Diary of a Patriotic Corper: Embracing Change and Growth

There are only a few months until the end of the year—the one year of service to my country under NYSC. I have conflicting thoughts on how to move on from here. I'd be honest with myself and say that I probably get used to anything that feels comfortable to me pretty fast, and stepping out can be challenging sometimes. But am I really as comfortable as I want to be or should be? Perhaps I am just, you know, used to it all instead.

One thing I have learned so far about being far from home is that you never know what's really out there until you get out there. And being used to the customs and traditions where I am from, it truly felt like an entirely new place being on another side of the country. And some of the new experiences took some serious getting used to.

I do not like to travel—being in public vehicles and dealing with commuting issues—and consequentially, I do not feel fascinated by the idea of being in new places, particularly if they are very far. However, being here and experiencing new things—exploring a few more states for different reasons, interacting with people of different cultures, lifestyles, and languages, tasting never-thought-before kinds of foods—I realise it really isn't such a bad idea.

With 10 months spent here, one of the things that I know I have deeply missed about home is the food. Not just cooked food, but also the kinds of ingredients that I am used to—and so I have found myself deeply craving and wishing someone coming my way would help me with certain foodstuffs from where I am from. Have you tasted amala and ewedu soup before? Oh my lawd!! Your life might never remain the same. Ewedu is made from jute leaves, and then it is combined with blended tomato soup (cooked separately).

I am talking about the black swallow that is particular to Yoruba people. Preparing it is an art—that often involves a lot of sweating to prepare, though. It's not that it is strenuous to make; at least, not like iyan (pounded yam), another food that I miss so much, although it is seldomly prepared by most people as it requires a lot of pounding. No one wants to pound every day of their lives, so pounded yam is an occasional type of food.

The soup here is great, too, actually. Although mostly strange at first, I grew to enjoy them, mingling with the people from the southern side. Anyway. Let me not talk too much about food before I give the wrong impression about me.

Growing up on the western side and being there all my life, I never knew much or bothered to learn much about the people from any other part of Nigeria. Surely, there are many people from different tribes living in the west, but learning about them is very unlikely as the Yoruba culture is dominant there. Coming here to Rivers State, south-south Nigeria, I have not only met people from many tribes but also learned a few things about them and their languages, but I didn't understand peppersoup rice for a while.

Peppersoup rice...Okay, we are talking about food again. Anyway, peppersoup rice, apparently, is eating rice with peppersoup. What a strange food that was to me at first, but hey, it turns out that it is actually really nice. Maybe the pepper soup here isn't as spicy as I am used to. Back at home, we take pepper soup alone with different kinds of meat inside. Just that, with a cold bottle of soda or beer, is a banger. And that bowl of pepper soup must make you sweat like you're running 100 miles. Your mouth must be doing ssssswwwwwoooooooo... (if you know, you know)

Lifestyle is very different here, too. I mean, very, very different. In Lagos, people open their shops and start their business before the sun starts, and they wouldn't close till it was very late at night, at least 8 p.m. Over here?? My God, they don't stress o. Imagine a restaurant telling me that food isn't ready at 10 a.m. In Lagos, seventeen families would have been fed by that time. And there aren't that many restaurants around, sadly.

Damn it. Food again.

Anyway, having to teach secondary school students has been another fascinating experience for me. Soon enough, I realised that teaching was not my calling. After this one, I am not doing it again. Teachers have my 101% respect henceforth.

I am not sure which is harder: marking 250 exam scripts or teaching the same thing twice every Monday and Thursday to two different arms for the entire term. What I know is that I would rather do other kinds of jobs more suitable for my personality and skillset.

Change of environment can do a lot for someone and perhaps nothing for another person. As it turned out, I have been through different types of health situations, and more intensively so in the last three months, even as we speak (or you read?). It is mostly because many of the circumstances are not entirely in my control. And such is life, anyway: you don't get all that you want or need sometimes.

There's a lot more to talk about, but for now, and since my fingers have grown so weary so unusually fast from typing, I might as well rest the pen soon. What's mostly on my mind these days is bringing my plans to fruition and making the right moves after it is all said and done with this service year. I'll cross that bridge when it comes, but I'd rather do it prepared. So, until then, I thought to air this out tonight. Spent too much time researching something today, only to not even understand much after it all. Again, such is life.

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