Food For Thought...You Do the Dishes.

Last night, we went to our first Lebanese party in Nigeria. Strange as it sounds, there is a very large Lebanese population in Nigeria, mostly consisting of wealthy businessmen and their wives and children. Our school board President is Lebanese and we happen to have his oldest son in our 7th grade classes. Earlier this week, we got an invitation to attend their holiday party at their house and gladly accepted, mostly on the basis that it would be nice to get off the compound for awhile. So we arranged our ride with Mr. and Mrs. Shearer and headed off...dinner was to be served around 10:30 P.M.. Wait a second...dinner served at 10:30 P.M.? Yeah, I was thinking the same thing you're thinking right now...who eats dinner at 10:30? The answer is pretty simple...the Lebanese. So we left here around 10:00 and it was a quick drive to the school board President's house. We pulled up and it was heavily guarded and of course had a huge, iron gate at the front. There were security guards with baton's there to get our door for us, and as we walked in, I gawked at his sweet motorcycle (I think it was a Ducati, but it was too dark to tell.). I remember thinking to myself, "wow, that's one expensive Okada." Anyways, we walked in, and left Lagos, Nigeria at the door.

This house was pretty amazing. Archways, marble floors, high ceilings, and a very large living room. They had a full bar just outside of their kitchen, a really large table, and enough seating to fit 40 or so people on plush couches. The music was loud...and they had three, what looked like the old Slurpee/Icee machines, set up next to their bar filled to the top with Margarita's...I vowed I would only have one if they came with the cool slurpee spoon/straw. They didn't have any, so Kara and I stuck to champagne. There were servers coming around with amazing hor'derves (I have no idea how to spell that) and the mood was very nice.

Once the music was blasting, the guys came around with huge cigars, giving them out and I didn't take any. They looked at me like I was crazy, and I stuck to my guns. The party was getting pretty fun when all of the dancing started. Kara danced with the Greek Ambassador's wife for a bit, and I sat back and watched as the dance floor became dominated by 20 or 30 women...no guys. Where were these dance floors in college? I asked Mr. Shearer and he had no idea...this kind of ratio is unheard of in the United States. I told him, no dancing for me without some Dr. Dre, and before I knew it, I was being drug into the middle of the dance floor by my student's mom sans Dr. Dre; that's kind of an awkward thing; not the dancing to non-Dr. Dre, but the dancing in the environment we were in. Matter of fact, never in my life, would I have imagined hanging out with a school board president, his wife, the Superintendent and his wife (Mr. and Mrs. Shearer), and a bunch of my student's parents and school board members, in a drinking, smoking, party-like environment - as Mr. Rainbolt would say, "Gin and Tonic and Snickerdoodles."

Anyway, we hung out and ate, and laughed, and talked until about 12:30 and then came home and went to sleep. The night was amazing, but here's the real reason I'm writing this blog. I began thinking to myself last night, why did I have to come to Nigeria to meet Lebanese people? I didn't know much about Lebanon, and still don't, other than they are a rival of Israel and, from the way they are depicted on CNN, they are slightly terroristic in nature. The people we met last night were so friendly, accomodating, and just plain nice to be with. But it's so amazing, how meeting a few people can determine your thoughts on an entire culture. You can watch CNN and make a judgement based on some video footage they got from the Middle East like I did. I had pre-conceived notions before meeting the Lebanese. Everybody reading this can go to the Nigeria Daily and read about all of the crime here, and think to themselves, "I'm never going there, it's too crazy." And completely judge the entire place by one or two accounts. Anyways, I'm off on a tangent, but this is food for thought, I'll let you guys do the dishes!

T-Minus 6 days and counting! We'll be home for Christmas!