First Birthday... in Africa

28 years old, but Year 1 in Lagos, Nigera. Today has actually been a great day! I started out by heading off to school and getting a visit from Bryan's and my surrogate neice, Emily Rainbolt, and her mom, Gina. They came in my classroom with a homemade card and a pair of really cute earrings. Since my planning period was the first part of the day, I had time to check my emails and was happily surprised to find several "happy birthdays" waiting to be opened.

I am not the type of person to tell the world that my birthday is coming, just because I like to keep it low key and not make a big production of it. HOWEVER, I am married to a wonderful man that doesn't quite work that way. He made sure that all of the students that we both have knew about my birthday in advance. So...

When my ninth graders got to the end of class... AFTER the bell had rung, they all stopped where they were and looked at me (which kind of freaked me out), then started singing "happy birthday" to me! They all wished me a great day, THEN went off to lunch. These kids CAN be SO thoughtful!

Bryan brought me my lunch, then gave me a hint that my seventh grade kids had something in store for me. And they did. A couple of students came into my room a couple of minutes before lunch was over and, as they were laughing hysterically, tried to convince me that I missed a "library" meeting. Maybe it's just me, but I've never heard of a library meeting. Anyways, as the kids were trying their hardest to get me out of the room, the other science teacher came over to meet with me in his room, where he informed me that he was trying to stall for the kids. :) When I went back to my classroom, the door was shut, I could see that the lights had been turned off, and there were no kids in sight. I opened the door and heard some whispers and someone say, "she's here!" Then, all at once, the kids jumped out from behind the lab stations and yelled "SURPRISE!!!" Several of them came up to me and gave me hugs, cards and gifts as they wished me a great day. Then the consumables came out. One student brought a cooler with enough bottles of pop for every student in the class, several kids brought Pringles (one of my girls asked me the other day what some of my favorite snacks that you can buy in Nigeria are and barbecue Pringles was on the top of the list) and there were even chocolate cupcakes. The part that I found most amusing was that when the food was opened, it became survival of the fittest and I didn't even end up with a cupcake... until I pointed that out to the students and then there seemed to be some "extra" cupcakes. One sweet girl, while I was visiting with the class, went up to my desk and put a pile of barbecue Pringles there for me, and later gave Bryan a really nice leather purse and insulated coffee mug to give me. It was nice to be able to inform these kids that theirs was the first surprise birthday party I have ever received from students. They were pretty proud about that.

After school, Bryan brought me over to his classroom and gave me parts of my presents. First, he gave me a collage of us that he had made on a comic-making program, fully loaded with comments. He also had a beatiful cake made for me by one of our students' moms. It has periwinke blue frosting on the sides and flowers on top with a message that says, "Happy Birthday Kara." Next to the cake and collage, he had his computer set out with the internet opened to the Melting Pot page. He let me know that he will be treating me to a nice evening there upon our return in December. On top of that, he is taking me to a Swiss fondue evening HERE in Lagos on the 23rd of the month, which is put on by a Swiss club in the area, of which another parent is involved!

Finally, Bryan had asked our steward to find some good tiger prawns to fix up for dinner, which he did and he did well! The prawns were HUGE and were breaded and fantastic! After we watched "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (yes, I am a huge HP fan, for those of you who don't know) and ate dinner, we had the Rainbolts and a few other friends over to celebrate and eat cake. So, it's been a good day for me.

As Bryan says, "we're in Nigeria, so things will be a little different this year," but I have enjoyed Year 1 birthday in Lagos. I have felt quite close to home (relative to being over 7000 miles away), extremely appreciated by my students, very well taken care of by my amazing husband and simply loved. Overall, it's a great birthday!