Another week in Lagos

I find that there are beautiful things about looping up with the kids. Like the other day in our story there was a lion and he had a snarled mane with blackberry branches tangled in it. I remembered this book I had read with Kaelan and P.J. about lions last year. I asked him if he could remember if it was the male lions that had manes or the females. It was great to have this dialogue and history with him. At the same time my patience for their weaknesses isn't as enduring as last year. This year I expect them to have improved manners, be more mature and have grown out of some of their bad habits. On Friday Mrs. Nnamdi our IA brought in fried plantain. Osato was so excited to eat it and so greedy that she stomped on my foot and shoved Michaela to get a seat. She didn't even stop to apologize. I hollered her name and this made her stop soundly in her tracks. I told her that her behavior was unacceptable. But, honestly I was so flustered and disappointed that I couldn't finish talking with her and told her that I needed some space and told her to just turn her card for being uncaring and rude. I think last year I could have handled this with more patience, but since this was behavior seen last year as well, there was little tolerance. :)

This weekend we had three birthdays in our class. They always invite me and I try to come. That's the interesting part of this community of AISL is that there are not the usual boundaries. It's like watercolor where the colors take their own shape and find their own way sometimes going out of their desired boundaries. But, I love my kids and their families and it's fun to connect outside of the classroom. Today I went and had Chinese food with Michaela. Otokini excitedly told me that they swept my seat many times in expectation for my coming. They wanted it to be super clean for me. During the whole meal they jabbered nonstop about their sleep over the night before and how they did yogurt facials and put cucumbers on their eyes. Bella told me that she took hers off her eyes and nibbled them almost till they were gone. Afterward we went bowling at the alley Michaela's family owns. I can't remember the last time I went bowling. I did very well. Every time I almost got a spare except for one pin in the corner. It was the same one pin every time. On the way home I was struck with the contrast of life. I saw little children begging and babies wailing in the dirt. I saw a little girl licking the corners of a birthday cake board and assumed that she had pulled it from the trash. It breaks my heart and is such a contrast from this rich Nigerian family that I had just spent the day with. One owns four houses, one owns none and calls home a cardboard box.

The funny thing about this birthday party was that our internet is down and so I didn't know when they were coming to get me. I hadn't heard so I just went about my day. I had just dove into the swimming pool and was swimming back and forth chatting with Sheri, when the guard comes and asks if there is a Meagan here. He told me that there was a man waiting for me. I asked who it was and he didn't know, but then it dawned on me that he was probably here to pick me and take me to Michaela's birthday party. I had to kick Mary Ann out of her bath and quickly jump into the shower.

Tomorrow starts my fourth week and I was telling Mike how pleasing it is when time travels by so fast.

Reuniting with the Sparkle Diamonds

I have had a wonderful first two days of school. We have most of our kids returning and three new ones. But they have all been to AISL in first grade and so they know me already. Today we had all of our students except one who is still on holidays. This is so much better than the beginning of last year where I had four students who were on holidays for an extra month and one girl out for three months due to visa problems.

It's funny because I've noticed some slight differences in them. Some were expected; they are taller, or Tyron's four front teeth grew in only for the other two next to them to have fallen out, or they are more reserved and quite, Yousouf refuses to smile again. But, some changes were unexpected, Bofe has chunked out and gained weight while his sister and brothers that make up the quadruplet are still string beans. Lilly doesn't wear her hair in two braids that stick straight out the sides of her head but instead has one fat braid down the back. They have their original accents back. Gradually as last year progressed their accents became more like mine. They pronounced words the way I did and less like their parents. But, now after speaking other languages all summer they have those beautiful accents back.

I continue to enjoy the help and company of Patricia. She is so joyful and really makes me relax and be more playful and social. Today we got excited as we made plans for me to spent a weekend at her house and she is going to teach me how to cook Nigerian food. I'll sleep in the bedroom with her son and daughter. And visit their church. She said "Oh, I'll begin to tell everyone that I have a very special friend visiting!"

We've been busy getting to know each other all over again. Today through our bio poems I learned things about them that I didn't even know. Liana knew that bio was short for biography. I learned that Toyah, who is new, fears tarantulas. Yousouf never wants to be alone. Moji is a student of life. However, I did know that Kaelan is a lover of Roxy his dog and that Bella loves to read her favorite book Fame School curled up in her bed. We painted self portraits with watercolors and made face glyphs with curly cues that told how many siblings we have. Surprisingly they were really responsible with the paint leaving no puddles or mixed paint boxes.

Great news! Mary Ann has decided to do the National Boards as well. Now, we can be motivated and work together on getting it done. This is getting better every day.