Home Away From Home

My first day of arrival in Germany all started with the home sensation.

Prior to my depature from my country, i was quite troubled in respect to my survival in a place where i knew no one from my country or even anyone at all. The person who came to welcome me at the airport was a pastor from Nigeria who i had never met before. He was so welcoming with an amazing hospitality. We headed directly to his dormitory because he is also a student. As a result of covid-19 restrictions, i was not allowed into my own student dorm until i have self isolated for 10 days after my arrival. I would have spent more than 500 euros in staying in a room for the quarantine period but he came through for me by temporarily exiting his apartment for me to stay in for the next 10 days without taking a dime. The feeling of being at home started from that day until this present day. Oh, did i forget to mention that he made me a delicious local dish on that afternoon! Jezzz….. it was yummy.

Birthday party on the final day of quarantine.

I am not really an outdoor person but the pastor invited me to accompany him to a birthday party on my final day in quarantine. Apparently, the celebrant of the birthday party was a nigerian and a member of the pastor’s church. I and the pastor headed to the celebrant’s house somewhere in central Berlin for the celebration. It was all spontaneous because i was not prepared such engagements on the first week of being in an entirely strange land. We arrived there later in the evening and i was introduced to other nigerians at the birthday party. The mother of the celebrant asked, „Ayo, what would you like to eat?“ I had already noticed that they had varieties of dishes including my favourite meal. I responded like i hadn’t eaten for two days, that is the food i want, I pointed at favourite dish looking sumptuos at a 5 meters distance. It was a long night but, by the time we were heading home, it felt like being in a wonderland coupled with so much excitment in me.

The christian community was my first major home.

I am quite a religious person so i do love to attend church services on sundays and some weekdays. Although, i had the impression that there are few churches in Germany, hence, the possibility of not seeing a nigerian church. Regarless of this ideology, i was keen on finding and attending a church. Fortunately for me, there was a Nigerian church with a reputable name back in my country which was in Berlin. That gave me a huge relief of not seeing a place to worship. My first sunday in the church was awesome because there was also a special event on that day. Prior to the end of the service, two people already approached me to ask questions. One of them said, „you look like you are new in Germany“. I asked why and she said.“ you dont have a winter jacket. I have one i can give you after the service“. I felt so loved at this point which made me immediatly forget that i was in a strange land. 50% of the attendees were within my age range which made it more comfortable to integrate into the system and way of life there. I got along really fast with them despite being the first time meeting. Since then, i have always looked forward to attending church on sundays because, asides going to worship God, i also get to socialize with people of the same cultural and societal upbringing.

Social gatherings like picknicks, hangouts and get together.

The youth president of the church would occassionally bring up the idea of having social gathering and ask people to inicate their interest in attending. Trust me, i am always one of the first three people to indicate interest in attending and also volunteer in organizing the events. This has constantly being an avenue to build bonds and feel closer to home despite thousands of miles away. I get so busy with school that i sometimes abscund from these gatherings but i try as much as possible to give them a video call. People who are not members of the church regularly joined the gathering which makes it more fun. Oh wait! There is my university and dormitory as well. They are so accomodating that i get a lot of invites to join small parties where we have barbeque and juice. We have chats on different topics ranging from academics to cutural dietes and a whole bunch of stuffs. There is nothing more to being at home than these.