15 August 2007 2:45 am (jet lagging!!!)
Welcome back to Lagos…
We are back in Lagos, Nigeria, after our two-month whirlwind tour of the USA. It was an amazing trip and we were so glad we got to see everyone. Here are a few of the highlights…
I know that many of us expats can sometime get a little… snobby about the places we like to visit - Paris, Bangkok, South Africa, Rio de Janeiro, etc.. I know because I do it too. But I have to say one of the best parts of our trip was the week we spent in the good, old-fashioned Walt Disney World! We met up with Concha, her son Felipe, Dan and Thai, their daughter Lari and my mom at the Pop Century Resort. You have to hand it to Disney, very few places in THE WORLD have it down to this much of a science – how to move masses of people through the parks, making sure they have a great time and spend a bunch of money! The kids were amazed at the funniest things, like the amount of free condiments given away at all the restaurants or the lack of garbage! Koa rode all the roller coasters that height would allow and Nana was a very good sport with her big plaster cast. We were halfway through a way-too-cheesy “Hawaiian Theme” dinner when we realized that it was our wedding anniversary. A funny aside was when the adults went to the adult theme park known as Pleasure Island. Lots of bars, shows, over priced Martinis in small plastic cups, etc. We went to a bar called The Explorer’s Club. They had “explorers” like Amelia Earhart wandering around the bar telling tales. And we sat in a room full of masks from around the work and then in the middle of the evening all the masks came to life started moving their mouths and saying “Drink, Drink, Drink” Hilarious! And FYI, the Magic Kingdom is the only park that does not sell beer (not so magical!).
Miami Beach was our final stop in Florida. Cruising in our pimping mini van (which Ryder loved ?!?!) we had a great time with my sister Preta, her boyfriend Misha and some of their friends. We explored South Beach and drank good wine on Lincoln Road. We played soccer on the beach and enjoyed the view from Misha’s penthouse apartment. We even did one of my personal favorite things to do… took an airboat ride in the Everglades and saw alligators! The people in Miami are generally about 10X more beautiful than people in the rest of the USA, I swear! Nana was amazed at all of the beautiful clothing, she kept asking me to “Buy her that dress one day when she gets big.” We also got to see my cousin Wendy and her three beautiful children. Wendy, we decided to go with the Cannon Rebel Camera with the two lenses…we are loving it! (Thanks Gma and Judith!)
Our next destination was our home base for the rest of out time in the USA, Portland, Oregon. Grandma Barbara, Judith, my dad, Melitta and my VERY cool brother Patrick (like that Pat?) met us for our annual 4th of July “the way civilized people were meant to do it” event on the Columbia River. We dined on crab cakes and scallops while we drank martinis and watched the amazing fireworks show. Nana even stayed awake long enough to see them!
On July 5th Ryder threw me a Graduation party! The Marks family came along with Holly and her boys, Ryder’s sister Kailei and her boyfriend Moon. Ryder made great steaks (the kind we had been dreaming about the whole time we were in Lagos!) and we ate and drank until we were totally satisfied! I made everyone call me Dr. Jurgensen even! My graduation was made even sweeter when a few weeks later I wrote my friend Sallie Mae a check for $66, 158.99 USD to pay off my entire debt!
The next few weeks were spent doing what expats all around the country do during the month of July – Doctor’s appointments, Target browsing, dentist’s appointments, Starbucks consumption, bank stuff, Costco runs, eating out, going to the children’s museum, and getting in touch with old friends. The kids got their taste of American Style Daycare at the gym (Nana loved it, Koa did not). They watched American TV and were singing the Kool-Aid Singles commercial in no time. I discovered the best invention in the last 5 years... ON DEMAND TV!!!! Most of you already know and love this feature, I am sure... but this was the first time I had ever used it. I guess another name for it is TiVo. Oh My Gosh! It is wonderful, especially for insominiacs like me! I watched Entourage at 3:11am!!! I did my part to keep the US Economy going, ending up with 8 suitcases and a 50 lbs. cooler of meat from Costco (which made back to Nigeria perfectly, still frozen solid!) Ryder’s mom came in town and she and Ryder took the kids to Cannon Beach for a few days so I could relax and do all those things I used to do BK (before kids!) Like meet my aunt for drinks at The Chart House, explore new things, or get lost at Powell’s books.
At the end of July we drove up to spend a week with the Marks, Meccas, and the Westerburs in Tacoma. I saw my first major league baseball game! Seattle Mariners V. um, actually, I forgot whom. Jimmy was there by my side to make sure I consumed enough $8 cups of Bud Light and cheered when I was supposed to! Carrie, Lesley, and Hannah met us too. The weather was beautiful and we all had a blast. The rest of the week we explored Tacoma. We got to see glass being sculpted at the glass museum, saw some great works of art by Dale Chihuly, drank great micro brews at the Harmon and talked way into the night. And played cribbage of course. Ken and his friend John took us on their boat for our first sailing race. Which I liked way more than I thought I would. Luckily Jena was there to tell me when to “DUCK!” because or else I would have ended up in the water! The kids ran wild with Jesse and Duncan and it was almost like Lagos, except no nanny and that was sad, sad, sad. I had my first fleeting moment of yard envy when we went to see Tina and Jason’s new house in Puyallup. (Don’t tell Ryder!) I played my first game of Bocce Ball. We had a great time and made it back to Portland just in time to make it to the Scottish Festival (!?!) to actually eat Haggis! YUCK!
Once we were back, Koa and Nai’a’s only “official” cousin, Baby Juliana and her mom Zoe came to visit. She is 13 months now and the happiest baby ever. We went to visit Ryder’s grandma and the kids had their first camping experience! They loved it! We roasted marshmallows and made s’mores (can you get any more American!!) We took some great pictures of Haystack Rock on the Oregon Coast with our new fancy camera.
Then the first weekend in August I met my friend Amy in Las Vegas for our annual “girl’s get away”. Vegas is a great place where everyone should visit for like 3 days every 10 years. We saw KA, an amazing Cirque Du Soleil show. It was my favorite Cirque so far because it was a great mixture of great stunts and a story line. We also ate some fantastic meals, did some serious shopping (I ALMOST bought a purse for $1,000 USD) and talked way into the night in our fancy hotel room. Who needs to visit the world… Vegas has everything… Venice, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids! I did realize however, the idea that Vegas is cheap is a gross misconception! $10 drinks were the standard. That surprised me. It was a great way to recharge my batteries before we started the grind of getting back to Lagos.
We came back via Frankfurt (man, the MOST EXPENSIVE airport ever, with it’s 3 Euro bottles of water and no water fountains!) then Rome (our last amazing meal before Lagos with the standard amazing Italian wine, which cost only a little more than the damn water in Frankfurt!) and Paris (where we made it to the plane 9 minutes before take off!) and finally Lagos. The kids were shell-shocked and I was dreaming of sleeping in our little flat, in our own little bed.
As is tradition, everyone met us down in the garage when we arrived on the compound and there are many, many new faces. We are sure gonna miss everyone who left… Connie, Jon, Betsy (how is Kenya?), Lesley and Hannah (I heard you guys are loving Shanghai), Julia (we will probably be in Bangkok for the job fair in January!) and of course, the Marks Family. But we are gearing up for our next year here in Lagos. Our flat is all set up, we have a new (and WAY improved) nanny, training for our Marathon (29 June 2008 in Rio de Janeiro), Nana will be attending our school with Koa now, Koa can’t wait to start Kindergarten, the Meccas already had a party (they have Star beer in cans now!), and as usual, we are already planning our next adventure on the way home from this one: China for Christmas!
Hope everyone is well. We miss you and love you all.
The Jurgensens
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