MY ECON PROFESSOR : ''I MEAN ITS FREAKING COLD OUTSIDE'' (WITH CHINESE ACCENT):D

Oooo wen (turtle's name)

When you start talking to turtles..you know your Chinese is getting better!!!

Oh but I talked to the owners of the restaurant too..don't be like that. Of course I didn't fly thousands of miles to talk to turtles...silly

Hot what?!

In other news.....

I got introduced to quail eggs today. Yes quails lay eggs, they're a type of bird. But I don't blame you, I didn't know people went around looking for quail eggs to boil. It's pretty funny actually, picture a bunch of Chinese rummaging for quail eggs like it's normal. Ok so it is, in this part of the world. The problem is, normal in this part of the world is NOT normal for me. But that's ok, I've had people ask me if I know anyone called Kunta Kinte (I said yes, it's a fairly common name in Africa) so I guess I understand.

I wish I had a picture right now but its on my friend?'s camera, I'll put it up as soon as I have it. The eggs were part of what was to be my dinner if I had braved the storm but you know Fantes are particularly fussy when it comes to satisfying our gustatory cravings. Unfortunately I don't think my friends were happy with this explanation. They said to ''just go with it'' and to ignore ''what it is you're eating'' ''as long as it's edible''... they are obviously not Fante! Or Ghanaian for that matter but its all good. In life its good to be adventurous but to those who get it, the first person to die in a horror movie is never a black person.

So all in all, my ''dinner'' tonight was a hot pot, this boiling bowl set in the middle of the table that serves a soup you create yourself by choosing what goes in it..and all kinds of things went into mine. I'm glad my friends enjoyed it but it'll take some time to get used to soup cooked in 10 minutes (yes, the protein and veggies too).

My real dinner was Chinese nescafe (nothing like ours) and chinese wafers. 

This is what I signed up for, that's why I didn't slack in Ghana. Cheers to the good times!

Humble beginnings

So this is it, the girl is in China. Nobody sent me, nobody punished me, I wasn't threatened or coerced. I simply made up my mind that I was going to come to China. And yes, I felt 3 months of Mandarin lessons were enough to tide me over my 8 months stay. I mean, who needed more than 3 months?!

Ha. Simple as that.

DEPARTURE

Being the crazy 'too-known' chick (literally) that I am, I spent 48 hours between 4 continents prior to my arrival in China. Ghana to Frankfurt, 5 hours sleeping on a string of airport seats (no one saw me I guarantee you) Frankfurt to NYC, 15 hours with family and friends, switching luggage, NYC to LA, 1 hour filled with growing despair at being the only black person at the departure gate, LA to Shanghai..whew!

IN-FLIGHT

Yes, I was the only black person. I got a lot of stares. I wanted to sit by myself but some three girls came to sack me from my self-appointed 13hr throne. So I, in turn, went to sack the guy at my seat. Apparently it's not done, the Chinese avoid embarrassing situations like that. And the guy was with his girlfriend too. I felt so bad the entire flight, like I had beaten him up in front of his kids or something.

Halfway through the flight, the cabin crew switched from English to Mandarin...so I slept.

One thing that pissed me off though, the first and business class ate all the Chinese food on the plane so by the time it got to my turn (in the ECONOMY of Economy class), all that was left was Molasses chicken. Yes, molasses chicken.

Also, a lot of people on the fight were brewing something every minute, ginseng, tea,  herbal remedies..so you can imagine what the cabin smelt like.

At this point, with the smells of different herbs stinging my nostrils, reality sunk in. I was going to China!! I felt like asking for a parachute and crawling my way home from wherever I landed. But I checked the flight map and we were over the Pacific, so I scratched that plan out.

ARRIVAL

I had arrived. I still couldn't believe it. The stares started once more. Everyone stared. I mean everyone. So what did you expect me to do? That's right. I made an ass of myself. With the aid of a trolley of course. I was trying to get my trolley unto the escalator but the entrance was narrow...with no help from anyone, I in my wisdom unloaded my three suitcases and my hand luggage (full to max; Gh style, with bulges and everything), lifted the trolley, and reloaded it. Only to get downstairs and realize that there was an elevator right next to where I was suffering........

Watch out...the chronicles continue......

Turning Point

So I recently turned 20 and quietly took stock of my life. All the mistakes I made throughout my teenage years flashed before me but the lessons I learnt also made it to the slideshow. I saw relationships I built, relationships I cultivated and relationships I destroyed like flowers in various stages of bloom / decay...I saw my walk with God look like a map full of contour lines...wiggles here and wiggles there. Some were meaningful and made sense but others showed the wrong choices I made and the bad decisions I took stepping out of God's covering and His will. Several times I went offtrack and all the time He still took me back...Amazing...Breathtaking....How can a life so dirty and torn and just horrible be the same beautiful, wonderful life it was created to be? It all boils down to the God factor.
See, I just can't deny it and I won't. I've heard it all since my ears were able to discern words and my mind make meaning of them. I haven't seen it all, no but I can boldly and confidently say I have seen God at work in my life and without the blood of Jesus covering me, protecting me, providing for me, exchanging my weakness for strength, pardoning my sins, making me whole again, strengthening me...I know for a fact that my life would be a different story. The devil would have won. He would have killed me in my youth or he would have destroyed my life and used me to destroy others.
See I can't deny it and I won't hide it. I am alive and well today because of the Grace and Favor of God...free, unmerited and available to all who believe. Wanna know what it's like? I can try to explain but it won't be the same as feeling it. It's an exchange. An exchange we don't deserve but is made available for us through love we can never understand or explain. Life for death, strength for weakness, blessing for curse, beauty for ugliness, praise and gladness for mourning and depression. And you don't have to give anything in return because there's nothing you can give in return......so think about it. 
Would you rather stay this way and constantly beat yourself up because you aren't perfect or will you tap into the perfection made available because you AREN'T perfect?
Just sayin'

What you don't know....

Why is it that no one bothers to share crucial information in this country kraa?! ( emphasis on crucial mine duh).As an international student, I have rudely come to realize that studying in America means that the buck stops with you..oh yes it does. If you need anything, you have to suffer to get it. Internships, funding, info etc...and after all your hard work someone comes to tell you ''Oh you could have done it this way or asked so so and so''. So you go back to ''so so and so'' and ''so so and so'' tells you that you never asked what s/he ''so so and so'' could have done about it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!!
So, my question is this, this system kraa, how does it work? Because I'm cracking my brain trying to figure it out but I don't have all the time in the world. Whiles I'm cracking my brain those who understand it are moving forward (not what you're thinking...).
So, if you are or were an international student, help a sister out. And not just me, there are several others who need help navigating..you think I'm bad? Someone didn't know she had to pay credit card bills every month...see? What you don't know.....

Condemned to the bunny life

So this is the life. This is what I flew 5000plus miles to enjoy, multicolored food. Leafy, hard, red food.
After a hard day's work (or at least half a day) I very much look forward to meal times. Thus you can imagine my frustration when after standing in line for a turn that never seems to arrive in Prospect's dining hall, I realize that my phobia of unknown food takes over and I am forced to move along without lifting anything unto my plate. I see steamed spinach that reminds me of seaweed, some cheese something whose edges look like those of postal stamps, some Italian sauce which I once mistook for corned beef stew (and i will never make that mistake again), and some pasta''ish'' something.
I think long and hard about home and the food I could have been enjoying instead of the 'bunny' ensemble which I had tossed together as a matter of habit on my plate. Why can't they just cook 'nice' food? Everything I taste is bland and insipid, a world away from the spunk of African food whose aroma tickles your sense of smell and whose taste is something that makes you delirious for the period of concentration.
African food, whose sting will make your eyes water and your nose runny. African food, with its rich color, fresh, full of life, ORGANIC......
Next time you see me munching on the 'bunny ensemble', please do not twist the knife in my heart by telling me how healthy I eat and do not try to be funny by suggesting that I'm trying to lose weight. This is a serious matter. And until I have my banku and okro soup or my fufu and nkraks somewhere in the nooks and crannies of New York, let me reserve the right to 'bunnify' myself thank you very much!