Bus Duty

This week I was the "bus mom". On our compound , at least one week a year each of the moms who live here, has the task of rounding up little ones, letting them know that the other one is okay to sit next to. Also, making sure the older ones aren't sitting too close! ha ha There are three runs in the morning and three runs in the afternoon. The first one leaves at 6:50 a.m. then back again for a 7 a.m. run and finally back to the compound again for the 7:15 a.m. run. Then, there is a 2:20 p.m. run, a 3:15 run, and a 3:45 run in the afternoon. Add another run each day to take Jeremy to school since there is not a bus for pre-k since they start later than the rest of the school, and I made a total of 65 trips back and forth from the school to the compound. Needless to say, I really don't anticipate with very much joy riding on a bus anytime very soon!:) I wasn't feeling the best this week either, so I wasn't on here very much. It was all I could do to get to bed by 9 so I could wake up at 5:45 to get ready so I could be on the bus by 6:45.:) But, as I was riding the bus this week, I couldn't help but think about how different this bus experience is from being a mom riding a bus in the U.S. I decided to make a top ten list of how you know you are a bus mom in Nigeria...so here goes...

10) When you are riding the bus, there are more bumps in the road than kids on the actual bus

9) You have your driver driving a "chase vehicle" for security

8) A guard is always looking through a peephole in the gate before letting the bus on the school compound.

7) You can hear Yoruba talk shows over the bus radio

6) The kids on the bus are talking about their favorite vacations ( Dubai, Switzerland, etc.)

5) You see razor wire on top of all the compounds as you are riding in the bus

4) You see a 12 year old riding an okada with no helmet

3) Some of the kids on the bus couldn't go on a field trip to Senegal because of a problem with visas

2) You see women carrying bread on their head

1) Teenagers say they can't do something with friends on a certain night because they don't have a driver

So, there you have it...that about sums my week up. I hope you all had a great week! :)