The first few days back in Dakar for staff orientation I always find myself thinking I will be busy and then things will quiet down as we get back to "normal". A month or two later I realize that staff orientation is the quiet part of the year and the excitement just keeps on going from then until June. We started back to school August 15 and took a few weeks to fall into the routine. Then, just about the time the day-to-day starts to become tiring, the summer rejuvenation wears off, you fall out of the honeymoon stage with your new classes, and the hot and humid weather is making you cranky, the administration hosts a staff retreat weekend at a resort a couple of hours outside the city.
The weekend starts with a half day of professional development (it's not ALL fun, games, and tanning time) before we board coach buses that whisk us away from the city. The weekend is typically full of sunbathing, reading, napping, gourmet food (I still dream about molten lava cake, goat cheese salad, and pain au chocolat sometimes), swimming, beach volleyball, board games, and wherever else your whims take you. The staff gathers together for a devotional and worship time Saturday night and Sunday morning, but otherwise the most enjoyable part of the weekend is not being confined to a schedule.
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| Keren and I reading in the pool. |
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| Dinner with friends |
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| Late-night Killer Bunnies in the game room. |
One of the times I most enjoy is Handball Season, but who am I kidding, there's always something to look forward to at D.A. It's somewhat difficult to pinpoint when handball season is because it seems to get longer each year (due to scheduling issues), but I think it's fair to say it runs September-October. The Advance P.E. class organizes teams (staff and students mixed) and we play. My favourite part of handball is the atmosphere...the lights coming on as dusk turns to night, people chatting, concessions being sold, music playing, and the energy on the court.
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| Orange Crush takes on the Her-ricanes |
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| Orange Crush holds it's breath as Mrs. E-M takes a shot on net | | |
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| Orange Crush takes a shot at the crease |
Harvestfest is a fall fair hosted by the Senior Class. It traditionally falls on the day of first quarter parent-teacher conferences. I suppose it gives us (students, parents and teachers) something to look forward to after the "business" of the day. Events include "hayrides", a zipline, karaoke, square dancing, a cake walk, face painting and more! Of course, no D.A. event is complete without good food and this year was no exception. The Senior Class imported bacon for bacon cheese burgers and other North American delicacies that are harder to find in Senegal.
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| A not-so-traditional hayride on the soccer field. |
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| You can pay to have people put in jail. One of my students decided to seek some revenge, but the joke's on him...triple the homework the following week ;) |
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| Sack races...a classic! (with Lauren and Emily) |
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| Mustaches! |
The Arts department always puts on a great show, whether it's the fall play, the winter concert, the spring musical, or the year-end Fine Arts Festival. This year's play was no exception.
The Clumsy Custard Horror Show is a silly, comical play that includes audience participation and several clever one-liners. I spent much of the fall running lines with one of the actors in our Study Hall, so I like to say I was the biggest fan!
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| Dacron, the villain, in his lair. He was arguably the most comical of the characters and well played by senior, Jonathan L. |
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| Sir Vival, Sir Cumference, and Sir Prize (get it?!?) hold the hero, Swashbuck Valpariso at sword-point as traitor, Malforce, looks on. |
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| Worfle and Swashbuck check for cracks in the dungeon's force field. Their timely escape happens as they are about to be devoured by turkey spiders. |
One of my major commitments this fall was the
International Appreciation Week committee. We hosted a week of events for the whole school to highlight and promote our international identity at Dakar Academy. The week started with a parade of nations representing over 25 nations, and also included a talent showcase, a taste of the nations, lunch time competitions inspired by international games, and an Olympic day featuring sports from around the world.
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Organizing for the Parade of Nations
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| The flags flying over the blue top (center of campus). |
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| Worship time at the opening ceremonies. |
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| That's me announcing the week's schedule of events to the entire student body. |
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| I hosted lunch time events throughout the week. This is a chopstick competition. Students had to move kernels of corn from one bowl to another. We had professional and amateur contestants. |
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| Another lunch time competition, cockroach races. Students had to blow a ping pong ball (their cockroach) from one side of the blue top to the other. |
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| My other responsibility for the week was Olympic Sports Day. Students gathered with their colour teams (the colours of the Olympic Rings) before beginning rotations to the five world sports. |
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Cricket
was first played in England in the 16th century and is still the national
sport. When the British Empire expanded, so did cricket. It is played
particularly in Australia and New Zealand, Indian, the West Indies, Southern
Africa and the British Isles.
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Canada’s official summer sport, lacrosse comes from Native
American origins. It is mainly played in Canada and the United States.
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Bokwele: A game originated in the Congo. When the game begins the
players yell “Bokwele” while they try to steal their opponent’s scarves.
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Bocce Ball has been adapted from the ancient Roman Empire. The modern
form in Italy is called bocce, the plural of the
Italian word boccia which means "bowl". It is played in Europe and has spread around the world, to places such
as Australia, North America, and South America.
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Sepak Tawkraw, also
known as kick volleyball, is a sport
from Southeast Asia but known by different names in different countries. Traditionally
a rattan ball is used to play.
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Dakar Academy is an American school which means that we (us Canadians included) observe a long weekend for Thanksgiving. The Wednesday before the holiday is a half day of school and then...
TURKEY BOWL (a flag football tournament).
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| Like I've already mentioned, no school event is complete without a special menu. Turkey Bowl is hosted by the Junior Class. |
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| The Middle School tournament kicks off the event. I teach or have taught all of these students at some point. They play hard! |
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| The female staff put together a team again this year. We were the defending champions going into the tournament. I don't know that we ever settled on a name, but we were Orange. |
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| Some people have called this a "play of the day" which is somewhat embarrassing for me. I had played center all day, but for the last match up (All-Stars vs. Staff) I was sent in as a receiver. I was so shocked to make the catch that I paused for a minute. When my teammates yelled at me to run I turned around and ran straight into Cari-Brooke. You can see me mouth saying "oh no..." The best part of the play, not shown in this picture was when Cari-Brooke, just slammed by a teacher, held up both my flags in a gesture of surrender. |
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| We take the game very seriously! We practice together before the tournament and have our plays on cards which we consult between plays. It payed off though, we were the tournament champions! |
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| The boys games were where the exciting, talented, entertaining plays happened. It was the next best thing to the NFL for Thanksgiving weekend. |
Finally, when there aren't "big events" happening it is not uncommon to find me field-side or court-side cheering on
DA teams as they play. Softball, varsity volleyball, middle school soccer, boys varsity basketball, and girls varsity soccer have kept me busy most Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays since August. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, DA takes sports very seriously.
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| Adan's fancy footwork. |
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| Caleb and Martin get past the opposing team's D. |
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| Soo and Sara gaining some ground. |
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| Basma is one of the team's high scorers. |
So you can see that my lack of communication does not mean that life has been uneventful or boring. Stay tuned for more Dakar happenings in 2013.
