I told a close friend that if I return to the US again, I will do so with mixed feelings, and she freaked out. “Why,” she must have thought, “would I relate with such levity to a golden chance to study in God’s own country?” Well, I continued, I am happy to reconnect with places and people that I love and who love having me around, but I also would be missing the company of those who love, respect and cherish me here. It is the beginning of a kind of cultural hybridity that I welcome with open arms, and the mixed feeling reserved for such mixed blessings. I was just beginning to fully enjoy the company of my hosts when it was time for me to return. Now here I am, not altogether fully integrated again when another duty calls.

Now, on the day that this adopted second country gave me a pass to come back into her arms, I suddenly developed another thirst for new adventures, and new possibilities seemed to open up. I admit, I should be happy, and I am. On the visa application forms were question as to whether I intend to conduct any terroristic activities against the United States, or whether I’ve been a convicted criminal. What? Well, I wonder how Nelson Mandela would fare under such questioning :). But you could could see the point of the immigration folks. The first thing to worry about if you’re caught trying to blow your junk on a plane into Detroit is how much trouble you’d be in for having first lied under oath.

Now this seemed like August last year all over again, and I’m here as stoic as before, not outwardly grinning, yet wishing for the very best in coming possibilities. If the question is “Will I miss Nigeria?”, the answer probably would be “yes”, but said with a readiness to accept the