Christmas Concert

          We had our Christmas Concert on Thursday, December 6.  It was unlike any school program I have ever been to but after all I am in a place far from home and around a culture I am unfamiliar with.  Different grade levels sang songs which were all really good and then our school choir sang.  Next, our school dance team performed.  I don't quite know how to describe what they did except to say it was a mixture of Hip Hop, something very tribal, and something very inappropriate and downright seductive.  I don't even know what you would call it, maybe dirty dancing?  I looked over at my conservative principal a few times.  I could tell he and his wife were thinking the same thing I was.  There are some things at this school that are just out of his control because we have a director and a founder who ultimately run the school.  I realize some of it is the culture here and it does not mean the same thing to them that it does to me.  Some of what I see and hear I just have to accept and keep my mouth shut.  After the dance performance there was a play called the Christmas Cinderella.  The only Christmas thing about it was the tree and Santa came to visit Cinderella. 

Six of my eleven students performed at the evening concert.

          Six of my eleven students were on time for the concert and sang on stage.  Over the next hour four more showed up and sat with us so I babysat them during the concert.  My teaching partner did not attend because of her religious beliefs.  I had to ask our school counselor to supervise my class while I took three late arrivals to the bathroom. Oh well, my students seemed to enjoy the concert.  They were all still talking about it the next day at school.  Their enjoyment was the most important thing.  I was very proud of the six who sang.  They stood still and remembered to use their nice singing voices.  During the practices I was really concerned.  The music teacher let them dance and run around the music room while they sang.  I was definitely skeptical it would come together.  I kept waiting for a concert practice schedule and finally two days before the concert we were notified of the one concert practice the day before the show.

A Thanksgiving skit on the last day of school before the break.

Taking pictures and video is a big deal here.

          Friday morning was our assembly and the last day of school before the month long break.  At each assembly one class must make a presentation.  It was the 5th grade class's turn.  Their teacher is from Jamaica.  He wears a turban everyday.  His class put on a play about his class learning about the first Thanksgiving.  The student who played him was wearing a turban too.  It was really cute.  Their play was really good but they also found a way to include some dancing but it did not get out of hand.  It always gets the audience hooting and hollering just the same.  I asked one day about a specific part of the dance which really gets people excited.  I was told it originated in Calabar.  The rest of the dances have all come from Lagos. There is a sense of pride the people here have when it is included.

About 8 seconds into the video the Pilgrims include a quick part of the famous Calabar dance move.  You will hear the crowd at that point too.  Usually the dancers are facing away from you and you can see how they lift their hips.
          After the assembly, I let my students have a long recess.  There are no parks for them to play at during their long break.  We then had our class party.  We ate snacks parents brought and played games.  My teaching partner said all the parents will bring in food and drinks to share with the classified school staff too.  I received perfume and an African print fabric in my favorite color.  Clint received a bracelet and some wooden monkey sculptures.  School was out at 11 AM.  All the expats except one family boarded an airplane that afternoon.  I believe they are leaving within a few days.  It will be just Clint and I here alone then with the compound guard.