Pretty amazing stuff! Anyways, I thought you might like to see what my students are doing right now, I'm very proud! Alright, back to work! Bye
Friday, October 27, 2006
Chalk Talk
I have to give a shout out to Mt. Tahoma because it was there that I learned, through Critical Friends, a way to facilitate discussion without actually talking. The protocol was called, "Chalk Talk", and the premise is basically the chalk does all of the talking, everybody else just sits silently while reading, and writing the questions that are being written down on the board. I kind of adapted this protocol to fit the classroom for a review session. In my Geography class, we are preparing to take the Unit 7 Exam. This is a big test, and I promised the kids that I would let them help me design it if they wrote down good questions. So we started filling the white board. This is it in progress: Check out their progress!
Pretty amazing stuff! Anyways, I thought you might like to see what my students are doing right now, I'm very proud! Alright, back to work! Bye
Pretty amazing stuff! Anyways, I thought you might like to see what my students are doing right now, I'm very proud! Alright, back to work! Bye
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The update
Alright, so I promised that I would update the blog last weekend, and I didn't. But I must say that in my defense, our internet was down for the last part of the weekend, so there...that's my defense. I'm sitting in my classroom right now, as Mr. Rainbolt is doing a tremendous job of teaching my 7th graders how to write great topic sentences (using the bare, drab walls in my classroom as the subject), looking out of my window, and I now have found the inspiration I needed to begin this blog. Mowing the lawn...in Nigeria.
Two guys are at the neighboring school, mowing the lawn. They are using machete's to do it; just bending over and chopping away at the grass. Now I don't know about you, but I feel like I just messed my back up simply watching these guys hack in one foot increments.
So I also promised to talk about the following things:
1) Our first car in Lagos (complete with pictures) - Alright, so I don't have pictures yet; although I did get lens tissue for the camera lens so I can take non-hazy pictures again. Kara found some microscope lens tissue in her classroom, so I "borrowed" some of that! About the car: I think it's a 94 or 95 Honda Accord (there is no real official paperwork on the car other than the fact that it was imported through Benin). That's pretty much the standard here, you buy a car that nobody knows the history on for several thousand dollars and you don't argue about it because it's a moot point. It's only a moot point because they tell you that. Who am I to argue? There are 15 million people in this city, and nobody cares to explain the origin of various vehicles! The battery is supposedly new; however, if you don't start the car at least once a day, you're stuck jump starting it. I told one of the drivers I was bringing a Die Hard back from the states and that was that. He asked me to bring him back one and I said sorry, they're too heavy and luggage is valuable!
2) Paying for our first car in Lagos (Complete with Naira totals) - I mentioned earlier that the cost of the car was several thousand dollars. For you Naira savvy folks, it was 670,000 Naira. You do the math. Anyways, because there is no Post Office here, there is no billing. When there's no billing, there's no option to pay the car off using a payment plan. So that means that you have to pay straight up, essentially walking around with several thousand dollars in cash, taking it to get converted to Naira, which then means I was walking around with several HUNDRED thousand Naira. Scary stuff!! But we made it and have a car...that sorta runs well...for a 94 or 95 Honda.
3) Bryan's first test-drive in Lagos - Before we bought the car, I test drove it. It'd been at least 3 years since I drove a stick-shift vehicle, but it was fun. I'll let Kara explain the experience from her spot in the back seat. I don't think either of us took a breath the entire time!
4) Our first Parent Conferences in Lagos - 87% of the parents showed up and 87% of those were with their spouse at the conferences...just a little different than Tacoma!
5) Bryan's first tennis lessons in Lagos - I look like Andre Agassi out there (only because I'm bald). I serve like Jamie Moyer pitches...very slow (but my changeup is wicked!)
6) Kara's karate lessons in Lagos - What can I say, she's testing for her yellow belt before Christmas break and that scares me!! Just kidding, but really, she's tough and is learning Karate very fast and well!
7) Eid-el-Fitri and other Nigerian Holiday customs - Once again, last week we were told at the very end of the week that we would have a holiday on both Monday and Tuesday! We very much enjoyed our holiday and got a lot of much needed rest and relaxation.
As far as receiving Madden 07, I have nothing new to report other than it got here and it's a great game! Well worth the wait I might add! But the ordeal to get it here is a story amongst itself and will have to wait until I get enough motivation up to type it, or you just ask me yourself in person when we're back over Christmas break.
On another note, we had another tremendous storm here the other night. I did happen to catch a lightning bolt on camera, so here you go! On our next installment, more of my Mefloquine dreams(and this next one is a dooozy!)
Two guys are at the neighboring school, mowing the lawn. They are using machete's to do it; just bending over and chopping away at the grass. Now I don't know about you, but I feel like I just messed my back up simply watching these guys hack in one foot increments.
So I also promised to talk about the following things:
1) Our first car in Lagos (complete with pictures) - Alright, so I don't have pictures yet; although I did get lens tissue for the camera lens so I can take non-hazy pictures again. Kara found some microscope lens tissue in her classroom, so I "borrowed" some of that! About the car: I think it's a 94 or 95 Honda Accord (there is no real official paperwork on the car other than the fact that it was imported through Benin). That's pretty much the standard here, you buy a car that nobody knows the history on for several thousand dollars and you don't argue about it because it's a moot point. It's only a moot point because they tell you that. Who am I to argue? There are 15 million people in this city, and nobody cares to explain the origin of various vehicles! The battery is supposedly new; however, if you don't start the car at least once a day, you're stuck jump starting it. I told one of the drivers I was bringing a Die Hard back from the states and that was that. He asked me to bring him back one and I said sorry, they're too heavy and luggage is valuable!
2) Paying for our first car in Lagos (Complete with Naira totals) - I mentioned earlier that the cost of the car was several thousand dollars. For you Naira savvy folks, it was 670,000 Naira. You do the math. Anyways, because there is no Post Office here, there is no billing. When there's no billing, there's no option to pay the car off using a payment plan. So that means that you have to pay straight up, essentially walking around with several thousand dollars in cash, taking it to get converted to Naira, which then means I was walking around with several HUNDRED thousand Naira. Scary stuff!! But we made it and have a car...that sorta runs well...for a 94 or 95 Honda.
3) Bryan's first test-drive in Lagos - Before we bought the car, I test drove it. It'd been at least 3 years since I drove a stick-shift vehicle, but it was fun. I'll let Kara explain the experience from her spot in the back seat. I don't think either of us took a breath the entire time!
4) Our first Parent Conferences in Lagos - 87% of the parents showed up and 87% of those were with their spouse at the conferences...just a little different than Tacoma!
5) Bryan's first tennis lessons in Lagos - I look like Andre Agassi out there (only because I'm bald). I serve like Jamie Moyer pitches...very slow (but my changeup is wicked!)
6) Kara's karate lessons in Lagos - What can I say, she's testing for her yellow belt before Christmas break and that scares me!! Just kidding, but really, she's tough and is learning Karate very fast and well!
7) Eid-el-Fitri and other Nigerian Holiday customs - Once again, last week we were told at the very end of the week that we would have a holiday on both Monday and Tuesday! We very much enjoyed our holiday and got a lot of much needed rest and relaxation.
As far as receiving Madden 07, I have nothing new to report other than it got here and it's a great game! Well worth the wait I might add! But the ordeal to get it here is a story amongst itself and will have to wait until I get enough motivation up to type it, or you just ask me yourself in person when we're back over Christmas break.
On another note, we had another tremendous storm here the other night. I did happen to catch a lightning bolt on camera, so here you go! On our next installment, more of my Mefloquine dreams(and this next one is a dooozy!)
Thursday, October 19, 2006
We're still alive!
On a side note, we miss our dog and cat!! Looks like Kingston is trying to find a way over to us!
Sorry everybody, for the delay in posting our blog!! We have been so incredibly busy that we just haven't had a whole lot of time to get to telling stories about our life over here, but we promise that this weekend will be a ton of new information coming your way. If you want a sneak preview, here's what you can expect to read about:
1) Our first car in Lagos (complete with pictures)
2) Paying for our first car in Lagos (Complete with Naira totals)
3) Bryan's first test-drive in Lagos
4) Our first Parent Conferences in Lagos
5) Bryan's first tennis lessons in Lagos
6) Kara's karate lessons in Lagos
7) Eid-el-Fitri and other Nigerian Holiday customs (we have Monday of next week off...so far...possibly Tuesday...but we're still waiting for the official word on that. Which reminds me...
8) The official "official word giver" in Lagos
9) Why Macbooks are not our favorite computer in the world.
10) Bryan's Madden 07 arrival (part of the reason the blog has not been updated recently).
11) I think that's everything
So we promise that there will be a thorough blog posted over the weekend. We have had conferences all week, and the week before that we spent getting ready for conferences, so needless to say, this weekend will come as a much needed break! You'll see what we mean! Our last conference time is this Saturday (that's right, we work on Saturday's here...I guess that's what not having a union gets you!!) Anyways, we work from 9a to 11a and then we have the rest of the weekend to rest! Talk to you then!
Sunday, October 08, 2006
We were sleeping
When all of a sudden...
WABANG. Kara and I sat straight up in our beds. I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect anything less than US Bombers to be carrying out some super secret mission to destroy 1004 estates, but nevertheless, Kara and I were a little shook by the huge explosion. We both got up to make sure everything was still in order, the clock read 9:30 AM (So we slept in a little.), and I think we both expected 1004 to be gone.
Everything still stood as it was before we went to bed. It was pouring down rain, and we thought to ourselves, there's no way that was thunder? Sure enough, about a minute later, lightning bolt...and huge explosion. Now don't get us wrong, we've been through our fair share of thunderstorms. Thunderstorms in Belize, thunderstorms in Miami, thunderstorms in Louisiana and Cleveland and Louisville, but ladies and gentlemen, this was not your everyday thunderstorm. I'm going to do my best to describe this thunderstorm.
You could hear the absence of air before the gigantic thunder clap. That's what the "wa" is up in my description of the sound. And then the explosion hits and you could literally feel the waves rolling underneath our feet. Not only that, it wasn't like Washington thunder in that you hear it echoing for quite some time, it was a continuous rumble, nothing like we've ever heard before. I have to tell you, I'm getting tired of this, "Hey, let's wake the Slater's up while they are in a dead sleep and litereally make them think they are meeting their maker" vis a vis the Tippy Ship and thunderstorm stuff.
"Oooooh, that one was" BAAAAAAAANG...Brrrrrhhhgghhghghhhhhhhh (Huge sound waves blast through our flat) "Bright". That was Kara as she described a large bolt of lightning that was probably a 1/4 of a mile away. The windows shook and you felt the thunder. It's so weird, you can hear the thunder coming before it gets to you, almost like when a jet-fighter comes whippin by you at 500 mph and you can just barely hear it coming and then it goes past you and Waaaaaaaoooooooowwwwwwwww. Very similar to that. Anyways, I think I'm getting a little too descriptive now, but that's how our morning has been...so far!!
We'll keep you posted if anything cool like that happens again. We are totally fine and still amazed at the power of mother nature. I found a few good articles on thunder here and also here,if you're interested. See ya later.
WABANG. Kara and I sat straight up in our beds. I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect anything less than US Bombers to be carrying out some super secret mission to destroy 1004 estates, but nevertheless, Kara and I were a little shook by the huge explosion. We both got up to make sure everything was still in order, the clock read 9:30 AM (So we slept in a little.), and I think we both expected 1004 to be gone.
Everything still stood as it was before we went to bed. It was pouring down rain, and we thought to ourselves, there's no way that was thunder? Sure enough, about a minute later, lightning bolt...and huge explosion. Now don't get us wrong, we've been through our fair share of thunderstorms. Thunderstorms in Belize, thunderstorms in Miami, thunderstorms in Louisiana and Cleveland and Louisville, but ladies and gentlemen, this was not your everyday thunderstorm. I'm going to do my best to describe this thunderstorm.
You could hear the absence of air before the gigantic thunder clap. That's what the "wa" is up in my description of the sound. And then the explosion hits and you could literally feel the waves rolling underneath our feet. Not only that, it wasn't like Washington thunder in that you hear it echoing for quite some time, it was a continuous rumble, nothing like we've ever heard before. I have to tell you, I'm getting tired of this, "Hey, let's wake the Slater's up while they are in a dead sleep and litereally make them think they are meeting their maker" vis a vis the Tippy Ship and thunderstorm stuff.
"Oooooh, that one was" BAAAAAAAANG...Brrrrrhhhgghhghghhhhhhhh (Huge sound waves blast through our flat) "Bright". That was Kara as she described a large bolt of lightning that was probably a 1/4 of a mile away. The windows shook and you felt the thunder. It's so weird, you can hear the thunder coming before it gets to you, almost like when a jet-fighter comes whippin by you at 500 mph and you can just barely hear it coming and then it goes past you and Waaaaaaaoooooooowwwwwwwww. Very similar to that. Anyways, I think I'm getting a little too descriptive now, but that's how our morning has been...so far!!
We'll keep you posted if anything cool like that happens again. We are totally fine and still amazed at the power of mother nature. I found a few good articles on thunder here and also here,if you're interested. See ya later.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Nigerian Culture Day and The Beach!
This weekend was definitely a busy one. Sunday was Nigeria's 46th birthday, but since that wasn't a working day, the government decided to make Monday the official day off for the week. The problem is, the government didn't decide to make Monday the official holiday until last Wednesday...so that meant we got a mid-week Nigerian Birthday present...no school on Monday!! Friday was the school's official celebration of the Nigerian Holiday and wow was it a big celebration indeed. We had to have tailors custom-fit us for traditional Nigerian clothing earlier in September so that we could be a part of this special occasion. We have about 12 pictures to go through, so without further ado, let's get to the fun stuff. Before I forget, go check out Carrie P's AISL blog (The link is on the right), for more pictures as well of both the beach and of Culture day. I'm sure the Rainbolts will have pics up too really soon.
The picture above is Kara and I in the school's courtyard on Friday, Nigerian Culture Day. You will find Kara in the stunning crimson top with matching skirt, and Bryan in the black on black traditional suit worn by the Igbo people in Nigeria. Bryan is sporting a hat made from the finest Nigerian leaves and his suit was hand stitched with white embroidery. Kara is wearing a traditional head wrap that she learned how to tie herself...pretty good stuff!
After a long and exhaustive Nigerian Culture Day, we went out to eat at a restaraunt called Cafe Bombay, Indian Food. It was bomb.com/indian food. We had butter chicken, with rice, and about a million other appetizers. We enjoyed the food and the company of Jason and Tina, another couple from Tacoma. We had a blast and are really enjoying getting to know another couple here on a more personal level outside of work. After dinner, I went to the neighbor's flat to play poker with the guys...it was a 3000 naira buy-in and I broke even...not too shabby for being a really bad poker player. Saturday we decided to take it easy, plus, Mr. Shearer thought it would be fun to up and move three teachers in a triangle formation. I move to Mr. Vincent's room, Mr. Vincent moved to Mr. Rainbolt's Room, and Mr. Rainbolt moved down to my room, the Rainbow room. I always had a weird feeling that Mr. Rainbolt belonged in the Rainbow room, not quite sure what gave me that feeling, but when I figure it out, I'll make sure and share with you why I feel it was fate. So I moved classrooms on Saturday, which makes it my 4th move in as many years for classrooms. Brutal. Sunday we were invited out with a huge group of AISL'ers to Alekko beach...not sure if I spelled it correctly, but whose keeping track? Here are some pictures of the beach. We figured if you took this property, and put it in California, or Florida, it becomes worth millions of dollars.
The photo above is of the hut we were staying in at the beach...it was pretty cool. The people you see lined up outside of it are all Nigerian's, trying to sell us stuff for, "cheap cheap." Typically they start at about 3 times the going price, so ya gotta bring your A-Game bartering skills with you if you don't want to get hustled. We got some cool stuff, minus the hustle of course!
So above is a photo of the little mini-shelter that's out in front of the hut. Out there, you're pretty close to the water, and of course right on the beach. It was, like I said, a little bit like paradise. Warm weather, warm water, and of course, very warm and friendly people.
Here's a picture of Kara, Carrie P., Melody Vincent, Jake, Gina, and Emily Rainbolt. They were up on the second level of the hut looking out towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Nigerian's "got mad skills" when it comes to balancing things on their heads. The workers at AIS carry tables and various other heavy things on their heads. I tried it the other day moving tables around in my new classroom and must say that it is very effective, but painful if you have no hair on top of your head. Often times, they use towels, or some other cushy device to soften the load on their head.
Above is just a cool picture I took from the second floor of the hut looking up the coastline.
Where's Waldo? No really, there is a crab in this picture that I named Waldo, can you find him? I took this picture for the kids to try and find the crab. There are literally millions of these little crabs that blend into the sand so well that you can't see them until they move. It was a pretty cool effect walking up the beach and seeing all of the crabs scurrying along the sand.
Here's a picture of Kara sitting next to our latest bartering acquisition. Yeah, that's right, there are 50 hand carved nigerian guys in that canoe that is litterally longer than Kara's legs. It took the artist a month to carve each of the pieces on the canoe. He wanted 10,000 naira for it...after about an hour of haggling, laughing, talking in Pidgin English, claiming I was Igbo, then changing to Yoruba, and finally admitting I was a white man, the transaction was made for 3,000 Naira. Not too bad eh?
Last week i promised Driving in Lagos, well here you have it. Some random pictures from the trip home from Alekko. It was about a 35 minute drive from the beach, and about halfway home, it started to poor down rain. We drove past some random fires on the side of the road, a market, and of course, a few million billboard advertisements. (Note the okada's in the picture above.)
Here's a typical market in Lagos. Note the flooded street and hundreds of people. That's normal.
Finally, here is a picture of a stretch of highway with what seems like an advertisement for everything! Just take a look at how the people up ahead are driving. That's what I'm talking about when I say no lanes and even if there were, nobody would use them. We've seen a few stoplights now, but they are mere suggestions, you don't really have to stop when the light is red. Also, look at the air freshener hanging from the mirror, I intentionally included it in the picture for my mom, and Kara's dad, reminding them to smile...we are well taken care of over here so don't worry, be happy (I've been whistling that tune the whole time I've been typing this blog!) We enjoyed our weekend. Another thing we experienced was our first multi-cockroach killing spree (2 in 2 days!). We sprayed one with RAID and it took it a good hour to die...yeah, they're like little mini-Terminator's. The internet has been majorly slow, so we haven't been able to make too many calls like in previous weekends. We definitely miss everybody and are getting really excited to come home for Christmas. We've decided not to go to Ghana for Thanksgiving and plan on setting up our webcam and eating Thanksgiving Dinner with the families, so get your webcams and microphones ready! Alrighty, time to go! Byebye.
The picture above is Kara and I in the school's courtyard on Friday, Nigerian Culture Day. You will find Kara in the stunning crimson top with matching skirt, and Bryan in the black on black traditional suit worn by the Igbo people in Nigeria. Bryan is sporting a hat made from the finest Nigerian leaves and his suit was hand stitched with white embroidery. Kara is wearing a traditional head wrap that she learned how to tie herself...pretty good stuff!
After a long and exhaustive Nigerian Culture Day, we went out to eat at a restaraunt called Cafe Bombay, Indian Food. It was bomb.com/indian food. We had butter chicken, with rice, and about a million other appetizers. We enjoyed the food and the company of Jason and Tina, another couple from Tacoma. We had a blast and are really enjoying getting to know another couple here on a more personal level outside of work. After dinner, I went to the neighbor's flat to play poker with the guys...it was a 3000 naira buy-in and I broke even...not too shabby for being a really bad poker player. Saturday we decided to take it easy, plus, Mr. Shearer thought it would be fun to up and move three teachers in a triangle formation. I move to Mr. Vincent's room, Mr. Vincent moved to Mr. Rainbolt's Room, and Mr. Rainbolt moved down to my room, the Rainbow room. I always had a weird feeling that Mr. Rainbolt belonged in the Rainbow room, not quite sure what gave me that feeling, but when I figure it out, I'll make sure and share with you why I feel it was fate. So I moved classrooms on Saturday, which makes it my 4th move in as many years for classrooms. Brutal. Sunday we were invited out with a huge group of AISL'ers to Alekko beach...not sure if I spelled it correctly, but whose keeping track? Here are some pictures of the beach. We figured if you took this property, and put it in California, or Florida, it becomes worth millions of dollars.
The photo above is of the hut we were staying in at the beach...it was pretty cool. The people you see lined up outside of it are all Nigerian's, trying to sell us stuff for, "cheap cheap." Typically they start at about 3 times the going price, so ya gotta bring your A-Game bartering skills with you if you don't want to get hustled. We got some cool stuff, minus the hustle of course!
So above is a photo of the little mini-shelter that's out in front of the hut. Out there, you're pretty close to the water, and of course right on the beach. It was, like I said, a little bit like paradise. Warm weather, warm water, and of course, very warm and friendly people.
Here's a picture of Kara, Carrie P., Melody Vincent, Jake, Gina, and Emily Rainbolt. They were up on the second level of the hut looking out towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Nigerian's "got mad skills" when it comes to balancing things on their heads. The workers at AIS carry tables and various other heavy things on their heads. I tried it the other day moving tables around in my new classroom and must say that it is very effective, but painful if you have no hair on top of your head. Often times, they use towels, or some other cushy device to soften the load on their head.
Above is just a cool picture I took from the second floor of the hut looking up the coastline.
Where's Waldo? No really, there is a crab in this picture that I named Waldo, can you find him? I took this picture for the kids to try and find the crab. There are literally millions of these little crabs that blend into the sand so well that you can't see them until they move. It was a pretty cool effect walking up the beach and seeing all of the crabs scurrying along the sand.
Here's a picture of Kara sitting next to our latest bartering acquisition. Yeah, that's right, there are 50 hand carved nigerian guys in that canoe that is litterally longer than Kara's legs. It took the artist a month to carve each of the pieces on the canoe. He wanted 10,000 naira for it...after about an hour of haggling, laughing, talking in Pidgin English, claiming I was Igbo, then changing to Yoruba, and finally admitting I was a white man, the transaction was made for 3,000 Naira. Not too bad eh?
Last week i promised Driving in Lagos, well here you have it. Some random pictures from the trip home from Alekko. It was about a 35 minute drive from the beach, and about halfway home, it started to poor down rain. We drove past some random fires on the side of the road, a market, and of course, a few million billboard advertisements. (Note the okada's in the picture above.)
Here's a typical market in Lagos. Note the flooded street and hundreds of people. That's normal.
Finally, here is a picture of a stretch of highway with what seems like an advertisement for everything! Just take a look at how the people up ahead are driving. That's what I'm talking about when I say no lanes and even if there were, nobody would use them. We've seen a few stoplights now, but they are mere suggestions, you don't really have to stop when the light is red. Also, look at the air freshener hanging from the mirror, I intentionally included it in the picture for my mom, and Kara's dad, reminding them to smile...we are well taken care of over here so don't worry, be happy (I've been whistling that tune the whole time I've been typing this blog!) We enjoyed our weekend. Another thing we experienced was our first multi-cockroach killing spree (2 in 2 days!). We sprayed one with RAID and it took it a good hour to die...yeah, they're like little mini-Terminator's. The internet has been majorly slow, so we haven't been able to make too many calls like in previous weekends. We definitely miss everybody and are getting really excited to come home for Christmas. We've decided not to go to Ghana for Thanksgiving and plan on setting up our webcam and eating Thanksgiving Dinner with the families, so get your webcams and microphones ready! Alrighty, time to go! Byebye.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
