8 February
17:45
Kids!
They are innocently beautiful especially when they’re still under the age of five but the moment they cross the five year line, life begins to throw stains at that spotless innocence. From age six, seven upward, kids start to take on a mean streak without even realizin’ it. They start to pick on the seemingly weak ones among ‘em, makin’ fun of ‘em and even formin’ their own cliques.
I love kids!
Huh?
C’mon, you pervs, I ain’t talkin’ those pedophilia priests kind of love. Ah ah!
Am talkin’ the “let all the children come to me for such is the kingdom of God kinda love”…oh, am beginnin’ to sound like Jesus? Ok, maybe not close to that but hangin’ wit’ kids is cathartic for me. And nope, I ain’t got that Peter Pan syndrome.
Did somebody jus’ say, “Yeah yeah, we all love kids?”
There’s a bunch of kids in the neighborhood I play soccer with, am talkin’ six to twelve year olds. Whenever am around, they always try to get me to tap that round leather wit ‘em and while we gettin’ our soccer on, I see a lot of adults creepin’ by and lookin’ at me like who is this man wit’ a lot of time on his hand?
I observe and learn a lot of things from bein’ among these kids.
One of the kids, a very energetic seven year old boy with Down syndrome, he can run all day and still have enough in the tank to keep it movin’ even long after the other guys have tired out. Whenever he sees me, he’d run to me with his arms wide open, an indication of him wantin’ me to pick his ass up and throw him in the air like I used to when I jus got in the neighborhood. I rarely do the “throwin’ up” these days cause once I do it one, I gotta do it for the others.
Huh, why don’t I do the “throwin’ up” ritual no more?
Well, let’s jus say there’s a ten year old weighin’ close to 50kg boy in the mix. Though the boy is always hesitant to come forward for the “throw up,” he pro’ly knows his weight sets him apart. Besides, I got a bad back and I don’t to jeopardize my future career as a porn star by aggravating it further. Ah ha!
18:05
While catchin’ my breath and stealin’ a few sec to update my facebook status about the two Chinese guys that’d come to join us, one of the kids, a seven year old visitin’ for the weekend stood beside me and pointed at the down syndrome kid and said, “uncle that boys makes me laugh”
“Really, why?” I asked
“Look at him,” he chuckled, “he’s got saliva all over his shirt”
I looked at him sharply, wantin’ to tell him to shut the fuck up but I noticed he didn’t say those words out of spite; it was out of somethin’ bordering on curiosity and amusement. I saw it on his face. I told him he shouldn’t be sayin’ that about his new friend, besides, the other guys love him and that’s why they play together. He said he was sorry and he meant it!
18:03
When the two Chinese guys came, they asked if they could join’ us, the kids said yes. They were all too eager to see them to play, the more the merrier. Somethin’ tells me the kids were hopin’ the Chinamen would bust out some kung fu moves like they do in the movies. The Chinese introduced themselves to me and the kids, shakin’ our hands as they did. They spoke English but the truth is, their English sounded like Chinese!
Sunday
10 February
It’s a brand new year for the world’s most populous nation! The Chinese rang in their New Year at the stroke of mid night February 10th. The year of the snake takes over from the dragon.
The Chinese associates snakes with wisdom, beauty and intelligence but also with pride and anger. That doesn’t sound like a Dobsy kinda year, or does it?
I read it someplace that over 700 million people watched the state television’s annual gala, a variety performance show with the angelic voiced Ms Celine Dion belting out that once ubiquitous titanic theme “my heart will go on”.
According to a story I heard on BBC, my heart will go on is one of two English songs that are well known in china. The other is Happy Birthday!
14:10
Church service was goin’ on forever like Celin Dion’s heart, so I snuck out. Wanted to go rest and if possible do a forty wink before my country (Nigeria) and my team (Man. united) go for glory in their respective competitions.
Just a few meters away from the boardin’ house where the Asians stay (two houses away from backpackers’ lodge where the Americans and Europeans is at), I saw my Chinese friends emerged wit’ a female counterpart. As we drew close to each other, I prepared a short greetin’ in my head.
14:12
They smiled and extended their hands for the obligatory handshakes. I took the lady’s hand first like a gentleman, and then I shook the guys’ hands.
“Happy New Year!” I said wit’ my warmest fake smile, “it’s the year of the snake, isn’t it?”
“No no no,” they chorused
They saw the what-the-fuck look on my face. The two guys laughed like they do in the Chinese flicks before sayin’, “Japanese. We Japanese!”
Outro
What! What’s a brotha do, I mean, all my peoples from South East Asia look the same to me.
Enjoy the rest of day and take care of each other.
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