Moussa in Baltimore

Moussa has since left Baltimore and here I am sitting on a couch in Seattle while Daryl and Moussa are off to the Ferry and the Space Needle.

With a little over a three hour drive from NYC to Baltimore arriving in the middle of the night there was no lack of hira regardless of my limited, but soon returning Hausa. To summarize this trip, Moussa is astounded by the amount of cars we have, our roads and bridges are monstronsities of wonder, and he can drive better than me. Perhaps he is not wrong, and it is endearing to know that Moussa will forever be the same.

Our first day in Baltimore, we decided to ditch the city and go out to my brothers farm in Western Maryland. This is a working dairy farm of 300 head, rolling hills, numerous large farm equipment and the smell of manure. A smell Moussa was in love with as soon as we got out of the car. In his true Fulan spirit, Moussa decided that my brother had to be a Fulan (as he has cows) and from then on has called him Jo'fo instead of Matt and calls my sister-in-law Fatima. A joke that he never tires from and my brother looks on puzzled. >
Things Moussa has learned from Dairy Farms in the US:
1-we let cows eat corn (as we know they would never be able to in Niger)
2-that we have huge machines that do all the planting for us
3-that the average dairy cow on this farm produces an average of 45lbs of milk a day, and some cows up to over 100lbs a day (going on 12 gallons from one cow)... IconAllah!!
4-machines milk our cows (Moussa milked some by hand then proceeded to drink it straight from the cow)
5-that we generally don't have bulls on the farm - what we mean by Artificial Insemintation. He got to see the magazines of different straws of semen you can buy as well as my brother AI'ing a cow in front of his very eyes. Moussa now wants to bring over a straw of this semen to impregnate his cow Niger... :)
6-we have huge silos full of food for cattle
......the list can go on. There is footage, that I don't currently have at hand of Moussa and his farm experience.

Other things that get an IconAllah out of Moussa:
-Malls and all there shops
-grocery stores
-amount of shops for women to buy silly things (bath & body works, victoria secret, etc)
-amount of cars we own

I think Moussa's fascination and amazement has brought out a new found appreciation for us in the things that we have and what a great friend we will never forget.

Pictures to come...

mw

Moussa in DC

A few of us spent a couple lazy hours lounging in the sculpture garden catching up with Moussa. Even the littlest members of our group had a great time. Allah shi kiyaye, Moussa.

moussa blagouro

salamaleykum ina cinkim new york yansu incha alla zani blagoro toyanzu naji dadivolonteralla ya temaka amma hadi akoye daouda garechi amma akoye tchirki garesu ko dakorey ina gaida kowa salamaleyku gia natey guidan kalo na gani sama naji tarihi da tarmamu akoye mamaci da dabobi kala kala natchi abinci india kuma na samu mamatchi naga matche daciki baba daguntun wado daguntun riga ga ciki waje

Moussa meets the Greeks and the East River

Pearls of Wisdom

Apparently, son of a tasha is far more heavy of an insult than son of the wind, son of nothing or bastard even. This is because if any of those other insults are hurled at you, you can simply reply "look, I have a mother and a father". I guess maybe it's hard to prove cars aren't parked on your dad.

Also, there are squirrels in Niger. Their meat is the best meat in the dadji. Also Moussa swears that all squirrels in america fly. I told him they can't but he said its because i never chased them with a slingshot and a dog.

-cp

We all know Moussa is Sarkin Duroba na Konni (the king of drivers) and so it's kind of funny as we drive him around and show him NYC. He swears he knows where things are even after a couple of minutes in a neighborhood. You show him once that Brooklyn or Queens is that way and next time you need to go, he'll tell you which way it is (totally wrong of course!). Ah, Moussa, as he himself says, this is a baban gari ,wallhahi. He is amazed by the number of cars.

Here in NYC, the Fulan Moussa has lost his way. Where is East and where is West? The nomad is lost. Matter of fact, I don't see his Fulani stick. Maybe if he had it he would be able to tell east from west, north from south. I always thought it was amazing that Fulanis could travel thousands of kilometers and not get lost. Now I know that the Fulani stick actually has a compass embedded in it. Wallahi, Fulanis suna da wayo!!!

We are enjoying Moussa being lost, it is a good lost. You need to lose yourself sometimes in order to find yourself again. Moussa is doing a lot of thinking. It is nice that he is seeing a big city but it is also great that he will have a chance to see the daji of America. He sees our lives as very different. He made an interesting comment about life in NYC. As you all know, space is hard to come by in NYC, and damn expensive. He commented how we live very clustered, almost in cage-like structures. Well said from a man who craves space and is used to vast expanse.

Yesterday, at the Bronx Zoo, he had a chance to see a wide range of animals. He enjoyed being at the zoo, which is like one big forest and confirmed that Niamey zoo is a sad place for animals.

Moussa, coming soon to a place near you......

July 10

Moussa came over at about 10 after sleeping in. We went a bagel place around the corner on the way out that has a wide variety of cream cheeses. We decided on splitting a lox spread and a sundried tomato spread. Moussa really liked the lox, but took a bite of the sundried tomato and gave me the "this is most definitely not dadi" look.

We left from there to the Islamic Center of New York. Since we got there a little early, we took a walk down museum mile, peaking into the Guggenheim, a church next door, and the MET. We also got to walk past the giant windows next to the the Temple of Dendur. On the way back to the mosque, I got some water and Moussa decided to greet the Bangladeshi water seller in Zarma...and not in that short "fofo...haha" way, but in this extended funny (because it was so akward for the dude) way. They made friends in the end though.

We ended up back at the mosque and I hung outside while Moussa salaed. The mosque is the biggest in Manhattan at least, and possibly the biggest in the city. It's pretty crazy how diverse the crowd was. On the way out, we even followed some Nigerian Hausas.

Next up, Chinatown. I kept saying we were going to the Ville Chinoise, and Moussa would joke back "in Niamey" and "do you know Karate"? When we got down there, I think he was pretty amazed by the number of asians. He kept making short jokes, greedy chinese kasuwa jokes, look theres a pig head jokes.

Looking for food was pretty hilarious also. I kept trying to get Moussa to tell me what he wanted to eat. In typical Nigerien fashion, he would say, "whatever you want." We kept going into chinese restaurants and he would nix it. Finally, I got that he "didn't agree" with chinese food, so we went off in search of american food. Later we found out that he didn't agree, because he thought Chinese people were like Nigerians and would substitute dog or pig without saying.

We finally ended up at McDonalds, for truly american food. Now, I haven't been in a McDonalds in like a million years, so it was already weird trying to figure out what did and didnt have bacon or other forbidden goodies. He ended up with a chicken sandwich and we went upstairs to eat. He was just about to take a bite, when what should i see, but a delicious little piece of bacon sticking out. In one of those slow-mo movie scenes, I reached across the table and knocked the sandwich out of his hand just before disaster. Stupid, stupid McDonalds.

Tired, we returned to the apartment, where Moussa hid on our loft bed from my 135 lbs. dog. Moussa wholeheartedly is not stoked on Gracie. He thinks I should sell her in chinatown.

-cp

More of EL HADJI Moussa in NYC

More of Moussa in NYC

Moussa on Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)

Publish Post

Moussa in NYC, July 9th