Today is Sanitation Saturday. The last Saturday of every month they close the entire city down for cleaning from 7-10. If you are caught outside you will get ticketed from the police. One of the students in my class told me that his driver was out once on Sanitation Saturday, the police then took his car and he had to walk home. He got the car back later with a fee. You are expected to be in your house cleaning during this fiasco…. We have a community pot luck breakfast instead!
It was one of my students birthday’s this week. Apparently Birthdays used to be a big deal. Parents would all want to outdo each other and create a bigger celebration. The parties would last all day including huge meals, gift bags for all of the other students, gifts for all the teachers, and hired entertainers. In the spirit of education they have stopped all that. Parents are now told that a small treat is acceptable. My student brought in a huge box on cupcakes, and a HUGE cake. With only 21 students in my class, I invited the other 4th grade class over to eat with us because of the amount of food. Later I was talking with another teacher about the crazy mess in my classroom. She informed me that it is custom for Nigerian parents to buy a treat for the students, but give a cake to the teacher! Who would have thought!
We visited the tailor yesterday to get our very first Nigerian outfits made! It is a custom that every Friday many people wear the traditional Nigerian dress or caftan. Nigerian Day is coming up, and it is their 50th year celebration so it will be HUGE! We need our outfits for then. We went to the market to barter for our fabric last weekend, which was an adventure as well!
Overall, we really enjoy life here! There are so many differences that we have become accustomed to. Matt and I went shopping last night and the power went out, no one even bats an eye. It happens ALL the time while I am teaching… I go right on teaching. The driving here is crazy, but it almost seems normal now. I don’t drive though- Matt does! It will torrential down pour for 20 minutes and then go right back to being crazy humid.
We are making muffins for breakfast so I’m off to bake… hope everyone is doing well!
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