More adventures in Nigeria

In November during mid-term break, Caleb and I decided to get out of Lagos again and do a bit more exploration. We decided to find some hot springs that we had heard about, and on speaking to a couple of Caleb's work colleagues, found out they were heading in that direction as well. We tagged along and found ourselves in a city called Ile-Efe, about 2 or 3 hours north-east of Lagos.

We were lucky enough to be hosted by a friend there who is the Head Teacher of a high school. He gave us the use of his driver to explore the local area. 

First we checked out the 7-tier waterfall.

If this was in New Zealand people would be screaming! Trash everywhere unfortunately spoils the natural beauty.

At the bottom waterfall... the best level actually.

At the top of the 3rd tier after a feed.

We got totally mauled by a hundred uni students who were on a field trip. I don't think they had ever seen oyibos before!

The waterfall itself was stunning, it was quite a scramble up to the different levels, and unfortunately Neriah didn't enjoy herself as much as we thought she would. She protested the whole way up and back down again, and promptly fell asleep on the drive to our next destination.

We then visited the meeting place of the hot and cold springs. This is a big tourist destination in a country where there is no tourism infrastructure at all. 

One foot hot, one foot cold.

Perfect opportunity for a bath in the warm water.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Neriah is the best traveller! She is such a cruisey baby and such a delight to everyone we meet along the way.  Neriah also got to visit her first 'food-is-ready' stand. We ate beans, rice and plantain, and also got offered some bush-meat... translate... giant rats that scavenge round the bush. Not my type of food thats for sure....

There's the bush meat on the plate on the left. You can kind of see the claws at the end of each leg. Thanks, but no thanks.

Women pounding yam.

Here are some more random pictures of our journey. You know, most expats that we have met have not even been out of Lagos. I would like to be known that once you get out of the city, Nigeria has a lot to offer... its a legit West African experience... I can guarantee you won't see another white face.

Fun times at the beach

Last week we were lucky enough to have not just one trip but TWO trips to the beach with our good friends. The Tates are the most loving, kind, fun-loving, generous family and we are lucky enough to have been adopted by them as their surrogate kids.

Lagos doesn't have a lot going for it, but it does have a coastline. Yes this coastline is littered with trash washed up from the ocean, but a swimmable ocean none the less, and it definitely keeps us sane from the chaos of the city. 

The Tates' house is right on the beach, off from a small Muslim community, and a local guy keeps the sand outside the front of the house raked free of trash. If we stare straight out to sea, and ignore the rubbish in our peripherial vision, we are in a tropical paradise!

Note the clean sand where we are, and the rubbish just off to the right there.

The waves here are massive, strong and very dumpy. This particular day I got smashed a couple of times, and tumbled like I have never been tumbled before! Finally though, I actually listened to what Caleb was saying about just letting your body go limp and just go with it.  This helped a lot!

I absolutely love going to this beach. It totally refreshes my soul and reminds me that Nigeria is beautiful too! Neriah loves the beach too - my sister Kelly gave us the most awesome little mosquito netted tent which Neriah just chills out in.

Something we've started doing lately as well is staying until dark, building a bonfire and making smores. MMMM. Real American smores.

The most awesome beach house in Nigeria!

10 weeks old and home in Nigeria

I can't believe we are finally here! Neriah is 10 weeks old and we are finally home with Caleb. I can't believe we have been apart for 8 weeks. Neriah has grown from a squishy little newborn to a charming, smiley, happy little girl. 

10 weeks and UBER cute

The love began from the moment I walked out of the Lagos International Airport. One of our school drivers practically bowled me over with love, and then he jumped on the phone to call Caleb who was waiting at the other terminal 'I FOUND THEM!'. Then I see my hubby running towards me with red roses. Yes! FLOWERS! I get these very rarely, so its even more special when I do!

It made my heart melt to see Caleb with his precious girl, he's missed out 8 weeks of her life, which is not that many in the big picture of Neriah's life, but they are the first weeks of her life, and she has grown so much, and she will NEVER be that small again. 

We arrived back to our apartments, and there are 'Welcome Home' signs and balloons in the elevator, that smelled of the Tate girls a mile away! Then, a million gazillion balloons and more signs filled our shared hallway. As if that wasn't enough, I walked into our home, and it has had an Extreme Home Makeover. Our wonderful American friends had come in, with their surplus home furnishings and totally made our sparsely furnished apartment into a home. Not one room was left untouched from my fairy godmother, Jodi Tate!
This meant so much to me - Caleb and I haven't really seen the point in spending money on buying things for our house, since we will only be leaving again soon, and we can only leave with a suitcase of clothes each. Yes, I cried. 

And then I saw Neriah's room. I still can't believe how wonderful my friends are here. That they spent so much time painting and decorating, to create the most peaceful, beautiful bedroom for this little cherished one. 

The journey home

We spent a week in Brisbane before we getting back to Nigeria. I am so grateful that Danella was able to fly back to NZ and then come with me to Brisbane. Getting through customs with a baby strapped to my friend was a total mission, and it was definitely the part Neriah hated the most! Having my wonderful sister there helped so much and taught me that when we are travelling alone we need to remember the following:

1. Don't overpack the nappy bag and the cabin bag. It is absolutely impossible to put a cabin bag in an overhead compartment, with a baby strapped to your front, when it is double the 7kg weight limit.

2. Don't pack anything in the nappy bag or cabin bag that will mean you get searched at customs, this includes metal objects such as bangles. You are already having to get a laptop out and put that through seperately, the less you have to take out the better.

3. Do a half feed BEFORE boarding. While mom thinks its a great idea to save the feed until taxi-ing/take-off, baby has other ideas. A crying baby makes it harder to focus on organising putting bags in lockers, getting seatbelt attachments, etc. 

After learning these things, it made our following three flights so much easier.

After awaking at 3am and making my poor sister take us to the airport, we flew to Sydney for a 2 hour layover, and then the 14 hour flight to Johannesburg. Neriah was such a dream traveller thanks to my earlier lesson. I was constantly told what a good girl she was, and she had the stewards and airhostesses totally charmed!  We then stayed in a flashy hotel in Johannesburg for the night, courtesy of reward points, and I felt like a million bucks! 

The flight from Johannesburg to Lagos was definitely eye-opening. On my previous flights, I had so many offers of help - people offering to hold Neriah, putting my bags up in the plane, helping me pull luggage off the carosel, etc.  On this flight, there was no such offers. A plane full of men, and not ONE of them offered me any assistance at all. I couldn't believe it. It must be a cultural thing? I hate to put it down to that but there can't be any other explanation.

Caleb met me at the airport with some beautiful red roses and I promise I did not want to let him go!!

Life without Dad

Caleb headed back to Lagos when Neriah was a little over 2 weeks old. She is now 7 weeks old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone, and how big Neriah has grown. Since Caleb left, she is smiling, holding up her head, beginning to roll, and starting to 'talk'.  Being away from Caleb this long has been tough, I miss him more than I could ever know, but the worst part is not being able to share these special moments of Neriah's development with him.  I am thankful for technology which has meant that I can upload videos to youtube, and Caleb can see her on skype as she gets bigger and bigger. We miss you so much babe!!  Only two and a half weeks until we are back in Lagos!

Neriah's Travels Begin

We decided to get Neriah off to a flying start, so at about a week and a half old we loaded her in the car and the travels begun!  My mum and dad have recently built a beach house in Whakatane, and so we were able to head there to have our first time alone as a family. We were really able to get to know Neriah during this time, free from the (wonderful) distractions of visitors.  Figuring out what her different cries meant and just getting to spend time together enjoying her.

 

Introducing Neriah Lin Archer!

We headed back to NZ to welcome our little girl into the world.
She was born on the 22nd August 2011 at 2:50am, weighing 3.9kg (8lb11) and measuring 53cm.
We named her Neriah which is a Hebrew name and translates as 'burning light of God'. Her middle name is Lin to honor Caleb's grandmother who has selflessly served as a doctor in PNG for over 60 years. She is one of the most inspirational women I have ever met.  Check Lin out here for her incredible story.

 But back to our little girl. I had the most incredible 5.5 hour labour. It was such a beautiful experience, and so worth it! I definitely recommend the birthing pool!

Proud daddy!

Delicious skin to skin goodness

2 days old

Leaving the hospital - 4 days old

I am amazed at how much I love this little being.  She is so perfect and beautifully made.  I feel so privileged that we get to raise this child!

The First Half of 2011 In Brief

I know I have been incredibly slack since my last post... but for a very good reason! 
Here is what has happened in our lives since the last post...

1. Christmas - what an amazing adventure in Europe! We lost our luggage for 15 days of the 21 day trip. Caleb arrived into snowy Milan in his jandals and shorts and neither of us had a change of clothes, or the snowboarding gear we would need for our 10 day snowboarding holiday in the Italian Alps. Oops. We had an amazing time regardless, it was actually pretty great to travel around with nothing but a small backpack! We spent New Years in Munich on our way to visit friends in Prague, where we spent an amazing week exploring the beautiful city and spending quality time with awesome people. I also experienced my first European sauna. Very eye-opening (or eye-evading?).

2. We found out we were expecting a baby! - well, technically that happened before our Christmas holiday, and in fact, I spent most of our Christmas holiday sleeping (so fatigued) and eating (to ward off the nausea).  It was a pretty scary time as I had malaria when I conceived, and had to take the treatment which is not recommended when you are preggers... I am so glad our beautiful girl is healthy.

3. Prenatal care - ouch! I pretty much cried on my first trip to the Ob/Gyn when I had to fork out two weeks wages on blood tests. 

4. Cape Town, South Africa - It was cheaper to fly to South Africa and have our 20 week check-up done there. We discovered our little bug was a GIRL! Yay! Spent two weeks with the most incredible family - Shaun Kemp, you have such a beautiful family!

The Kemp Family

Joined in with the family tradition of nothing but pickled fish and hot cross buns all day on Easter Monday. All day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. It was pretty good... but I can see why you need a year to get over the overload before you are ready to tackle it again.  
We really fell in love with Cape Town. The gorgeous coast road, the stunning beach, Table Mountain, the Botanical Gardens, and the meat. MMM.

5. Baby Showers - I was totally blessed by my gorgeous friends, including my womens bible study ladies and some of the teachers from my school. Oh, and I can't forget the parents of our youth as well. I cannot believe how spoilt we have and how generous people have been towards us! Neriah is one lucky little girl to be so provided for! I cannot thank people enough! We have been gifted port-a-cot, bouncer, cot, change table, rocking chair, not to mention we were able to purchase so many baby necessities (and luxuries) which the Tates shipped back from the States for us. Back to the baby shower though... check out the incredible cake organised by the wonderful Patty!

WOW!

Carrying baby Naija style

Harmattan

A dry and dusty West African trade wind. It blows south from the Sahara, picking up large amounts of fine dust particles which are carried across West Africa, for hundreds of kilometres out over the Atlantic Ocean.

It's 'cool season', which means that early in the morning you see locals dressed in big warm jackets, gloves, hats... I wore a cardigan twice in the morning to work during the entire season... so 'cool' season depends on your perspective.

Harmattan. Nobody can wait til its over. There's a haze that just hangs around, all the time, and you can't see more than 500metres away at times.... The sun is amazing, big and bright, the glare is diffused by all the sands, so you can look directly at it without burning your eyeballs.

It's interesting. Instead of teaching my kindergarteners about summer and winter, I teach them about Harmattan. It doesn't make for an interesting weather discussion each morning during circle time... 'What's the weather today?' "CLOUDY!"  Because thats the closest thing our Westernised classroom weather calendar has on it.
Last week as I was walking in the morning with my class, there was a slight mist combined with the dust. The children wanted to chase and catch after it. I remember doing that when I was a kid... you want to be able to stand right in the middle of the fog so you can't see anything, but you never seem to get right in the middle of it.
One boy said 'Mrs Archer, did you feel that?!' 'It's snowing!!!! I felt it on my cheek!' To which the rest of the class took up the cry, 'It's snowing!! It's snowing!!'.... I guess it kind of was!
At the moment, I really want it to be over. I blame the constant inhalation of fine dust for my current chest infection...
It nearly is over though, the last week has brought some small windows of blue sky, and a friend even saw stars the other night... Let the wind blow the sands right away!