Week Two

            Last Sunday, the three of us staying in the guest house decided to venture out on our own for a walk around the neighborhood.  The staff looked at us like we were crazy.  We all had shorts on and tennis shoes.  We are in the government quarter so we were a little restricted on where we could go.  We attempted to walk down to the river bank but it was blocked off.  We could just barely see over the cement barricade.  There was some kind of military vessel at the dock.  Back up the hill at the entrance there was a replica of a ship.  I got out my camera to take a picture of it and the guard motioned to us not to take pictures.  We walked down the street and I turned around and snapped a quick picture from the other side.  We were really getting stared at in the park.  We weren’t sure which direction to walk and what there was to see but it felt good getting outside.

This sculpture in the park is in memory of the natives who left Calabar as slaves aboard many sailing ships in the 1900's.

I think the ship we saw at the dock looks like this one.

             I have had stomach aches every morning so I am trying to find out what is causing them.  I suspected it might be because I have been brushing my teeth with the water from the faucet rather than using bottled water.  Clint says our mouth wash will burn the germs away.  I used the bottled water today and it didn’t make a difference.  I also have been drinking the instant coffee.  I wonder if the cook uses the bottled water for us in the carafe?  Sometimes I forget to think about where the food and water came from.  I must stay vigilant so I don’t get really sick. 

            The staff bathroom in my building at the school did not have a door knob until this week.  Teachers were getting stuck in there because if they closed the door they could not open it again from the inside.  Finally a knob was installed.  The bathroom has two stalls in it.  One has a door and the other does not so teachers are asked to knock on the door before entering for privacy.  The stall with the door is really small. You cannot close the stall door if you are sitting on the toilet because the door touches the front of the toilet.  I also discovered you cannot touch the stall wall because it is not bolted down so it moves.  Most of the time there is no toilet paper so you must remember to bring your own.  There are never towels or paper towels available in the bathroom either.  The water only works part of the time too.  One day I put the soap on my hands and could not wash it off.  I suppose this is also why I do not use the bathroom during the day.

            Our school principal and his wife moved into our guest house this week.  We will get their apartment after it is cleaned.  There will also be a small furniture change.  Tonight is the third night and still there was no word on a moving day for us.  It feels a little awkward to be living with your boss.  The first night they wanted to play cards.  The three of us were all working on our school work.  He said he remembers what it was like to grade papers every night.  We did eventually get a game started.  Last night we all worked quietly in the living room together.

On Thursday we went shopping with the teachers at the market.  We purchased cleaning supplies, some food and water bottles.  At the little grocery store we picked up some jam and peanut butter but no bread because we don’t have a move-in date.  The jam is mango.  I have never even heard of mango jam but I love mango so I bet I will like it.  This shopping trip felt really real to me because it was the first time we have made some big purchases here in Nigeria.  It is still a little confusing to convert the money in your head to make sure the price sounds reasonable.  The merchants are very impatient.  They want to know if you have agreed on the price.  They don’t like window shoppers.  Of course there are no windows but you get my meaning.  It was a lot of pressure.  I sure hope it gets easier.  I need to learn to not make eye contact unless I really intend to buy something from merchants. 

             I have been trying to show electronic books on my laptop which is hooked up to the TV in my classroom.  The Internet is so slow that it took 20 minutes to download the book today.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed it so it was worth it.  I am so impressed with the dexterity of most of my students.  Their penmanship is so neat.  Also, most of them know all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.  Our curriculum is really beneath their level.  I am adding a lot of writing to make it more challenging.  I am crying that we do not have sets of early reader books.  I want to do literature circles.  Most of my class can already read the stories I am reading them.  They just amaze me every day.

            On Friday night the power was out.  The generator was broken again and NAPA (the power company) was out too.  The principal drove us over to his old apartment which will be ours so we could play cards in the light.  The generator was working in the teacher housing complex.  The principal’s bed was gone and ours is in and a chair in the living room was gone, however, our pots and pans, dishes and glassware had not been delivered.  We still do not have a move-in date.  The principal said he had not asked for the chair so he wasn’t sure why it was gone.

            I had quite a time coloring my own hair Saturday morning.  The power was out again so I was working with dim lighting.  The hard part was trying to rinse it out.  The shower only trickles water and it was cold because of the power being out.   There is one big bucket you place over the drain to catch the water and a smaller one to use to pour over your head.  I didn’t want to pour the brown water which contained the dye from my hair back over my head so it took me more than half an hour to rinse it out.  Then I had to wait to fill the bucket several times to get the dye off the walls of the shower.  What an ordeal just to serve my vanity. 

            Saturday was our school Open House.  I made a PowerPoint with the kindergarten benchmark and standards to be shown on the big TV in my classroom.  The power kept going off and on so it was really a strange Open House.  Half the time I was talking to parents in a dimly lit room.  The principal spoke to the parents for awhile and then there were refreshments.  All my parents were pleased to have me as their child’s teacher.  I got the feeling they did not have a lot of confidence in the Nationals as teachers.  The Nigerian staff are called Nationals.  Personally, I am very glad to have a Nigerian assistant so my students have both perspectives.  Even though I have a great education and know how to teach that doesn’t make me an expert in all things.  I consider my assistant teacher as a teaching partner and I introduce her as such.  

At the electronic's store

             After the Open House the principal drove us to an electronics store.  I was able to purchase speakers for my laptop.  Now my students will be able to hear the ABC songs I have over the noise from the air conditioner.  The store owner tested them on his laptop.  It didn't have a keyboard.  I saw a chicken cross the road while we were waiting in the car for others to finish at the store.  I wish I had, had my camera ready.  It was too funny.  The chickens run wild all over the city here.  It still makes me laugh.  My friend the first grade teacher did manage to get one picture of the chicken so she shared it with me.  She really blends in with the dirt so it is hard to her to the right of the purses.

This is where I saw the chicken cross the road.

             There is a small lizard living in our room here at the guest house.  I first saw it on Friday night.  When we returned home and entered the room it was on my night stand.  I saw it jump off and go under the bed.  It was only about two inches long.  Now we see it almost every time we go to our room.  It likes to hide by the door under a tile that is not sealed down.  It is almost transparent except for its black eyes.  I really want it to go away.  I don’t like the idea that it was on my night stand.  It could have been on my pillow.  It may be the reason why I wake up a lot during the night.

            Today we went to our first church service here.  The church was pretty close to our guest house.  It was next door to the Governor’s palace.  The service was over 2 hours long.  There was a lot of fabulous singing and rhythm instruments were available to use in the congregation.  Everyone was really dressed up.  The boarding students at our school were there too.  As usual we were video-taped.  It seems like the Nigerian people really like to take pictures and record events.  Who knows, maybe someday we will see ourselves on a commercial or news cast.

We were walking up the stairs to the church.

Inside the church

We had fun in the lively service today.

First Week

Monday was a nightmare.  It was my first full day at school.  The power was out the first hour of school and it was dark and warm in my classroom.  I pulled the carpet over by the window and played games until we could see to write at the tables.  None of my copies I needed were ready because of the power outage and I discovered I really don't have morning prep because parents start dropping off kids at 7:30.  My aide was sick so I was alone all day.  I had a runner and a crier.  I have taught long enough now to know it gets better but wow today was horrible. I didn’t get a chance to look for more of the curriculum so I punted all day with writing and activities I made up as the day progressed.  I discovered there are two sets of stairs to get to the second floor of my building but when upstairs the second floor has a wall in the middle.  You go up one set of stairs to get to one side and the other set of stairs to get to the other side.  I was so confused and thought the art teacher was in the other building because I did not find his classroom upstairs.  Well, I took the students on a tour of the buildings before I finally found it.

My aide was back today but two of my boys were really pushing our boundaries.  I have set-up procedures for everything and most of the students understand and are following them.  I assigned a line order and seating chart to keep the three boys apart from each other.  The principal arranged for Clint and I to stay at school until 5 pm so we could get more done in our classrooms.  Unfortunately, to organize and find materials requires tearing things apart first.

At our school guns are allowed because they protect the school.  It is a bit alarming but I am glad we are safe.

 The staff driver takes us to the market after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.  On Thursday we went looking for things for our classrooms.  I wanted to find some plastic tubs for organizing.  I picked up one and the merchant told me it was 1,000 Naira ($7 apx).  I thought that was high but wasn’t sure.  I Nigerian lady came up and asked the price of another piece about the same size and she was told 150 Naira.  At that point I knew she was charging me the white tax so I walked on.  I found another one for 700 Naira and purchased it even though I knew it was still too much money.  Now I understand why teachers ask the driver to make purchases for them.  I thought it was kind of rude of them at first.

On Friday my students were so much better behaved.  Only one of the boys was giving us fits.  My aide told me he repeated pre-school because of his behavior.  Now that I know his behavior is more than just getting used to a new class my goal is to find out what he really likes and use it as a privilege for good behavior.  I need to study him and learn what his triggers are and then find a balance.  I also want to make sure he knows I care about him even though he spends time in the lonely place for short bouts during the day.  My aide asked me an embarrassing question today.  She wanted to know why I never use the bathroom during the day.  She asked if it was because I sweat so much.  It is going to take awhile for my body to adjust to this humidity.

Finally the weekend and we were able to sleep in.  Today, the principal and his wife took us to the stores in the other part of town.  It is a ghost town of a shopping center with a resort next door.  We were basically the only patrons.  Most of the stores are empty shells.  A developer built it but only 10% of the people drive up here to shop.  We were told the largest store is the equivalent to a Target store.  It was dimly lit and had very little variety in the departments.  There were a lot of empty shelves.  Clint and I both purchased canvas bags for carrying groceries or school books.  The bags have a map of the city on them.

I wonder why the Playboy stools were in the baby section?

Next we went over to the resort for lunch.  The hotel had a nice dining area and there was a large buffet.  There was only one other group of people eating.  None of us ordered the buffet.  We were warned that the waitress will try to tell us our total was different than what the menu said.  That didn’t happen but one of the teachers ordered one meal for his two girls and they received two separate meals.  We heard him ask for two and the waitress repeated what he said but after we ate she told him he had to pay for two.  It got a little uncomfortable.  The white teacher said she could get the manager but he asked for one meal and that was what he was paying for.  It all worked out.

This was the craft shop down by the water at the resort.

It was a warm rainy day today.  I didn't mind getting wet because it does cool you off for awhile.

We walked down to the waterfront and there were boats you could pay to ride in around the river and some little craft stores that looked like tribal huts.  It was so dark in them it was hard to see the merchandise.  I purchased my first souvenir.  It was a handmade wood necklace.  It was raining really hard today so we didn’t stay long but I would like to go back another time and take the boat trip.  On the way back we stopped at a monkey rescue center.  This is the second one we have been to.  Their natural habitat is shrinking as the population of Nigeria increases.  They are also hunted for bush meat.  Often the poachers leave the babies alone in the forest and if they are found they are brought to a rescue center.

I think this one is a mona guenons.

We finished the day attending a birthday party.  One of the teachers is in the process of adopting a 3 yr old from the orphanage.  She was allowed to take him out for the day.  He started attending the pre-school at our school last spring.  He is still pretty much none verbal and still wears diapers.  It is so special she is adopting him.  She is from Chile and her fiancé is from Bangladesh.  Our staff is really international.  We have someone from China and India too.

Our First Weekend

            Our principal arranged for a driver Saturday morning so he could take us to the show us where we will be shopping at the open air traditional market, the modern grocery store, and the bakery.  We started at his favorite booth in the traditional market.  He can get bottles of Coca-Cola there.  There is a vinyl marketing sign that advertises cold drinks but there is no electricity in her booth.  It is a three walled room about the size of a walk in closet.  Only one person can go in at a time.  It was interesting how everyone seemed to know the principal and his wife and then it donned on me that they are easy to recognize as the minority.  They buy bananas from one person and yams from another to spread out their money.  The market was very much like the ones in Taiwan but the individual booths were so much more rustic.  It was like a shanty town.

I am very glad I brought all the undergarments I will need this year.

I watched the store keeper refilling the containers with her bare hands.

             After visiting the traditional market I was really anxious to see the REAL grocery store.  To my horror it was about the size of a 7-11.  I hardly recognized any of the brands.  I think many of them have been imported from Europe.  The frozen food section was one deep freeze of packaged meat that looked like it was processed in someone’s barn.  I am assuming with all the rolling power outages it is too hard to keep frozen items.  The prices were very high like what we were paying in the Arctic.  I think Clint and I were both really disappointed.  We are not big cooks.  I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with what we saw in the traditional market.  The foods in the grocery store were so unfamiliar to us too.  I do think this will be good for us.  We are going to have to learn to cook more from scratch which is of course better for us.    Next, we went to a bakery.  It was all bread and rolls and no cakes, cookies, or pastries.  Can you tell I am missing sweets?  

Oh yum, warm eggs on the shelf in the middle of the pet food.

             The bakery did have some meat pies so we purchased them for lunch.  We ate down at the marina.  There was a slavery museum, a carrousel ride, a café and outdoor seating.   It was fun watching the little lizards scramble around on the grass and up and down the coconut trees.  Cross River is a wide, brown river.  I am assuming it is full of sediment.  We were so thankful for shade in the picnic area.  We didn’t have time to view the museum but we plan to return.  Calabar was the location where most of the slaves boarded ships bound for America.

A dance team was performing at the marina.

This boat went by while we were eating our lunch.

             Sunday evening we went to a performance for the students of a performing arts school.  They played instruments, sang, and danced.  We really wanted to work in our classrooms over the weekend but it was nice to also get a chance to look around and experience some of the culture.  One of my students played the piano.  When she saw me she came down the aisle to give me a hug.  It is a cultural thing to hug your teacher in the morning and when you leave.  My principal saw it and gave me a thumbs up.

With all the poverty outside of this performance hall, I was surprised to see so many video cameras inside.  There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor here.

First Day of School

Friday, August 31, 2012

            We were picked up by the school van at 7 am.  We were already sweating from the heat and humidity before even arriving at the school.  Surefoot American International School (SAIS) is located on the main road that leads through town.  We pulled up to the gate and the guards watched us drive in.  They actually have rifles.  There is not a No Guns on School Property rule here.  We have to sign in and out each day at the front desk.  My classroom is the closest to the front door.  

We are next to the front door of the school.

              A new early childhood building is under construction but the number of pre-k school students has increased so as a temporary fix for the overcrowded situation the kindergarten class was moved over the summer.  All the teaching materials, children’s books and free-choice games were mixed up on two walls of book shelves.  I do not have a desk, file cabinet or cabinets and drawers.  We do not have a classroom bathroom or even a sink.  I do have a window and an air conditioner.  We do have a typical kindergarten classroom carpet with the alphabet on it and little round tables.

            I just barely met my assistant and my students when we had to attend the Friday morning assembly.  I noticed some quick cultural differences.  Each student gives me a hug every morning and one as they leave every afternoon.  Also, the parents often ask, “How was your night?”  I have learned to just say, “good.”  They are not really asking for information it is just a greeting like “how are you?” in the USA.

            After the assembly I had a quick training with the principal and the counselor.  They are husband and wife.  We really did not get a lot of information beyond the school schedule and a list of the California State Standards to follow. I met up with our class just before they went to lunch and then observed my assistant teach reading in the afternoon.  The different grade levels have different curriculum.  I know 1^st grade and 3^rd grade use StoryTown which is the reading curriculum I used in Alaska.  I have ReadWell.  I have never used it.  From what I have gathered so far it does not have much for the writing and sight words.  There are some student practice workbooks and some small reading books that start farther into the curriculum.

            The math is Everyday Math but we do not have the actual teacher’s lesson book.  There are manipulatives, a game book, activity book and workbook.  We also have a social studies and science curriculum but I know they will not last the whole school year even though I am required to teach those subjects all year long.  My students go to specialist teachers for PE, music, art, computers, and French.

My class

            School had actually started on Monday.  My assistant has been subbing for me.  My assistant has been with the school since it began 5 years ago.  She has been the kindergarten teacher for 3 years.  That really surprised me.  I feel like I am in an awkward position.  She was told last year she had to step down so an expat with a teaching certificate could lead the class.  It just feels so demeaning.  I also learned she has only received a small portion of the salary I will make as a teacher here.  She has never lived in the teacher housing either.  It is not for the Nigerian nationals.  Most of what I just shared I did not learn from her and I plan to never talk about that subject.  My goal is to consider her my equal and work with her as a teaching partner not as my assistant.  I told her we have a great opportunity to learn from each other and grow in our teaching profession.  She said she hopes to someday be one of the pre-k teachers.

            Well the day ended pretty well but I was really frustrated when the van driver pulled up at 3 pm to take the teachers home.  I only had an hour after my students left to start looking at everything in my classroom.  I was told I could not stay later or come in on the weekend because I can only come with a school driver.  I do not have keys to the school or even to my classroom.  I grabbed every curriculum book I could find and got in the van.  We went back to the guest house where our belongings were because the problem was fixed.