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The week I moved to the U.S., I attended my depts orientation for students. There was a buffet and we all served ourselves and ate. Shortly after, I overheard 2 American girls making fun of “that weird African girl” (me) who ate all her food like she was starving etc... I left
confused and sad because I thought to myself ‘was I not supposed to eat what was on my plate?’ A few weeks after observing several Americans eating habits, I noticed the attitude towards food is just different from mine. I grew up in Nigeria, with strict parents that would make
sure I finished my food before leaving the table. So somehow, it has become part of me to make an effort to eat everything on my plate, especially when I have the opportunity to moderate the portion size. So here’s the thing: these girls laughed at me and called me a weirdo
because I cleaned out my plate, but that is just cultural for me...I think we need to retire the word ‘weird’ when describing a person. People bring their ideologies, upbringing & learned behavior; religion, idiosyncrasies, attitudes, motivatations and perceptions to situations.
Are they different from you? Yes. Are they weird? No they aren’t.
