Nick Hornby, Akaa Falls, and Cat Cultural Differences

I just finished reading my second Nick Hornby book in 2 weeks (High Fidelity and About a Boy). I read a lot more here than I do back Mountain View. I brought 5 books with me. Lauren said there was no way I'd get through all of them; I'm done with 3, and we've not even spent half our stay here.

We went to Akaa Falls yesterday. It's not as well known as Boti Falls (it's not in our guidebook). I enjoyed the outing, mainly because Fi (my 3-year-old nephew) got to see the Falls. He was quite excited, but was far more excited about the swing set and slide that were by the parking lot (he played on those after we saw the falls).

Describing culture is difficult. I don't know how many times I've been asked what it was like to live in Nigeria. How do you answer that? I'm finding the same problem here (as I have every time I've been here, since moving to the US as a twelve year old). People here can't imagine not having goats wandering the streets (occasionally stopping traffic), just like many Americans probably can't imagine what it's like to through a herd of cows, sometimes 2-3 feet from you, as part of your daily routine.

Affie (my older sister) didn't understand why we would let Geordi (our cat) into the house (he is an indoor cat). I was showing her pictures of Geordi watching TV, sitting on a couch with me, sitting on my laptop as I worked. She thought it was crazy to give a cat that kind of access. It's funny, because there are 5 cats in this compound (father, mother, and 3 little kittens), but these cats are never let inside. I spent a good 20-30 minutes the other day chasing one of the kittens around the living room, just to get him outside. The very opposite of what we do with Geordi. We chase him around when he goes outside.