Another weekend

Today we are having a huge carnival on campus. It's the largest PTO fundraiser event of the year. I was just watching from my window the kids go zipping and flopping down the big inflatable slide. There is a man on top with a water can and he splashes two shots of water before the kids go down. I think it's rented from this fun center that we took the kids to last year. When there is a lot of water on it they go whizzing down at top crash speeds. It's funny to see their horrified expressions on their faces as they crashed into the protective mat and man trying to catch them. I'll go join the fun a little later. The people are still trickling in.

At 4:00 prompt I'm supposed to be at a quadruplet birthday party. I have two of them in my class. Dieta was in it last year and then Bofe was added this year. Quiet amazing clan this family is. I'm expecting complete controlled chaos at the party. The parents at these shin digs just sit by conversing while their kids run around like wild monkeys. I'll for sure take some pictures and blog about it later.

So, I'm thinking I'll be home tonight watching some episodes of Friday Night Lights. I just have three episodes to go before I have to download the third series from itunes. Gotta love this on demand era we live.

Last night I had a fellow teacher named Linda Zook over for dinner. I was going to have lentil walnut burgers made for us but Lawrence was sick. So, I heated up the leftovers and fancied them up with springs of herbs and the table was beautiful with my stoneware dishes and Mary Ann's carved napkin holders. She brought the wine and I sipped on my gulp the whole night. It was a great night of interesting company.

I counted the days today, it's 28 more days until I'm home and greeted by my mom and a warm coat in the Portland airport. I can't wait! I was thinking fondly back to our time last year tromping through the snow. I was also thinking about how this time she can get to know Mike better. He is so giddy about coming. His life is really shaping up in Dallas and he just is seeing the world as his oyster. He is such a natural optimist.

Well, I have to go shower. The carnival music is calling me!

The medicine of laughter

The Sparkle Diamonds were clustered on the carpet. I was at my nearby desk working on the class weekly newsletter. Osato at the moment was the teacher and she was coming alive under all the attention of those fixed eyes and hands waving with questions. The longer she went the more she got into it. Today as the Star of the Week she had brought two items. One was a small plastic car the size of your index finger. Earlier this year she had been bragging about her watch and how it was actually a remote control for her mechanical car. As she passed the cheap car around the kids weren't buying it. This car didn't seem electric or wired at all. And where was her remote control watch? Well, just like numerous other items they mysteriously fell to their doomed death by the teeth or hands or creativity of her younger sister. Poor sister, I wonder if she realizes that she gets blamed for everything.

The second item was a whoopee cushion which when blowed up and sat upon brought a flood of laughter and giggles even from me. Ike shouted above the roar, "Even Ms. Diamond is laughing!" But, I was laughing more at the kids fully abandoned and joyful laughter. But, I have to admit the farts sound so real.

So the kids convinced Osato to allow them each a turn of sitting on it. Over and over again she would blow it up and place it gently under the next culprit. And down they could sit releasing the realistic farts and putters. Then would come the belly laughter and next would come the begs to be next.

At one point after about 13 kids. Osato was giving her speal of choosing someone she hadn't chosen yet. She was stretching out her moments of fame with gusto. Finally she chose Michaela. So, the drama queen placed it under Michaela and announced "Don't worry, it wont bust. Really sit on it!" And as she said the word bust, perfectly synchronized came a mega pop quite different from a gassy fart. Shocked the class was absolutely silent and I was holding back the giggles bubbling up my throat. Because the timing with her words couldn't have been any more perfect.

The kids didn't know how to respond. Was this something terrible or something hilarious? I mean the whoopee cushion did just bust. But, in this awkward moment Ostao examined the deflated plastic and yep there on it's side was the big ripped hole. She held it up at eye level in examination and dramatically mourned. "He lived such a short life, such a short life." Now, those built up giggles cascaded out from me and Mrs. Nnamdi. A couple of kids took this as permission to laugh as well. But, most just sat there with puzzled looks wondering how the death of a whoopee cushion could be so funny. Later in the week Joshua's letter to Osato lamented he never got a turn to fart. He asked, maybe next time?

Snippets

This week I found myself so thin and impatient. I needed to hibernate. I needed space and an escape. On Friday I was supposed to go to a piano bar with my friend for her birthday, but I had a headache. I didn't want to sit in a loud piano bar meeting a lot of different and new people. Instead I stayed home and rested by watching my TV series that I downloaded onto Itunes. It's called Friday Night Lights and I love it. I usually try to savor each episode and save them for special treats. This Friday I was so tired and needed to escape to a different world with different stresses and pressures so I watched four of them. They are so good! Have you seen them?

Today I had a really balanced day at home. I made some pumpkin soup but it was canned pumpkin and just isn't the same. I made croutons, but I left them in slightly too long and they are browner than I had hoped for. I worked on my National Boards, read, did some morning pilates, got money exchanged, booked a ticket to Abuja for thanksgiving, washed some clothes by hand, and made some jewelry from my new seeds and beads that I've gotten at the market here. Later in the night I went out to Thai food to celebrate my friends birthday. It was such a wonderful night, as it was just the three of us. We had a lot of fun. It was a treat though. We split the bill as a gift for Staci and it cost 9,000 niara which is around 80 dollars! Can you believe. That was just my share. The whole meal cost 18,000 niara. Which is a little less than 200 dollars. Things are so expensive here. But, it was delicious and Staci had lived in Thailand for 9 years so she spoke Thai while ordering and that was awesome to witness.

A good chuckle

I got two emails today from two different students who were absent. One was from Lilly who had to leave Nigeria because her mother was medivaced out due to a medical emergency. The second is from Ike. This is the first time either had emailed me and I thought it was very clever of them.

From Lilly:

Dear Ms.Diamond,
i really wanted to go to school, but we had some trouble in the airport we were getting our luggage but after we couldn't get out the airport, because the visa was expired so we had to travel to newyork then when the baggage claim we didn't, find our bag so my uncle in new york piked me and mommy up kyle his son that is 11 and is my cousin, it was cold in new york i had to wear 3 sweaters! then 2 days later our baggage arived at us instead, and i had a wonderful time! Also i miss everyone at school even you can you tell everyone in the class i miss them all.
sincerly,
lilly

From Ike:

THIS is IKE sorry I didn't cum to school I'm sick. tell the classmates I said high. Also even read this to them. I hope your taking good care of our class pet when I com back to school I don't want to be taking care of a sick turtle. then I would get sick again and you would miss me even more. don't forget to reply. And wen I get to school you can tell me if I could com to your flat.

This is my reply:

Dear Ike,
You always make me laugh with your sense of humor. You are very funny. I'm sorry that you were sick today. We all missed you. We did some social studies tests and a basil pretest.
Also, Bella brought her dog, Coco, into school. I think you would have loved it!
In reading we decided who would do what role for the Johnny Appleseed play. Tomorrow we are going to practice it out loud.
You would have loved math as well. We did an exploration of temperature. We measured the temperature of some really hot water and some ice water. The next rotation was making a clock and coin book. We also played our new game that we learned on Monday with the spinner.
We started our new science lesson about weather vanes but the material wasn't ready so we postponed it for tomorrow. Hopefully you will be here for it because I know how much you LOVE science!
Don't worry, Joel helped Bella with taking care of Booke today. We gave her water and I fed her my leftover apple. You are right we wouldn't want a sick tortoise.
I'll read your email to the class and if you aren't here tomorrow we might even write you back.
We miss you!

Love,
Ms Diamond

This is his response:

Thanks for the letter and if you have enough time you could reply. Also I hope I could com to school I wouldn't want to miss out on science. And your rite I do make you laugh with my sense of humor.See you tomorrow. From ike

Going local

This weekend Queeny and I went to the China Town of Lagos. It is in a red sand courtyard and has many shops which all have identical merchandise. Your choice is lace, clothes, or knick knacks. There was a bakery and I got so excited because I thought I smelled steamed hum boa. But, it was a Nigerian bakery and I was bummed. My imagination tricked me.

My favorite store was a jewelry store called Hello Sweetie. It made the whole visit worth it. I ooohhed and awweeeeddd over every piece and tried on just as many. The style was like something you would find on NW 23rd in Portland or on Pacific Ave in a little funky store. It was a mixture of eccentric and vintage. I seriously went crazy trying everything on and buying most of it. Here are a pair of earrings I bought and a few other pieces. I don't want to show too much because you might be a lucky contestant and be taking home your very own piece, right after these messages from our local sponsers.






After that market we headed to a food market to get vegetables, dried crayfish, garri, pumpkin leaf, and chicken for our egosi soup. Also we needed red beans for our moi moi. Queen Lizzy and I were going to cook up a feast for two to satisfy our Nigerian taste buds.






That night I was still trying to arrange for the final details of my mountain biking trip. I needed to borrow a bike of a friends friend. Even though I had asked about a month ago it was Saturday morning and I still didn't know if it was going to work out. Saturday night late I arranged for a ride, had procured a bike and was mentally preparing my lunch menu for the next day. I joined 11 other people for a bike ride in Omo forest. We loaded into six cars after picking up the military guards at Exxon Mobil. I got to sit in the jump seat next to the tires. It took us three hours to make it to the trailhead even though the estimated time had been 2 to 2 1/2 hours. The roads were really washed out so a ten minute ride quickly became a 1/2 hour. No problem though because when we arrived there even the drive was worth it. The vivid green of the forest was like a feast for my eyes.




We set off for the 5 hour ride and were set to have lunch at the camp ground. But, no one ended up making it here. Some of us were just too plain pooped to continue all the way and others knew they wouldn't make it in time for our estimated return. I was in the too pooped category. Riding a bike once a year through the gravel route of Forest park in Oregon doesn't prepare you for the rocks and boulders and man eating puddles we went through. It was wild and it was fun!

About 1/2 way through the ride I was going downhill and my bike tires were stuck in a rut. I freak out and panicked and tried to slow down and get out of the rut but instead I flipped my bike and was thrown off. While on my back and stunned I didn't want to worry the others so I hollered down to them, "I'm ok! I'm ok!" But I was floundering trying to discover which way was up and was trying to turn around with my backpack on.I looked like a turtle on it's back. Did you know that this is one of the only ways a turtle dies. Their enemies flip them on their backs and they die of starvation. I was scrapped up pretty bad but my confidence was the shaken even worse. The rest of the ride I took it easy and was more cautious than I needed to be.



We piled back into the cars right as a powerful, pouty thunder storm broke loose. The ride home was gratefully uneventful with no traffic. At home I walked my bike through the garage and the guard said, "Why you no ride?" I said, "Look at me, I am covered in mud and scrapes and bruises. That why I no ride. I dey done now." Do you like my broken pidgin and English. I use it often now without even noticing.

Seeds I stopped to collect from a broken dead branch. I'm always on the look out.

What's your vote?

Are these cute or what? I vote a resounding YES! In social studies we were learning about voting so in an effort to make it meaningful we had auditions in our class. The students who wanted to got to audition for a teaching position. They would be the two teachers to teach "Read to Someone" to our pre-k buddy class. So we had a ballot and I made a glittery voting box. Then we voted and at the end of counting the tallies Lilly was in tears. No one had voted for her, which means she didn't even vote for herself. :) But, this lead to a great discussion and teachable moment where we learned not everyone will be happy with the results of a vote, but it's still fair because we all get an equal opportunity to share our opinions.

Fullness

I've just had another great weekend. My friend Queen Lizzy spent the night on Friday. She and my friend Segun went to a new club that a pre-K teacher's boyfriend owns. It just opened last weekend. It had these great sofas that reminded me of beds. We split a jug of juice. :) I enjoy spending time with her because she is honest and truthful and full of love. That night Segun slept on the couch, Queeny shared my bed and Matthew slept in the car. This was something that made me irritated. Segun fully knowing that he couldn't go home that late put me in a real predicament. I told him that maybe Matthew could take him closer to the mainland on his way home. And that is how I found out that Matthew couldn't go home that night. Such responsibility on my shoulders of finding out who is going to sleep where. If I had my own apartment it wouldn't be an issue. Sharing with another person makes this a bit difficult. That night I was very frustrated but Queeny's good company made me feel better and she advised me to not let things get to me.

The next morning was environmental day which is at the end of each month. So, we slept in and than Matthew took us to a local market about 30 minutes away. It's a busy market with tons of activity. Our goal was to find seeds, black ink, and fabric. I was specifically looking for fabric to use on these chairs I'm going to have made. Queen took all my money and did the bargaining for me. I loved it this way because than I didn't have to worry about counting out money. And than it felt like someone else was treating me to all of those delicious fabrics and not myself. I found four fabrics that I loved and spent some time today looking at clothes online for ideas.







Saturday night to celebrate Halloween two of my colleagues had a group of us over for Costco hotdogs imported from the states. We loaded the dogs with garlic, chili and onions. We watched the Simpson Tree of Horrors and Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin on their huge screen tv. They have a projector and they had a special African frame built for it. We ended by watching Baseketball which is a gross and pointless movie which I didn't enjoy.

Then this afternoon my friend Sharon who is the high school principal came over and I taught her how to do batik. I finished two different pieces. One I loved until I did the last stage so I'll redo the idea with a couple of different twists. The other turned out surprisingly great, better than I thought. Both are of trees. I actually was inspired to do these pieces when I was reading a Tomie de Paola book with Joel. I loved the way Tomie did his hills and so I interrupted Joel and told him that I needed to sketch an idea for an art piece quickly. Then I showed the class and tomorrow I'll bring in the my art to show them how powerful sharing ideas is.




After we did art there was a birthday party by the pool for one of our new teachers and her two year old son. She and her husband fired up the bbq and had great meat in a sweet marinade. It was a big party with a great mixture of kids and adults. I had a good time catching up with some of the teachers I don't see often and grubbing on the snicker doodles.

I've made up my mind about not staying a third year in Nigeria. I was talking with my dad on the phone the other day and telling him some of the stuff I was going through. Every day stuff and than some not every day stuff. And he suggested I come home. He said that I had been on an adventure and had changed so much and become such a great person from this experience but a person can only take so much. I agreed with him. And asked him to remind me of this when I start to question again. He said that he certainly would. I'm looking forward to coming back to Tacoma and living a less stressful life. I will miss Nigeria however, it might not be the end if things continue with Mike and me. Mike and I've talked about it a lot and he supports me in what ever I decide but he thinks a third year would be great for me.