APRIL-Spring Holiday finally rolled around. I thought it would never get here. Everyone (the International hires anyway) all travel abroad for this break and since I was very eager to get back onto American soil, I chose to spend our break in New York City with my friend Dee Dee. We spent our time shopping, visiting the Empire State Building, Time Square, the Apollo Theater, Madison Square Garden, getting well acquainted with the NYC Subway system and we tried to see The Color Purple on Broadway but they were sold out as Fantasia, from American Idol had just opened the week we were there.
It turned out to be very cold, a whopping 35 degrees and it snowed while we were there, weather I wasn't prepared for. I welcomed the warmth of Africa upon our return, not much more though.









MARCH-"Read Across Africa (America) Day" was a big day all over the AISL campus. Guest readers were invited to visit various classrooms. Mr. Burns was one such visitor to my class. He read a great children's story called, Enemy Pie, to my students.

FEBRUARY-With Harmattan seeming like it would never end as well as January being a very full work schedule, I think the celebration of the 100th Day of School was more a celebration of our school year being well over half way over. All four second grade classes are represented in the formation of the "100".

I am not a fan of standardized testing. AISL is however and ITBS testing took a week of our time. I don't know about the rest of the campus, but my second graders were ready to celebrate when it was all over.

JANUARY-Harmattan lingered around longer than usual. Everything around was covered in dust and the air was so thick with it that you dare not keep your mouth open too long, otherwise your teeth would serve as a magnet for it. The atmosphere always appeared like a thick overcast shadow, no matter what time of day. This photo is taken midday.

If it's true that pictures are worth a thousand words, then I will be able to save myself some time of having to write too many words in this blog.
It's been a very busy past month. Along with a packed work schedule, I've had many great fun events to attend. Our PTO hosted an event for our school called, ONE WORLD. It took the place this year of our Harvest Festival in November. Because of the diverse cultures represented in our school, families of different countries joined together to host a booth and served foods and savory's from that country to serve. Several hundred folks attended and it was a great evening.



I took a trip to Ghana over Thanksgiving weekend. I went with my new friends, the Rainbolts who I was actually already acquainted with in Tacoma because they are a Washington/Hoyt family. David and Gina are also both teachers in Tacoma as well. By plane, it takes less than an hour to fly to Ghana. We all spent more time at the airport, in the immigration lines and filling out forms than the time it took to fly there. The time before and after were more than double the air time. By now you'd think I would be use to it but traveling continues to wear me out! Once we got there, we noticed that Ghana doesn't look much different than Lagos. Traffic was the biggest difference. The Ghanaians actually abide by traffic laws. The currency exchange is much, much better in Ghana than in Lagos right now. Because our time was so short, we weren't able to do a whole lot of site seeing. We did go visit a coffin maker which is well known in these parts. It was strongly recommended that we should make a visit to this place. This photo shows actual coffins. It's hard to imagine that people make requests to be buried in these things, and they're quite expensive.



If I had another opportunity to go back to Ghana, I would want to go visit the Slave Castles which you hear a lot about and to do the Canopy walk at the Rainforest. I wish I had been able to do that this visit but it didn't work out.



I found the Ghanaian's to be a mysterious mix of people, very similar to that of the Nigerians. I came across a group of Ghanaian children however, that were visiting a museum. I went to take photos of them and they were just as lovely and irresistible as the Nigerian children that I see all the time. I wanted to just squish their beautiful faces.




I had a birthday this past weekend and it was somewhat of a milestone year for me. The day started off with my class throwing a mini surprise celebration for me. My room parents discovered I had a birthday coming up through the AWC Newsletter so they wanted to have the students throw a surprise party for me. They asked the children to make home made cards for me and to bring them on Friday. One parent brought cupcakes with yellow frosting on them. It was very cute and the excitement of the children would have made you think that it was Christmas morning already. I was "almost" surprised. I kind of knew something was up.




I have a good friend named Neelu who has lived here in Lagos for years and is from India. Neelu was a student herself at AISL when she was younger and now she owns one of the most frequented Indian restaurants on V.I. I decided for my birthday that I wanted to have a few of my closest friends get together at Neelu's place called Nirvana for some small chop and drinks. We ended up being a group of about 30. Neelu not only had her chefs prepare us small chops for about two hours, but then fed us a full course meal afterward. As a birthday gift, it was on the house and she wouldn't allow anyone to pay for either drinks or the food. Everyone left stuffed and fully saturated! Everyone had a great time and were glad to be together. It was a lovely celebration of the people I've enjoyed being with since I've been in Lagos.



The weekend didn't end with my birthday celebration. Our staff had its own holiday get together. This year, Tom Shearer, our Superintendent, wanted to rekindle an old tradition he started when he was here years ago, which was to have a Turkey Buffet at the GQ (Guest Quarters) at the American Consulate so we all got gussied up on Saturday evening for that. It was lots of fun. The GQ actually put up a fake tree and decorated the room a little bit in our honor for that event. And on Sunday, our flat's residences had a brunch and gift exchange. The fun part of the gift exchange is that we decided the theme of the exchanges had to come from the go slow for no more than 1500 naira (12USD). Getting the gift from the go slow proved to be harder than most of us expected but the gifts ended up being pretty interesting.




In just a few days, we're all leaving the compound to travel for the holidays. Most of us are returning to Tacoma to be with our families and you can feel the excitement and eagerness to fly the friendly skies. If you're reading this then the only thing I ask is that you pray for traveling mercies for all of us. I begin to get anxious about the flight. It is ever soooo long and I don't like it.
I look forward to all your faces that I hope to see while I'm home. From sun and warmth to rain and cold, it will certainly be different. But one thing remains the same...LIFE IS GOOD no matter what continent you're on!
I'll be home for Christmas~I can't wait! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

It's a busy time here, much the same as it is with many of you back home. With Thanksgiving just a few days away, I am finding myself anxious to come home for holiday. We will be working on Thanksgiving day. AISL doesn't give us American holidays off but we will have Friday off instead. I guess that's the School Board's compromise for us American expats. I'm planning a trip to Ghana for the long weekend and am looking forward to that. Stay tuned for photos of that trip in the next blog.
The flat rats shared a Thanksgiving supper last night together. The administrators took care of the turkeys and the rest of us brought the rest. We decorated the Conference room, got dressed up and ate to candle light. It was just lovely.

This photo is of me with Marne Burns and Lori Shearer (the Supt. wife) at the Flat Rat's Thanksgiving meal.

Before the meal, we had a Turkey Tennis Tournament that went all day. Girls were partnered with a guy, partner names were drawn from a hat. We started at 10:00 and it ended at 4:00. My partner, Bryan, and I did okay. Our record was 2:2. Not too bad.
Today my class had a Thanksgiving lunch and we invited families to join us. I was able to get turkey dogs from the commissary and baked pumpkin pies. The rest of the class brought their favorite foods from their own family celebrations. After the meal, my students sang for the parents a song I taught them called, Thank Someone to which they gained a standing ovation.

These are my students singing, Thank Someone. Aren't they lovely?!

It's been so great focusing on Thanksgiving and pilgrimage and all that good stuff with second graders. Teaching the Thanksgiving story to nonAmericans takes on a whole new meaning. To many, they are very unfamiliar with the history of the story, they only know that it's an American holiday.
I recently had another "first" experience here...my first pedicure. For those of you who don't know, I am extremely ticklish. One of the last things I thought I would ever do was to get a pedicure but some of the folks here were relentless in trying to talk me into it and I finally gave in. What an experience! I winced and held my breath through almost the entire ordeal. It was anything but relaxing. I bursted out laughing a couple times when I couldn't hold it in any longer. The salon we visited is a large facility with 15 chairs. Needless to say, the women working were very amused. Shaba, the woman doing my pedicure was very friendly and kind. By the time she was finished, my feet were soft and my toes were pretty but it won't happen again.

This is Shaba, the pedicurist, doing a makeover on my feet.

I think we're over the rainy season we were having so much of. The thunder and lightening would have scared the bejeebies out of many of you. Many times I thought my windows were going to shatter. The photo will show you what a typical lightening storm looks like around here. Pretty amazing!

Last week I got to take 25 of our students from grades 1-6 to visit a local school nearby for the morning. I was excited as I haven't actually got to see the innards of a Nigerian school. Last year, Student Council donated a large sum of money to this school to help them purchase new tables, chairs and supplies so we went to visit them to see what they got. I was so impressed with how much these teachers are able to do with so little. What a challenge it would be for me to teach 30 some little ones with as little as I noticed these teachers have. Every classroom we visited sang songs for us and stood to greet us upon our entry. Obedience and respect are very evident of what is expected from all the students at this school. I was certainly WOWed! And the youngest ones, the 3 year olds...oh my garsh. They were absolutely adorable. I wanted to load them on the coaster with us when we left.
It's so great that our students were excited about seeing what we were able to give to this school and on the ride back to AISL, they were all talking about fundraising ideas to provide money for another school.
What a bunch of great kids!

Well everyone, as you're all thinking of Thanksgiving just around the corner and what favorite dish you're going to be preparing for your gatherings around the table, I hope you'll remember to stop and say thanks to someone. Maybe thank a friend, a neighbor, a family member.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wimpy's is a popular hamburger joint in S. Africa. We stopped there to have a drink on one of our outings and I asked if I could have the hat one of the workers was wearing because I thought they were cool looking. He told me he'd lose his job. As it turns out, his manager told me I could buy it for R50 (7 USD). I wish I would have gotten a picture of the worker who originally owned the hat.

I just returned from the Teacher's Conference in Jo'Burg, South Africa last Wedneday and it was a great trip. The weather was better there than in Lagos as they are just entering their Spring season, the Conference Center we stayed at was a four star facility and the conference itself had some great workshops to offer us. We had all our evenings free so one evening we visited a place called Mandela Square which is a very nice mall and gathering place for fine dining. In the middle of this square stands a very tall bronze statue of Mandela himself. It's quite remarkable. You can't help but be in awe of it when you see it. There's no mistaken the reverence toward this mighty icon by the natives of S. Africa. It seems no matter who you talked too about Mandela, the same praises were reverberated over and over about him. One of the workshops I attended at this conference was called, Teaching the Dignity of Difference. Great workshop! and very inspiring. I think many of you would have felt the same. Anyway, Vicky, the instructor ended the day in our workshop with these words that many people have mistaken as Nelson Mandela's words but were written by Marianne Williamson in her book, A Return to Love,
"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't
serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We should shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It
is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Doesn't that just make you say, WOW!!! and take a deep breath??!!!
We returned late from S. Africa to have to dig right into Parent/Teacher conferences the following morning. One of the many wonderments of this place in Lagos is that there is never a shortage in our busy work schedules. Most times I feel like I'm moving two steps forward, three steps back but somehow, it's worked for me so far. I enjoy conferences. Even though we're talking about the children, it's one of the few times in the year where I get to sit with all the parents and chit chat with them.
This weekend is a Muslim holiday, Id El Fitri. We get to have Monday and Tuesday off. It's so interesting with Muslim holidays because we don't ever know what day(s) exactly the holiday will be until the last minute because the high man has to go out and look at the moon to see what phase it's in and how it will line up before he will declare the official holiday. We finally knew on Friday when the holiday was going to be. A four day weekend! I'm happy! Today a bunch of the flat rats went to the beach for the day. The weather turned out to be quite nice and it was a great day for all of us to be together off the compound.
It's so hard for me to believe that we're at the end of October already. Being busy makes the time pass quickly. I can tell that we are getting closer to holiday time. As we draw nearer to Thanksgiving, I find my thoughts more on home and the fall of Tacoma and I find myself missing everyone. When you have a moment, I hope you'll drop me an email to say hi.
I trust this finds all of you well and happy!

This photo is taken at our beach trip to Poo Beach. Do you remember the story from last year when I visited there the first time?! I took out my camera to take a photo of a couple of children and all the sudden, a whole group showed up. A bunch of hams!

From the time I landed back in Lagos in late August, I feel like I've been moving nonstop ever since. I returned to work only two days upon my arrival. Probably a good thing as it gave me little time to dwell on my separation from home. What a wonderful summer I had! Returning proved to be easier than I had anticipated and the warm welcome from the locals did much for the soul. How happy they were to have all of us return.
We've been in school now since August 24 and we are well settled into the school year. My new class of second graders are great. I have 16 students right now, and very similar to last year they come from all parts of the world. The transition this year was so much easier than last. It didn't take near as much work to get things started which enabled me to invest more time in being better prepared with lessons.
We have a whole new crop of teachers this year, twenty three to be exact, along with a new Superintendent. It's been fun getting to know all of them. I feel like I am still getting to know many of them. Our new Superintendent has been a terrific addition to the AISL community, both with the Nigerian population as well as the International staff. He came in without hesitation and started doing an overhaul on the school and residences. We were and still are all overjoyed to see the change that continues to take place around the compound. He gives more than his 100% and expects nothing less from his staff. I like that!
It feels like our year is moving along so rapidly. So far this year, we've already had our Back-to-School Night, a band concert, Family Orientation Day and Nigerian Culture Day. Not bad for a little over one month of school! It feels like I've been back in Africa much longer however.

The rainy season arrived much earlier than normal around these parts. Its rained every day since I've been here and I have to admit, I'm extremely tired of it. Yes, it's still very warm although there have been some pretty cool days too, but I'm ready for that hot African sun to reappear. Rain here is what snow and ice is to the Pacific NW. It cripples the drivers ability to get where they need to go and delays people from getting where they need to be on time. Traffic is horrible on any given normal day so you should see what rain does to it. You're better off not even getting in a car. It down poured for the entire day one day last week and many of our student's drivers weren't able to get to the school to pick them up on time when school got out at 1:30 until 9:00 that evening. That's how long it took them to get through the traffic. The drainage system here is nonexistant so the streets just get so flooded. Any morning it's raining, we know to expect late students. Crazy, isn't it?! As much as it rains though, an hour of the hot sun that emerges each day is enough to dry everything up.
I may be getting a break from all the rain very soon. I have an opportunity to attend a Teacher's Conference in South Africa for a week in October (Jo'Berg) with three other teachers from AISL. When I got news that I was chosen as one of the teachers to attend, I was elated! I spent 10 days down in that area last year during my Spring holiday and enjoyed it very much. From what I understand, we'll have some free time to roam around and see things so it won't have to be all work and no play.
Life continues to be very fulfilling for me in Africa. I've decided to try a different way of keeping everyone updated on my life over here this year. I hope you'll take a moment to log on to my blog when you're sitting at your computers and I'll do my best to keep it updated.
(photos are taken from Nigerian Culture Day)