Dear family and friends,
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It’s the start of December and it’s uncomfortably warm here in Lagos with a humidity of 89%. As I’m writing this, I am stuck without electricity from 10:00 till 13:00. This means that the generators are not working, and as a result neither are the ACs, so I am sitting here with sweating on my upper body, moist hands and a sweaty forehead. All the while I am receiving Whatsapp messages from the kids and friends, regarding the cold weather, and in some cases snow in the Netherlands and Austria, which is about as far from how I feel now.
My laptop is also running out of power fast, so I won’t be able to finish writing this letter in one go, so in other words: Welcome to Lagos, the City of Excellence.
During the rain-season the water always enters the apartment, mostly in the dining room, but this also tends to happen in some of the bedrooms. We got it repaired though, the ventilation holes which were located in the windows have been closed and we have noticed a big difference. It’s not 100% solved, but we don’t have rivers of rain flowing around out apartment anymore.
Recently Rob was driving home from the office, or at least, that was the plan. However, the traffic jam started right outside of the office already. Who or what was causing this chaos? It was a truck loaded with a sea container, that had no brakes left. Most people would expect the truck to park on the side of the street and to call the car support of Nigeria (ANWB in the Netherlands, OAMTC in Austria, etc.), but that’s not how its handled here apparently. The driver of the truck continued driving at walking pace, by pressing the gas for a bit and then letting the 30-ton diesel roll on until a stop. Two guys were walking next to the truck, in slippers, with a big rock on their shoulder to place in front of the front wheels if the truck went too quick. As you can imagine, it took Rob quite a while to get home. The road traffic is generally chaotic momentarily because a few of the main roads have been blocked. Normally it would take Rob 20 minutes to get to the office in the morning, but on the way back this can take up to 2.5 hours now, which doesn’t exactly brighten his mood. Sometimes his boss will give him a ‘lift’ as he always drives around with the mopol (mobile police).
It’s still a great pleasure to live here, although a few very good friends left, which obviously isn’t that nice for us. However, that’s the downside of being an expat. Saying goodbye is a part of it, but it’s usually easier when you’re the one leaving, as you’re going on a new adventure. We will continue to make the best of it though and are still having a lot of fun here. There were a few fun events which took place in Lagos this year, for example, the James Bond Premiere, Heineken Fashion Week, Maltina Teacher of the Year, the Christmas Dinner-Dansant in the Metropole Club.
Our apartment complex Bella Vista is becoming more and more Dutch the longer we’re here, now there are 5 Dutch guys, and it seems to be continuing the pattern, where there’s more guys than girls, although you do get used to it, and it’s a lot of fun with these guys around here, so that’s fine.
Covid-19 is still present in all our lives, although we were quite relieved back in April, when we received our first vaccination and then the second in June. We were vaccinated with Astra Zenica and it felt like we were getting a bit of our freedom back, in the sense that everything would become slightly easier from that moment on. However, that wasn’t the case, the PCR-tests are still a large part of our lives, mostly if we want to travel somewhere, along with a bunch of online-forms. We’ve accepted that it’s a part of the situation and are willing to partake in all of it if it means that we can partly help to improve the situation, with or without online-travel-clearance-forms.
I was in our house in Austria quite frequently this year, which let me tell you, is a lot of fun. What is annoying though, is that Rob and I have been living separately too often and too long, which is something that we don’t want to. The kids also use the house quite frequently. Noa was there in June for example, together with Armin and Robin, who both left Thursday morning. Noa then got onto her relatively new mountain bike to go to Physiotherapy but fell hard while going downhill and landed on her head. For the second time within a year time (first was the summer of 2020) she found herself in the same hospital and room as the summer of 2020. Thank goodness she was wearing a helmet, because she still had a concussion and got a few big bruises and bumps on her stomach and hip. Her elbow survived this fall though. In April, a doctor in the Netherlands removed the screws from her elbow, so she can stretch it a little more than before, however, she still isn’t able to straighten it completely.
This year we also had a very happy occasion, namely, the wedding of Sil and Dana in Italy. It was such a romantic setting, and such a special place for a wedding which we had all been looking forward to for so long, as it was already planned in the previous September. Thank goodness it managed to take place this year. It was a bit last minute changes for some friends and relatives, causing a lot of stress because the air-travel companies were going on strike in Italy just before the wedding. The morning of the wedding the last two friends still managed to fly in and make it on time.
Rob and I left a few days before the wedding would take place and met up with Mathile and Dennis, who moved to Denmark this year. We were at the coast, just south of Rimini, but towards the end of September there was not much going on anymore on the coast, so we decided to spend a day in San Marino instead. Rob tried a hairdresser there, so that he would be able to look decent at the wedding. Patrick and Anastasiya, also from Lagos, joined us the night before we would head to Sil and Dana, which was the start to a fun and unforgettable wedding.
My sister-in-law Sanneke and cousin Joe-Ann joined us in Austria for a week and took Jack along with them. On their way back home they then dropped Hugo off at the train station in Salzburg so he could catch a train back to Switzerland. It was so nice because we were all able to be together again.
After a long break Rob finally got back to doing sports. We play tennis together with a small group of guys, twice a week, with our trainer Kenny. He also found a new personal trainer, apparently he needs to change his every year to stay motivated. Finally, he was also asked to play tennis in the Ikoyi Club every Sunday morning with a group of guys. It’s a club where a variety of sports are available, including golf and tennis. To keep the glory of the club and the elite tennis sport, you need to play fully in white though. This includes shoes! That was quite a challenge finding …. We also played golf again in Austria. So now we decided to also become a member of the Ikoyi Golf Club in Lagos.
Towards the end of August Noa (25) moved to Qatar to work at the Hilton Salwa Beach Resort for a year, as an Intern in Leadership in Marketing and Sales. Last summer she finished her Master Thesis and decided to go for this internship for a year. Rob and I visited her in November and found that it really suits her. She is clearly having a lot of fun. We also had a bunch of fun, just the three of us, with a few days in the Resort and a few days in the capital, Doha.
Jack (nearly 27) and Ailsa (25) are still living in our house in Zoeterwoude, together with their dog Zara. On the 2nd of January of this year, Jack started his Traineeship in the Finance team at the ANWB. He is also really enjoying himself over there. Towards the start of the year, it was a lot of home office, however, after a while the rules became more relaxed and so he could go to the office and see his colleagues. He’s playing football, as well as playing competition badminton and taking piano-lessons in our beautiful village. Ailsa her Dutch is really improving quickly, and she’s got a bunch of ongoing jobs and is mostly busy with following trainings together with their dog Zara.
Robin (28) and Armin (29) are still very happy in Bad Gleichenberg, but throughout the week they are living their own lives, as Armin is in the barracks just north of Vienna and Robin is still a Controller at ILF. She’s able to do a home-office a lot and otherwise from our place in Wiedweg, or she’s travelling to Innsbruck or Graz for work. Her hips-problems are coming and going, but by cycling and doing other sports regularly with a personal trainer, she’s ensuring that her legs stay strong and will literally keep her on her legs.
Our youngest, Hugo (23) moved to Switzerland in August to complete his second Master, this one is in International Affairs and governance. He found a nice apartment in the centre of St. Gallen, which is a cute city in the east of Swityerland, not far from the Bodensee. Jack and I supported him with his move this summer. He is enjoying himself, but has to work hard and has a very busy social live, which was something that was obviously missing during his first Master in Leiden due to Covid-19. So this study and location is making up for a lot of that. During the weekends he likes to go to the mountains in Switzerland.
For his second Master, Jack handed in his thesis last year, and Hugo did that for his Master this summer. Both were doing similar studies in Den Haag/Leiden, so suddenly they found themselves graduating together on October 26th, in Den Haag. We sadly couldn’t make it, but together they stood strong! After the graduation Hugo had to rush home to Zoeterwoude though, as he had to give a presentation for his study in St. Gallen, meaning they did not really have time to hang around after the graduation ceremony.
In the meantime Rob is busy with work. It is hectic at times, but he is still enjoying himself. This year was an anniversary for him, 25 years at Heineken, which is quite an achievement. Exactly one week after Noa was born he started working for Heineken. It has taken us to some very special places. Nigerian Breweries also had an anniversary this year, it’s been here for 75 years now.
I am still actively training with my personal trainer 2/3 times per week. I have been playing a lot of tennis as well as been painting again. The school where I used to do volunteer work was put on hold because of Covid. At the moment it’s not safe in some areas in Lagos and the police is begging for extra money by stopping your car, without a clear reason as to why they stopped you and check your papers.
Dear friends and relatives, the Kleinjans wish you a very joyful, sparkling, exciting, beautiful and healthy start to the year 2022.
Rob & Viv, Robin & Armin, Jack & Ailsa, Noa, Hugo en Ayo.