Having African Neighbours

You think being an African and living in a non-African country is hard? Then try being an African, living in a non-African country AND having African neighbours. That, my friend is hardship! And then if they somehow have kids... You're done!

I am proud to say that in my 5 years and 4 months here in Austria, and 4 times of relocating from 3 different "subcities", I still have to cope with the bountiful African neighbours who surround our recent apartment. There is no day I can seem to look out my window and not see an African pass by our house or knock on the door. 

And so I have stopped looking out the window facing the street, and have now resigned myself to peeping through the one that shows the garden.

Thus, to avoid getting visitors that were "just driving up and down the street and somehow saw your name on the door and decided to stop by", my dad "forgot" to put our name on the door bell of the new apartment even though we were supposed to. 

How on earth having African neighbours can in any way be disturbing you ask?
Lemme make this clear for you then with the help of illustration...


1. They come to "play" (EAT). 

You are forced to say yes, after all, how could you say no? 

"I'm busy"

"Ooh it's no problem, we'll be reaaaally quiet"   

"No. You don't understand, you are NEVER quiet" 

 "I promise we will be this time....pleaaaaaase O.O" 

You see, you just DON'T say no -.- 


Minutes- and I seriously mean minutes- later, they get hungry and you start to ask yourself if they wake up every morning just to disturb your peace. 

They may look cute and all, but don't let yourself be deceived, they are extremely cute when they aren't necessarily jealous of your peace and quiet.

2. They come to drink.

They do not think anything of your being busy. They ask you unnecessary questions whenever they feel like it and God knows ignoring them will cause even more agony. You answer whenever is needed of you.

Approximately 7.5 minutes after having eaten, a drink is requested. And as I said, it is useless to ignore and if you accidentally do ignore in this case, you will find glass shards on your kitchen floor and begin to regret ever letting them in.

They smile at you and reassure you that your getting up and getting them drinks yourself was indeed the right decision.

3. They come to make sure you don't get work done.

I don't think I have to say much here, the fact that this post is uploaded 2 days after the pictures were taken hopefully does explain everything.

All she did was write her name. Don't ask why!

4. They come to poke their noses into your business and lie on your bed.

They don't compliment you on your work, instead they argue about who gets to turn the next page.

Then when they get stressed out from arguing and turning pages, they lie on your bed...and start to fight until someone is on the floor, crying or just admiring the wood.

5. They come to touch...EVERYTHING

She learned to play part of the intro of Rihanna's 'Stay', but still, she was too loud and disturbing!!!  

I hope you now understand what I was trying to point out in the beginning. Having African neighbours can be terrifying, but I love this pair no matter what!! 

Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!

Taking Advantage of Every Opportunity!

I was interviewing a friend, or rather big sister Ebube ^-^, on Monday for my first radio broadcast -that will be put up as soon as possible- when this question came up: 

"If you had the choice between staying here in Austria and moving back to Nigeria, what would you choose?"

Before then, I had always criticized this actually beautiful country I am privileged to be a part of, saying the Austrians...

1.  are so hostile and unfriendly;

2.  are never contented with what they have and take what they have for granted;

3.  were born with a silver in their mouths and don't know what it's like to have gone through hardship;

Courtesy of The Zimbabwean

Courtesy of National Geographic

4.  will see these picture in textbooks or in documentaries and the first thing to come to their minds will be: Africa is sooo poor! They will probably never know how much fun it actually is, especially when you've got your friends or family at your side.


However, her answer made me stop and think. I could either see it like this:

I have had to move to a country thousands of miles way from home leaving behind a part of my family and ALL my friends. I have had to learn a language that I hadn't even known of it's existence. I have had to get used to a foreign culture and blanket mine whenever I went outside my door. I have had to forget my African way of thinking and adapt to the European. POOR ME!

                                                             OR

I may have had to face some difficulties in the first few years of my stay here, but it's about time I stopped asking, "Why did my dad have to choose Austria of all places?!" and started asking,"How do I make the best out of my stay here and take advantage of EVERY opportunity, no matter how little or irrelevant it might seem to be?" 


So right now, I plan to accept and appreciate things as they are, make the best of everything I can, enjoy life and all the doors it opens and respect the fact that some doors are just meant to remain closed! 


All these and more have just been a few minutes from where I live, but instead of noticing and appreciating them, I have spent the past few years mourning and asking "Why?!"

Courtesy of Olympus Fotoforum
Grazer Murinsel. A plattform afloat the sea Mur.

Courtesy of Wikipedia
Schlossberg.
 An arms museum and clocktower at the top of a huge, beautiful  mountain.

Courtesy of  Deutsches-Architektur-Forum
The Graz Art Museum. An extravagant architectural artwork in the middle of the city. 

Courtesy of  Das Wirthaus
Schloss Eggenberg. A beautiful palace built in the 17th century, just 15 minutes away!

So in this manner, I want to say a big thank you to my big sister Ebube for changing my perspective of seeing everything around me, with this answer:

"[...] Here in Austria you have a huge gap of chances to choose what you want to be, but in Nigeria, even if you studied, you could stay unemployed [...] Everybody is important here, but in Nigeria it's difficult. I would like to stay in Austria, but on the other side, Nigeria is my HOME"

Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!

Mathophobia

So trying to learn some math for this super-important test as my teacher calls it.

Why do the teachers always choose the simplest and most logical equation to explain in class? They just make you feel like the topic is soo much simpler than the forerunner and then you get home, trying to revise looking like this:

"I thought algebra was my bro!

I thought we had that connection! 

I thought I was the chosen one to find your long lost "x" O'Maths :O"

Yeaaaah...NO! Maths teachers lie through every tooth in their mouth! Just wait till it's time for exams to start. Divine intervention is all I'll say. 

For instance:

This is what you do in class with your teacher:

-5y + 3 = 2 (4y+12)                                             y=?

This is what you get as a homework:

|x-a| = a^2 - x^2                                                 x=?

And then this is what you get served when it's exam time:

1.)  log2 (2x-1) + x = log4 (144) * {ab²}³*² - log³³ * sqr55% of 2567309874 \ 99.2% of 356%

Eddie the cockroach dies after this experiment, how much x was put into the formula and how long did Eddie have to live after the dose was doubled? 

2.) ...


And then you go ...O.O... MY MATHS TEACHER DID NOT MENTION ANY COCKROACH IN CLASS!!!  But of course no one listens, because every pupil your age is supposed to know everything about Eddie, including the cause of his death. That's just how life works.


Thank God for YouTube, because there's mostly someone who knows everything there is to know about Eddie and was probably present when the experiment on him took place. So after a few hours of YouTubing -you probably round the whole search up by watching one or more videos of how to communicate with giraffes and mice and then wonder how you even got there in the first place- you FINALLY understand why Eddie had to end that way and then you feel like this:

Eddie the cockroach died, simply because of hunger.


Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!

Hospitals...

Courtesy of AUVA. Unfallkrankenhaus Austria.

We've surely all had our share of fun in a HOSPITAL! Well, I haven't, at least not until today when I voluntarily accompanied my friend to the hospital after she had performed a double salto in the air and landed in a split position in Physical Education lessons earlier today. I'm just kidding, we never do anything that cool in PE, she just tripped while playing volleyball and hurt herself somewhere around the knee. Before we knew it PE class was over. (which was good because no one actually liked playing volleyball except this particular friend who had hurt herself real bad playing the game she was soo passionate about- guess life isn't always a bowl of cherries aye?)

As the good friend and seat mate that I am, I went over to the school physician- still in my sportswear might I add- to see how she was doing. Next thing I knew, I was in my casual clothes again and rushing her out to the ambulance vehicle with both hands full! I felt like some superhero then... you know, with me saving a friend and all.

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in the waiting room feeling all cool and stuff  B). By the time I had waited a second hour without having being called in, the coolness started to wear off, and I mean real fast! There was NOTHING to do there other than watch a super-old episode of "Malcom in the Middle" with the volume turned all the way down... over and over again Ö-Ö. 
Finally it was our turn and she turns out to have a torn ligament in her knee or something and she has to walk on crotches for a few weeks.

So, what you learned from this, you ask? Don't ever believe anyone in the hospital when they tell you, "The doctor will be with you in a few minutes"


Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!