Thanksgiving in Nigeria

I know it's been a while since my last post. I will fill you in on the details of what has happened since my last post: Lots and lots of school work.

I'm still really enjoying teaching here and things are in the works for my first ever concert, where we will have a jazz ensemble, the AISA Beginning Band, AISA Combined Band, and the AISA Returning band. In total, I have 27 students in the band here, and it has been challenging to spread the rehearsal time evenly to prepare for the concert. Even with the challenges, I think that I have taught some good fundamental techniques and concepts and I anticipate a great concert this Thursday night.

With all of that aside, this Thanksgiving marks the first ever holiday that I have not been home to celebrate. It was a new and strange experience for me, but the people here have been so accomodating and genuinely accepting that the change of scenery from my 'traditional' Thanksgiving celebration was very enjoyable.

A group of 14 teachers planned a trip to an ex-President's villa 3 hours outside of Abuja. This place was built in the late 1990's and looks like something out of a movie. The group of teachers split 4 of the 5 available rooms, and were able to do whatever we wanted for the 3 days that we were there. The place has a pool with a tiki-bar, a large covered seating area where we ate dinner, a huge kitchen, and a mulitpurpose hall with snooker and pingpong table. The highlight of the estate is the animals that run freely within the walls of the compound; peacocks, rabbits, and small african deer can be seen all day.

We relaxed for 3 days from Thursday to Saturday and left on Sunday morning. The highlights of the trip include the excellent meals made by various groups of teachers on each night, lounging by the pool during the day and playing snooker and foosball at night, and getting to know my colleagues a little better in the process. Even though I was far away from what I know as Thanksgiving, I was thankful to have a psuedo-family to celebrate with.

I shouldn't forget to mention that we rented motorcycles for a few days and had some fun driving through the local villages. We most definitely had an excellent time.

Everything went flawlessly until the time came to pack up and drive home. We departed from Minna around 9 AM as a 4 vehicle caravan. Nigerian roads are pothole-laden, and all it took was one distraction for me to miss Nigeria's biggest pothole on the road. 100 meters beyond the pothole, we pulled my car over and assessed the damages: two bent up rims and flat tires. It was great that we had just passed through a village, so that after I pulled off the two flats, local people helped me find a tire repair shop, where the man used hand tools to pound out the dents and reseal the tires to the rims. Less than an hour later, we were able to resume travel

Eid and a trip to Loko

The "road" into Loko could be described as a well traveled trail through the bush.

All of the children were fascinated by getting their pictures taken, and followed us around the town.

The Benue (Ben-Way) river at Loko.

Crossing the washed out road and the motorcycles we rode to Loko.

These kids were interested in our cameras too.

Hello from Abuja! Things are going well here, and we are coming up on our 5th week of school. It has gone by really fast so far and I have been able to keep very busy. Last Wednesday was our last day of school for the week, as the end of the Muslim observance of Ramadan signals a 4 day weekend. The national holiday is called the Eid el-Fatir. Happy Sallah! We were excited to begin our long weekend, but although the students were dismissed at noon, the teachers had to stay to work on our school's re-accreditation through the Middle States Association. Pretty important stuff to be recognized as a legitimate international school teaching American curriculum. Anyways, I was appointed as chair of the music committee, so we spend Wednesday afternoon researching and collecting evidence on the growth of the music program at AISA.

Thursday and Friday were days of running errands around the city, and I was able to get back to the tailor to pick up my traditional Nigerian outfit. Pictures will follow soon. Friday night we were invited to a neighbor's house to play poker and hang out. We played two rounds of poker and I finished 2nd in the first round, winning my money back, and 3rd in the second round, so I only lost 4 dollars all night...not too bad.

Saturday morning Jordan, a neighbor and 3rd grade teacher, and I were invited to tag along on a road trip that some of the returning teachers were going on. We were going South and East of Abuja about 2 hours to a village called Loko to find out if we can charter a boat to float down the Benue river. About 100 kilometers from Loko, we were stalled in our adventure because the rainy season had caused a road to wash out. After finding out that the other side of the river was passable and we would be able to make it to Loko, we decided to hire motorcycle taxis to take us the rest of the way to the village. After crossing planks spread across the washout we piled on to the motorcycles and headed out. There were six of us and we hired 3 drivers, so that puts us at 3 people per bike...lets just say that we all became a little closer that day.

After what seemed like a REALLY long and bumpy ride on the back of a motorcycle, we finally arrived in Loko. The city sits on the Benue (Ben-Way) river, and is quite removed from the bustle of Abjua city life. We rode through town and received double takes as the procession of white people on motorcycles probably doesn't occur too often in Loko, and were greeted by crowds of curious Loko-ians. We met someone who was visiting Loko from Abuja and spoke good English, so were shown around the town. We were able to meet the chief and Emir (prince or king) of Loko, and as we walked through the town, all of the children followed us.

We did find out that a 6 hour boat ride down the Benue river would cost N5000, or around $35. I was able to take pictures on the ride back to the wash out.

The group is planning on taking a boat ride in the next month, starting at Loko and ending downstream. It was a crazy experience, but I was able to see how the majority of Africa lives outside of Abuja.

Usuma Dam

Usuma Dam:

A large reservoir north of the city of Abuja.

We were lucky to have a staff member offer to escort us to Usuma dam. The drive takes about 45 minutes from our apartment complex, which is far enough out of town to not feel like a city anymore.

After our drive, our escort left us for ourselves, as he was taking pictures of birds. This place really reminds me of a combination of the Mississippi River and the bluffs of the Whitewater valley. We pulled in and drove across the dam, which is a gigantic earthen dike, to a parking lot at the base of a large monolith (big rock). The five of us in the car went for a hike up to the top and around the rock.

Here are a couple of pics from our few hours at the dam. I am sure to go back in the next few weeks, as it is really pretty and a great escape from the HUGE city of Abuja.

Pictures:

Usuma dam sign.

Driving in across the dam.

Climbing up the monolith!

A view from the top of the monolith at a city where kids were playing soccer

The "fab five" new teachers that adventured to the dam.

More Pics

Green taxis dominate the roads. These cars are bent on getting to their destination, and you will see quite a few that may not pass "roadworthiness" tests. There is also no passenger occupation limit, so the more people you can fit in a vehicle, the better. In this picture of the back of a hatchback taxi, I counted seven people in the vehicle. (Top right) There are numerous street vendors selling everything from bread to phone cards, and on highly traveled roads, vendors set up stands to sell fruit and other produce.

A picture from the back of my classroom, we were lucky to finally receive the shipment placed last December. The AISA band program really benefitted from 30 new stands and two new timpani, as well as a few clarinets, a handful of flutes, 4 trombones and 2 each of trumpets and saxophones. Not a bad yearly order if I do say so.

This is the gate you see when you enter Abuja from the airport. "You are welcome" is a common phrase heard here, and is said even before you can say "Thank you."

First Pics

Five new teachers to AISA. We were all hired at the UNI job fair in January. Mr. Matt, Ms. Jordan, Ms. Leah, Ms. Sara, and Mr. Larson :)

Abuja!!

Hey all,

I arrived in Abuja last Friday, and after roughly 18 hours on a plane and 7000 miles, I was pretty wiped out. The jet lag didn't affect me too badly, but adjusting to a new place and bed is still taking some time. All of my instruments and crates came through, with the exception of one of my bags. I am still waiting for the bag, hopefully it shows up.

When we arrived in Abuja, it was 5:00, and it turns out there were 5 of us from the school on the same flight. We boarded a bus and headed to our compound where our apartments are. The apartments are huge! 3 bedrooms, 3 and a half bath, a full kitchen, living room furniture and a washer/dryer. The school provided us with about $300 in local money to go shopping for the next two days to buy food and other essentials.

We got to the school and took a tour yesterday, we are here all week doing orientation and moving into our classrooms. I am super excited about having my own classroom and come August 16 I will have my very own students.

The administration and the local staff are very accomodating. We will have a bus with a driver through next week and we have been fed lots of food. I am nervous about driving after I buy my liscense as the traffic here is CRAZY. In the past few days I've seen 9 people packed into a sedan, 30 people piled onto the back of a truck, many people dashing inches infront of cars across the freeway, and more vendors than I can count. People sell everything on the street.

So far, things are great! Look for pictures hopefully in my next post.

Leif

Getting Ready...Getting Excited!

August 3, 2010:

A full day of laundry and a last minute check of my supplies and what I have packed so far leaves me feeling pretty good about my last day in the states. It has been an exciting summer so far and I hope that transfers to my new living arrangements in Abuja. Just spending time with the family in the few last days here. I even got to see a Twins game at their new stadium! It is a very nice place and I plan on going to more games next summer. I'm not sure when the next time I will be able to log on will be but until then wish me luck and success in my new job!

Leif