A snippet of tea conversation

We sat having tea and cassava during the morning break at school. One of the teachers went to the US, to New York, over the summer, for her son’s wedding. It was her first time abroad.

Apparently, they are like animals over there, like cattle. You wouldn’t know it from meeting Americans here. Here they can talk so loudly, you think they really like talking. But over there, they pass each other on the street without saying anything at all. No greetings, nothing. In fact, if they are standing right next to each other, waiting for a bus, they do not greet each other. One woman even scolded her child for talking to someone, yelling at her that if she doesn’t know that person she has no business going over and talking like that. Cows do that, just moving past each other, bumping into each other, but just moving on.

The teacher made gestures with her hands, like cattle, moving, and the other teachers shook their heads and laughed a little. It sounded just too outrageous to be true, but then again, when it comes to white people, we all know nothing is beyond belief.