32. Interviewing Hannah: Growing up Between Nigeria, London & Ohio

We talk with our longtime friend Hannah about growing up across Nigeria, London, and Ohio, and how immigration, assimilation, and life in a big family shaped her identity and personality. Along the way, we get into sibling dynamics and favorite-child politics, the pressure to fit in during 1990s Ohio, language loss and accent shifts as survival strategies, and how Hannah’s story compares with Sumi’s reverse culture shock in Japan while navigating school exams and feelings of inadequacy. We also talk about respect culture, family titles, Nigerian and Japanese comfort foods, and those early memories of trying to fit in as immigrant kids in American schools.

Thanks for listening!  Don't forget to review SisterVibes and subscribe so you won't miss our upcoming episodes and drop us a line by clicking at the top of the podcast description for future episode ideas. Your feedback is also welcome!

Follow us on Instagram @sistervibes_podcast.

Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2279605

Big shoutout to Allison Gray for generously granting us permission to feature her song, "Off My Mind" (from Ep 05).

Transcript

Opening Lyrics And Welcome\n

SPEAKER_06 0:00

I gotta get you out of my system. I gotta get you off of my mind. But how do I move on when no one compens? They only keep me occupied. I gotta break these chains and find me. I try to shake them up so dead really. Would you pull them tighter? String me along.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Hi listeners, welcome to another episode of Sister Vibes. Today we're so excited to have our second guest on the show. And our very first guest joining us from a completely different time zone than three of us. She currently lives in Texas, and she is someone very special to me, me as NKO. I met her at OSU, aka the Ohio State University, Go Bucks. Oh, O H I O where she was my design classmate, a wonderful friend, and my roommate during our senior year. It's been 22 years since we graduated. She's also been an avid listener and supporter of our podcast, which makes having her here today even more meaningful. She grew up in a big family and immigrated to the US when she was young. So we are really looking forward to hearing more about her journey, her experiences, and her story. And before we begin, thank you so much for waking up early to join us for this episode today. Welcome to Sister Vibes, Hannah.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Hi Hannah. Hi, welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Do I dare to ask you what time you woke up today?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Well, okay, so my first alarm went off at 5. 5 a.m. I just let me just snooze. I got about 54. I don't know how you guys do it. I'm not a pretty early person. Yeah, what time did you go to bed? Uh 12 45 a.m. Okay, that's wild. I set my alarm at 10 p.m. to wind down, and you know, then all of a sudden it's midnight, and then I'm like, oh my gosh. Plus, I wanted to audio and not video, but I want to do my hair. And for me to do my hair, I have to like put it in a Bantu knots, like I tie my hair up in knots, and then I take it down the morning. Oh, so you know, that whole process takes time, so that yeah, and I never account for. Well, so here we are.

SPEAKER_03 2:27

We very much appreciate you coming on this early.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Thank you, thank you. Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. Uh, for you guys, of course.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yeah, and this is Hannah's first time meeting Sumi. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yes, hi, Sumi. I feel like I know you though.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Yeah, so Tomo knows Hannah because she went to the OSU too. Yeah, so that you guys know.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

It was interesting. Like, I knew Kiori had a sister named Mo, and like, I don't know, for like forever, you just had a sister, and then I find out, oh, you have another sister. Oh, yeah, like, oh, that's so interesting. They're all back in Japan. Yeah, I always went sibling dynamics. So, this is great that you guys have this podcast and hearing about your relationship.

SPEAKER_05 3:08

Yeah, we're so different, right? Like, it's just so interesting. Yeah, like that with your siblings, you're a little different than your siblings.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah, but but I don't know about you guys, but like at home, we're all loud and talkative, like when we were younger, obviously, like when we lived together, and even like as an adult family channel, yeah, even though we are all similar, like of course, how we speak, just because we all we all have that same

Big Families And Sibling Roles\n

SPEAKER_01 3:35

experience of being from Nigeria, living a little bit in England, and then live in the States. So we kind of have a similar way of talking, but even with that, we're very distinct in how uh how loud we are. There's even levels to the loudness, like we're all loud, but yeah. Uh doing the personality test because I made them do it too after I watched the episode of you guys doing it. It's really interesting that of my siblings, I'm curious myself and my youngest sister are the extroverts, and the rest of them are introverts. Wait, what who who who are extroverts? I'm extroverted, it said extroverted feeling, and then my youngest, the baby's extroverted. But everyone else, by the way, I come from a big family, there's six of us, so it was just surprising that there wasn't any other extroverts in the mix because we're all wow, yeah, yeah. But again, that's just with each other. Obviously, in the outside world, when we interact with people, yeah, um, some of us a little more introverted or you know, reserved than others. Yeah, you know, you just see each other together, not necessarily how we interact with the world, you know. So that that was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Can you believe six siblings? That's a lot, right? Yes, it's a big family.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Yeah, I don't think you know this, Carrie. Growing up, we had four cousins living with us. So there were 10 kids in the house when we were in America, so for about a good four or five years. And anytime people called, they're like, Are you having a party? Like, pretty much, yeah, but yeah, yeah. So growing up with a lot of kids.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

So how many girls versus boys?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

So there is four girls, two boys. So the oldest and youngest are boys, and then the girls are in the middle, right? So, yeah, older brother, then my sister and I are twins, and then girls, and then my brother. So yeah, yeah, yeah. And looking at the sibling order dynamic or personality type, yeah, it still fits, even though I'm the second oldest, I'm still like the oldest girl. And so my brother, my sister and I, we'd you know, we're very much that firstborn identity of like being responsible, doing what we're told, yeah, um, thinking about the family. So we we're all still that. And then the middle, my sister that comes after us, is very much a middle child in the sense that look at me, it wants attention. And growing up, she should singing stuff and she'd sing and sing and sing forever, and we're like, stop, but she you know, we just want that attention, yeah. And then the baby's the baby, you know, like my youngest sister and my younger brother, yeah, we're the spoiled, like right baby, you know. So still fits that. The only thing I'll say though is the middle child, see, I don't know if you said this, Mo. In your situation, you know how like the reels always show the middle child, like they say, I'm the oldest, da-da-da-da. I'm the middle, and then they skip the middle and they were forgotten. I didn't, I never understood that because I felt like my sister got a lot of attention. She was my dad's favorite because she looked like my dad's family. Okay, and it was fine. We weren't like upset about her being the favorite because we'd use it to our advantage. Like, if we want something, you knew she was the favorite, it was obvious. Nigerian parents are very like outspoken and vocal about like who's the smart one, who's the who's this, who's that? That's similar to Asian parents, yeah. Like it doesn't phase you, you're not upset about it, just what it is. Yeah, and so we knew she was the favorite. So then whenever we wanted something, we just sent her to get it. Like, you know, it's a good strategy, yes.

SPEAKER_05 6:47

Yeah, well, Sumi was kind of favorite as far as spoiling her. I remember my parents like making her go out to get clothes, and I'm like, Can you take me shopping instead? Because she doesn't want to go, and she used to be like, I don't want to go. And I'm like, Can you take me instead? I want a new pair of jeans. My mom's like, Are you crazy?

unknown 7:07

I'm like, What?

SPEAKER_05 7:09

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Uh okay, so you were like classic middle children.

SPEAKER_05 7:14

I was it I we fit the stereotype, I think. Oh, I think for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah, that's so interesting.

London Nigeria And Moving To Ohio\n

SPEAKER_05 7:20

So wait, you were born in Nigeria?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Oh no, no, no. Let me clarify. So I was born in London. Oh, in general, like there's a lot of Nigerians in London. My mom and her family have a home there. She went to college in in London. It's just very easy for Nigerians to go back and forth from London to Nigeria. So honestly, I don't remember like how long we stayed there, but every one of us was born in London, but we also lived in Nigeria. We went to school in Nigeria, like Nigeria was home, and we lived in the north in Canu. That was home. I remember going to school there for a good stretch of time. But like holidays, again, when my mom was pregnant, we're going back to London. Yeah. And so, and we had this family home there. My memories of both are kind of muddy of how long. Um, but we moved to the States when I was eight in 1989. Oh, okay. And that was because at that point we were looking to settle and move to London because it wasn't safe in Nigeria for us because we were a Christian in a Muslim area, and like we weren't able to go to better schools because of our culture and not fitting into the main culture.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

So eventually we already knew we were gonna move to London, and then my mom's cousin from Ohio said, Come to the US. There's you know great opportunities here. And again, everyone's in London, and it was getting packed in my grandfather's house, and like we moved around to find our own place there. Yeah, but my mom was like, Yeah, let's just move home, let's just try it.

SPEAKER_05 8:47

So you went to Ohio, that's how you ended up in Ohio from London to from London.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Do you remember the show LA Law? I don't know. Yeah, this is probably before your time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, you do LA, right? So it's in LA, but in my mind, that was Ohio, like that was the US. So I was so excited to come to LA, you know, to America. And we came in the summer, so it wasn't too bad, like coming at like initially, but then experiencing winter. Oh, but it was a shock, like it was a shock, it was a shock, and I was like, this isn't LA.

SPEAKER_05 9:24

Well, it's interesting because your accent's American.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So coming when I was eight, and then going to school from yeah, at that point, grade school, high school, and wanting to fit in. So it was really tough. Like when we first came to the States, it was around the time that Boys in the Hood, the movie, came out. Yeah, and there's a scene in the movie that is iconic where kids are bullying kids and they say, You African booty scratcher. And I'm telling you, my whole childhood, I was called an African booty scratcher, and every African has experienced that around that time. And I never thought it was that funny, but it was so funny to kids.

SPEAKER_05 10:03

Of course, yeah. So well, in Ohio, there's not a lot of minorities, uh, depending on where you are in Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yes, agreed, and especially in the 90s, you know, it wasn't it wasn't welcoming of different cultures at that time. Now I feel like things are better, obviously, because of social media and just exposure. Yeah, but back then, absolutely not. So it was very important for us to fit in, right? And for me, especially, I have to ask my siblings how they felt about it, because a lot of them are very much kept with their the culture and identity. I wanted to be American. I'm not gonna lie, like I just wanted to fit in. I was really shy, I was really quiet, and I just did not want to stand out. Yeah, so what's unfortunate is so my mom and dad are from different tribes, and we were learning the language when we were back home. But when I came here, I'm just like English, English. Yeah, you know, I'm from somewhere, I don't have like a accent or like a southern accent, or so it's unfortunate, but that was survival, you know, just to fit in. I just wanted to not be different, yeah. Yeah, so it was tough, but then eventually this was home. And I think you guys asked the question, how often do you go back to Nigeria?

SPEAKER_05 11:10

Girl, I've not been since you moved, since you put that behind. Do you want to?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I do, I do. Yeah, my twin sister went back a couple times, and then my older brother went back when my father passed away. He went for the funeral. And even my youngest sister took her kids there, so there is no excuse. I do want to go.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

Yeah, do you still have families there? Like relatives or anything? I do. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Um, definitely a little less, just you know, fortunately, my grandparents passed away, a couple family members passed away. But yes, yes, I still have family there. I still have family in London, and I I have been back to London and I've seen family that's in London, right? But not in Nigeria yet. The part of Nigeria that we lived in, like I said, we lived in the north. So my mom's Yoruba, that's the south area, and my dad grew up Hausa. He's from Sierra Leone. Originally, he's Saro, but he grew up around Hausa people. When you're in the north, you kind of have to like assimilate, and you are Hausa. Anyway, so they spoke different tribes, so we just spoke English. So that was the other thing, too. We didn't speak the language, we always just spoke English. Is English universal language there? Yeah, okay, because Nigeria is colonized by the British, so right.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, but I would love to go back to like what was childhood, like what was home.

SPEAKER_05 12:24

Yeah, maybe you could go with one of your siblings that's already been back.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah, the ones I've been have families and stuff, so it'll be hard to travel with them. But what I want to do is go with my mom, yeah, for sure, and my sister that's single right now, and so that's our plan. We plan to go next year, fingers crossed. I do have a question, and this is for Sumi. Thinking of moving from one country to a whole nother country, and like for me being eight years old, wanting to adapt, and like I already said, you know, wanting to fit in and be Americanized, whatever, and finally feeling like I did. I couldn't imagine then having to then, okay, let's go back, you know, or you know, move again. And Sumi, that's what you did. And I know in one episode

Bullying Assimilation And Losing Language\n

SPEAKER_01 13:05

you talked about it and you've said, Oh, and everyone was nice and everything worked out. Was it really that easy for you to move back and fit in? Or yeah, what was that? I'm just very curious as your experience.

SPEAKER_04 13:16

Um, I had a really hard time. Um, you did, okay. Yes, because well, before, well, when my dad told me that I had to go back to Japan, but Kaori and Tomomi were able to stay in the US, I was like, that's not fair. I want to stay here too. Cause you know, all my friends are here. I grew up here. I don't know anyone in Japan, I don't know the culture that much. But obviously, I was still in high school, so I had to go back with them. And I've always wanted a dog, and my dad was like, Okay, well, you can get a dog finally. So I was like, fine. That was our like their negotiation point, but yeah, yes. So I came back and yes, I had a really difficult time. I mean, I was Japanese, I looked Japanese, but I was still a bit foreign to the culture, and I was way behind in school.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

So he doesn't ask about that. So when you say that, is it like the education system is that bad in the US?

SPEAKER_03 14:09

She didn't have exposure to the Japanese everyday schooling. You know, we went to school on Saturdays, Japanese school. Um, but the Japanese school on Saturdays, but that was it. And that was Japanese math and social studies, I think, but it didn't cover everything, and it's nothing like everyday grind of high school, I guess, in Japan.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

So I had to take this entrance exam to get into high school. It was math, Japanese, and English. And oh my gosh, my my Japanese was seven points out of a hundred. Stop.

unknown 14:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

So those Saturday schools were like, no, did not help.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

Didn't really help. Didn't do anything. Oh no, it helps with seven. Like maybe you spelled your name right, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:55

The seven point eight.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

But I was just way behind in like the language itself. So got it. You know, all the classes I had to take in Japanese, and I also had to take Japanese history. You know, I only took American history and world history in the US. Everything was new. And you know, the kanjis, the Chinese characters, Chinese characters, yeah. I had a difficult time writing them, reading them. Even if I could read them, I wouldn't understand what it means. And I remember I had to take this Japanese history test, and I had to write all the characters correct. Even if I got the answers right, it had to be like the correct Chinese characters. Yeah. I was so behind.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

I had such a hard time adjusting. But she made it, she made it into the high school. Yeah, yeah, awesome. Because there were kids that went with her to take this exam, entrance exam into the high school. And I think you said five kids took it and only three passed or something.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

Yeah, five kids took it on three passed. I don't know how I passed. Well, this school was really focusing on English, and my English was 100%. So that's why they took it. Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I mean, obviously that's good. It helped, right? Like having a language that, you know, and that's good that you were put into a school that has English and I imagine if it was just Japanese, I think. Yeah, that would have been really, really hard. But then also, is it the idea that you did this move and you're doing this movie again helped you like pivot and adapt because you had to adapt, or do you not remember having to adapt when you came to America the first time?

SPEAKER_04 16:26

The first time went, yeah. I did not remember thinking to myself, oh, okay, I have to adapt, I have to fit in. I think I was seven.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05 16:36

I don't really well. Didn't you say like now your Japanese is stronger than English? Do you feel?

unknown 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:44

You feel like isn't that so interesting to me?

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Yeah, but how long has it been since you've been back?

SPEAKER_04 16:50

It's been over 20 years. Yeah. And I don't use English on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Oh, you don't? Okay. So in Japan, people speak Japanese, right? And it's dual, like there's a lot of English speakers. No, okay.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

No, no, English is so behind in Japan, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Oh, interesting. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 17:08

Out of all the Asian countries, Japan's like one of the last.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

I wonder though, because Japan is an island on its own, not a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

You know how like people in Japan are like really shy and um reserved, reserved. And so even if they could speak pretty good English, they probably won't.

SPEAKER_05 17:26

They probably no, that's not true. When I ran into the one guy that was trying to speak to me in English, and I didn't understand it in English. And I'm like, why is he talking to me in English when I'm talking to him in Japanese? Oh no, my kids, so you know, they wanted to, you know, test their English, I guess. And I kept saying, You can just talk to me in Japanese, because I did not understand what they were saying.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

That's hilarious. And he's like, he wanted to be able to do that. We really wanted to practice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

He's one of the rare people. But speaking about that, as far as personality type of a culture, in one of your episodes, I think, yeah, the personality testing, Sumi, you had said that you fit in as far as your personality, like fit in Japanese culture. Again, is it because of you reassimilating and because if you stayed in the US, do you maybe you wouldn't? I feel like I would have had a totally different personality. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I I agree. I'm the one that my family that's extroverted, right? But growing up, I was super shy. And I think if I had stayed in Nigeria and more conservative lifestyle, I would be definitely more modest and toned down, way more than being American. I want to say like a generic American trait of being like the loud, obnoxious American. Right?

unknown 18:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Also comes out because as a culture where women are allowed to like speak versus in other cultures, it's rude, or you have to really, you know, be cautious.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

I think you also talked about that a little bit that your personality may not have changed if you did stay behind.

SPEAKER_05 19:01

Do you think?

unknown 19:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

I'm sure we talked about it a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

If she was in the US, maybe I can't see her being any other way, but maybe a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

But you were always reserved though. Like you weren't like Tomomi.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Obviously, no one's like Tom, but yeah, I wasn't like her, but still, like I remember when I came back to Japan where I was in class, this girl came up to me. She was like, Hey, we're all gonna go to the restaurant. Do you want to come? I'm like, No, I don't wanna, I don't have to go yet. She made this look, and I was like, Why is she giving me that look?

SPEAKER_05 19:30

And we're going to the bathroom to pee.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

I was like, What? Did I say something? And then she left. I asked this friend who'd been to the US, she was a really good friend of mine. I was like, Is it normal for everyone to go to the restroom together? And she's like, Oh yeah, just ignore that. Stupid, you know, the girls they all just get together and go to the restroom at the

Returning To Japan Culture Shock\n

SPEAKER_04 19:50

same time. And yeah, if you say no, she probably's like, Why isn't she joining us? type of thing, but don't worry about it. I was like, Okay. Okay, wait, oh wait, that was in Japan? In Japan, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Oh, okay. Because I feel like that's an American thing for girls.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

I feel like that's worldwide for girls.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Okay, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

So I mean you're just out of touch with the world. Yeah, okay. Well, well, never mind.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Uh I was like, Yeah, that's definitely not a Japanese thing together. Okay, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

I mean, you were pretty bookwarm, you were very studious. Maybe it depended on who you were surrounded by.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

That's true, too.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

I mean, that's a good point. So you've all been to the restaurant with your friend. Like, even if you didn't want to go, you'd be like, Okay, let's gotta go.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, or even if you don't need to go, you just go and hang out and chat or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Like that moment to get to know somebody, you know what I mean, too. It's yeah, so but that's okay. Maybe you don't want to get you probably didn't want to get to know that girl. She's giving you a face, right? I did, yeah, yeah. So that's not a missed opportunity. You're good.

SPEAKER_05 20:49

Well, I feel like as an adult, as a mom now, it's not like we gather other moms to go or anything, but I think it was like a younger generation thing for me. Like if we went clubbing or something, you don't want to leave your friends behind or you know, anything. So you kind of went together.

SPEAKER_04 21:06

If they were my friends, I would understand, but they weren't my friends. Oh, it was just random. Like they wanted to be your friend. Oh, yeah, they just wanted to be yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

So another thing I wanted to bring up is you guys always refer to your parents by a certain name. And maybe you talked about it. I I don't think so. But like when you talk about your mom, you say Oka-san and your dad Oto San. Yeah, and then your grandma, I think, is Obajan. Oba. Wow, you're and then there's someone that's Ojan, but I'm like, who's Ojan?

SPEAKER_05 21:39

Oh, yeah. So Hannah, Oji Chan is grandpa, Ojicha is uncle. Oh, okay. So that's so yeah, it's very close. And same thing, Obajan is grandma, but oba jan is aunt.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Oh, oh, so the the tonation changes a little, yeah. Oba jan versus obajan. So wait, I forgot what the question was. So then is that the name that every Japanese person uses, or is that like your nickname for your family?

SPEAKER_05 22:05

No, pretty much universal. Everyone calls their jazz Otosa or Papa. Some people say Papa.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Oh, okay. Yeah. I think Japanese is a little bit similar to Yobav, uh, for sure. And as far as the tonation, depending on how you say it, could mean a whole like yes or no. Do you say it wrong? I don't speak. I wish I could be like, oh, these words, but I just know because I didn't speak and didn't learn it properly, I'm not gonna mess around and say the wrong thing. But in regards to like parents and being respectful, definitely that's similar. So in in Yoba culture, my mom's parents, my mom called her parents Mamma Me and Papa Me. And so that's like everybody will call their parents that. But growing up, we heard my parents call their parents that. So that's what we call our grandparents, but not our parents. Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

A lot of Nigerians fall more of the British names. So we mommy and daddy is what we call our parents. But our grandparents, Mama Me, which then became mommy, so mommy and papa me is what we did. And I always thought that's what grandparents' names are. And she's like, no, no, no, that's mom or dad. But we just heard our parents doing that. And so all our cousins called our grandparents mommy and papa daddy. That's cute.

SPEAKER_07 23:14

Yeah, that's cute.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

So yeah. Again, just you know, for respect. Yeah. And even how you greet somebody, it depends on like their age. Yeah. So I think that's gonna say so that's similar, right? If I'm just speaking to someone that's my age, I'll say caro, good morning. But if it's an elder, it's ekaro. Ekaro, and then if it's you know, evening ekarole or crawl, you know, so you put the M front for respect. So it's like not as simple as like when I'm saying, Oh, how you say hi? I'm like, Well, are you older than me? Or am I coming to your home? Are you coming to my home? Like, it's yeah, it's so complicated.

SPEAKER_05 23:48

In Nigeria, do people bring gifts when you go to someone's house?

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Um, gosh, that's a good question. I wouldn't say that that's typical, like bringing gifts, but I will say that you definitely have to bring gifts when you're coming from the US, yeah. Going back to Nigeria, so that you know, your plan for travel has to include bringing stuff back, right? So to your point, is uh not like going to someone's homes, but I don't know because when we came to the US, we weren't really surrounded by Nigerians, you know, we didn't have a huge community. So maybe that is typical.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Where did you live in Ohio? Maybe uh we forgot to ask you this at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah, I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, so northwest, near Detroit area. And yeah, at the time it was just us, my mom's cousin that lived there, and like randomly we'd hear of another family and we might meet the other family. Um, but we were pretty much the only Nigerians as far as we knew. And at that point, especially in the 90s, early 2000s, there wasn't like Nigerian restaurants. All I knew was the Nigerian food that we ate at home. Right. And our culture was what we did at home. Yeah. So, like, for example, pepper soup. So, as far as like Nigerian foods, I grew up eating it where it's brothy, it's clear, it has tomatoes, onions, cayenne pepper, habanera pepper, and then whatever meat you put, like chicken, fish, or goat meat. But it's clear broth. That's more northern food in Nigeria, it's not the Lagos typical pepper soup. So when I went to a restaurant as a grown adult and I asked for pepper soup, and they bring back this thing, and I'm just like, what's this? This isn't this isn't pepper soup. But then I come to find out, like, oh, that is what is that's yeah, it's yeah, we just grew up eating something else. Yeah, now I know all the dishes to order and what they look, but then oh, that's not what my mom ate growing up.

SPEAKER_05 25:34

Well, we have those in Japan too, region, like you know, miso soup. Oh, yeah, yeah. Some, depending on where they're from, they grew up drinking white miso soup, and then there's also red miso soup. Oh, which was popular in the states, like the white the white one, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:50

I didn't even know there was red.

SPEAKER_05 25:51

Red is a little bit darker.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

You can tell that it's a darker and more flavor. It's just fermentation process. If you leave it longer, the color starts to turn and darkens. But our parents said that you know, my mom is from an island off of island, like the south of Nagasaki, and then my dad is from northern Japan. And I think when they got together, I think my mom said that she has never seen or have had white miso soup or something like this, so it was an interesting story. Yeah, so I think that southern Japan, I think people tend to use red miso than the white, but I'm sure nowadays it's like common everywhere, it's right, right, things everywhere, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:34

I feel like yeah, I feel like kids today are so lucky that cross-cultural just awareness, you can try foods from all over

Names Respect And Family Words\n

SPEAKER_01 26:40

the world, like there's lots of opportunities. But I didn't have sushi till like well into adulthood, and I was like, Why didn't I have sushi with you?

SPEAKER_03 26:48

And I never took you to like a Nigerian restaurant, like it wasn't a thing, like we just it was so funny because freshman year, when I was in a dorm with two girls, they were my roommates. One of them, she was like, Oh, sushi is so disgusting. It was like 1999, and then by the time we graduated in 2004, that was her favorite food. Oh, I love sushi, and that was around the time like it was hyped up.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Yeah, yes, yes, yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I did the same thing because growing up, I didn't eat fish or seafood, so like I'm not gonna eat food. Like I thought it was a huge thing in Africa. It is okay. So, real quick, so remember, I said when it came to like my siblings, middle sister is like the favorite, whatever, but we were all spoiled because I never thought I was spoiled till I realized my parents always made me a pot of meat. So, yeah, so fish is very popular in Nigeria. There's fish dishes. I don't even know when it started, but my earliest memory was I didn't eat fish or seafood. I didn't like it, but also secretly I wanted to be special. Like I always had my own pot of meat. Everybody knew not to touch my pot. So I didn't even try or venture or eat anything fishy fast forward. I still don't eat a lot of fishy stuff, but I do like shrimp, I like mussels, I like sushi. But I can't mess with sashimi. Yeah, that's a little too much for me. Yeah, I could do nigiri. They say it niggiri. This is rice, you know. Give me a little something, give me a little, but of course, my favorite is cream cheese, avocado, put all the things in there and and and tempura, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 28:19

Like mask the yeah, taste of seafood and fufu, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Did you eat fufu? Yeah, so fufu is a generic term for swallow, it's where it's starch that you dip in sauce. So my favorite, like my go-to is ebba, it's like dry cassava that you mix with water, and you know, so that's my favorite, but pounded yam is a popular one. Yeah, there's different, but it looks like mashed potatoes. Yeah, so that yeah, fufu is more of like a generic term for it. Um but yeah, so I love fufu, but again, I dip it in meat sauce, and also like with Nigerian sauces, there's always crayfish or crawfish, dried fish in anything, probably to flavor the broth or whatever. Yeah, you said they usually put it in. Yes, but I didn't grow up like that. Again, my parents never cooked my food like that. Yeah, so if I go to a restaurant, I'm I always have to ask them how do they cook, prepare their sauces. Because again, I I was spoiled, I didn't realize that I was totally spoiled. My mom's like, I actually prefer it with that seasoning, the dried fish, but could you even like it?

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Yeah, I feel like if you go to Japan though, the sushi, the raw fish, the the quality is completely different, you know, in Japan. So I think you will be able to uh tolerate it, or even like would want to try it because it's just totally different.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

I mean, for sure, I'll try sashimi there. Absolutely, I'll try it. I'd say some of my favorite episodes that you guys have aired were ones that talk about Japan and like what's trending, and you know, um, and even when you did the episode with your mom, the leap day, that's my hands-down favorite episode because you were we talking about about our mom. You talked about your childhood at your mom's, either your mom's home or grandma's home, and you talk about a bathtub outside, and there's a mountain and ocean. And I was painting at the time when I was listening, and I could totally like visualize the scenery, and I'm like, Oh, I want to go there. Like, I mean, maybe you know, not her house, but like that area sounded so cool that you can see the mountains and you see the ocean. I'm just like, whoa, that's awesome! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was that. And and and then you were talking about like being kids and um seeing like spiders or something, and your parents are like, ah, it's getting oh my god, the spider.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Yeah, it was like the house, you know, the neighborhood Totoro, right? Hannah, you said this. Yeah, we've watched it together.

SPEAKER_05 30:32

Oh my gosh, it's just like that, kind of, except for the bath was outside that exact bath where she goes outside and you know, boils and whatnot. The whole thing is outside.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

It doesn't look exactly the same, but it has that kind of feel.

SPEAKER_05 30:45

Very much like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

And our grandma was like the grandma in there too. She had dark skin because she was outside a lot and very loud when she spoke.

SPEAKER_05 30:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

If you hear it in Japanese, then yeah, I thought, wait, that sounds just like our grandma.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Oh wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 31:02

Yeah, and she spoke dialect too that we couldn't understand. So she was scary to me.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Oh, okay. So, what does that mean? So, is there so is it again regional, you know? So it's not obviously not just like a mainstream Japanese, and then everybody has to know completely different wording.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 31:22

Yeah, okay, very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

The area where Sumi lives, like Tokyo and Yokohama, that area is Hyojinko Dene, a standard. Yeah, it's considered a standard. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. And then what area was is your mom from? Uh south, like an island off of Nagasaki. Oh, so it's like Japan is an island, but it's this little island off of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay, very cool. That's why, okay, that's why she could she could be surrounded by the ocean. And so, question for you guys as far as assimilating to the in in US. Were you guys in a Japanese area or something? You know what I mean? Like, because it or was it very different being around I don't know, American kids that weren't Japanese at all? What was that experience?

SPEAKER_05 32:01

Our dad purposely chose a house where we would be zoned where there's not a lot of Japanese kids that attended the elementary school. There was a little town over that was zoned for school that had so many Japanese

Food Culture From Pepper Soup To Sushi\n

SPEAKER_05 32:15

kids, but he didn't want that for us, I guess, because he wanted us to learn English. Oh, cool. And so the school we started out, there weren't very many at all, actually. There was only one kid that was Japanese that kind of helped me when I first got there to communicate with my teachers. But otherwise, he disappeared the next year and probably went back to Japan. I don't know what happened to him, but I was all on my own. But yeah, it helped me to learn, you know, forced me to learn English.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

I mean, I must say though, so my dad worked for Honda all his life. That's why we moved, as you probably know this. But they had a support center, like a family center for any Japanese families whose dad worked at Honda. And so that was actually in the city where we grew up. We did have Japanese community that would get together and obviously went to Saturday schools, but it wasn't like we grew up without any Japanese people around. There were, and there were supporters too, that helped us like go to appointments or you know, just to get started. Okay, actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:19

I have a feeling though, but we were like kind of like the one of the first ones that were there in that area. I remember like in middle school, then we started to have more Japanese students.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

And I feel like also, too, like to Tommy's point, like our house was located where no Japanese people around us. We had to ask my mom to drive us quite a bit to go to our friend's house.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Oh, okay. But how was it getting to know Americans and like fitting in? How was that experience? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_05 33:50

For me, everybody was so intrigued. I was in third grade, like I spent two weeks of third grade towards the end, right before summer break, uh, is when we came in, when I came, and everybody was so intrigued with the fact that I didn't speak English, but I could do math, and then they would have me draw pictures for them, or they were touching my hair. I remember like kids were touching my hair, trying to do my hair and all that. I think because you know, not very many minority there. I don't know. Some kids were really into that, yeah. Like, I guess they were intrigued. Right. Yeah. Oh, that's good. That was my experience.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Everybody was so nice, yeah. Yeah, fascinating. Okay, so do you guys uh Sasumi Kayori same experience?

SPEAKER_04 34:31

Pretty much. I was, yeah, same as Tommy. Everyone was intrigued that I couldn't speak English, and everyone wanted to be my friends. I felt so popular. And I remember after like maybe two weeks or so, my friend invited me to her birthday party, and I couldn't understand what she was saying. She gave me this birthday party like invitation, and I showed it to my dad. I was like, What is this? And he was like, Oh, it's a birthday party. Do you want to go? It's a sleepover. And I was like, Yes. He was like, Are you sure? You you don't understand what they're saying. Are you sure? And I was like, Yeah, I want to go. My dad was like, he was looking at it, and then he called my friend's mom to see what we had to bring because this was our first time ever sleepover. The one in the family was going to sleepover. So he was like, Okay, so we need a sleeping bag. What is a sleeping bag?

SPEAKER_05 35:14

Is that when you bought you the Barney one? Yeah. Oh my gosh, I remember the dinosaur.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

Yes, we went to Walmart and he was like, Well, okay, which one do you want? And I was like, I don't know. And he was like, How about this dinosaur one? I was like, Okay, the purple dinosaur, the purple dinosaur, and I remember I had so much fun, even though I had no idea what everyone was saying.

SPEAKER_05 35:33

Yeah, it's good. Yeah, it's good to come as a kid, you know, because you're more accepted. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

So when I came, it was at the end of fifth grade, and luckily the classroom teacher has gone to Japan, so she periodically would teach the kids in class Japanese, like phrases.

SPEAKER_05 35:52

Wait, who's what's her name?

SPEAKER_03 35:55

I cannot remember, but it was for a few months because of that. I think there were a lot of kids that were interested in Japan already. And there was this one particular girl, Mindy. When I first met her, I don't know how we spoke, like Simi said. Like, I don't even know how we conversed, but she somehow gave me her phone number, and I guess I understood that I had to call her. You know, we didn't have any cell phones back then, it was just like conversing on the phone. Somehow I called her, we conversed, I don't know how, but like we talked to each other on the phone every single day. I don't know what we talked about, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Like you can speak English, but you talk, but you could yeah, somehow I don't I don't even know.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

I can't remember. And then like eventually, like she wanted to learn Japanese, so like I would you know teach her Japanese and she would teach me English. So we had that kind of exchange. Yeah, it was really nice.

SPEAKER_05 36:40

She was awesome, she was so nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

But like you said, I think coming as young kids, people were kind.

SPEAKER_05 36:49

I think it's easier, yeah. Cause I used to see like all these high school Japanese kids that would come in and they would sit alone, and I used to feel so bad. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Uh, like I said, my favorite episode is your mom, right? When you the leap day, I would like to see an episode about your dad. You talk about him randomly, but he doesn't have an episode. So I think that's a good point. I feel like we talk about him. I don't think so. I try to search and I was like, but you only talk about like family trips and you know that stuff. It's like here and there. We get a sense of his personality here and there, especially the telling you guys he chopped wood for uh together.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

That was hilarious. I guess he doesn't remember that. When I brought it up, he was like, Wow, you believed and I'm like, What? That's what you said, hilarious. He's like, you know, that's what he told me.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

But yeah, well, Hannah, thank you so much for coming on. We have a pleasure. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I feel like I've learned a little bit about you for sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Aww, yeah, for sure. Oh, thanks to me. Love it.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

All right, well, I'll let you guys go. Thanks. Yeah, and have a great Friday. I guess you're just gonna just start the morning, right?

SPEAKER_05 38:04

You're all ready for whatever the day.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

I know that maybe maybe it should be new me getting up early.

First Days In America And Fitting In\n

SPEAKER_01 38:10

I'm like often at it. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

Well, Sayonara, Sayonara, thank you. Thank you for the you guys always say Jenny. What does that mean? I try to Google it. Jane. Jane. Jane. Yeah. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_05 38:31

Thanks for joining us today. Don't forget to review Sister Vibes and make sure to subscribe on the app of your choice so you don't miss our upcoming episodes. Until next time, Jane.

SPEAKER_06 38:44

And all of these games you play. I should have seen through it right from the start, but I chose to give it all away. Now I didn't want to get one to come and give me a pray.