I grew up in good ol' Ibadan with a population of over 3 million people. Ok......sigh.... I'll take all your Ibadan-girl jokes and memes now. Thanks. Lol. Anyway, 3 million people! 7 weeks ago, I moved into the most adorable town with a population of 100,000, still the moment I crossed the borderlines, I fell in love with the city.
Of course, I had given up on finding any Nigerians in such a small town or any Nigerian ties at all. Then two weeks ago, I stumbled on this record store, and there resting languidly against eachother were two records; Commander Ebenezer Obey's Operation Feed the Nation and an album from King Sunny Ade! I was a little too excited. I screamed a little and the guy across from me was mildly worried. Lol! I couldn't believe I found those records here. A piece of my identity as a Nigerian was just waiting there for me to find it. Hello, hidden city-blingy treasure!
Before this, we lived in Madison, Wisconsin, which has about 200,000 people. People still find it amusing that we lived in Madison but, goodness, did we make the best out of it! I can say with all of me that Ed and I ransacked that town; restaurants, fairs, lakes, zoos, rinks, bars, adorable roadside breakfast places, almost snuck into a college party(covering face), almost ice-fished, African parties, Afghani restaurants, street markets, fancy dining, woodsy hikes, gun range shooting...everything! EVERY.
Wherever you are, you are there for a reason and you're probably sitting on a goldmine of experiences. Explore, meet people, dig like a rabbied dog till you find the city's core, till you discover hidden treasure! (I know, rabied dogs aren't cute; they aren't, ok, dig for golden experiences like a healthy dog!)
I've only been in this town for about 7 weeks and everyday has its thrill. I can't wait to find out what else might be hidden behind these brick walls ❤️
Where is your city? Have you found its hidden, crazy gems?!
Source: Wikipedia
Credit: Ian Britton
Source: Alchetron
