As I mentioned a few blogs ago, we went on a road trip last month to Northern California. Our last visit was with Brian and Erin, a couple who worked alongside us in Africa during our four year and six years prior to us as well. Their four kids provided endless entertainment for our two boys, and Brian and Erin had more great stories on top of that.
First, kids who grow up in Africa pride themselves on the exotic animals they’ve seen. If you can get a picture of your prize, even better. So when their oldest son first returned to North America and saw a squirrel, he insisted that his parents take a picture. They hesitated. He asked, “Are they endangered?” His parents assured him they weren’t. A few months later, while visiting the mountains east of Sacramento, he saw a common woodland inhabitant grazing in a meadow. His eyes opened wide and he uttered in amazement, “Wildebeest!” His grandfather calmly corrected him—“Deer.”
The second story is also tied into the “deer” identification theme. There is a miniature deer (about as big as a feline) in Africa called a “dik dik,” pronounced like two nicknames for Richard in a row. Well, their second son was playing computer games for a long time one day, and Erin casually observed that the boy was “addicted” to video games. The four-year-old turned around gruffly and rebuffed, “I am NOT a dik dik!” He thought Mom was insulting him.
Lastly, their kids attend a Christian school in the area. And when their daughters young classmates found out she was from Africa, they began to boast of it around the playground. A certain second-grader caught wind of the blond-haired, blue-eyed white girl proclaiming her African heritage and felt compelled to correct her. You see, he was an African-American, and he looked a bit different than her and was taught that Africans aren’t pale skinned. A verbal argument ensued, and the two just escaped coming to blows.
It’s tough being a kid these days.
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