My aide told me students wear costumes on October 31. It is called Harmattan Day here. Harmatten Day marks the first day of the cooler, dryer and dustier season when the wind comes from the North. As the time drew closer I asked my students what they were going to where and they all mentioned what their costumes were but nothing was said by the school administration. On Tuesday, we all returned to school after a 5-day fall break which ended the first quarter of school. Sadly, we were told about the death of two middle school students from a car accident. Nothing was said about the wearing of costumes the next day. I had one parent call me at home Wednesday morning to find out if the kids were supposed to wear their costumes. I told her it was on the school calendar but the administration had not said a word about it. I told her it was fine if her son wanted to dress up. At school not one student came dressed up so I think it was informally canceled due to the school being in mourning.
I was informed however that my set of twin girls, the daughters of the founder of our school and First Lady of our State, were having an impromptu birthday party. They were all to leave the school that morning, on a field trip to their house. What? Really? I have no parent permission slips for this because nobody told me this was happening. I went to the principal for advice since it was ultimately my boss's big idea and I felt really uncomfortable telling her "no". We came up with a compromise to have the kids leave right after the school day. The school administrator called all the parents for me for permission. My aide was not able to go because she had to pick-up her kids right after school.
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| We rode the school bus which is used to take the boarding students to church and other activities. |
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| One of the birthday girls is on the right. |
I personally put all their seat belts on them. They weren't too happy with me because people generally don't wear them here. I counted the students and we had extra. Okay, this became just a bit more stressful. I was told we were also transporting the twin's siblings and cousins. We also had on our bus a police officer with a large rifle (AK47?) in the front seat and an armed bodyguard for the Governor's children. The children of the governor do not go anywhere without protection.
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| Notice the shoe rack. It was about 10 ft x 6 ft full of shoes for the twins. |
I discovered the Governor and his family do not live in the Governor's mansion by the water. They prefer to live in their own residence. Their house is actually not far from where we live in our flat. Their house is surrounded by 10 ft cement walls with a 2 ft electric fence on top of it. When we came in we were ushered straight to the girl's bedroom. The room was as large as my whole flat. Each girl had a full-size bed, a desk, a dresser, a night stand and a bookcase. They had a 50" flat screen TV on the wall. Their dressing room had floor to ceiling wardrobes and cabinets. The bathroom was really big as well and had an extra large jet tub. I couldn't tell from my student's expressions whether they were as impressed as I was. I know they all come from wealthy families.
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| Each twin had The Big Piano mat at the end of their bed. |
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| Sorry about the quality of this picture. I was trying to get pictures of the room without being too obvious. |
For activities they first set-up some chairs and turned on the Cartoon Network. Next, they blew up some balloons and let the kids bat them around. We played musical chairs and then danced to some local music. Each of the Governor's children has a nanny. One of the nanny's was teaching the kids some new moves. They had a quiz about the twin's favorite things and then it was time to get pictures with the cakes.
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| The baby is their little sister. | | | |
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I was told most if not all of their children were adopted by the orphanage. The orphanage is another one of her pet projects like our school. Her excellency is a very kind and generous person. After the party she showed me the large pool behind the house. She said if we ever wanted to come and swim we just needed to text her first and the guards at the back gate would let us in.
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| This is what I did during most of the party. She is a cousin of the twins. |
Stranger's kids have always come up to Clint and wanted him to hold them but it has never happened to me even though I have wanted them to. Today, I had this happen to me. She spotted me from across the room and walked right over to me and wanted up. Her grandmother looked so surprised. She snuggled in and did not want to go back to her grandmother. It was so sweet. I was told she had recently been very ill. Hopefully, whatever she had wasn't still contagious.
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| Their party theme was "Dora the Explorer". The cakes were made with fondant frosting. |
The students were only tempted by the cakes but the adults in the living room ate them. The students all received cupcakes. They also served spring rolls (egg rolls), fried rice, fried plantains, and some mystery meat. I was given a piece of the cake and then one of the twins brought me a smaller piece. She said it was a mistake and I was to eat the smaller one. I told her I had already started eating it. Later, her mom told me her daughter had told her I only eat small food and that is why she wanted me to have the smaller piece. I laughed because I think she hears me tell the server at lunch to give me a small portion. Everyone here eats huge helpings of food. The amount of rice they pile on the plate looks like enough for four people and they still go back for more.
I stayed until the last of my students was picked up by their parents. Since I had not personally spoken to them, I wanted to make sure they all got home okay. It was a long two hours of chaos. Shortly after we arrived, I noticed my students had all taken off their socks and shoes. I quickly had them all freeze and I told them to put them back on. No way was I going to search for 22+ socks when it was time to leave. One student had left her backpack on the bus but we got it back the next day. I was so tired by the time I got home. With all the nannies and the occasional presence of their mom I probably didn't need to attend the party but I was glad I had come just in case one of my student's needed a familiar face. Half my class are only 4 yr olds so they still need some reassurance at times that someone is there for them.
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