Graduation.... Call me Chef Fregz

Its 5:40am in the morning and I'm sleepless in Paris… sigh

Today is graduation… the climax and bestowment of a piece of paper that seals the deal to the sweat and hard work I have put in, in the last 9 months… wow how time flies…

After updating my BBM status to the above title…I intentionally fell asleep after that because I knew such an update would get me many open chats….and was to tired to answer.. I mean it was 12 midnight.

Waking up this morning to the responses was bliss…the word “congratulations” really does feel rewarding and fulfilling…

Yesterday the 11^th, making sure I rose as my alarm went of said my prayers and started getting ready for my appointment at the restaurant I would be working in for 11pm I needed to get my contract signed but guess who was running late? Sigh… I get there just on time and prayed in tongues for the best of my French to come out of my mouth so I don’t look to stupid in front of the chef….anyways I as I arrive through the doors from rainy exterior, I mention I have a meeting with the chef and I was led downstairs where the kitchen was and to my semi-discouragement all the workers there where all illegal immigrants from Martique, Madagascar, and some real “dudus” from some French speaking African nation, they made up a good 95% of the cooking staff whilst the only French workers were the head chef and like 2 others…. And in my mind I'm like “sigh….so I'm the Nigerian who will look like me too I don’t have papers in their eyes abi? LOL!!!” but it just had a weird feeling to me… but what had a stranger feeling and shock to me was the head Chef…. The average Chef in the world has some serious meat on his bones or at least a pot belly to show for all his endless sampling of food and so on, but in France generally I have come to deal with the fact that men come in tooth pick sizes! And you wonder where all the croissants and butter filled food they eat goes to! But the head Chef gave a new meaning to “skinny” gosh!!! He even looked anorexic!!!! All his facial bones where sticking out, his waist was visible through his apron! It was not a very good sight….had to keep a straight face and pay attention to all he was trying to say to me…

we get the Contract signed, he gave me a tour of the restaurant, and he even spoke some level of English! But I'm only counting on that for emergencies because I really want to improve my French!! And I wanna keep hearing it till it just makes sense! So I start work 9am and finish and 5pm on Monday…. I'm just keeping an open mind…

After Market, I head to Chatelet to “fix-up-look-sharp” for graduation hadn’t been to that area in a while and I needed something “inexpensive” but sharp for today… so after much roaming I pick up a few things including a white and purple shirt and some socks and ties. C&A never fails me! LOL! Thanks to RIM and their BBM witchcraft, I called on my best friend Tayo Ola to help decide what to buy, so I made my combos and sent the pictures via BBM and he sent me a suggestion that was an excat consideration of mine! So….we agreed on the look and the deal was sealed…. Pictures soon so you would see the final product!

At this point…I couldn’t tell what was going to burst first, my bladder or my stomach. I had made the effort/mistake of having a sandwhich and one litre of water in this cold weather so…a few hours later my body reacted and it wasn’t good… I did all the dances possible to stop me from being a one year old who couldn't control his bladder actions… coupled with the hunger… I was on the verge of fainting!

Sadly MacDonald’s was my only hope… more sadly in the light of feeling healthy, I had a Coke zero and a lame salad that looked good on display but crap in reality… but I ate and relished it as the hunger was almost eating my insides! Afterward si even got some small size chunky fries…. Yes I was that hungry! And proceeded to cut my hair…

If you read my last post about cutting my hair, you already know that I always have stories to tell well…

Making my way through the metro and walking briskly enough to ignore all these hair hustlers, I make it to my zones where my Nigerian guys are at and do it with a sense of familiarity now… but my regular guy isn’t around so another guy who is “Bini” (benin) is in charge of my hair today…. Then he starts to talk!!!!!! Chai!!!!!! With his undeniable benin accent (I could even hear it when he spoke French!) he started asking me (with a dead attempt of “phonetics” ) some questions and trying to strike up that barber-barbee convo!

Barber: so are you have been living in france for a loon tym?

Me: no, na school I dey

Barber: so you have your parent living with you here right?

Me: no na, I tok say I dey school!

Barber: ehen so… ah so your parent are the wan sponsoring you here right?

Me: *inmy mind* ah!!! This one thinks he has seen “boti” kid! Hahahaaaa I laugh at you!!! Did they write dollars on my head!!! *hiss*….. “no oh…I was working before I came we shared it…”

Barber: ah… releey.. ah… you know  it’s not easy… to be staying in this Europe

Me: *my mind* yeah tell me something I don’t know!

**pls try and imagine the barbers questions with the most despicable attempt at phonee/yankee accent

Anyways…. He went on and on with all the questions that were aimed at finding out how rich I was..but put him straight and informed him I even grew up in Benin…and all this misbehavior his doing…he should stop it… at the end of the day… he did hook me up with an amazing hair cut… so I gladly handed him my 10 Euros and walked out feeling like I was GQ cover ready!

Sadly again… as I approached the house… there was a rumble in my tummy once more… but after all that food in Normandy I promised myself I was gonna go a strict diet and exercise…. So I picked up some courgette and leeks from the supermarket and recreated my friend Inigo’s Courgette cream soup… but my mine was the skinny version… and roasted some “awo” aka guinea fowl… with pepper and had that for dinner whilst on Skype with Omowale…

So basically yesterday was good even with the cold and the drippy rain, constant hunger and the risk of wetting myself….

Today has to be even more fun… my graduation ceremony, dinner at Zoe’s ….hmmmm….

I'm forever indebted to God…. Jesus my life is yours… continually use me for your glory…. Help me honour You more…

To all my family members… I knew if you could make it you would… I'm not going to be selfish and sulk that no ne came for my grad… if you didn’t make your sacrifices there would be any graduation sef!!!! May God increase everyone of you! Your children will not lack any good thing!

I will make you all proud… by God grace… it’s a promise!! You have sown on good ground… your seeds will bring forth fruit!

I hope today won’t be too emotional too… my small group of friends… we would really miss each other…

I'm gonna try and really take today in… because my bubble would be burst when that alarm goes off 

tomorrow morning meaning I have WORK!

A Bientot!!!