Out and About!!

It's nearly the end of July already! at the begining of the year I made a couple of resolutions, whether I have kept them entirely is another story. One of them though is to swim. Well, my status on that hasn't changed much but I have given it a few tries. The first time, it was still winter and I went to an indoor pool which was very warm and cozy. It had a "learning" area carved out of the main pool, but was only seperated by a single barrier which carried a sign that told the experts to stay clear, but apparrently they had no regard for that! the experts kept scaring me off in the "learning area" as they came with their intimidating strokes from the other end to complete the long strech of the pool, some even splashed in from the jumping boards, doing so repeatedly and effortlessly, almost as if it didn't take anything to achieve it, which made me feel like I only came to fool around in a swim suit.
My teacher was a friend of mine that came from Hambourg, I decided to have a little of "private practive" before I went full time just so I can have more confidence by the time I joined my other adult beginners. Thankfully, I didn't drink the pool water or attract any risk of drowning, Infact, I was so good a student that even the safety guards in the pool area assisted me in making my feeble attempts at breast strokes, but deep inside I did all I could to keep my sense of humour to myself when by way of illustration I was urged to be still and release my body as a duck, let myself glide in the water like a fish and try to move my legs just like the frog does it lol.
Peter and Paul
I looked forward to more swimming lessons when I went to visit my friend in Hambourg but unfortunately we didn't have enough time however, I think it was worth missing....

First we were at a reggae party the night I arrived, which was bursting at it seems with people, most of the Africans were friendly and eagerly smiled their greetings, "Hallo! alles klar?" there was reggae music alright as the title of the event suggested, but nothing prepared me for the other songs that followed. Hmmm.. there was TuFace, AY.Com ..., all Nigerians! ok let me give the account calmly... First of all a song by P. square, Nigeria's famous twins when it comes to "Naija R and B" came on, and I was the only one that seemed to be standing with my mouth open, It was a song that the twins sang featuring J. Martins "E no easy o!" the excited club gave a yelp of approval when the song started, meaning it's that familiar! and a few seconds later when the verses started the DJ scratched the disc and went silent on some parts of the music which were echoed by the excited clubbers, to my shock (a delightful one anyway) rather than amusement I must say, because I was like, what?? in this very German enviroment.... broken english?? the parts of the song echoed are still in my head, it says ....e no easy eh! oh oh oh oh  to dey sing and dey dance and the people dey rejoice eh oh oh oh oh oh  I say ........no be today oh oh oh oh oh lol (highlighted parts were the echoed ones). That day I realised I never really gave much thought to the song that seems to be really appreciated by these clubbers that are so far away from the context of the song thus, i decided to enjoy the song and make up for what I had been missing..  my favourite part of the song goes like this:

"No be everybody wey sleep the night wake up see the light yeh

See the future is bright yeh, and e dey enter for eye yeh

Make you do your best yeh, Papa God go do the rest yeh

Even if you no get money,eheheh dey jolly dey shake body. ahahahah"

(notice the rhymes)LOL



Trying to strike a Pose with the Rathaus



The City Tour

The morning was the very important part of the trip for me, we were to see the city especially the impressive Parliament which they call the Rathouse and I was going sailing...., with a life jacket of course given my status. However I must confess that although swimming is not a popular culture in my background, coming to Europe, I was often embarrassed to admit I couldn't until I decided to agree "it's ok to admit that you don't know". Once I did that it wasn't too embarassing but i had to answer the question "so how do you feel learning to swim as an adult? is it difficult?" And my answer is often "well, the trouble is letting go and blocking out the thought of drowning," and then I change the topic of conversation lol. Hence, that explains my delight when during breakfast, my friend suggested we take the bicycles to the city so we can have more control of our movement round the city. I was so pleased with that suggestion because I felt hmmm this is my turf! one cannot afford to remove bicycles when talking about the highlights of my growing-up days, I cycled like I was nursing an ambition to take part in Tour de France. I hurriedly finished my breakfast and I went down to choose the one I would ride, I climed it and turned the pedal to the right position with my right leg, then I cycled it a short distance, stopped it with my left leg and i did a 180 degree turn, then I came back to the starting point, this time cycling a little faster than I left and then I pressed the brakes abruptly. Lol I could see the look of approval on my friend's face, she seemed visibly impressed by my intuition of trying the breaks and she commended me in Deutsch saying "aha bremsen! sehr wichtig" i.e, aha the brakes! Very Important. I cracked a few jokes like confirming if i needed a "cycling liscence" considering how thorough the Germans can be, but she assurred me it was ok, even though we had to check the headlamp because the authorities are very particular about the lights lol.
I rode "thirstily" enjoying the breeze brushing my face and the breath of clean fresh air, relishing each moment especially nodding at other cyclers as we made our way through the cycling path, obeying the traffic lights e.t.c. Disappointingly though, after a few hours of riding my stamina started to wane and I began to roll the bicycle rather than cycle, I felt stiff and easily out of breath and couldn't wait to get to any spot just to rest my bones. Refusing to ruin the whole experience at first, I consoled myself saying my legs were too short and I couldn't reach the pedals properly, so all the energy I use to reach the pedals is what is weighing me down.....
I had started a low sugar and no fatty foods diet but the sight of an Ice Cream parlour gave me every reason to park my ride, secure the locks and make my way there, using only gestures to explain my goal at that particular moment. By late afternoon the only strength left was to roll the bicycle, this continued until it was time to go home finally and we had to roll our two wheelers to the river bank where we took the Ferry to the other side of town.... given my earlier enthusiasm I was shame faced by the time we boarded the Ferry

The vehicles PS: Just incase you're wondering, Yes! mine is the red with white stripes

After a Month

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of blogging, I took a month's break clinging to another bout of "writer's block" the perfect excuse these days! Assuming that my apology is accepted, I would really like to resume by writing a little about my birthday which was a month ago. For starters, being born on a children's day, i.e. the 27th of May made me feel like a celebrity once a year as a child because it always felt special considering the significance of the day in a child's life. However, it is now one of the things I really miss as I get older, reason being I am not allowed to fuss about the day as I would have liked to since it is obvious to all of all that I am no longer a child. 

This year the day fell on a Friday and I worked late, I was very careful not to mention it at work just incase I am not taken seriously for doing so lol since we all seemed "busy" and "serious". I received a lot of  phonecalls from home which I tried to answer with discreet enthusiasm just to give the impression that I am much older now. I also got emails and text messages especially on Facebook, all the people in my Bible Study group called or sent messages, it was so sweet, two colleagues remembered to wish me Happy Birthday and a third the next day, who actually did so by asking if I made food just to be sure that he didn't miss anything. I love Fridays because one often gets to stay up late and sleep longer the next day, if you don't have to work that is, but since this Friday was special to me I had secret expectations that only a Fairy God Mother would have made true.

Meanwhile I only got home in time to have a bowl of noodles and watch back to back episodes of Ally Mcbeal! disheartening enough, the first episode I watched was the one that Ally turned 28... At the start of the episode she ran to the bathroom to look at her face and just when she spots a few wrinkles underneath her eyes her face dramatically changes to that of an 80 year old with the puffs and wrinkles in the right places, a slightly hunched torso and even the white thin cotton hair, imagine how i must have felt. All these made me remember my favourite birthday so far in my "brief sojourn", It was back in Abuja, I invited all my friends over and I made lunch, I wore a bright yellow dress with a green sash and I got a big squared cake with a lot of candles. I dramatically blew the candles off while the birthday song was sung. We wined, dined, danced and brought ourselves upto date, which wore on until late in the evening. At the time, one of my friends worked for Cool FM Radio and he sent me a shout out and played one of my favourite songs for that period, a Yoruba song performed  by Nollywood stars but originally sung by Dr Victor Olaiya some 53 years ago. LOLOL

We finally rounded up our "party" with a visit to an open air garden which had a LIVE band, and incidentally, an unknown birthday mate of mine was also having a great time with his firends and family and the lead singer of the band seemed to be singing enthusiastically to the celebrant whose name was OKWUDILI. We figured this out because the lead singer called the name as he sang to all the tunes that were played by the band, apparently, the celebrant payed him a lot to do so.

Determined to keep me in the spot light, my friends "bribed" the lead singer as well and before you knew it we were all in the middle of the dance floor dancing to "baby Jowo" again as we sprayed the musician and the band increased in tempo and dynamics putting us right into the attention spot we coveted ...Loololol I still have that memory and am very thankful that my friends let me have it!

Above is a picture of my favourite birthday card this year, it's still on my bookshelf. I like it because it outlines 5 good reasons why it's good to be a Woman, the card is in German forgive me if the translation seems a little awkward lol:

1- At 30 you still have enough hair on your head

2-You can simply solve your problems in a woman magazine

3-You can cry at the press of a button and then forget about everything

4-You always leave the door open

5-You can use the same "loo" with a female friend without giving a damn about what people closeby think!

About my last Post

I read the comments on my last post "In 2011" and I also had the opportunity to talk about my views with some of my dear friends who had read the piece and I am happy because I gained alot. Although, apart from a sense of relief that we were able to expound on the issues satisfactorily, I also got the sense that my views about corruption being over-rated seemed a little "off-key" if you like, as such, i tried to reflect again, but in all fairness to how far I could go, I still maintain that it is overrated.
My point being that Naija is not the first corrupt nation in the world, i think the only difference if I am to compare with developed nations is the degree of sophistication and then in a positive light, respect for human dignity by way of basic amenities and the ability to "challenge" the systems and institutions.
A cynical friend of mine once said "If we consider super powers who fight wars in the interest of oil rigs but live permanently on huge budget deficits. Financial Crisis rocking countries home to ancient civilisation because they lied about their "Financial situation" in the first place. Embarassing sex scandals among the elite that look down on the African system of polygamy as well as deceit, abuse of public funds and tax payers money for the weakness that absolute power covets, then we know that Africa still has a long way to go".

Why am I Bitter?

One becomes bitter and emotional about Naija only because in our own case, the rich get richer at the expense of basic amenities and a literal robbery of :
1.Rights: as a result of failure to provide basic necessities.
2. Vision : for lack of an enabling enviroment to exercise ones mind in making things better rather than tailoring it to dwell solely on the need to survive.
3. Self respect and worth: insisting on a myopic way of doing things and in the process discrediting others to make them feel inferior and insignificant as long as it is skewed to satisfy a famous exposition by George Orwell "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others".
4. Justice, equity and fairplay: creating an enviroment for only hustlers to thrive, enabling unhealthy competition and legitimising the "who you know syndrome"
I think I do not have to go on since I am already bitter from mentioning 4, however if I am to return to the safety of my naivity the hopelessness and exasperation often derived from all these, makes me willing to cling to a justifiable excuse which in this case is CORRUPTION so how do we deal with it? again my naivity says that this stems from a long standing principle of a divide and rule policy and for what it's worth, we have to know the past to understand the future- very articulate cliches if you ask me, but here again I am tempted to start listing corrupt leaders and blame them for everything thereby, losing sight of the goal. An Irish political philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke once said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil (Corruption) is that good men do nothing." - the corruption in bracket was put in there by me. 

 

About Social Class and defination of goals!

I haven't defined the social class I belong to, but from the top of my head, I'd like to think of myself as a moderate Socialist and a Conservative Capitalist but I have a weakness for some of Karl Marx's teachings and I love the following quotes: "The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs." or better still, "The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them."
I brought the issue of class to underscore the need to have a goal or something you believe in so that the "struggle" is legitimised in all ramifications and followed through. What i want to say is defining our society, political leanings, economic policies and what we stand for is a start.
For example, all I need to do here when writing or translating stories about politics is look at the name, colour or symbol of the party in question and I already know if they are pro or against war or what their policies are on the tax system, whether they lean more towards policies that protect the enviroment etc, it was a thorn in the flesh to master, but studying its evolution especially from the post war period was quite revealing, and I thought no wonder all we ever do is attack ethnicity and religion rather than apply our differences in supporting a noble cause for humanity..... maybe this is how it was meant to be but really what role does the ordinary man play in all this rather than playing the slave to "CORRUPTION"?

In 2011...... the Special Edition

This is a little deviation from the usual stories of Me and Bonn, however it is a matter very dear to my heart. I have almost bitten off all my finger nails from nervously listening and reading through reviews of the events of the forth coming Nigerian elections, its not as easy as i thought it would be monitoring from outside and missing the actual undertones. I go straight to the likes of Saharareporters and Gamji immediately i turn on my computer just to be sure am in the loop, it's a crazy feeling.
I read the following quote from one of my heroes on Saharareporters :
"I am backing Ribadu as the only person, who can tackle corruption to be president. He did it when He was in the EFCC and the fear of Ribadu was the beginning of wisdom, He prosecuted so many Governors, IGP and corrupt people, he prosecuted people in UK and all over the world and was able to retrieve much looting, on this I support him to be the man".~ Prof wole Soyinka
And I was like is it about the loot or about the people? but can it be about the people without being about the loot? I don't think you can talk about the people and not talk about the loot or rather talk about the loot and not about the people.... can it be... and I became dizzy!

culled from NBMP website

Don't get me wrong, I know that my profession puts me in a tight position when it comes to testing my objectivity, but the challenge here is keeping my sentiment where it belongs and my sentiment here is, who or what do we really need to lead us to the "promised land?" A corruption expert, a lecturer, a guidance and counseling expert, a retired military guy, a seasoned banker/economist, a media mogul.... what are their ideals? what do we see when we look at them.... am dizzy again
1960 is the year Nigeria got her independence, 1963 is the year the first republic came into being, 1966 was the first military coup, 1979 saw a second republic, 1999 marked the beginning of the second attempt at democracy, and most significant in terms of the most uniting factor of my dear Naija, 1996 was the year the country won the Gold Medal for football in the summer Olympic games. Apart from the dates .......

culled from NBMP website

 Call me psychic but 2011 is going to join the above years that we have come to remember in Naija, even though it doesn't have a 3, a 6 or a 9 because of the wide spread determination to vote, but the question is, whatever change and however little, will it defy Murphy's law as it applied to the above years and trigger the right amount of sanity the country requires? More so, I am quite unnerved by the political party campaigns because like sales representatives groping for a niche to sell their products, all the stakeholders are using only the "term" CORRUPTION as a tool for gaining votes, at the expense of low Education, dwindling economy etc.
So much has happened in the life of Africa as a whole within the first quarter of the year already, lost lives and properties as a result of natural disasters, mass exodus of tribes and nations from the only place they' ve ever called home due to war and strife. Worse still, silent murders and mass killings. This is without peeking at hunger, negative impacts of climate change and disease. So much backstabbing and disappointments that you are sometimes tempted to turn very religious and pray silently for a good END because these are surely the signs of Rapture!
Ok, call me cynical now or even naive, because in my opinion, although corruption is indeed the major problem I think it is over rated that is why it thrives and I choose to blame it solely on the gullibility of the masses and the apt discernment of our docile elite. 
For crying out loud, since the country discovered oil in Oloibiri do we even have a clear record of oil loot, what was recovered and whatever percentage has been used to do good? and I use good in a "relative" sense.

culled from NBMP website

I tried to explain the extent of power failure to a friend and I said i spent a week in my hometown and during that time only 3 hours of the power supply we got was from the Power Holding Company the rest was powered by generator, however this does not influence the electricity bill you pay at the end of the month, because ordinarily one would make the logical assumption that the bill will be less, since you have an average of 3 hours a week, all things being equal. But am afraid this is only the ideal. As such, while you try to regulate power usage in Europe by switching on appliances only when you need to make use of them and then turning off lights as soon as you finish what you are doing in your rooms, just to save energy and minimize bills, you are often tempted to switch on everything at once immediately the regular light comes on just so that your conscience can justify the staggering bill you pay for the electricity you barely saw let alone used, at the end of every month. 
Cote d'Ivoire is not as heterogenous as Naija, but it has a strong Northern - Southern dichotomy, as such the November 2010 election that was supposed to bring peace became a nightmare. While we do not hope to have such an abominable situation in our esteemed STATE, I still fear! I have come to understand that our strength grows from our weakness but I still echo my pessimism "how long does it take in this case????"

culled from FB

As we look at Jega now, rather than accept him to do his job, we not only see him as a representative of the North, but North-West lol. We even trace his genealogy a step further to know his cultural affiliations, ancestors and or descendants as well as other remote relationships along ethnic lines just to interpret some of his actions in our prejudiced context, after all, his religion is clear! Most importantly though I do not want to go into the reasons we want to vote for the candidates we support, I will simply  assume that the reasons are noble, but in what way are we going about it? I watched the Arabs in awe as they combined strong will, passion, irreplaceable sacrifice and doggedness, to pursue a common goal which has put fear in the most fearless dictator. Analysts attribute their success to their tradition and cultural upbringing. A common thing that our own diverse cultures share is pride and dignity in what we believe, as well as revolt, in the face of dishonor. And what about the religions we profess sanctimoniously......? without even bringing the question of rights into the issue, Why do we lose sight and accept adversity for privilege?

The link below is a text from 2007 election

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkNigeria/message/34482

Can the real Africans please raise their hands?

I decided to write about the frenzy of the Carnival in the Rheinland region where I live soon after I learnt about the event, but nothing prepared me for the title that I have given to the post itself, but as you must have guessed by now, the picture below in which my friend Daniel graciously modeled for me is the inspiration behind the title.

I took a couple of pictures from the carnival myself, but i judged this to be the best costume, even though this picture was taken in the Netherlands rather than Deutschland. As such the blog itself might have nothing to do with the title, but at least it will either appeal to your sense of humour or keep you wondering indeed, who the real Africans are, between Daniel and his acquaintances.


My highlights throughout the event were the costumes I must say, people wore anything, from cat suits, rabbit and bumble bee suits to men dressing as reverend sisters, ballerinas and monks etc, I did a double take when I saw Santa Claus having beer and cigars with the Pope! I thought it was creatively awesome. Most interesting though was the way they carried out their normal activities in the costumes without worrying at all, a colleague of mine from Hambourg here in Germany who was witnessing the event for the first time like me couldn't get over that and i was thinking... ??? 

A little History.....

Like alot in the Rheinland, the origins of the Carnival can be traced back to the Romans. The word Carnival comes from the latin "Carne Vale" which literary means "Farewell Meat" and refers to the fasting period which follows the celebrations from December onwards.

While in earlier centuries various customs were observed during the carnival, the mordern form with its parties and Processions first emerged in the 19th century. There are many different aspects of the Carnival in Bonn, however I found the one I attended in Bonn Beuel, the most unique. Bonn Beuel, is a few kilometers away from Bonn, they are actually only separated by a bridge since they are on both sides of the Rhein (River).

I was made to understand that most of the butlers and other workers of the Princes in Cologne lived in Bonn Beuel, and their wives at the time washed the  clothes of the Princes. As such, history has it that while the men were away in Cologne during one of the Carnival processions the wives sat in a pub, which was a bit unsual but they did it anyway, and after a few drinks, they began to talk about their lives and how their men treated them, because they were never home, and any time they were they were either completely drunk or picking on the innocent wives just because there was, -again like you must have guessed by now, "another woman"! Well, that gave birth to what they today call the "Wieberfastnacht", the day that they decided to have none of it anymore and they liberate themselves from the so called "Männer"(Men).


 The event itself! 

Well it all starts with colourful processions of different women committees and schools from the area, as well as other organised groups. They dress with a specific theme that they have chosen for that year, then they either process on floats or on foot with large containers of sweets, which they throw to the crowd as they squeal Kamelo! Kamelo! which means sweets. Almost everyone carries a bag or two and by the end of the procession they will all be bulging by the seems with a variety of sweets candies.

  

The community plunges into this party mood with the sole aim of emptying their storage and getting ready for the fasting period, so all the meat and other edibles are eaten up just so that the barn will be empty and only the basic food for fasting will be left. Although i cannot say for sure if the fasting aspect is for "real".
However, at the conclusion of the procession all citizens match to the Town hall, where the women collect the key to the administrative offices of the city and they take charge for that day. The whole drama is hilarious because they all dress in 16th century style garments and act out what was done 175 years ago.

I interviewed a couple afterwards the Man had worn his costume for 40 years, he was dressed like a clown without the traditional red nose and the colored eyes but he hastily added that he deliberately left those out for the bigger carnival in Cologne. From the wife i discovered that as a sign of the liberation, the women cut the neck ties of their colleagues at work which is supposed to be a symbol of "male ego" and if the guy is lucky, he gets a kiss on the cheek! then the women pin the ties to their clothes and carry them round like trophies. The men actually feel embarrassed if nobody cuts their tie, but then i also found out that for the married men that is the way they get rid of the ties that their mother in laws give them at holidays or birthdays.  

An anniversary........ LOL

I waited patiently for my niece to fall asleep the day she lost her first milk tooth, because I had told her to keep the now said "ornament" under her pillow and expect a visit from the Tooth Fairy, who always leaves a surprise when she visits. I was so pleased to see how much this cheered her up.

Her little brother was totally unaware of what we were talking about and he couldn't be bothered because he was pre-occupied with other "boy" stuff.  So of course I was a bit taken aback when I saw him running past me the next morning with a determined look on his face, even when his mother was visibly angry that they were already running late for school. 

I had a good laugh later, when I discovered that his sister had shown him the coins  that the Tooth Fairy apparently left, after taking the milk tooth she had hidden the previous night, and the kid was so amazed at how losing one's tooth could be as lucrative, hence, although he wasn't ready to part with his own teeth just yet, he already had an enterprising idea. 

The catch, was that, another milk tooth had fallen off that morning, and according to him, he quickly borrowed it, so I only bumped into him just as he was running back to his room to hide the now valuable tooth under his own pillow, so he can also find his "surprise" by the time he returns from school, and who knows?, he just might make more money than his sister did. But for me, the look on his face was priceless! I always chuckle inwardly when i remember it.

Sometimes, we rely on such comical memories to brighten our days and this one is certainly on my list of top ten..... I haven't been able to recall any "classic" incident of my own, however, I will be a year old in Germany on the 28th of February so i figured i could pick on recent memories.

Beethoven in the middle of his Birthcity!

My Flashbacks!

The one I still shudder from embarrassment when i remember is: A day before my travel down here, a friend who had done the same internship as the one i was going for at the time, advised that i should have some biscuits and perhaps noodles with me, but it was only when my girl friend came over to help me pack my suit cases that i realized my mistake, it was so funny because half of the things i needed were unpacked and I was still looking for space, meanwhile i had packed a whole carton of indomie noodles and biscuits, of which going by the earlier suggestion, I only needed just enough for a day at least, because I will be arriving on a Sunday and all the shops will be closed! My friend threatened to make it her status on Facebook but I wouldn't let her, It was hilariously ridiculous! I couldn't stand the thought of anyone else knowing aside the two of us at the time.

I reread my journal to see what my highlights have been, and I found this "Today I have finally accepted the contract to stay, I know I am excited about the job, but all i can think about is buying additional throw pillows for the raffia chairs in my room".

Ludwig van Beethoven again!

The oldest church in Bonn, built over 1000 years ago

While I can't write all that my journal entails, I discovered that meeting different people, visiting places and understanding issues and events that I wouldn't have bothered about ordinarily are what I find more profound in my recent experiences.

The Dome Cathedral in Cologne where the remains of the Maggi is said to have been laid

It is very easy to see that my affection for Bonn at the moment is biased towards "old" buildings, however I couldn't possibly write about my experiences and leave them out, especially Beethoven. One of the highlights of my stay here is visiting Beethoven's birth place, at least the way i was told at the begining. The house seemed to be just as he left it, with his manuscripts laid around the clean rooms, in his own handwriting, some of his pictures even as a boy and then the piano ... of course! the one he used, then to crown it all up his symphonies filled the room, sipping from a music box hidden somewhere in the house... seeing all these gave me a warm sensation, I felt like I could actually visualize him writing down the musical notes and looking out the window, gazing past the alley ways, it awakened all the "classical music" in me.... even his rounded eye glasses were displayed, I was crushed that cameras weren't allowed!

However a few months after my visit, my German teacher told me that the home I visited isn't Beethoven's real birthplace, and they only said that so they could make money from tourists, like me unfortunately. Of course he spent some part of his life in Bonn but not in that house! the house was a replica.... Well that said, I still cherish my experience because at the time i had the experience, I had heard nothing of such nature! I INSIST Lol

OF What I Miss the Most.

Recently I have often been asked: "so what do you miss the most apart from friends and family?" because of course, you will always miss your friends and family...... then I cast my eyes down like i am trying to spell my name for the first time. 

While it is embarrassing for me, I realized I only did that because I thought I had to give a very "Intelligent" answer rather than what I really felt.

So now I am coming clean, what I miss the most is home, when i say home i mean Naija (Nigeria) in all it's multiplicity and Irony, I miss expressing myself "Nigerianly" if you like, meaning I'd like to talk and end my sentences with words like abi? or shey, or sha -which are only adopted interjections that beautify "our" speech, -without having to explain what it means.
I'd like to talk and chip in some broken english which will elicit replies and remarks that often end in fits of laughter because of a mutual understanding of context, I'd like to exclaim and use abeg o!  I'd like to use pronouns most of the time to talk about somebody I had already established at the beginning of a conversation without worrying that I will lose the partner I am having the conversation with along the line........

I met a real "rasta"  from Jamaica on a train platform on my way back from a very long trip. When the train we were waiting for arrived, we sat down beside each other, he tried to initiate a tete a tete with me, but I was too tired to even engage in conversation, so I struggled to keep a ready friendly smile on my face while he regaled me with tales of his family and the trip he was coming from. 

Most challenging for me though was understanding the stories, because each word ended with "man" and the sentence with "you know" and worse still he spoke English, heavily laced with German! I just didn't know what to do?! but immediately he asked me if I knew Akin and Pawpaw, the notorious duo that feature constantly in hilarious Nigerian comedies, I felt my body relax and I beamed effortlessly while he told me the other Nigerian movies he had watched and how he felt about them, we became instant friends! 

A few days later, I met a "drunk" Cuban on a bus, he wore a beret that had a silver star in front and a hairstyle that looked identical to that of Che Guevara the Argentine Marxist revolutionary who was a major figure in the Cuban Revolution. It wasn't his drunken state that first attracted me to him though, rather it was the fact that he kept yelling Viva Africa! and raising his arm to signify strength. 

There were a number of Africans on the bus, who like me had wary looks on their faces and were also looking for polite ways of avoiding him. At this time, I quickly sought the novel that I always tucked away in my bag, and i paid attention to every word, as I read, so I wouldn't be distracted easily..... It worked, but not for long, because i couldn't help following the Che "wanna be" conversation anyway, when he launched into an account of religion in his country and how similar it is to that of Africa and the name Obàtálá kept featuring in the explanation. As far as I knew at the time, Obàtálá had to be part of Yoruba culture but I became increasingly interested and amused when he further groped for other yoruba words to explain what he meant. I found this very strange and my curiousity was at "boiling point", hence, a few "google" hours later, I found the following Information 

Cuba is home to a variety of syncretic religions of largely African cultural origin. According to a US State Department report, some sources estimate that as much as 80 percent of the population consults with practitioners of religions with West African roots, such as Santeria or Yoruba. Santería developed out of the traditions of the Yoruba, one of the African peoples who were imported to Cuba during the 16th through 19th centuries to work on the sugar plantations. Santería blends elements of Christianity and West African beliefs and as such made it possible for the slaves to retain their traditional beliefs while appearing to practice Catholicism. In the religion of the Yoruba people, Obàtálá is the creator of human bodies, which were brought to life by God's breath. Obàtálá is also the owner of all ori or heads. Any orisha may lay claim to an individual, but until that individual is initiated into the priesthood of that orisha, Obàtálá still owns that head. This stems from the belief that the soul resides in the head.

This revelation was so amazing for me, I mean don't get me wrong, I am not originally yoruba, but sometimes you think you are so different, then all of a sudden something very familiar, no matter how remotely so, jumps out on you, then you realize that the similarities are there, they are just waiting to be discovered!