In Nigeria, it was always a big deal. Those days in boarding house....damn. It was a mess. The days leading up to Feb 14th...pure chaos. Guys would be seriously hustling for money, girls would be anticipating...
We judged who the most beautiful girl was, by the number of guys that sent her cards.For some reason, Senior Nike always had cards from so many guys. Which I thought was quite ridiculous since most of the guys that would send her these cards were way out of her league. You see, Nike was from a very wealthy family. One of those kids that went for weekends to "jand" just to eat "KFC". She left boarding house as she wished and returned as she wished. The rest of us were prisoners from the day we entered until the day the gates opened for holidays. In the six years I was in that school, I never left even once, for any miscellaneous stuff. Anyway, she was quite beautiful, I have to say. She had a nice shape and everything. All the boys were crazy for her. Rich, poor, slim, fat, short, tall, ajebutter, agbero, for some reason, they all had a crush on her and come Valentine's day, oh boy! You better believe they would show their love.
So, Valentine's day would come, and she would come bouuncing in, one cake box after another. For some reason, cake from "frenchies" was a big deal. I never understood why people used to make a big deal about cakes and food coming from different places. My mum baked all the time, so I was used to eating all kinds of cakes. As for all that hamburger madness those days, it amused me greatly. It was just meat and cheese...anybody can do that...but then again, I come from a family where everybody cooks and experiments all the time, so food was definitely not anything to impress me with. Not on a normal day, anyway. There were some other places in Lagos...was it "murphy's"? or was that a nightclub? I don't remember now. Remember, I was a prisoner in boarding house...
However, if you were in boarding house, food was a big deal. We were ALWAYS hungry. Even now, when I think about it, I wonder how we all survived that miserable place. I blame the fact that I did not get taller on boarding house food. My brother who never spent a day out of my parents house, is a huge giant...how come ehn? It has to be the food.
Anyway, so on Valentines day, it would be all about cards, cakes, chocholates, flowers, sweets, perfumes, etc. Girls would dump all these on their beds so everybody in the room would admire. As a junior, it would also be your duty to pass the stuff around as seniors sent pieces of cake to friends, school mothers, etc.
It was always amusing to me. All that hullabaloo over cards and cakes. I still think its amusing. However these days, I mostly do my observations on the train. I like spotting teenagers on the train with roses, teddy bears, etc. Couples going out for dinner...its just an interesting phenomenon...but it is sweet.
Well, well, another feb 14th huh? I'll leave you all with my favourite Naija love song at the moment...enjoy yourselves...
3 comments:
Obi won is the song of the moment, perfect for Valentine.
I, for one, do not understand the whole Valentine Hype. Never understood it.
Im sure you got some val cards in your time in boarding school, didnt you? I remember one I got from a boy called Olayinka in primary school. It was a hand made heart shaped card with chewing gum stuck on it. I thot it was wack at the time but now I think its was cute. I wonder where he is now....
Kr.
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