Thoughts on a Conversation with a Stranger – Part 7

The story continues from yesterday (here): https://copytestprove.com/thoughts-on-a-conversation-with-a-stranger-part-6/

If you want to join me from the beginning, start here: https://copytestprove.com/thoughts-on-a-conversation-with-a-stranger-part-1/

I continued, ‘One time I was visiting Japan and had to do some banking in person. So I sat there quietly waiting my turn. Behind me I could hear two male voices speaking quietly in Igbo (Eastern Nigerian area). I turn around and, sure enough, there were two very tall men from Anambra (a Nigerian state).’

‘You could tell just by looking at them?’

‘Yes, and you are from Imo State.’ (Another Eastern Nigerian state, but which also speak Igbo.)

‘Ah ah, how do you know this?’

‘Well, I’ve been in Nigeria close to 20 years. I better know something about it. In any case, in Nigeria banks are bustling places and if the teller likes you, they will engage in conversation. Gisting, as it were. (Uh, for my international audience regular gist and Nigerian gisting are polar opposites.) In Japan, if the teller likes you, you’ll be in and out in the shortest time possible. Time is money, after all.

‘To continue, I turned around and saw these two very large black men (I’m not being racist. It’s rare to see foreigners in Japan to the point where Japanese whisper to each other, ‘Gaijin,’ when they see one. It literally means outsider. This is opposite to Africa, where people will call out, ‘White!!’ when they see us) and I greeted them casually with, ‘Kekime.’

‘I was prepared for it because I’ve been in Nigeria a long time, but the staff at the bank and the security guards certainly were not. These two very large men (I’m not kidding. Well, maybe I am. I don’t even reach five feet) suddenly jumped up, shouting real loud, spinning around themselves while holding their heads, towering over me and going through the usual slew of greetings and counter-greetings, and after every response from me a whole new round of shouting, CHINEKE! And all that. No one else in the bank could understand a word nor understand why I was smiling while being ‘accosted’ by two large black men.

‘After a while a security guard sidled up, and asked me tentatively if I needed any assistance. I had to tell a white lie, saying they were old school friends who I hadn’t seen in many years. (If I told them that we were instant friends just because I spoke their native dialect to them, it wouldn’t compute in Japanese brains and it wouldn’t justify the disturbance caused to staff and other customers.)’

‘That’s a funny story.’

‘But that’s why I try to get my kids to learn as many languages as possible, it makes you instant friends no matter where you go in the world. And as the Bible says, ‘A man’s gifts make room for him.’

The story continues tomorrow.