Robin's Diary

Back in November, Loes and I went to visit my parents in Lagos, Nigeria. I packed my stuff on Sunday, which is when we left to Vienna, from which I flew to Amsterdam early Monday morning. I had a few hours to go before my connecting flight to Lagos, so I went shopping at the airport (Stroopwafels, etc.) before heading to departure hall 2 to meet Loes. I was sadly one of those passengers that had to go through the security check multiple times (random checks apparently). During the last check I asked why I kept getting chosen and she said that it was because I looked ‘young and innocent’ (can you imagine … ). Loes and I then went for a drink and got ourselves stocked up on snacks and drinks for the flight. The flight there was relatively simple, we watched movies, read books, slept a bit and took some pictures of the amazing views before we hit relatively strong turbulence. Loes was sitting in between me (at the window) and some Nigerian guy (looked strong and serious and like nothing could every faze him), but even his eyes got huge and he looked fazed during this turbulence. At the airport we then had to go through the whole arrivals process, where we stood in line for our visa and passport to be checked (they checked yellow fever on the way to this area). This process is usually not worth mentioning but when it was my turn one of the employees looked at my visa, looked at the little white card I had filled out and looked at my visa again. He then asked another colleague to take a look at it, and a third and fourth colleague got involved as well. Turns out, he couldn’t read the validity date on my visa, he was convinced it was valid as of 01.01.2019 (for three months) … after multiple minutes of standing there, everyone being confused. Loes and I then made it clear that we are travelling together and her visa was accepted. They assumed we were mother and daughter and wished us a pleasant stay in Lagos. We were then picked up by someone who picks up Nigerian Breweries colleagues (as far as I understood), who picked our suitcases up for us. We couldn’t find my suitcase for a while because there was a second one just like on the baggage belt. Loes and I weren’t actually allowed to take the baggage ourselves, this guy did it for us and compared the label on the suitcase to our boarding tickets. Having gone through the whole process mum was waiting for us with a driver as a surprise and we were taken to the car. A police patrol car followed us in our bullet proof car the whole trip home, that's the way you do it here.

On Tuesday Loes, mum and I went to a school where we did some volunteer work in the form of helping children with arts and crafts. The children were really sweet and very excited to be creating things themselves, they seem to love stickers. This was followed by a trip to the market where we got ourselves some bags and other things. I got myself a sports bag there, as well as two clutches for a ball and a little zebra made out of wood. Having gotten home, Glory made us a wonderful lunch and we played some Qwixx before mum and I went to a work-out session with Favour. I must say that he pushes mum very hard and doesn’t let her cheat (although she tries). In order to relax from the gym we went for a short swim, this was mostly Loes and I swimming and mum relaxing (read: sleeping) on the side.

On Wednesday, I joined my dad to the office in the morning, I wanted to see where he spent his days and meet some of his colleagues, the way we used to in the other countries as well. I met quite a few people, who were really friendly and I got a last minute brewery tour. I wasn’t sure what I had expected of the brewery, but it seems that they are up to high standards even with the poor quality streets, areas, etc. that they have there. This morning had started off with us having a drink at the new café/bar which had been opened within the office (how cool is that!) and ended with me driving home with Ali (one of the two drivers) and Elizabeth (Glory’s daughter). Right outside the brewery there were lots of nice drawings on the walls, turns out some Nigerians are really artistic. On the way home it was possible to see parts of Lagos which we hadn’t seen yet. Including people walking on really busy road, construction sites which would make some of my colleagues in Austria cry and markets with people carrying really heavy things on their heads.

In the afternoon, mum, Loes and I along with Elizabeth, Glory and Mathilde, a friend of mums we all went to a fair trade market, mum wasn’t sure what to expect but this is something you tend to go to as a business representative. It was still a lot of fun because we got to see the business side of Lagos, as well as how people dressed up to entertain others, we even saw a huge discussion going on between a woman and a man where the man had taken the woman’s new belongings to the wrong exit.

Furthermore, Loes and I spent a lot of time playing with Ayo and sometimes got to take him on walks when Glory was not available. We also played a lot of Qwixx and ‘Noch mal’, two very enjoyable, easy yet short games with dice.

On Thursday was the day for our own arts and crafts. In the morning the knitting group came over (a number of Dutch speaking women) who are knitting these little men with huge red hats. Loes was doing her own arts and crafts there (borduren) and I was busy working on my knitting project (a scarf for Loes – it’s not as far as I want yet). Glory constantly brought us good drinks and amazing snacks while we had a blast with our own creations.

Later that day Loes, mum and I then went to visit Sabine, where we all made our own scarfs, I made two of them, Loes and mum also made a few. One of my scarfs was made with the intention of wearing it to the Ball that Armin and I are supposed to go to at the start of January. Throughout this trip I kept getting messages from Armin providing me with updates on his Sinterklaas Surprise, he finished it while I was gone!

We gave Ayo a biscuit Thursday evening which he guarded with his whole body, nobody was allowed to grab it, nobody was allowed to get close to it or anything. He growled every time we tried to reach for it with our foot. He even had it lying next to him while we slept that night.

I spent quite a bit of time with Elizabeth on Thursday, we went for walks together, including with Ayo, and we went swimming as well. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed getting to know her better as well. Mum, Loes and I then went for a nice dinner with some of mums friends, they call it the "eetclub".

Then came Friday, which was a big day for me personally. Friday morning Glory baked me a cake to take to ILF as I was going to visit my local work colleagues. My parents already knew one of them, which is how I managed to get in touch. We have some really nice colleagues over there, who I really enjoyed getting to know. Since that trip I’ve had quite a few calls with Joy and she joined us to an event in Lagos Friday evening as well. The elevator in the building doesn’t work however, so our colleagues currently have a nice workout every morning when they have to go to the top floor (where the office is)! Thank you very much for letting me visit and for getting to know you guys, it was an honour! The view from the office is also very nice, you can see all of the ships lying in the water while they wait for allowance to enter the harbour and you could see the beach as well. As I mentioned, Joy joined us to an event Friday evening, this was some kind of international event where different countries provided food from their nation and others got to enjoy it, kind of like International Day the way we used to have it at school, it's at the yacht club and it's called "sail around the world".

I had a lot of fun getting to know Joy better during the party and I hope to see her again. During the preparations for this event the river kept crossing its borders and soaked half the area, which only made it that much more spectacular.

The next morning (Saturday)we had an early trip to a stilt village called Makoko, where we saw a lot of interesting things. I think mum got the impression that I wasn’t having fun and that they thought I was very quiet, but that’s because, something like Makoko or the things you see on the streets in general there, you can’t say that it’s fun, or that you’re enjoying yourself. Some of the things you are seeing there are horrific and I think it could partly be phrased as inhumane. On the other hand, it was truly spectacular to see and simply made me speechless. Dad mentioned it at some point on the trip, that he has never seen a depressed Nigerian, as it’s true, because even though some of the conditions they find themselves in are horrible, they are all still appreciative and happy and full of life. We could learn something from them when it comes to enjoying the little things and appreciating what you’ve got. The boat which took us there and back was very rough though, it bounced on the water and you felt the impact every time it landed hard. It’s a boat trip I’d rather not do again, but seeing the little puppies and mother dog in Makoko as well as all of the happy and shy children there made it well worth it. This was followed by a lunch with dad Dennis, Mathilde, Marc and Patrick, who joined us to Makoko, where I ordered the weirdest thing I must have seen on a menu to this day. It was a cheeseburger with mac and cheese and ketchup as a sauce. I have to say that the meal was spectacular although I couldn’t finish all of it, it was would have been better without the ketchup though. After lunch we took a detour home past the Heineken house. This was a work in progress when we were there and dad found a lot of points which were still absolutely not okay but to our amusement we also saw a guy taking a nap there. It looked like a fun project even though it’s not the easiest and I believe a lot of people will have a lot of memorable nights there once its open to the public.

Saturday evening was one of the more emotional but also a very, very, very special evening. We surprised Glory with a surprise birthday cake and a small party with just the 6 of us. We had prepared everything and mum had a cake with candles which were lit. Elizabeth also joined us and Glory was so honoured. It was such a beautiful sight to see her so unbelievably happy and it was an honour to be there to share that special moment with them. At times, I don’t think that Glory and Elizabeth realise how much joy they are bringing my parents by sharing Nigerian traditions with them (graduations, etc.) and by teaching and showing them things. I can hear the pride in my parents voice when they talk about them and it’s something I hope they will realise at some point, they have touched and changed all of our lives (in a good way!). This evening ended with us taking a number of pictures (family pictures, etc.) and included a small education lesson for Loes. She was taking pictures of us but couldn’t see dad, even though he showed up on all of the pictures. However, nobody could explain why this phenomena kept happening. Turns out she was looking through the hole between the lens and the flash, instead of looking through the lens.

We spent on Sunday at the Heineken Beach House with a number of other families, we took two boats there and spent all day hanging out and eating over there. When we got to the island a number of children and adults were ready to carry our stuff to the house. One of the little kids fell through the wooden jetty where the boat was attached and had a small cut on his leg and foot. This was followed with one of the women on our side having a heavy discussion with one of their leaders about whether they knew a screw was missing and with my mum doing first aid on the boy. Other than that it was very relaxing and nice. The chief of the island also came to visit and he gave me a table cloth as a welcome present, which was really nice of him (it’s already been used here). At some point it started raining hard and becoming windy as well so we had to position a few things strategically to make sure nobody or nothing got affected by it. Upstairs there was a nice view of the garden, beach and ocean but there was also a pool table where the kids enjoyed themselves. Downstairs we had a small pool and an area which was covered from cold weather where you could sit and chat. it was a lot of fun and a nice change after the long and busy week. On the way back from there one of the children lost her hat and so everyone turned back around to go and fish it out of the water. Monday I spent a large amount of time catching up on sleep and we went for lunch with dad, we went to this restaurant where they had good food but it belonged to the wrong beer company.

On Tuesday we went to visit Mathilde's place in the morning who has a beautiful view of the ocean, after which we visited a little in-house X-mas bazaar in the same building. This trip was finished by going to the same market that we visited on Tuesday to buy some last things before leaving.

Towards the end of the afternoon we then went to the airport with Ayo sitting between us. The trip took quite long because of traffic, and once we got there it was hectic at the airport. We had some people helping us out again, one of who joined as to the final security check stop. Mum had to be in three places at once because she was travelling with Ayo but also had to check in her suitcase. They wanted her to pay again for Ayo, although she had already paid, after a lot of hassle this was finally sorted and we were finally able to head to the gate. We had a short drink with two Nigerian Breweries colleague and a colleague of mine from the office before heading to the gate. Right in front of the gate we had a funny moment where I was carrying Ayo and had to go through a manual security this time. The people checked our bags and then us. The woman asked what was in the other bag, so I answered her that it was Ayo, our dog. She sent me to the next person who told me to open the bag and show her. So that’s exactly what I did, she was so scared of dogs that she jumped back as soon as Ayo popped his cute little head out of the bag. During the flight I had him on my lap (in his bag) for a large part while mum tried to get some sleep. He stuck his head out very often and it was such a cute sight.

To conclude, Elizabeth also showed me that the little things which we take for granted are not always normal everywhere. I left my earphones behind for her so that she could listen to music on her phone without it interrupting Glory and I got a really touching message when I finally got back home after the long trip. I was so touched and they, next to my parents, Ali, Yinka and Loes are a large part as to why this trip was so amazing.