The Real Housewife of Nigeria Episode 15

The one where we traveled to Denmark

A Day in the Life Update:

A written recap of a trip to Lekki market won the poll in our latest Newsletter with 35% of your votes.  A recap of a grocery store trip and taking a pottery class came in closely behind, tied at 30% of the votes.  Candle making was last with only 1 vote, guess I won’t be learning that skill anytime soon.

However, because my family recently took this glorious trip to Legoland and Copenhagen, I decided to write up a review on our Lego pilgrimage instead.  You can read it here. I promise to deliver the Lekki market recap this month and apologize for the tardiness.

Lego House, Billund, Denmark, 2024

Get ready though, because I’ve already learned from our camp group chat that a few locals have turned the public mud and pothole-filled driving path which leads to the Lekki market into a “toll road.”  Watch the beginning of this video (shared by a neighbor) to see the long tree branch (trunk?) which has been transformed into a brand-new toll gate! 

If I could explain Nigeria in a tiny nutshell, it might be this situation precisely.

The One Where We Traveled to Denmark

Since visiting Denmark, I’ve decided we’ll be moving there.  It seems unfortunate that my husband works for an oil and gas company, an industry Denmark abhors.  They have a country-wide goal to be carbon neutral by 2025, so his background may not be best fit?  Give me a second while I figure out a few logistical details and then I’ll let you know our new address for Christmas cards, Wedding invitations and the like.

Copenhagen, 2024

Of course, the first morning of vacation, Teddy, the three-year-old, puked a mixture of orange juice and bacon right in the middle of the floor of the cutest Danish bakery while I was mid-sip of my cappuccino. 

My gut instinct was to yell at him, but then I realized he can't help puking, so I began shuffling him out the door as he continued to spew. Next, I did what any mom would do and got sucked into a mental vortex of all the illnesses he may have.  

My first thought was Malaria.  Living in Nigeria, this is always my first suspicion when anyone in my family becomes ill with any symptom, whether it's a runny nose or a rash. The potential of Malaria was followed closely by the flu, food poisoning and then hand foot and mouth disease.  We had just received a notice from the school two days before Fall break that HFM was going around, so that was also a strong contender.  

Things improved though and Teddy was fine the rest of the trip.  Maybe that particular orange juice and bacon didn't sit right, which I’ll take any day over Malaria. We went on to visit the Lego House and Legoland theme park in Billund and ended our trip by spending a few days in Copenhagen.  No one puked anymore or got weird rashes.

Lobby area of the STAY apartment hotel in Copenhagen

One of the things we loved the most about Copenhagen was the many playgrounds throughout the city.  One of our favorites was right across the street from the apartment we stayed in (called Stay - I cannot recommend it enough).  It was a huge rooftop playground on the top floor of a parking garage.  Something we’d never create in America, because the top floor of every parking garage is for, you guessed it, more parking.  However, in Denmark, where only 4 of every 10 citizens own a car, you can do cool things like build a giant playground on the top floor of the parking garage.  I’ve linked this playground here, in case you ever make it to Copenhagen.

The kids would’ve been perfectly happy to play on this playground every day and we did most days.  It was across the street from our apartment and had everything we could want including swings, a giant spiral climbing structure, trampolines and great views of the harbor.  But I insisted we visit at least one other playground in an attempt to diversify our trip.   Thus, I dragged them, somewhat begrudgingly, to The Tower playground, which was a metro ride away, but conveniently located right next to several soccer fields and kids playing soccer.  

At first the soccer fields only added to Ray's disapproval, as we didn’t bring a soccer ball.  When you're traveling in and out of a country like Nigeria, suitcase space is one of the most valuable resources you have.  We need that sacred space to bring back cans of beans, rolls of toilet paper and Lego sets, so many Lego sets.

Thankfully kids are resourceful, and Ray found a soccer ball which was not being overseen by its owner and began kicking it around.  Soon a few Danish kids joined him to kick the soccer ball and eventually Teddy decided to join too.   The group played for at least 30 minutes.  Ray and Teddy were caught up in the game, CJ had walked a few blocks away to peruse a gaming store and I sat on a local park bench where I took in a moment of total gratitude that our kids were getting to experience the world this way.

Eventually the owner of the soccer ball found the makeshift team and requested it back.  Ray was bummed to end his Danish soccer match, but I kept telling him to be grateful he found the ball at all and that he got to play as long as he did. 

It's important that kids learn that gratitude is holistic.  Yes, it’s about being grateful for good things, but it's also about releasing those things when the time comes.  It’s about being able to place those good things in memories and pictures and taking them with you going forwards.

Fast forward to our return back to Nigeria. After a week of waking up to peaceful sunrises over the water, eating Danish cinnamon rolls for breakfast and temperatures in the 50’s, we returned to the typical honking, yelling and traffic of Lagos, plus a house with a broken AC. 

This led to a slew of questions motivated mostly by self-pity: Why couldn't we stay in Denmark longer?  Better yet, why couldn’t we be expats in Denmark?  And why, for the love, does our company house AC break so often? 

It didn't take me long pondering my questions, to realize that Ray’s lesson with the soccer ball wasn’t Ray’s alone, but also mine.  I also needed to embrace the holistic nature of gratitude and release our trip, celebrating all the joy we had while also acknowledging it was over for now.   

I don't know which attribute you need more of to live well here: resilience, endurance or gratitude.  None of these are fun to learn, but as long as we’ve been here God has had these lessons on repeat for me.  In a way they all seem to weave together, like a hair braid, one characteristic reinforcing the others and so forth. 

And if this is true y’all, it’s possible I’m Rapunzel by the time we get back to America. 

Closing quote:

“Of course, travel, like the world, is a series of hills and valleys .... Travel is addicting. It can make you a happier American, as well as a citizen of the world. Our Earth is home to over 7 billion equally important people.

Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity. It helps you understand and appreciate different cultures. Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. The world is a cultural yarn shop. Back Door Travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.” - from Rick Steves Travel Philosophy.  

Camp News:

• Happy New Month!  This season has been so busy with camp and school activities, I can hardly keep up.  This is a good problem, though! 

• We did our camp Halloween party this past weekend.  All the camp kids got to watch Monsters Inc and have pizza in our big gym and then set out to trick or treat camp.  There was one hidden gorilla at House 20, who gave lots of the kids’ surprises (to various degrees of appreciation) and he even scared one of the security guards, who ran away screaming in a high pitched shrill.    

• Our 2024 family costume was themed from the Lego movie, which is completely on brand for us. 

  

  I am Wildstyle from the Lego movie, because I know you’re wondering.

• We also have camp pub trivia night coming up, camp Thanksgiving and I should probably plan something for Teddy’s birthday soon.  He’s going to be 4.  I can’t believe it!

• A group of camp ladies signed up for a 10K next weekend.  We had to get it cleared by security as the racecourse travels out of our designated “green zone,” the area of Lagos we are allowed to travel in freely, and into the “red zone,” the area of Lagos we are advised not to travel in freely.  Thankfully, security had no problem giving us the all-clear on the racecourse since it's such a big race and “well organized race,” a strong TBD.  However, they did vocalize concern over “everyone participating in the company contingent being fit to participate.”  Thanks, security, for always looking out for us on multiple levels.

Nigerian Education Moment:

This month the company Country Manager’s wife invited all the spouses over one morning for coffee and a “surprise.”  My husband guessed the surprise was going to be a male stripper; however, it was actually a lady who does traditional Nigerian Gele wraps, which was perhaps more appropriate.  

Nigerian Gele being wrapped

A Gele (pronounced Gay-lee) is a Nigerian head wrap.  They can be wrapped in a variety of different patterns and were traditionally used to symbolize social and marital status.   Now, they are typically worn to celebrations like big parties and weddings and are a symbol of Nigerian culture and heritage.

I loved seeing how talented the lady was and how she was able to show us 3 different types of wraps.  Thanks to my cool camp neighbors for sharing this picture.

Things that don’t matter anymore:

I’d like to conclude this newsletter with some important sports news THE AGGIES WON over LSU, 35 to 13 y’all.  We are now #1 in the SEC, a spot I’m doubtful we’ll hold long but, Gig ‘em.  

Edit: the above statement is no longer applicable.