On My Own

Sunday, my Purdue co-workers traveled out in the various directions across Nigeria, which meant that I was left in Kano (where a majority of my trainings were held) without the companionship of my co-workers. Tahirou, the man organizing PICS for all of Nigeria, took pity on me and invited me over to his home for dinner. He did his MS and PhD at Purdue. His wife, Amina, also lived here in the states for several years. They have four boys ranging in age from 16 to 4. Amina asked what I thought of Nigeria. I was honest and said that it was very different from home- different in almost every way, but that I'd found the people to be friendly, helpful, and in general, with good senses of humor. Because I knew that she had been in the US for awhile, I asked her the same question- What did she think of the U.S.? She was very honest, and I have to say that I don't disagree with her answer. She said that Americans are not as welcoming (very true), although people were usually friendly and interested to know where they were from once they heard their accent and it was difficult to get used to our food. The food is bland (where I thought they could have backed off the spice just a tad!). We use too many preservatives and the meats have too much fat. We also eat a lot of boxed and processed foods. In contrast, they go to the market every day to buy the items they need for their meals and I don't think I saw a box of macaroni and cheese anywhere. One thing I found ironic- here in the US, there is a push for local farmers' markets. In Nigeria, they want more grocery stores. I had a great time chatting with Amina and got a better understanding of the culture in Nigeria. They are very family oriented- many times extended families live very close to each other and relationships with family and friends is important.
Oh, and did I mention that the boys speak four languages?! They go to a french school, so they speak french, english, hausa (the local dialect in Nigeria), and zulu (native tongue from Niger).
I can only speak one...