Good News and Bad News

 I'll start with the bad news. This past Thursday was the graduation for the Nursery students (kindergarten) and the primary 6 students. It's a very big day for the school and the day my nursery 3 students were set to perform the dance I have been teaching them since May. I woke up not feeling very well, but since my nutrition is not what it should be I assumed that was the problem. So I ate a good breakfast and went off to school. After a couple hours I began to feel very cold, which NEVER happens here. I had a fever and all the aches and chills that come along with it. At home I would probably have just taken some medicine and seen a doctor tomorrow when graduation festivities would be over, but in Nigeria that can be very dangerous for an American. The assumption is made with all fever illnesses that you have Malaria. Fortunately the father of one of our families at the school is a doctor. He happened to be there and was able to scribble me a prescription on some scratch paper to be filled immediatley. I began the medicine immediatley and after one bad night of a high fever, headaches, chills, and generally achiness I began to fill a little better. The next day I made my first trip to a Nigerian hospital to be tested for Malaria and Typhoid. Since we know the doctor I was able to get straight back without having to wait at all. I felt very fortunate, because so many people were there. The tests came back today and I have Malaria with a trace of Typhoid. Fortunately I'm better now, but it was pretty miserable. 

On to the good news! We have a seven week break from school that started Friday. It's a long time to be here with absolutely nothing to do, especially since Kaitlin and I are very isolated and don't get out much. So with the help of my trip planning mother, my brother and I will be spending the first three weeks of my break in Cape Town, South Africa. I leave tomorrow! It will be so nice to spend some time with my brother, eat some delicious food, and not be so isolated. 

Book Club

In the compound where I live, there is a boarding school for girls from approximately 7th to 12th grade. They lead extremely structured lives and spend a great deal of time praying and studying. Kaitlin and I wanted to do something educational, but also fun with them. So a few months ago we came up with the idea for a book club. With the help of my mom and a donation from my church, we were able to get four different sets of books. We choose books that are also movies, so after reading the books the girls could see the movie and compare the two. It took a while to get all the books here so we were only able to do the book club with one group of students this term. We decided to start with the SS1 and SS2 students, which is approximately 10th and 11th grade.  Tuck Everlasting was the book of choice for this group.  It was a huge success! They all hated the ending, but loved the discussion. We also discovered that they love reading! They started asking for more books like this one. I gave them the few we had brought from the U.S. and went to the school library for some more. They finished these books within the day. It is pretty impressive. Last night we finished Tuck Everlasting and started the movie. They loved it! I'm so glad we did this and I look forward to reading the remaining books with the girls next term. 

A Few Photos

Working on our Math 

Daycare kids love my camera phone

Too cute to get in trouble for climbing on the table?

I was asked to teach the kindergarten students an American dance for graduation. I'm not much of a dancer, so we will be performing the Cha Cha Slide where we can do exactly what the music tells us to do. I will post a video after a few more practices.

I know I'm not suppose to pick favorites...

More math practice