Mistaken Identity

A few days ago, at work I had the funniest conversation ever ...! Well... I seemed to think it was pretty hilarious!

For the regular and loyal readers of my blog you will remember the awesome work Christmas party last year where I went as Michael Jackson. I obviously made a lot of new friends among my colleagues that day. One of the 'friends' I made that day was a nice Chinese girl who had just moved to New Zealand at that time too.

She seemed hugely impressed with my costume and we took many pictures together at the party. We had lunch a couple of times after, where she told me she was desperate to improve her English and I seemed like the perfect person to help. She complained that the kiwi accent (speaking English) was most times too thick for her to understand whereas mine was clear and easy to understand.

Well... my absence from work in the last 3 weeks have of course NOT gone unnoticed and today my chinese friend stopped me over the coffee machine to ask where I had been. I was explaining to her and it somehow came up that I owned a Nigerian passport...

"Wait..." she said. "I tink you are from Hamerica..."
"No" I replied. "I have a Nigerian passport"
"Nee-jay ria?!" she said, with utter disbelief on her face.
"Yes Nigh-Gee-RIA" i said correcting her pronunciation
"But you speak vely good Engrish!"
"Yes, its my first language"
"Dey speak Engrish in Nee-jay-ria?"
"Yes Its the official language. Language of the courts, of parliament and of instruction in schools"
"But... but..." and then she trailed off with what I can only call disbelief and disappointment on her face!

And if I thought that was a bit amusing... she seems to have been avoiding me the whole week! I caught her looking at me and shaking her head over lunch in the coffee room and when I walked up to her and asked if there was anything the matter, she replied in the negative and damn near almost ran away.

Whats Up with that?