Anti-watermelon or Anti-American?

Disclaimer: This is just a story that happened to me but  I am just telling it now as a story teller.

I am immediately petrified when a total stranger walks up to me to advise me not to buy something I am used to eating. It is not like I want them to mind their businesses, but I just feel a little embarrassed. I feel convicted of not knowing how to take care of my body.

It happened this evening in the mall that as I picked up a watermelon, a middle age man starts speaking to me in Russian. I do not understand what he is saying but I hear words like hernia, medica… and the man points towards his groin. He is obviously advising me but I don't understand what he is saying. I ask him in Russian, ‘eta ploha’ (is this bad) and he spurts, ‘orchin ploha’ which means very bad. He shakes hands with me, tells me his name and walks away.

For a minute or two, I am just standing in the mall, petrified
.

Maybe I am an inquisitive person, but at this time, I think it is more like worry. I feel my stomach churn as if the watermelon I ate in the morning is affecting me. Thoughts are running in my head:

Is it that chemicals which are not good for health are used to grow watermelon? I don’t think so because watermelon grows on the same soil every other plant I eat here grows on.

Is it that the seeds in watermelon can be trapped in the appendix like guava seeds are said to be? Even if that is the case, I spit out the watermelon seeds. 

I do not know who to ask my question so I have to rush home to ask Google. As I write this story, I am researching about watermelons and the only thing I can see is the old fable that says  'if you swallowed watermelon seeds, a tree will grow from your stomach!’

I am also wondering how bad the man may have felt after he saw me check out my watermelon in spite of his advice. Did he feel the same way I feel when I advise natives not to indulge in cigarettes and vodka?  The other day, a Professor in the Economics school had seen me drinking Coca cola in the bus one miserably hot afternoon. He started advising me about not taking Coca Cola saying it is an American indulgence that was bad for my health. He had recommended water and also beer! Did the man advising me in the store also think of watermelon as a bad American indulgence imported into Eastern Europe from the watermelon capital of the world in America?

Who knows? Perhaps those experiences could have been people showing geniune interests in my good health and nothing more? I don’t really know the answer but it is just that as a foreigner in a country where vodka and cigarettes are abused, your mind immediately sees it as an 'anti-foreign' sentiment when you are advised by natives against taking a bottle of Coca Cola -and even watermelons. It is a convenient thing for your mind to do. It is an easy way to rest your worry and console yourself because you can laugh at them for trying to remove the speck from your eye while leaving the log in theirs.

However, you can decide to keep an open mind, to tell your story and ask for information every where you can. So, does anyone know why watermelons may be bad for me, please tell me...

Kharkov to China by Chop-sticks!

In Kharkov, you do not need to buy tickets to travel the world to learn about cultures. The world is already in Kharkov. At any time, there are always very many foreign nationals in the city.

Now, because of the blood that purchased men for God from every tribe, language, people and nation, I am blessed to bond every Friday with people from different parts of the world. I had my own stereotypes before coming down here, but gradually, I am beginning to see how incomplete my stereotypes were.

The Friday before the last one, we saw an amazing movie together. The movie "Grace Card" is a wonderful story of forgiveness which I will have to tell another day.  Last Friday, we went to China. We had as a special guest a Chinese lady who hosted us to Chinese food.


I had the opportunity of fumbling with chop-sticks!

Before then, I never had the opportunity of having a lengthy conversation with a Chinese. I used to think that the Chinese mindset leaned towards ignoring the world and not caring much about anything around them. I now know that though the Chinese are rarely ever in festival mood compared to Africans, they know how to start a conversation and learn a lot about you in a short while. They are very intelligent. This has been my lot in recent times -learning how incomplete my stereotypes are as I interact with my brethren from different parts of the world. I have been blessed in many ways by interacting with them.

I haven't said anything about the food. I am not sure, it is a case of saving the best for the last.
Well, the Chinese know how to season their meat and they serve you much meat too (as you can see in the picture). The meat is not spicy compared to what most Africans prepare, but it is excellent in its own way. You actually want to eat the meat as the last thing on your plate. You also do not want to drink water after eating it. You want the taste to linger...to linger on your tongue.