Today we had an enjoyable day. That spouse o' mine brought out a PhD student from Nigeria to spend the day with us. Such a delight! Sam was fun (and funny) and I learned an awful lot about his home. For instance: even though Nigeria is now a democracy, there are 250 tribes in Nigeria. Each tribe is made up of clans. Each clan speaks a different language. Sam's wife, from a different clan within his tribe, speaks a different language than Sam. All Nigerians learn to speak English at a very early age: 5 - 6 years old. So Sam is fluent in 3 languages - his clan language, his tribal language, and English. Sam's English is much more eloquent than my own Okie vocabulary. How can that be?!
Sam & I got on the subject of the Winter Olympics. He laughed when I asked him (in my ignorant American way) if Nigeria had athletes in Vancouver? No Nigerians have participated in Winter Olympics, ever. I guess, being near the equator, there's not a lot of training ground to be had.
In that I am nearing the half-century mark in age , I happened on the many sites regarding Anne Abernathy, aka: Grandma Luge. She is a lady who just chanced upon a vacation opportunity (she lives in the Virgin Islands) to Lake Placid, NY, and tried the luge run from the Lake Placid Olympics. She was hooked! And from there, she entered what is now the RECORD of Olympic competitors: she broke the record as the oldest female athlete to compete in ANY sport in the Winter Olympics. Anne Abernathy was 52 and competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Yippee! There is still time for me!!
And so, I bid you:
Faster...higher...stronger!!!
More winter...tomorrow!
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