First Contact

Mood: Content
Stage notes: Jazz with a strong trumpeter crooning

Today a Nigerian student approached me after class to ask if I would help him with his homework. His first language is Ibo and I think this has made it more difficult for him to grasp the material. His English is very good, however, and I was able to give him a German/English dictionary. This small gesture of goodwill seems to have gone a long way, because he has expressed interest in meeting each day after class to study together. He also bought me an ice cream sundae at McDonalds. Apparently there are no McDonalds in Nigeria, because he had never heard of them before. Behold, a corner of the earth that American fast food culture has not been exported to yet! Because he is here for two months I am hoping that we will be able to develop a friendship and talk about deeper matters at some point.

I also had a chance to visit Ikea today. This is a worldwide chain of gargantuan furniture stores with exceptionally low prices. The catch is that you have to put it together yourself. The Bonnets bought a new armoir for their son's room, so we spent part of the evening rearrainging furniture and getting things ready for his return (he's visiting his grandparent's farm this week).