Thanksgiving began for us at school on Tuesday.  The parents put on an amazing Thanksgiving Lunch for the staff, and it was quite something!  You wouldn’t believe the food!  All of it delicious too.  Thanks PTO for organizing this!

Chris and I got up at 4am on Wednesday to cook my class turkey.  (No, not the silliest kid… an actual turkey!)  My students prepared the classroom and the parents brought in all sorts of goodies.  We had a wonderful feast (we called ours Thanksgiving Brunch, since we ate at 10am!)  Then the kids left at 11am and the weekend began!

Laryssa had her Thanksgiving Brunch in class tool.  Tuesday evening I prepared cupcakes for her class!  (Pilgrim hats and leaves, in case you aren’t sure!)

Wednesday afternoon Laryssa invited her little friends over to make Christmas crafts.  We made reindeer, snowmen, gingerbread men and women, angels and snowflakes.  Our doors are now decorated, including Janet’s across the hall.  (We don’t ask anymore, we just do it for her!  She likes it, or at least pretends to!)  Once the little ones were gone, we got out our few decorations and Christmased up the place!

Ben got a little distracted by the cable-car…

I made my mother-in-law’s Millionaire’s Shortbread for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Chris’s job was to make dinner rolls.  (Mary, everyone LOVED the dessert!)

Happy Thanksgiving!  We began our day with a request from Laryssa for pancakes… not exactly what you want to eat on a food day, but anyway.  She played outside while I finished making my dessert and Chris made his rolls.  We were then off to the Luce’s home across the way (in the flat opposite ours), where we joined 14 others for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was delicious!  We all ate too much… but I suppose that’s what the holidays are for, right?  Get together with friends and family and share a meal and good company.  We’re thankful to have made such good friends so quickly, and are very happy in our new home.

Friday I got to escape the campus for a bit!  My friend Susan took me grocery shopping at the big SPAR store.  Sad when grocery shopping is the only outing in a week!  Ha!  I did enjoy it though, and even picked up some Christmas lights to put in our windows.  Chris spent the time using the leftover turkey (from my class brunch) to make turkey curry.  Laryssa and I went for a walk, and then spent some time in the pool.  It’s about 37 C here these days, so the pool was very refreshing!  We watched a Christmas movie last night, Christmas in Wonderland- filmed in Edmonton!

More fun today as we decorated a little more and I wrapped the few Christmas presents that will stay here.  Chiara came over and we made some more crafts… now she can decorate her door too!  🙂  This afternoon a bunch of people got together to play baseball on the field. It was a hot day for it, but they had fun.  I decided to sit this one out, but it did look like fun, so next time I’ll participate too.  Laryssa is still playing outside… how wonderful for her to have so much freedom here, especially compared to Singapore. You’d think it would have been the opposite!

Laryssa playing in the sprinklers with her friends:

Baseball:

Tomorrow is our last day of this long weekend.  I’ll spend part of the day in my classroom, planning for the next few weeks.  It’s kind of nice to be able to wander over there and do that.  I put music on and get lots done.

We have just one more weekend before we leave for Canada on December 13th.  Time is really flying!

Random photo:

One of the many lizards we have around campus.  Usually they are too quick for me to take a photo!

The second session of After School Activities (ASA) began this week.  Thankfully, teachers are not required to host ASAs!  Laryssa chose swimming and Saturday Soccer this time around.  She enjoyed both, though was somewhat dismayed to be in the beginner group for swimming.  (She wouldn’t put her face in the water while swimming.)  She’ll get there.  Soccer yesterday was an evaluation of skills and putting the kids onto teams, so she’ll get to play next time.  

 

 

Soccer Girl- Check out her gear!

The PTO hosted a Holiday Bazaar at school yesterday.  There were more than 40 vendors touting their wares… great for Christmas shopping!  The prices seemed high, and I really had to work hard to get a bargain.  I think I managed to get most of my Christmas shopping finished, with only three items for us!  Laryssa did a bit of shopping too… she kept coming back to me for more money!  It was nice to be able to shop, bring everything home, and then decide if I needed to go back for more.  Of course I did!

Holiday Bazaar:

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon Laryssa and I went to a birthday party for one of her classmates.  We were having difficulty finding someone to give us a ride, and the parent hosting the party sent her driver over to fetch us- how sweet was that!  Laryssa had a lovely time at the party… lots of kids, entertainment, games, swimming…  I had fun too!  Drinking Pimms by the pool (I was more interested in the fresh fruit in my drink than the actual drink!) and helping out a little.

Today we’re off to visit our friend Lindsay and deliver a little baby gift we picked up in England.  Her baby was born in October.

A very busy weekend, and we managed to get off campus for a bit!  Can’t wait for the Thanksgiving holiday next week!

 

Life in Nigeria isn’t so bad.  Not nearly as bad as the stories we’ve heard.  Yes, there is a lot of poverty, and I’m sure there is a lot of crime.  The air isn’t exactly clean, though we do see blue skies quite often.  We live a pretty sheltered life here on Victoria Island, and we’re aware of that.  One really great thing about living here is that we have to make our own fun.  (No running off to the cinema, out for dinner, or a bike ride down to the beach like in Singapore!)

Laryssa is great at making her own fun.  Each day when she finishes her homework, she heads down to the playground.  Sometimes there are children there for her to play with, sometimes not.  It doesn’t seem to matter… she enjoys herself no matter what.  Rainy days seem to be the most fun, as she goes down and plays in the rain and muck.  It’s great to hear the kids all laughing as they’re running around splashing and having a great time being kids.  Yes, they’re full of sand when they return home, but that’s all part of the fun, right?

As for us, we’re learning to be sociable again!  We began polishing our entertainment skills at Laryssa’s birthday, and we seem to be on a role now!  A couple of weeks ago we invited our friend Susan and her husband Jay over for the evening.  It was Susan’s 60th birthday, and she didn’t have any plans.  She seemed really down about that, and wanted to celebrate.  So, I invited a few people over to surprise her for her big day.  Somehow, word got out and people began to call and invite themselves to the party, so the night before, I sent out a blanket email and invited everyone who lives on campus.  When Susan arrived that Friday evening, there were about 20 people here to wish her happy birthday!  By the end of the evening, sometime after midnight, we estimate that about 35-40 people had passed through.  It was a great time, and Susan had a great party.  (She even cried!)

Now, I did say we were on a role… last night we invited a few people over for dinner.  Tracy and Chiara, Donny, and our friend Becky.  Chris made curry and we had a nice time sitting around chatting and eating a delicious meal.  Today we spent the afternoon at the pool with a few of the other Flat Rats (seems to be what those of us who live on campus are called).  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  We were also invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Amanda and Dan’s, so again, we will be socially active!

So you see, although we’re living in a hardship country, we’re actually having a pretty great time.

Laryssa and the rainy day fun:

Surprise Party Fun:

Dinner at our house last night (Laryssa lost a tooth just before everyone arrived):

Sunday afternoon at the pool: