Here’s a joke for you:

Two Ghanaians and a Nigerian walk into a bar… but left because they didn’t have Nigerian jollof rice.

Ghana, a relatively unknown place until Nigeria shot them into popularity (ugh, the things we do for them!). Also, Ghana, the place filled with people of mystery, strange English diction, low production movies, and weird jollof rice concoction. In a bid to explore this enigmatic country, I invited two Ghanaians over to my house over a meal of Indo-Thai goat curry, Korean steamed rice, and mixed vegetables (all made by yours truly). We explored salient issues like jollof rice (of course! And why Ghanaians cannot get this right), pet peeves (turned out I am more finicky than I thought, ugh), acculturation problems, adjusting to the educational system, books, what traits determine success in grad school, racial identity, questions about my marriage, and so much more.

PS: One of the guests – Elias – took me on my offer to cook any meal of choice for anyone who was visiting Oklahoma and wanted to stop by my house – this is still an open invitation to anyone BTW. Living in America, the off-and-on Ghana-Nigeria banter never ceases. In fact, we unite more as Africans against common causes like acculturation, socialization, and just everything else American. So I guess this is the story about three Africans who are trying to hack it in America.