Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
It’ been very strange not being home this thanksgiving, mostly because the thing I’m most thankful for in the world is my family, but they are thousands of miles away. I had class this morning and then there was a special thanksgiving lunch at the cafeteria. They served what I think may have been turkey, but I’m not one hundred percent sure, with some baked potatoes and green beans. It’s just hard because Nigerians don’t really understand how important thanksgiving is, so they kind of think I’m being a bit of a baby for being homesick today. So I took a four hour nap and then went Karatu Library to read to kids. And as usual, God smacked me in the face and made me realize that I am in no position to be the least bit depressed. The kids always make me smile and just remind me that you’re never really lost as long as you know who you are and it’s never about what you have (health, family), it’s about knowing that there are blessings that are so much deeper than those! So I hope that you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and I’m thankful for each and every one of you!
p.s. Aunt Nancy, I am seriously expecting you to freeze a plate of Thanksgiving dinner for me! And please use one of those high tech Ziploc bags that prevent freezer burn. Thanks!
27.11.08
23.11.08
I can hardly believe that my time here in Yola is melting away! The past few weeks have been a big turning point in my semester and I honestly feel like I am finally starting to accomplish what I came here to do.
When I first arrived, it was obviously a huge shock. I was meeting tons of new people every day, dealing with just normal differences in how life in Nigeria works versus in the US, and I was getting through my classes. It took time to get acclimated to all of this new stuff… I found myself just jumping in and making life here my new norm. The electricity would switch off and I wouldn’t stop a beat, a herd of cattle would cross the road and I would just continue the conversation. Obviously in my head I knew that this was way different than anything I’d ever experienced, but I felt that it was better to integrate rather than dwell on how strange everything was. But during the past few weeks I have come to a point where I feel very comfortable with my surroundings in so much as I can recognize the beauty of this place, but also see the system that holds it back.
I was frustrated with the fact that inside the university walls it’s fashion and drama and you step outside and it’s underfunded schools, poor living conditions, no electricity. I still haven’t gotten used to that contrast in lifestyles but most of the students here don’t see it because in reality that is just how it is here, maybe it’s wrong, but in their minds that’s just how it is.
This being said, most of the AUN students want to make a good and powerful impact on Nigeria. Whether it’s government reform or entrepreneurship, each individual has their own plan for how they can change Nigeria (and in most cases make some money in the process). I’m no pessimist… just a skeptic.
I didn’t come here to criticize this place and how it works. I wanted to see how Nigerians view their country and the world. I wanted to learn from them, see from a different angle, but most importantly incorporate those new ideas into my understandings of the world. And I just finally feel like I’ve started to reach this point!
In other news, I was officially accepted to study in Buenos Aires, Argentina at la Universidad Torcuato di Tella this coming spring! I’m very excited about it, but momentarily drained and ready for a little break.
Classes have been going really well. Would you believe that I have a university scheduled final exam on a SUNDAY??? And they call this an ‘American’ university! These next few weeks are going to be full of final research papers and presentations. But I came to the realization last night that I would rather get a B in a class and hang out with people and see what’s left to see versus sitting inside and getting an A. But, hopefully it’s not an ‘or’ situation.
I had the opportunity to do some pretty fun stuff last weekend. I went to the market alone for the first time! I went to a nearby farm to go horseback riding. I ate masa (a pancake like bread that is delicious). I rode an achaba (a motorcycle taxi). So funny thing, I told my roommate that I had never had malaria and she couldn’t believe it. Malaria here is the equivalent to the flu essentially because people here can afford to get meds. It is only scary if you get it and aren’t near a place to buy medicine or if you cannot afford medicine. Thankfully, I haven’t been sick at all since I arrived here.
I hear there’s snow back in the good old midwest… If it makes you feel any better, it’s in the 90s here. Ha ha ha.
A Word of Advice: Flipflops from the market will break at the most inconvenient times. Better to resist the temptation of buying them in the first place.
When I first arrived, it was obviously a huge shock. I was meeting tons of new people every day, dealing with just normal differences in how life in Nigeria works versus in the US, and I was getting through my classes. It took time to get acclimated to all of this new stuff… I found myself just jumping in and making life here my new norm. The electricity would switch off and I wouldn’t stop a beat, a herd of cattle would cross the road and I would just continue the conversation. Obviously in my head I knew that this was way different than anything I’d ever experienced, but I felt that it was better to integrate rather than dwell on how strange everything was. But during the past few weeks I have come to a point where I feel very comfortable with my surroundings in so much as I can recognize the beauty of this place, but also see the system that holds it back.
I was frustrated with the fact that inside the university walls it’s fashion and drama and you step outside and it’s underfunded schools, poor living conditions, no electricity. I still haven’t gotten used to that contrast in lifestyles but most of the students here don’t see it because in reality that is just how it is here, maybe it’s wrong, but in their minds that’s just how it is.
This being said, most of the AUN students want to make a good and powerful impact on Nigeria. Whether it’s government reform or entrepreneurship, each individual has their own plan for how they can change Nigeria (and in most cases make some money in the process). I’m no pessimist… just a skeptic.
I didn’t come here to criticize this place and how it works. I wanted to see how Nigerians view their country and the world. I wanted to learn from them, see from a different angle, but most importantly incorporate those new ideas into my understandings of the world. And I just finally feel like I’ve started to reach this point!
In other news, I was officially accepted to study in Buenos Aires, Argentina at la Universidad Torcuato di Tella this coming spring! I’m very excited about it, but momentarily drained and ready for a little break.
Classes have been going really well. Would you believe that I have a university scheduled final exam on a SUNDAY??? And they call this an ‘American’ university! These next few weeks are going to be full of final research papers and presentations. But I came to the realization last night that I would rather get a B in a class and hang out with people and see what’s left to see versus sitting inside and getting an A. But, hopefully it’s not an ‘or’ situation.
I had the opportunity to do some pretty fun stuff last weekend. I went to the market alone for the first time! I went to a nearby farm to go horseback riding. I ate masa (a pancake like bread that is delicious). I rode an achaba (a motorcycle taxi). So funny thing, I told my roommate that I had never had malaria and she couldn’t believe it. Malaria here is the equivalent to the flu essentially because people here can afford to get meds. It is only scary if you get it and aren’t near a place to buy medicine or if you cannot afford medicine. Thankfully, I haven’t been sick at all since I arrived here.
I hear there’s snow back in the good old midwest… If it makes you feel any better, it’s in the 90s here. Ha ha ha.
A Word of Advice: Flipflops from the market will break at the most inconvenient times. Better to resist the temptation of buying them in the first place.
3.11.08
If I Hear...
I feel like I should apologize for not updating more often, but ironically enough I sort of feel like I’m just a normal college student at a normal university (which is a good thing, but it’s kind of crazy considering I’m in rural Nigeria).
So since we last talked life has been good. School is just there. I finished midterms (but I only had two) and they both went well. I am starting to enjoy class more, now that I know people and their views. It’s very cool that my observations about the society here are exactly what we discuss in many of my classes (African politics and literature). Here’s an example. So today in my literature class we’re talking about a novel called “The Beggars Strike” and at one point the main character tells his wife of 24 years that he’s marrying another woman the next day. And she stays with him! Now, to me this is insane. My logic was that the original wife should threaten divorce in order to prevent her husband from marrying another woman (divorce is a huge deal here). But, culturally a divorce is worse for a woman than a man. So he could care less if she divorces him, but she essentially needs him. So after class I’m talking with some friends about this, and they say that’s honestly how it is here. Women have some rights to fight for!
Alright, so I’ll fill you in on what I’ve learned about ‘tribes’. Now, first of all ‘tribe’ is formally considered derogatory but I have heard Nigerians ask other Nigerians what tribe they are from. The term tribe comes across as ‘primitive’ when really there are European ‘tribes’ but we call them ethnicities. There are three main ethnicities here in Nigeria: Ibo, Hausa, and Yoruba. There are lots of others, but for simplicity sake well leave it at that. Yola is in the north and the north is mainly Hausa and Muslim. Each ethnicity has its own language (with many different dialects) and traditional practices. From what I’ve heard, you can’t necessarily distinguish ethnicity by physical appearance, but some ethnicities tend to be more fair than others. There is a lot of pride in ethnicities, but not too much tension between them (unless talking about politics). Some of my friends have said that they’re parents want them to marry in their ethnicity, because the woman is taken in to her husband’s family. Everyone here is from a ‘village’, where grandmothers and some distant relatives live. Most people go to their village for Christmas or a visit every couple of years. The tensions are political. Leaders here get into power and give preference to their people and neglect the rest of the country. So for example the state that the president is from has better roads ect (and most presidents have been from the north) so the east and the south gets the shaft. It’s a difficult cycle to break so this has sort of pitted the groups against themselves in some cases. But people here at AUN have a lot of pride in their ethnicity. There’s some nice tshirts ‘Ibo Boy’! haha
There has been a running joke with my friends… “You People”. It started when I got to talking to this Yola guy at the mai shayi (tea shack). He told me that “you people all look alike” and I was like wow that’s the most racist thing anyone has ever said to me. But his English was pretty bad so I let it slide. But then I told my friends, they were like saying ‘you people’ is not offensive but we determined that saying all white people look alike is racist. Nigerians use ‘you people’ when talking about ethnicities. So then I told my friends that white people look really different from each other and I showed them pictures of my friends and they were like ‘wow you people all look alike’ and we just died laughing! So ironically enough in my African lit class a few days later my professor told me, “You people read fast. You start reading at a very young age” and I almost walked out of class. But later in his speech he said ‘Americans’ so once again I let it slide. But wow. It’s fun to joke around with my close friends about race, but because we all know that we look funny together and that we could care less about color. One of my friends is really dark and so people call him black boy, so now he calls me white girl. It’s funny because my friends and I can joke about race. They always talk about staining me. Or if I take a fanta over a coke they’ll say I’m watching my color!
Some Nigerianisms:
-IF I HEAR (shows shock)
-boning (serious look/attitude with someone)
-as in (just what you say)
-meat is tough
-if something is mediocre it’s ‘just there’
-beef with someone(same as in the US)
-malo (still trying to define this one)
-vexed (anger)
-dyou get? (do you understand/get it)
-abeg (this is my favorite, you use it to beg people to get your way)
-instead of cutting in line, you ‘chance’ the line
So since we last talked life has been good. School is just there. I finished midterms (but I only had two) and they both went well. I am starting to enjoy class more, now that I know people and their views. It’s very cool that my observations about the society here are exactly what we discuss in many of my classes (African politics and literature). Here’s an example. So today in my literature class we’re talking about a novel called “The Beggars Strike” and at one point the main character tells his wife of 24 years that he’s marrying another woman the next day. And she stays with him! Now, to me this is insane. My logic was that the original wife should threaten divorce in order to prevent her husband from marrying another woman (divorce is a huge deal here). But, culturally a divorce is worse for a woman than a man. So he could care less if she divorces him, but she essentially needs him. So after class I’m talking with some friends about this, and they say that’s honestly how it is here. Women have some rights to fight for!
Alright, so I’ll fill you in on what I’ve learned about ‘tribes’. Now, first of all ‘tribe’ is formally considered derogatory but I have heard Nigerians ask other Nigerians what tribe they are from. The term tribe comes across as ‘primitive’ when really there are European ‘tribes’ but we call them ethnicities. There are three main ethnicities here in Nigeria: Ibo, Hausa, and Yoruba. There are lots of others, but for simplicity sake well leave it at that. Yola is in the north and the north is mainly Hausa and Muslim. Each ethnicity has its own language (with many different dialects) and traditional practices. From what I’ve heard, you can’t necessarily distinguish ethnicity by physical appearance, but some ethnicities tend to be more fair than others. There is a lot of pride in ethnicities, but not too much tension between them (unless talking about politics). Some of my friends have said that they’re parents want them to marry in their ethnicity, because the woman is taken in to her husband’s family. Everyone here is from a ‘village’, where grandmothers and some distant relatives live. Most people go to their village for Christmas or a visit every couple of years. The tensions are political. Leaders here get into power and give preference to their people and neglect the rest of the country. So for example the state that the president is from has better roads ect (and most presidents have been from the north) so the east and the south gets the shaft. It’s a difficult cycle to break so this has sort of pitted the groups against themselves in some cases. But people here at AUN have a lot of pride in their ethnicity. There’s some nice tshirts ‘Ibo Boy’! haha
There has been a running joke with my friends… “You People”. It started when I got to talking to this Yola guy at the mai shayi (tea shack). He told me that “you people all look alike” and I was like wow that’s the most racist thing anyone has ever said to me. But his English was pretty bad so I let it slide. But then I told my friends, they were like saying ‘you people’ is not offensive but we determined that saying all white people look alike is racist. Nigerians use ‘you people’ when talking about ethnicities. So then I told my friends that white people look really different from each other and I showed them pictures of my friends and they were like ‘wow you people all look alike’ and we just died laughing! So ironically enough in my African lit class a few days later my professor told me, “You people read fast. You start reading at a very young age” and I almost walked out of class. But later in his speech he said ‘Americans’ so once again I let it slide. But wow. It’s fun to joke around with my close friends about race, but because we all know that we look funny together and that we could care less about color. One of my friends is really dark and so people call him black boy, so now he calls me white girl. It’s funny because my friends and I can joke about race. They always talk about staining me. Or if I take a fanta over a coke they’ll say I’m watching my color!
Some Nigerianisms:
-IF I HEAR (shows shock)
-boning (serious look/attitude with someone)
-as in (just what you say)
-meat is tough
-if something is mediocre it’s ‘just there’
-beef with someone(same as in the US)
-malo (still trying to define this one)
-vexed (anger)
-dyou get? (do you understand/get it)
-abeg (this is my favorite, you use it to beg people to get your way)
-instead of cutting in line, you ‘chance’ the line
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)