Nigerian Culture Day!

Beautiful decorations. Nigeria's colors are green and white.

Just like America, Nigeria has an Independence Day. And today October 1st (Oh, I just realized it's my dad's birthday as well!) is that day of celebration. And celebrate we did! Our school throws the biggest event of the year. We all dress in Nigerian cultural garb. So, there are flashy colors and patterns everywhere. Woman tied adorning head scarfs around their heads and men wear outfits that are as comfortable as pj's. Everyone ooohhhs and awwwws over each others outfits and their fine details of adornment

The Stellar Second Grade Teachers!


I love those floppy hats



This year the theme was Edo state which is where Mike's family is from. It's down South and Benin is the capital. The traditional dress for men is while with coral colored beads. The woman wore a wine colored dress with an elaborate head dress of the same coral beads.

The dance performed by the children. Four of our students were involved.




All of our lesson plans are scrapped for the day and instead we participate in Nigerian activities. We start with the opening ceremonies which included long speeches and traditional dances. The exasperating speeches were less entertaining than the nearby bathrooms and as usual the children were experts at entertaining themselves. We had an impressive guest who did an amazing art piece for our school in 1981. He now has had some art published in the Smithsonian and is well known. My favorite part of the opening ceremonies was the professional dancers who twirled and twisted in the air. Their costumes were brilliant colors and the drum beat kept all of our attention. From the surprised gasps and looks of sere pleasure on my students faces I could tell this was their favorite part too. Surprisingly, during their performance no one had an "emergency" need for the bathroom.

Even the slug was bored by the speeches and was escaping to greener pastures.

It was part of the display.

The dancers

HA! Did you see that!

Twist

Wow! This is entertaining!

Flip

No way! Let's try that one when we get home!

Land

Songs sung with such passion

Next, we started our individual sessions. Ours began with a hunt for the annex room 307 which doesn't exist. Luckily we got some help from an event coordinator and we found the correct room where we got to bead our own cardboard slippers. The kids were excited even though I was a little frustrated about the lack of presentation and the time we took gluing the ends so the beads could be strung on. But, I expected this having learned from last year. The kids were so excited and I was even told "Ms. Diamond my shoes are making my feet sore I think I'm going to switch them for my beaded slippers." And I had to gently persuade them not to. For some crazy reason, I just don't thinking paper thin cardboard and hastily pasted super glue would last very long.

Our presenter

Next, we went to Ten Ten. Which I thought was a board game but it was a dancing game. We had two ladies teach us the dance steps which included a lot of right foot stomping, left foot stomping and some clapping and slapping of hands. The kids gave it their best and then were inspired to do their own creating.


We began to get hungry but we had one more session to attend to before lunch. Luckily this session wasn't very demanding and all it required of us was to listen and offer answers or repeat words. Our story teller told us a story about a little boy who always wanted cake. And about a parent who gave into his demands even when he wanted more variety. After her story we told her the lessons we had learned about obedience and obesity. Some of their comments were hilarious. Lilly said that when you eat too much cake your belly gets really fat but your arms and legs get really stick thin. I wonder where she has seen this before.


Lunch was one of the best parts of the day. We got to eat traditional Nigerian food such as jollof rice which is spicy and flavorful. Hidden in the rice was a chicken drumstick and pieces of fried plantain. I love the combination of the sweet plantain with the savory rice and chicken. We also got a snack box full of chin chin, and puff puffs. Yum. Later in the day they delivered suya which is spicy meat on sticks. We had to build up our strength for our adventure into the market place. As you notice there are no pictures, I was too busy enjoying the food and rest.

Suya! Oh, how I love thee, especially when you've in my belly!

The market is such an essential part of life in Nigeria. Everyone goes there and you can find such treasures if you really look. It's not for the faint of heart however, you will be tugged, yelled at and overwhelmed by the amount of things piled in one place. Vendors were invited to sell their trinkets, paintings, and basket at our mini market. They were directed not to price things above 1000 naira and in class we practiced bargaining and how to half an initial price.




We had closing ceremonies with a fashion show by the middle school and high school. And finished with thank yous to the committee and parents who made the day possible. Then we ended with more dancing. My parents are brilliant and we brought out food and capri sun slushies so we were happy and content as we munched, slurped, and watched. We gathered back in class, some parents took their kids early to beat the traffic and others stayed in the classroom showing each other their bargained treasures and bragging about how much they got it for. We finished off the left over food and then slowly child by child the classroom emptied. It was a wonderful day and I know that I'll miss it next year when I'm not here.

This picture is for Mike. Segun is one of his friends from long long back.