Lovely Love

              If I’m right this time: you are wondering why I use the same word twice in the subject. Maybe I just drew your attention to it. Well, it is as simple as simple can get, then again, it is not so simple. Lovely is an adjective describing a human being called Love in this script. She is the younger sister of a woman I adore very much, and will give up the whole world for….. but that’s not the issue now because on a topic like that there’s no end. I am going to briefly try to tell you about someone I have not spoken to for up to an hour. Like I said I’m going to try; Why? You know sometimes it is kind of difficult describing a woman because you could leave something out and I don’t want to leave out all the stops.

              The first time I talked to this woman, okay for the purpose of her age now, allow me to use, girl. She’s got a dozen in her. When we talked, the first impression was she had the same voice like her Big Sis. You know what I think now? I’m so off the point now if you ask me; she has her own unique voice. When you talked to her first, whether stranger or not, you feel like you have found a friend in her. Let’s say you mistook her friendship and wanted to use it as a leverage to talk to her sister, you will be making a big mistake. Why? Though maybe you would be talking to her elder sister, you will be missing out on someone full of some much virtue and best of all a confidante if it came to the worse. We still on her voice; day by day as we talk there’s this feeling that occurs to me and actually does happen that though she may be so young, she seems to have all the answers to all your questions. It makes you think twice about the statement of long ago; that some people have their mental ages way higher than their real age. That’s a tip people, don’t disregard young people. Like a preacher I know says it best; great things come in small packages.

                 I’m sure by now you are dying to know how she looks. Yo guys! She’s still a young girl; don’t even think about it, or else you going to have a problem with me. and that sure is not pleasing if her elder sister is added to the equation. Love is fine! I mean like FINE! The first time my eyes beheld her and that was a few days though not so (my cousin’s word) ‘dressy’ she was okay dressed. You know what caught my attention the most.

                Hey! Where’s your mind? We were talking about her looks. Have you ever heard the statement black is beautiful? I’m sure you have, unless maybe you haven’t stayed for long in Africa or been so close to them. We also love to rub it in. Well may I please correct that statement in regards to Love; the beauty of the African woman surpasses the mind’s eye. Don’t you dare try, try, and try to think I’m exaggerating. Dare not! I recall actually telling her the first day we talked face to face that, “I have to change my mentality about you.” I’m glad to have known her.

                   One other point I will touch on when it comes to Love will be her laugh. Maybe that’s what love really is. I mean love laughs at any situation despite the consequences and feels what you feel. Say what? I don’t really know her well, because Ed you have surely have just known her in a few weeks. Boi! Let me sound some knowledge into you. How long will it take you to realize that someone is full of love? I don’t know about you, but I’ll sure know in a few minutes. When I engage in a conversation with Love, the girl would not put off laughing. She is like one of those people to me if you feel so down, just a simple hello or hi from them will send you sky rocketing. I know if there’s something I can compare to her sister will be their way of saying hello’s and hi’s when any party talks to you on phone.

Frankly there’s simple loads more but like my best friend has started saying, “take it all in”  

 

Retelling The French Voyage Pt. 1

                       I’m sitting here in the parlour downstairs – my aunt’s and uncle’s house in Abidjan watching some French comedy. You know, since I came here, honestly I have realized that the French people don’t make those nice movies like the Hulk, Spiderman, Stomp the Yard, and the other English thrilling movies. If they do show those movies, then it is dubbed in French voice. Jeeeeeeees, I don’t know why but like 80% of their programs are so boring. Well, you can’t blame me I miss the fun programs on Ghana television. You can’t blame me, home is home, right? Hahahh! I just laughed at some very stupid French comedy. I guess they do have something too.

 

                        Well, I have less than 48 hours to return back home after almost a year outside her. Okay! Right now I want to go through some Ivorian experience before I fly out. Where can I start from? Hmmmmm, someone said if you don’t know where to start, start from the beginning. So I guess the beginning will be how I got here. Well I came here first by bus, a government run service called STC. Since it was my first time, I was going to be an experience. I came with my Uncle, Isaac. Damn! The journey was so long.  I left the house at around 4am, the bus left at around 5am. You wouldn’t believe it but I got home to Abidjan around 8:30 pm. My buttocks was finished. Of course there were stops on the way but then it was my first time. All I had to resign myself to, was that probably my bus ride was less longer than for many others. You know I loved about the whole bus ride? The green scenery! I never had a chance to see all the way from Accra to Elubo and through to Abidjan. I saw it all, name it; water bodies, strange buildings, houses, languages, boy! I saw a lot in the long journey. I think once a while people should just take the bus ride to the nearest country. Boi! It is adventurous, but you know what? I will leave that to you to decide. Don’t say I didn’t tell you that you are missing on lots of things.

 

                       The language? Ohhhh! I know that’s was the main reason I chose to come here. The French language was another one! Yea, I did French back in school from Grade 2 to Grade 9 but that was a long time ago! Well I could remember the “ Bonjour” “Merci” and all the other small expressions. Jeeeeez but my French teacher was talking slowly, these people sure weren’t! Right in the bus, there were so many people who spoke French; others both French and English. Inside my own country I left like a stranger in the bus. Even my uncle called a friend of his in Abidjan on the way. Gosh! I didn’t understand anything. I tried! Who told you I didn’t! Like I said, my French teacher was talking slowly, besides all I needed back the in school was to learn what I had been taught and answer questions on it. Guess what? Final exams, I had an A. Here was I in the bus with bilingual and francophones and I didn’t know nothing! What the heck was I doing back in school then?

Yep! But trust me I had to make extra effort to understand and speak the language. Even now I am not perfect. I remember telling a friend of mine yesterday that I understand like 100% and speak like 80%. Those figures should even be reduced a bit. LOL.  Did you say why? I’m surprised at you. I have been here for less than a year, maybe 10 months at most and you think I know everything. It wasn’t like I came to school here to study French, nope! So everyday I learn something new. I remember the first time I went to church. Yep! You guessed it! It was a French church. How the heck was I going to understand was the preacher said? Before, it never crossed my mind; after all, my uncle spoke French. Unfortunately Isaac too was an usher, so he could never have time to translate. Well, I just decided in my mind to follow the crowd, though I would be seconds late on doing what they do. I just decided to sit there and pretend like I heard everything. Luckily, my uncle made some efforts. There was this girl being ushered in by my uncle and he asked her if she could speak English. She answered. “yes!” Wondering, my uncle asked if she could translate for someone. She didn’t answer she threw her right hand, asking who it was. My uncle pointed at me and somehow I smiled at her. Of course I had to. Then she refused. Well, asked my why? Maybe because I smiled too much. Probably I should have frown my face that day. Well, she later went to her seat and asked some other guy, much older than her, to translate for me. Well, so calmly the guy came to take his seat near me. I was glad at least I would be able to understand what the speaker was saying. The guy told me after sitting, “I’m Elvis.” Certainly I told him my name. Well he did translate. Not the perfect English, but Elvis was so far better than me compared to speaking someone’s language. He was French and he didn’t speak so perfect English, sometimes mixing a few tenses but he was good. I thought he had done so well to study English in a French country, unlike me who couldn’t make a clean conversation in French. Well he helped me, I helped him. Sometimes he corrected my mistakes in the French language, and me, his.

For the young woman who didn’t want to translate, I later learned her name was Stephanie. She was studying English in the university. She was just in her first year I heard. So the thing was she wasn’t so perfect, maybe couldn’t speak in a clean conversation like me. That’s one characteristic with the Ivorians I don’t really understand. They turn to laugh at a foreigner who makes a mistake in French, so even with the little English they knew they couldn’t speak. Why? Certainly, because they think the Anglophones will laugh at them. Those mocking would have discouraged me if it wasn’t for people other bilinguals and francophones who advised me. Like my Uncle said, “ I’m here to learn your language, I don’t care if you laugh at me, after all in the end, I know your language, and you don’t speak mine!” Well said uncle!

So I went from learning the small phrases, to the main two days a week of French lessons, one hour each day, with a very good French teacher normally called Tonton Pierre, I made it to where I am now, though still nowhere but somewhere.   You won’t believe I even lead a bible study meeting in French. Yeah!

 

                          The food? OMG! The second or so day I came here. I accompanied my uncle to go and buy some food. The call the food, “Atieke,” the main delicacy of the people. I remember watching when the food vendor was putting the food into a take-away. It looked like rice from afar. When I got closer, surely I thought I saw “Gari” – a local food in Ghana. If it was gari I was seeing, where was the stew or something in that category to go with it? All I saw the guy putting on the food was fish, that smelt so nice, and omg! Did the guy just sprinkled only green pepper on the food and hand it to us? Puzzled, I questioned my uncle as to what that was. He revealed that it was just like our gari back home.  With our gari, after deriving it from cassava, we fry it. But these people steam it with water. Well…I can’t deny the food was nice. When I was eating; I can recall the watch man, Jean, shouting that, “On mange ‘garba’ avec les mains” In translation, we eat garba with our hands, and I was using a spoon. (don’t get confused, I know I said atieke, now I’m saying garba. Well in a raw state, it is called atieke. When it is prepared by the men, with just their green pepper, it is called garba; amazing many people prefer that, to the nutritious one made by women with more vegetables and stew, which still retains the name atieke.) Get it now I hope! There are other foods, but lets stop on this, at least that’s the main diet of the people. I recall some people telling me that Ghana isn’t a nice place. Why? Because there’s no atieke. Yeah right!

 

Live, Love, Laugh!

I’m so sure that you have been probably asked that question, “why are you laughing,” by someone before when you were laughing and no one could see the reason or understand why? I think it’s so good to laugh and smile generally. A research conducted once by a group of scientists in a documentary I once watched on national television revealed that “laughing” and “smiling” was an important action that made people happy and feel bonded with their fellow men. Guess more what the research revealed; even animals do laugh. Honestly that’s where I confirmed the popular saying that, “laughing promotes long life.” Thinking of that, why shouldn’t it add more long life? A man that is depressed averaging one-third of his life: how long do you think he will live? Now imagine a man that has been laughing and smiling, generally happy the in same one-third of his life; how long do you think he can live? Which will live longest; certainly the happy person! I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say we should try and smile and laugh for a least one-third of each day. Then from one day, we have two, which later becomes a week.

Don’t think my words are strange, there aren’t. It happens even with you and around you, all the time. There are days were we feel so happy, probably for no reason, but most times for a particular reason; days that bring joy making us smile and laughs our hearts out. Could you imagine what brought this thought into being in this script? I always have the memory of a friend of mine in Grade 9. There was a spelling between boys and girls. It went one after the other, each person from both parties went to represent their wards after the previous set had finished spelling. There was only one word to spell for each set of opposing sexes. Well, and there was this friend called, Joseph who I just called after I had finished mine. (you call the next person from your sex when you are done) So it was Joe’s turn and the girl representing also was there, and the teacher gave the word; by this time if Joseph failed to answer correctly, we would have no chance of a competition in this spelling. Thankfully Joe’s hands went first immediately making the boys in the class so glad. The girl hadn’t made her mind yet. When Joe was asked to spell the words, guess what? He hopped three times to the left towards the girl (we, the boys didn’t really know what was going on but we laughed all the same, he was a funny guy and such of a dancer). After his seven seconds performance, he placed his finger on his lips and said, “errrrrrmmmmm!” as if now thinking about it. Amazed? Yes! Like you guess, the girls won the contest, after further trials. I always laughed back at this scenario when it plays back in my head. I couldn’t help thinking that Joe did all the dancing and now thought after the word after he was done! Yea, I know it isn’t a joke, but that’s a memory that make me laugh al the time and smile always on what he did!

I know for sure there are the occasion fights and quarrels, of course I’m human too, but it does not have to end there. At this moment I’m imagining a world that is free from wars, where people smile and laugh and love everybody the same; no need for discriminations and it’s surrounding underlines…wow! What do you see if you imagine that too? Yes! There will surely be NO world wars, cold wars civil wars and the others, why because, I make myself happy and don’t let things weigh me down. Like I always say, “you watch my back, I watch yours.” That’s the beauty of life!

I remember once laughing for no reason, I laughed for an entirely 10-20 minutes without having to stop. There was no reason for why? I made myself laugh; maybe you can too? My cousin who I was with, said, “Are you all right? Hey you are becoming mad.” Today was been a very happy day for me: ask me for the reason, I can’t tell you because I have searched and I hav still not found the reason. Hint: Just laugh at those funny and silly moments and cherish them. If madness is laughing and smiling I won’t like to stop that. Maybe you will agree with me that, certainly if I went out somewhere and saw two people at different places; one smiling alone and the other just looks like he is angry with the world! Who would you approach? For me, I would approach the soon to be pal who is smiling; surely I love talking to people when they have things to talk about, their issues, problems and all so I could also talk to the man who looks not-so happy but I would love to be with someone who is always happy in spite of circumstances, always being positive. It gets contagious you know, being around people that laugh and smiles all the time. Let’s pause for a second and tell me how many people who frown all the time are beautiful and appreciate life. I’m trying to think of one but I can’t. So there we have it laughter brings beauty and a positive life form. I think I’m going to be happy all the time, so don’t ask me why I’m laughing because I don’t know the reason myself:)

If you can’t find something to always to happy about, just think about those great times you spent with someone special, the things they said; maybe too the person is not in your family but you always free happy and less depressed (in case you still have some traces of sadness) around the person. I think those moments with the person when you reflect on afterwards will still bring some warmth and a smile on your face. After all like my theory goes, “What is life for, if not for sharing love with other people, then I don’t know what else?” Ohhh! Don’t get me wrong; I know how our day to day achievements (in life, schools, you know the awards and certificates and all) makes us very happy, but it doesn’t last because man also wants more and desires more of those successes. Surely, believe it or not but it is true. Let me ask you a question, the answer will prove itself. “Which moments do you remember being so happy?” Whether you think deep or not, you will still arrive at this common phenomenon; the times you were very happy were when you were with people or had a connection with people. You think I’m wrong? Ok, hold on a moment again and think about it; the answer remains the same, with people. So why shouldn’t you and I dedicate our lives to seeing people happy. Yes! I found it, maybe that is the reason for my always being happy. I love to put smiles on people faces and take off that burden generally. Many times after that I realize there is some inner joy within that surpasses those many laurels and awards that I work hard to earn.

Trust me; just one moment is enough to smile about. I had a friend that laughs very much. I really wanted to copy her way of laughing, I could never do it, but now I know I can laugh about anything and sometimes so no reason too.

Like I said before, if you had two people for instance and one just loves to get on their other friend’s bad side. Let’s say, for sometime the other pal did not want to retaliate. He just looked at him and smiled. Do you think the fight will still continue? Why? The guy who smiled didn’t push back making his opponent amazed and unable to continue. I know sometimes how our parents get. (If you are a parent it still applies to you too, after all you were once children). Most of the time our parents prevent certain things that we want to do, sure they do it out of love but they may step on your toes in the process. Here’s the clue; if they don’t say sorry, and keep complaining all the time about what is wrong with you, always saying negative things about you; don’t yell or scream, or argue. Just listen; it won’t kill you to listen, would it? Maybe she slaps you, (I hope she doesn’t). Hint: just smile. Maybe not only your parents or family but then outside someone you know argues with you. Sincerely it will be a lot better if you don’t argue with the person or saying something bad back; it will save you a lot of energy! Just ignore it. If you do: you save the peace of yourself and your neighbour. The thing is one party has to ignore the other for love and peace to continue, and smiling will really turn your friend on. He would not understand why you are smiling and not arguing. You would be a new person in his eyes. You will gain his respect; likewise the same ignoring theory prevents world wars. How? You see many wars are as a result of two different or same factions thinking one and greater than the other and the other also thinks, he has more power and is stronger. In the process to prove the toughest, many people die. Imagine now, that one faction ignores the other’s boast you think there will ever be war. I know there are other causes too for war, like a people trying to defend themselves from outside occupation. But imagine the ignore theory; we have some many peoples lives saved!

All I’m saying is the depression and bad moments and sad times aren’t worth it in the long run. I know we are humans, we do get sad sometimes, but don’t let it always get to you. Smile… you deserve happiness better than anything more in this life…just be happy! Now do me a big favour and just smile. For what? I think we are way past that now. You still aren’t smiling, are you?