The morning of Sunday started with promise, in spite of the very cold rain. I left the hotel in Washington DC an hour before check out time in company of my very charming host Bumight, who had come all the way from Maryland to drive get me out of the capital. It was with her that I got a free ride-through tour of Howard University in Maryland where she’s a student of medicine. The tour was extensive and we almost froze our fingers off while walking in the freezing and dripping weather, taking pictures. I later went to Hyatsville where I did a little cooking for my own breakfast.
The Nigerian slice of the American blogging world is dominated, I believe, by a few young but strong Nigerian ladies many of who reside in the state of Maryland. On this visit, I was privileged to have met four of them. Bumight’s blog, like many others, express the different peculiarities of living, particularly as a student in a foreign country, but it has a medical slant, understandably. These days, you’re most likely to find her on twitter sharing thought or just being randomly funny. Can you guess what’s written on that shirt she’s wearing in this picture?
My travelling body was soon transferred from her hand, after a delicious breakfast, into the hands of another blogger Vera Ezimora whose online presence is almost greatly disproportional to her height and (almost) gentle speech. But don’t take my word for it. I’ve been told that while standing beside me, people of normal height look like dwarfs. Vera and I went to the University of Maryland where she’s currently a student. I sat through almost one and a half hour of class group discussion that dwelt on the different types of empathy. After those tortuous hours (of my life that I can never get back, of listening to them deliberate in at least four different accents of the English language – from at least three different continents), I am never going to see empathy in the same light ever again.
Then there was a brief interlude outside of the class, a short respite, where I met some two new faces from the Nigeria: Chinny and Sweet&Sour, who complained that I made them look short. See how one of them tried to get to my height level by jumping up high. I was meeting them for the very first time.
Nigerian writer and literary critic Ikhide Ikheloa who had graciously offered to host me and drive me back to the airport in the morning. All these he did, and more. I had never eaten so much food at one sitting in my entire life. It was also my first time of finishing a whole bottle of red wine at one sitting. It was Malbec, a fine wine from Argentina. Mr Ikheloa has lived in the United States since 1982 when he decided on a whim to move from the prosperity of old Nigeria in search of adventure. It was another home away from home with stories, music, jokes, laughter and fun.
I spent the beginning of Sunday on a foot and drive-through sight-seeing tour of the famous Howard University in Washington DC and its major famous spots. The trip was made possible thanks to a Nigerian friend and a student of the University, who drove all the way to pick me up and give me a tour even in the freezing rain.