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!