we have the advantage of a nice breeze most of the time, and it is the rainy season so that helps as well. We are told that April is the hottest month and we just missed it, (Oh darn!), and by July and August, it will be downright cool. We can hardly wait.

Our container doesn't ship from Houston until May 15 with an eta of appx June 15 and then it takes about 5 weeks to go through customs so maybe July 15 or later, so it was looking like a good three months in the Eko Hotel. However, when we met with housing, we learned that we may be able to get into temporary housing with borrowed furniture, etc right away. Another positive for us is that the place we found most desirable, Niger Towers, has several flats available, so keep your fingers crossed!

More will be revealed......................................