Vacations and desperate need for a break!

I am tired and ready for a break. I have had a constant run of school days since January 7th and am sick of these kids. My work load has gotten longer and tougher and the extra curricular activities are draining. All this, however, is ok as long as I get my vacation. At first I had planned to go to a safari in Kenya but the recent civil unrest makes that trip unwise. I then decided I wanted to go to South Africa..but the airfare alone was $1700, as much as it costs to fly from Seattle. But lo and behold, I found an option I like...and I like it alot.

Yvonne, the high school math teacher, and I are going on a cruise. We leave on March 18 and fly out to Venice. Yes, that is right....Venice Italy. I am beyond excited!!! We get on our cruise from there and sail to Bari, Corfu, Athens, Izmir Turkey, Rhodes, Tunisia, Malta, Naples and end in Genoa. Its a ten day cruise and I am in desperate need for clean water, first world countries and hot food.

After I get back its a simple two months until the end of school!!! The school politics and drama will soon be over and the overwhelming job hunt is on. If any of you hear of anything....just let me know.

I will be sure to post as many pictures of my trips as I can, however, for now, I will post a picture I stole from Shelly (one of my 9th grade students) of the Lagos sky during a storm. I love this picture.

Storm!

We had a fabulous storm a few weeks back and I couldn't resist getting some quality shots of it. The storm started unexpectedly at 8 AM and proceeded to downpour for two hours. The thunder was so loud and close that the windows in my room shook and all of the elementary kids downstairs were screaming. Incredible!

This is a picture I took early on in the storm to show how dark it was. You have to remember, its normally fully light outside by 6 AM. This shot was taken at 8:30 AM and the sky only got darker as the storm continued.



















This video was when the lightening and thunder first started to pick up. You can hear the continual rain and then there are a series of flashes. The thing I found interesting was that you could never see individual streaks like you can in Seattle. Instead there were only bright flashes through the whole sky and then almost immediate pounding thunder. If you pay attention, right after the flashes there is a thunder roll over the sound of the rain.














This is my favorite video. It shows the increase in rain and the continuing thunder with growing intensity. You can also hear the little kids screaming and some of them clapping their hands over their ears just after the lightning flashes. The thunder is harder to hear in this one because of the screaming kids and the pouring rain.

African Goodies!

I was actually surprised when I went home for Christmas, to hear of how many of you actually read this thing. Its daunting....I had no idea people were paying attention, other than my parents.
I wanted to start out the new year by showing all of the toys I had gotten from Lekki market. Unfortunately, I dont actually own any of these anymore...they were all Christmas presents. Yes, they are all sideways, but at least you can still see them!


These three masks represent the three major tribes in Lagos, Nigeria. My brother-in-law Paul, is now the proud owner of these bad boys. I bought them at the mini-Lekki market the school sponsored during Nigerian Culture Day.
















These three are the same as Paul's but finished in a black shoe polish, typical of the carvers here. I got these from Segun, my favorite carver at Lekki market. My other brother-in-law received these.















Ok, I lied. This one I have kept for myself. Its a Ghanaian mask and I love it. The size is impressive as well, its about a foot and a half in diameter. Its done on ragular carved wood and has a pounded tin overlay. My favorite is the carved tongue which is carved all the way through the mask.















This little beauty is a leather box about 12x5x7 inches. Dad asked for it specifically and it was one of the more expensive and hard to get items at Lekki. In fact, I actually asked a man in his booth whether he had a box big enough and in true Lagos fashion, he dashed off to who knows where. After about three minutes he showed up with a box he mysteriously got from someone else's booth. I paid him and truly hope he paid whoever he took the box from. Who knows.
















These next two are also mine. I loved them so much when I saw them hanging in the booth. They are Festac masks and have intricate details on both. They are made from King Ebony wood which has natural black knots in the wood. Both have an intense coloration in the faces. The Festac masks are copies of one of the oldest masks found in Nigeria. The original was made from brass and was commissioned for Queen Idia by her son the Oba, King of Benin in the 16th Century.































Now these two masks were for Daddy. He wanted colorful masks. I had to search high and low for unique and classy looking colorful masks. I believe these are Igbo masks, one is a woman and the other is a man. They have gold-colored metal in-layed and the color comes from bead work.






























Now this was a special gift for my aunt and uncle that I was assigned to get. It is a monkey in the very Lagos hear, see and speak no evil. Most of them, however, are single monkeys that sell as a set. This was the only one of its kind and by my favorite carver Segun, again. I love it and the detail is amazing.
















This is Amelia's but that is on the down low. She wont get them till June, when I come home. She asked for some drums and this is one of the nicest ones I have found. Its very authentic....even down to some hair still left on stretched leather.











If anyone wants toys before I come home for good in June, you need to email me. I am happy to pick up whatever....especially if you are willing to love it regardless of what I actually buy. Thank you to everyone I saw at home! My trip was amazing and I am excited to come back and finish things so I can come home for good!

Second Period Fun

I had the funniest thing happen during second period today. First, I must describe second period. There are about ten kids, all ninth and tenth graders. They are currently working on abstract expressionist paintings. They each grab their painting and pallets and set up on their own little section of table around the room. Because of the nature of abstract expressionism, much of the painting is done by dribbling and even splattering paint. Some of it is done like finger painting. All of it is messy and everyone wears aprons. But I will get to that in a minute.

The kids in the class are from all different cultures and nations. We have equal guys and girls and a variety of social skills.

One of the boys, we will call him Krishana, has a very difficult time in social situations. He is from a strict culture and has had few interactions with students his own age. I could blame it on a variety of things but it mostly boils down to the fact that he is a teenage boy. He is the kind of kid who tries to one-up the next kid, jump into the punchline of every joke and add his input to all conversations to which he does not belong. However, the past two weeks have shown a gradual thaw in the attitudes toward Krishana.

Tommy, on the other hand, is a good-looking African male who is popular and talented.

So this morning, everyone in the class was busy working. Krishana and Tommy were working next to each other and good natured trash talking started. Tommy was painting with his fingers and both boys were critiquing each other's work. I began to raz Tommy, because he seemed to be more focused on threatening Krishana with his paint covered fingers than actually working.

As I was about to start reprimanding Tommy for a second time, he turns to Krishana and pokes him in his stomach. The whole room stopped. Everyone turned and watched as Krishana looked down to his pristine white apron with one solitary red dot in the middle.

Then, Krishana did something I did not expect. I turned to yell at Tommy when Krishana grabs his stomach, moans and slowly collapses to the floor, raising on hand grasping for life.

The entire class burst out laughing. "Tommy killed him!" I was laughing so hard I couldn't yell at Tommy. I love it when these kids evolve right in front of me.

Happy Thanksgiving!



I am thankful for my loving family, my education, faith and friends. You all are wonderful!

-Julia

Inflation is the devil

With the falling value of the US dollar and the massive inflation of food prices, I have been resorting to old university tricks to stay fed. Needless to say, these newest cartoons by Get Fuzzy have held a special spot in my heart.

Work

The blog has been severely neglected. I blame the insane amount of work that I have to do. Who knew that 11 hour days could be so unproductive. On top of all that, my school is trying to transition to IB standards. Without a huge amount of detail, the basics of IB is an intensive 11-12 grade program that is supposed to challenge all students. Its like AP on steroids and all students are required to take the course, but not take the test. I think there will be a whole lot of failure, and that is the optimistic side of things. Currently, the administration is asking me to create and entire high school curriculum in accordance to this international program. Curriculum writing is a full-time job and unless they are willing to pay me a double salary, I am not going to be able to do it. They have also told us that a normal working day next year is 10 hours. That isnt including the meetings, clubs, and other responsibilities that take the weekends and evenings. You can see how morale at the job site is slipping a little.

Regardless, my students are producing some amazing artworks. The latest has been the color collage with magazines. This one is mine, its Halloween themed, because of my adoration of that particular holiday.










The rest are an assortment of student picked subject matter. Each student had to cut or tear out colors from magazines. The catch? Each piece had to be smaller than their thumbnail. Excruciating amount of time passed but in the end, I think it was worth it. Here are some examples of my 7 and 8 graders' final product.






























The advanced art class also finished their monster projects. I like them and they have a ton of character. The students seemed to like them as well.




I have fantastic students and I adore them! They make being in Africa worth it. Most feedback from parents is very positive and all the students seem to enjoy the class.