Cricket

Last year many of us at AISL noticed a problem. Well to be completely honest with you, there are many problems. Most of them we have no control over or no say in how to fix them. But, this problem was different. There could be a very easy and realistic solution.

Our campus is created of over 700 staff and over 100 maintenance workers and there is a big gap of division between us. There are elementary staff, middle school staff, high school staff, Instructional assistant staff, administrative staff, science staff, English staff and all the different grade level staff, overseas staff, local hire staff, Nigerian staff, American staff, staff that has taught overseas before, staff that is fresh fish and new, staff that has husbands who work for oil companies, staff with spouses working on location in a different state. The variety is great and the division was even greater. We noticed birthdays were uncelebrated, engagements were mere mentions at a staff meeting, bereavement was solely left to friends. Something could be done and so this called for a new committee. And hence, the social committee was formed this year. With a budge of zero nira and the daunting yet greatly needed task of unifying our school while at the same time providing stress release and entertainment they gathered and began to plan.

The first event was this weekend. It started at 4:00 with socializing in the conference room. Potluck style with music blaring from carefully positioned speakers, we mingled and tried to talk about things other than school and our students. Mary Ann and I found a recipe for minced meat pie and we made it vegan style! When I say this I really mean, we printed off the recipe and handed it to Lawrence who made it for us. He really was the one to roll the dough and cook the filling. We were the ones to bake it for 20 minutes and stack them like a pyramid, serving them with a side of ketcup. After about an hour we got down to business. We were all going to learn how to play cricket, in honor of our dear Aussie counselor Sarah who's husband was freshly transferred to Alaska.

Sarah brought her friend Nigel and he taught us the rules for this complicated game. Still having a tender back I decided it wasn't worth playing. As I don't ever want to be a guest at Reddington hospital again and really don't find laying flat on the floor all that inviting or desirable. Instead I spent the four hours cheering and taking pictures. I'm still trying to get the handle of my new camera.