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!