17th of December 2011
These are 2 of my closest new Nigerian friends who have each stolen a bit of my heart. The short one with the short sleeve ETBU shirt is Maclard Obichere and the tall one with the long sleeve sweater thing is Onyekachi Mathew Chime. I had A&P with Maclard [I called him Obi most of the time, only his full name when I was giving him a hard time], but no classes with Onyekachi [I called him Chime, which kind of sounds like Jimmy, but its Chim (like CHIMNEY) A (long A)…. Chim-A. (:..].
Obi is the one who insisted that these pictures be taken. He had a very hard exterior most of the time. When Obi and John (another Nigerian student who stole another part of my heart) would speak in Igbu, pronounced E-boo, (their native tongue and name of their tribe), I would mock everything he said. They would look and me and chuckle. Then I’d “scream”/whine ‘I WISH I KNEW WHAT YOU WERE SAYIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG’. Then they would laugh even harder. Sometimes they would disclose their secret words to me.. and others - they’d say ‘we weren’t talking to you!” and so I’d just keep repeating it (obviously butchering ever word) and they’d just laugh and speak more of this unknown language. They taught me a few phrases, none of which I remember. Obi never spoke much to me but was always very considerate. We had a relationship similar to a brother and sister. If we ever made eye contact in the Student Center, one of us would stick our tongue out at the other. If I couldn’t understand what he said through his heavy heavy accent, I’d tell him and he’d say “it’s pigeon english!”. If I was ever the last person to leave A&P lab, he would wait for me and ask about my day. He was nothing but a sweetheart.
One of my favorite memories of my Nigerian friends was on 11.11.11. November 11 was Obi’s birthday. I knew because while I was writing in my planner, he came over pointed and said “that is my birthday, don’t you forget it!”. I immediately wrote it in. The day of his birthday when I saw him in class he said “today is my birthday, what did you get for me??? :)” I told him I didnt’ have it yet but I’d get it to him by the end of the day, still NO CLUE what to get him. I asked Chime what to get him and he said that Obi would be grateful to have anything from me. I asked “even make up???” and Chime so sweetly said “yes, Marina, even make up. He wouldn’t use it, but he would appreciate it. He would appreciate that you got him anything”. This made the gift purchasing surprisingly more difficult. I ended up getting him a plaid hat with flaps from Wal-Mart. Then went to his B-day party. LOUDEST THING OF MY LIIIIFE! John was a DJ at a club back in Nigeria and really enjoyed playing his music as loud as possible. They made a Nigerian dish which I pronouced “jello-frice”. They said that was how you say it, but I’m positive I butchered it. Anyway… it was this dish with baked chicken, rice,carrots (yum)& bell peppers (bleh! even the smell gives me a headache.) and some weird sauce of boiled down bell peppers mixed with some oil. I ate a lot of it even though it was definitely NOT my favorite.
Chime and I had lunch together often and spoke about life in Africa and his beautiful family. He is the oldest of 8 kids. He was allowed to name his youngest sister. He named her Joy because she brings nothing but joy to their family. He wants to be a financial something… in the govt. Chime says that America is more in debt than Nigeria so he wanted to come to the states to get an education and then ultimately help America get back to a stable place economically. If you ask him when he’s going back home he says “I am home, America is the best home anyone could ever ask for. All I want is for my family to come to this new home”. He has such a beautiful and gentle spirit. We talked about me being a nurse possibly for mission work, he stopped and prayed with me. He prayed that God would open an opportunity for me to go to Nigeria, back to his tribe so I could go help his family and other tribe members. It was so heart wrenching. At Obi’s birthday party, Chime was dancing non-stop. I even learned a few new Nigerian dance moves ;] .
The Nigerian students HATED ETBU [mostly just hated Marshall], but I’m so glad they were there for the semester I was. They’ve been such a blessing and eye opener. Hilariously enough, the Nigerian have no sense of personal space - and neither do I. They would often come RIGHT over my shoulder in A&P lab and try to get my answers because they didn’t understand the written instructions. Gosh, I miss those kiddos, I’ve gotten teary-eyed at least 3 times while writing this. I know this is a silly request… but could you please pray for them - that they’re hearts will continue to grow towards to God of the Bible, that they’ll constantly be pursuing Him; and for their families and tribe - that as this war in going on in their home country, that the Lord places a hedge of protection around their bodies and hearts.
7th of November 2011
This is my Annie. Its crazy to think how fast life goes by. I don’t want to forget any days at all. Everything is changing and I’m gonna miss her so much.
8th of July 2011
I’m okay
Tonight, I told a person who I used to call my best friend, boyfriend, and future that I might not be able to talk to him any longer. He doesn’t understand that I’ve moved on. He tries to playfully flirt, but that’s not okay. I’m not his, and there’s no reason for him to pursue me now. I flat out told him that “… I need you to know, I’m not planning to date you again. I just was so hurt and dont know that I’ll be able to trust you with my heart again….” There was much more to the novel I sent to him via Skype, but what’s important is - he know’s its over. He needs to start moving on. If that means that we can’t communicate, then so be it. I’m okay with that. I don’t know if it was wise to leave that up to him, but it’s what I did. A dear friend of mine suggested I do it, so I took his advice and am giving it a shot. I can only pray it goes well. I know God wouldn’t give me silver to replace gold - he must not have been gold.
5th of July 2011
I’m learning to know this is true
16th of June 2011
“
When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?”
— Shel Silverstein (A Light in the Attic) ”
4th of June 2011
tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?
Its difficult to distinguish between memories and remembered things from family videos…. I remember picking weeds that I thought were the most beautiful flowers and giving the bundle to my parents; they were confused, but showed delighted expressions. They put them in the nicest vase they could find that wouldn’t consume the bouquet. It became the centerpiece on the dinner table until the small white flowers were completely wilted and brown.
31st of May 2011
WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Today while I was outside just lounging - because what else could I possibly be doing in my condition?! - I started just watching the bird above me. I began wondering if I needed to fear that it was going to poop on me. Then, my silly little brain made me start thinking (what else is my brain gonna do?), what is the life of a bird like. I know bees all have jobs all the time. Ants too have duties they must fill each day.
But birds… yea yea they have to build a nest and feed their babies then teach those precious little creatures how to fly around. But when their mini-mes are all grown up and spring is not near… what do they do? Do they sit on branches or electric lines and just watch people? When they stand in the middle of the road, are they just playing a game, or is there a real purpose for us drivers to slow down? Are they trying to commit suicide because they’re incredibly bored? I know everything here on Earth has a purpose, and yes - birds eat bugs and spiders so that helps keep the bug population in check. But it’s not like they do calculations and think to themselves “the moth population seems to be lower than usual, I think Joe is eating more than his share.. I better not eat as many this week, perhaps 2 fewer moths each night.”
Yes, vultures are birds and they eat anything decaying so that’s helpful. But do we just benefit from birds just living the dream; eating, singing, people watching, and flying around all day? Or do they have specific duties to keep their communities functioning properly like other little creatures - human’s included?
Yes. This was honestly what I thought today :) Feel free to answer if you have any thoughts.
26th of May 2011
Letters
As a child I would often check the mail to see if I received anything. I’m not really sure what I was expecting. I didn’t have any friends that would have mailed me anything and all of my family was close enough in proximity that they would either call or just drop in if they had anything to say.
Recently, a friend and I decided that the only thing we have are letters to each other. He’s working at a summer camp all summer and well, I’m stuck in this bed for a minimum of 6 weeks. While he’s at camp he’s not allowed to have his cell phone or computer, which means no more skype or telephone calls, and no text messages.
I am once again running (well… hobbling) to the mailbox to see if there’s another surprise waiting for me! I get so excited and bubbly when I see a hand addressed letter from QuiQui. The first letter I ever received from QuiQui came with a basket of homemade cookies - it was a complete surprise. Don’t know how he pulled it off :D. This second envelope was so heavy it required more than one stamp. there were 11 pages front and back… :D.
From my own experience in journaling… its always fun to go back and look at what I wrote and see the different seasons of my life. If anything were to come from this friendship with QuiQui, it would be SO eyeopening to go back and look at what we deemed important enough to put into a letter to the other person. Half the time I don’t remember what I wrote the day before; so when august arrives and we are actually able to see each other in person again… I might have to ask him to let me see what I wrote to him. I try to include something from my devo but that doesn’t always happen. Plus, I don’t want him to think that I’m being pious.
Well, the meds are kicking in and knocking me out. for now - thats all.
ALSO I’m on a grand search for a hobby that I can do while laying in bed with minimal effort.. sooo I’ll keep posting about how that’s coming along… or not. :)
