My Paradise: Now i am going to share my own life story which i underwent when i was 9 or 10 yers old. Let me give you first background general information : when i was 9 our family used to be one of the poorest one in our countryside my dad and mom had nothing to do and no job like other parents, once or twice in a month only my dad used to visit another countryside and he used to came back with a less amount of money. that would be enough for our living expanses, that said , ironically my father was addicted to alcohol , he was alcoholic and used drink even though we had no money for bread. So he spent half of his money for purchasing alcohol drinks. There was always conflict between my mom and dad . Whatever as i was young, immature boy i did not care of anything. I could not get on well both with my mom and dad , instead I had the best family member of us and the best friend of mine his name was alpha and actually he was my dog and both best friend. Today my story is wholly devoted to him, to his memory . i remember whenever i had fight with my father mostly due to his unconciousness i used to go away from home mostly to the hill of the nearest mountain to our home with alpha and rarely i used to cry, weep over everything I do remember once I was going to my frends home for some schoolworks almost by sunset and of course my friend Alpha was going together with me . As usual situation I faced some bullies maybe 3 or 4 , they were just hiding their facewith masks and startood to approach me , I was so proud that i had my brave friend with me . he just sprang up and went to the bullies with barking like the Lucifer , he tried to bite them, that said they ran away and did not come back again . Due to such events i was loving him more and more, day by day as buddy. we used to get, understand each other fully , whenever i came back from school firstly i used to hear the " Welcome home" bark from Alpha. several months maybe a year passed, as usual i came back home from school. hmm but I did not find Alpha he was not home so i went inside of the house there were my parents and brother all together sitting . my dad showed his kind and said " Come on son today your mother cooked soup for you, today is happy day becouse we are going to eat enough meat" . I was happy also I had not have breakfast that day i was starving. i went and sat down I ate couple of bowls of soup and probably 300gramms of meat. I was stuffed. I had never eaten such and I was feeling like a king becouse of lush food . i was a lad who always cares of his friend , I callected all bones which we had cleaned the meat of it and wanted to give them to Alpha. S o I went out and called " Alpha,Alpha come on where are you i have surprize for you". After my dad said " come back son he can not hear you now". I went to him, set down and said " did he go somewhere". Dad said " Yes now he is with you, sitting with you together ( I thought he was on good mood and joking around ) " i said " I am asking seriously, i thibk Alpha is hungr too so let me give these bones to him". Dad laughed a bit and said " No dog eats it's own bones son you now just ate your dog. Whatever I needed to do this becouse we all were hungry also we will not catch cold . do not get upset you will get used to live without him , he was just a dog". I could not say a word only , i was shocked . i felt burst of anger , i raised my noice ,c ryed and sprang up and striked my father several times. Of course my punches were not powerfull so my father asked to stop it and slapped me on face. the flood of tears were on my face i ran to the restroom, put my finger into my throat and vomited voluntary. i was almost unconcious... that is how our friendship ended up. Years passed my father went to Kazakhistan to earn money and fund us. every week i try to find a daily work for some money to pay for my Ielts courses. sometimes as this month I struggle to find 30 bucks and be needed to miss my courses for a month. I hope one day to be a rich person and provide all poor people to be the knowladgable . that is why i am trying to read and learn more everyday . THE END

Old man James sat in front of his porch as the sun caressed his harsh features. His face was relaxed- a rarity indeed, considering he always has a frown etched on his dark face. On Sunday afternoons like this, when all the folks were in church, he sat outside exuding a moment of serenity, like now. I almost gave in to the urge to take a picture commemorating oldman James's first smile in decades. Almost. Consequently, the chattering of people permeated the solemn atmosphere, effectively putting to death old man James' peaceful aura. Kickstarting his feet to life, he stood, grunted a good afternoon to me (much to my surprise since he'd effectively ignored me for the two and half hours I'd been staring at him- or maybe four hours, anyways-), he adjusted His brownish-whatever-coloured cap on his thinned hair and entered his salon before anyone could shout "Old man James". He doesn't look as old as his name implies, however, his never-smile-till-I-die demeanor added a decade to his 50ish self. On the flip side, not many could mess with old man James. I mean, his cold demeanor could give anyone a brain freeze. That, however, doesn't stop the people of Achimota from giving him names. A little payback for all the times he'd declined their festive dinner invitations, or their housewarming parties- which is everytime. So, behind closed doors, he's known as 'memuna' (always frowning), kakai (beast), James Debond (don't ask) among many other derogatory names- by kids and adults alike. I also didn't like him at first. Don't get me wrong but he is rude and scary. The last time, for instance, he'd sacked his client for crying too much and snotting in his shop. The client was two years old and it was raining heavily outside. Both mother and child would have been drenched if my mom hadn't let them in her shop. So yeah, Old man James has a terrible rep. However, hearing his life story from the town's Wikipedia, which is my mother, and writing it down, put things in perspective. Apparently, there was a time Old man James smiled. Believe it or not, he even laughed. Yep. Teeth and all. That was eleven years ago, before he lost his wife in a car accident. According to my mom, it broke him so bad he moved out of their town house in the estate-y side of Achimota, into his barber salon. It finally explains how he manages to keep up with his rent even though few people frequent his shop. Apparently, he's loaded. Anyways, sitting here side by side with Old man James' as he narrates his tragedy, in a voice with more than just coldness in it, will forever be one of my dearest moments in life. It's a shame you think I'd tell the most vulnerable parts of a person's life without said person's clarification. However, It's more shameful that no words can accurately describe the pain, longing, misery and regret running across his features. Apparently, 20th July, was his wife's eleventh year anniversary and he needed someone to talk to. Guess who played incompetent therapist to the melancholic old man James, this girl! For accuracy sake, let's ignore the "he needed someone to talk to" part. This is how the session began Me (suspiciously cheerful): Good morning Mr James Old man James (eyes narrowed in suspicion): *grunts* Me: How are you doing today Old man James: *less enthusiastic grunts* Me( still with a huge smile): Is it me or you sound...sad? As our elders say, happiness is the uhm... antidote for the uhm.. .heart but sadness...sadness is veeery bad, like terrible, you- Old man James (with a heavy sigh and wistful voice): I see your mother told you.. Me (with a heavily dumbfounded face because that's the longest sentence Old man James has ever said to me): Uhh

A sudden global pandemic spirals out of control and then leads to lockdowns across major cities. What does that leave someone with? Nothing but a trail of disruption. For me the situation was a cocktail of activities and opportunities I had never dreamed about either doing or not doing. So here I was, this Nigerian lady of twenty-three trying to figure out my ‘new' life. Starting a relationship was never, ever part of my considerations. So how then did it eventually happen? Educational institutions had gone on break, most businesses and establishments asked to closed down or restrict opening hours and everyone ordered to stay indoors as much as possible to contain the spreading viral disease called COVID-19. But alone at home with little of my life the same as it was before the crisis, my world had transformed into something strange. I was at home doing nothing much except reading my books, catching up with old friends in town through social media and helping around with a little renovation with my siblings. Finding a traditional job that I could engage myself with around my neighborhood and beyond proved futile. It simply was a disaster. No one was hiring anyone new for a job. However, four months into my university break, I found something to do at home that I should say was fascinating: online freelance work. How I got into such a job sometimes makes me wonder but it all started with a friend of mine back from secondary school called Felix. He had sent me a Facebook message asking if I could help him out with some writing gigs. After my initial negative reply which was based on my little experience with creative writing, I agreed to help him. Back in secondary school, Felix was the most captivating of all the boys in my class and I considered him the most brilliant. Once in a while he would top the class but his periodic genius mind wasn't what started our friendship back then. Rather, it was his love for writing and drawing that got my attention. Some probing and demanding on my part made him finally take me as his apprentice. Weeks later, just as I was making some progress with these creative skills, I decided to quit. My love interest in art had gone and in its stead a close friendship had formed between me and Felix. I didn't feel I had it in me to be an artist of any sort or so I thought. Still I occasionally practiced when I needed a break from some stressful things. My first client was a lady, Felix's friend. She requested for a drawing of her boyfriend ahead of his birthday coming up in two weeks. A simple but unique piece of art was my first product in this new world of commerce and it was highly appreciated by many. I did many more interesting gigs after that but the most heartwarming was a love letter I wrote for a girl whose father had survived COVID-19. She cried after reading it stating it was the most love filled message she had read in a long time. Felix had told me about it in the happiest voice and for once in a long while I was moved by that knowledge. Many times I had to refer to the internet for tips on how to go about some projects. And like a mentor that he was, Felix was there to guide me through it all. He shared tips, experience, techniques with me that would help bring better results than the last projects. A year later since I started this new journey I found myself not so enthusiastic about it. It's like I had lost my love and interest for this phase and experience of my life that I felt so withdrawn. True, it was very demanding especially on my creative abilities but I sadly realized I was not in my most unique and comfortable zone. And so like years before, I decided to quit. I sent Felix a message in June, 2021, thanking him for everything: the teaching, support, advice and of course friendship. I told him in the nicest way that I wasn't ready to continue down this road of entrepreneurship, As a second-year nursing student my future career still obsessed me and I did not want to let that go. I did make a request to him that I wanted to be his official business partner in the art industry in future. More of a inactive one I reasoned. Sadly, he did not give a reply when I expected. I was hurt. I imagined he also had the same feeling of disappointment despite the confidence and encouragement he had given me and I still let him down. Some weeks later he responded. “I would gladly have you as my official business partner. Would you please accept my proposal to be my girlfriend?” he wrote back to me. Shock and surprise hit me as I digested the meaning of the message. I had a number of male friends but I had never dated or had a boyfriend before. This really was a first for me. I sent him an affirmative reply teasingly asking if he has had a girlfriend before. He said yes: me, in those days when we were in secondary school. And so that's how my love journey began with a guy called Felix. And till now, we are still going on strong in our relationship.

A sudden global pandemic spirals out of control and then leads to lockdowns across major cities. What does that leave someone with? Nothing but a trail of disruption. For me the situation was a cocktail of activities and opportunities I had never dreamed about either doing or not doing. So here I was, this Nigerian lady of twenty-three trying to figure out my ‘new' life. Starting a relationship was never, ever part of my considerations. So how then did it eventually happen? Educational institutions had gone on break, most businesses and establishments asked to closed down or restrict opening hours and everyone ordered to stay indoors as much as possible to contain the spreading viral disease called COVID-19. But alone at home with little of my life the same as it was before the crisis, my world had transformed into something strange. I was at home doing nothing much except reading my books, catching up with old friends in town through social media and helping around with a little renovation with my siblings. Finding a traditional job that I could engage myself with around my neighborhood and beyond proved futile. It simply was a disaster. No one was hiring anyone new for a job. However, four months into my university break, I found something to do at home that I should say was fascinating: online freelance work. How I got into such a job sometimes makes me wonder but it all started with a friend of mine back from secondary school called Felix. He had sent me a Facebook message asking if I could help him out with some writing gigs. After my initial negative reply which was based on my little experience with creative writing, I agreed to help him. Back in secondary school, Felix was the most captivating of all the boys in my class and I considered him the most brilliant. Once in a while he would top the class but his periodic genius mind wasn't what started our friendship back then. Rather, it was his love for writing and drawing that got my attention. Some probing and demanding on my part made him finally take me as his apprentice. Weeks later, just as I was making some progress with these creative skills, I decided to quit. My love interest in art had gone and in its stead a close friendship had formed between me and Felix. I didn't feel I had it in me to be an artist of any sort or so I thought. Still I occasionally practiced when I needed a break from some stressful things. My first client was a lady, Felix's friend. She requested for a drawing of her boyfriend ahead of his birthday coming up in two weeks. A simple but unique piece of art was my first product in this new world of commerce and it was highly appreciated by many. I did many more interesting gigs after that but the most heartwarming was a love letter I wrote for a girl whose father had survived COVID-19. She cried after reading it stating it was the most love filled message she had read in a long time. Felix had told me about it in the happiest voice and for once in a long while I was moved by that knowledge. Many times I had to refer to the internet for tips on how to go about some projects. And like a mentor that he was, Felix was there to guide me through it all. He shared tips, experience, techniques with me that would help bring better results than the last projects. A year later since I started this new journey I found myself not so enthusiastic about it. It's like I had lost my love and interest for this phase and experience of my life that I felt so withdrawn. True, it was very demanding especially on my creative abilities but I sadly realized I was not in my most unique and comfortable zone. And so like years before, I decided to quit. I sent Felix a message in June, 2021, thanking him for everything: the teaching, support, advice and of course friendship. I told him in the nicest way that I wasn't ready to continue down this road of entrepreneurship, As a second-year nursing student my future career still obsessed me and I did not want to let that go. I did make a request to him that I wanted to be his official business partner in the art industry in future. More of a inactive one I reasoned. Sadly, he did not give a reply when I expected. I was hurt. I imagined he also had the same feeling of disappointment despite the confidence and encouragement he had given me and I still let him down. Some weeks later he responded. “I would gladly have you as my official business partner. Would you please accept my proposal to be my girlfriend?” he wrote back to me. Shock and surprise hit me as I digested the meaning of the message. I had a number of male friends but I had never dated or had a boyfriend before. This really was a first for me. I sent him an affirmative reply teasingly asking if he has had a girlfriend before. He said yes: me, in those days when we were in secondary school. And so that's how my love journey began with a guy called Felix. And till now, we are still going on strong in our relationship.

Good Day! Isn't the summer heat exquisite? I am so in love with hot romantic summer nights with a nice glass of chilled wine. It's the best of the summer you can get besides a nice swim somewhere gorgeous here in Canada or as it should be known Kanata. We had a doozie here and the breeze was nice too! I love the smell of sweet air and how the warmth of the sun feels so comforting. I wish everyone had the time to really relax in that. We take our pup out to relax in the sun. He seems to enjoy the sun bathing. We make sure to keep him cool. He's an English-Mexican as we call him because he's taken to tea at four. Yes, my little chihuahua is a great tea lover. Three years ago I left my tea in the grass while I tended to a call and when I returned my full cup of tea was gone and to this day he daily checks my mug for it's contents. He's quite the charmer too. I imagine over the years as I learn more about him, I'll eventually have my story, "The English Mexican". His gentlemanly ways and particulars for beef jerky and humping his mother';s leg at night are supple entertainment for all of us. He's so randy he substitutes me for his pillow! How adorable? But with this small joke he likes to play on me at three o'clock in the morning has everyone laughing at ME! (lol) It's nice to know I'm loved! He really is very sweet. He keeps me busy on good days and comforts me when I'm having a rough day. My pup is very smart and very compassionate towards me. I am very lucky. I hope to write this coming week. if it's not too hot. I don't have air conditioning but manage to keep it a balmy 20 degrees in here. T'is very cool I must say. I just wanted to say Hello to you all and Happy Summer. Woo-hoo!! Julie Ann

A few weeks ago, I made the difficult decision to keep a secret. Now, several of my friends won't speak to me. Keeping secrets is something I always thought was a part of good character - something that people would find worthy to respect. While my friends now ignore me, I still feel that I made the right decision. A few of us stopped at a local bar for happy hour. Not long after sitting at a table I noticed a familiar face at the bar. So did my other three friends. “Isn't that Mike?” Linda asked in a horrified tone of voice. “Sure looks likes him,” Margie answered. “What do we do?” Terri queried. “Nothing,” I replied trying to sound blasé. Mike was the fiancé of Rena, another of our friends but he wasn't with Rena. He was sitting at the bar, openly flirting with another woman. Although we tried to enjoy the rest of the hour, seeing Rena's fiancé with another woman dampened our mood and before our pitcher of beer was finished, we began saying our goodbyes for the night. “Remember to call Rena,” Margie urged. “You have to tell her,” Linda persisted. “I'll go with you if you plan to visit her,” Terri offered. I stood determined not to do anything to hurt our friend. “Why me? And why are you all so insistent that we hurt Rena and rip apart the relationship she has with Mike? Before we do anything, we should find out how much she knows.” Margie said that since I knew Rena longer, it was not just my job but my obligation to tell her. “You're right,” I said quietly. “I have known her longer and we are closer. It's for that reason, I won't say anything.” Linda gave me a look of disgust and waved her hand in dismissal. As she walked away, I heard her say in what I deemed contempt, “So much for friendships. Glad to know we can all rely on you to watch our backs.” As I stood there in dismay, Terry and Margie said their quick goodbyes and walked to their cars. Here it is, three weeks later and my so-called friends haven't said a word to me. At least not yet! They will call, however, and I'm sure it will be in the next day or two. You see, I didn't have to say anything to Rena about her fiancé. She suspected him of seeing other women for a long time and without telling anyone, was at the same bar that same night and saw him. She visited me three days later and between coffee, wine and a lot of soothing ice cream, poured her heart out. She didn't want her friends involved since this was between her and Mike. Rena felt the more people that knew, the more embarrassing the situation would be. Being a strong woman, she wanted to handle matters in her own way and appreciated me taking a step back. She said it was only a matter of time, anyway, until Mike slipped up. After all, you can't cheat forever and not get caught. That's why she kept putting off arranging a wedding date. Smart girl! I thought as she hugged me before falling asleep on my couch. As I pulled a coverlet over my friend, I realized that no secret is safe. Eventually, the one who starts it, will break it - whether by word or action. Another thing I realized is that there is no need to go running to your best friend with every small detail that might cause hurt. It's more important to be around to pick up the pieces and lend a strong yet comforting shoulder. I also realized that my integrity was still intact and to me, that's something to be proud of. I smile as I think back. A few weeks ago, I made the difficult decision to keep a secret. Now, several friends ignore me like the plague. They still refuse to speak to me. However, once Rena makes known her own discovery, my so-called friends will call again. It's now up to me to deice if I should answer their calls. Friendships work both ways. You can't be a friend only when it's convenient to you and when it's on your terms. A true friend will be there for you, in thick and thin and stand with you rather than turn against you when times get rough. Rena and I are still close and each week to out to dinner to celebrate her new-found freedom. I celebrate my friend and the fact that I took a stand that didn't hurt anyone. There are times when honesty can be hurtful. We must always think twice before we speak. I am ever grateful that I did.

It's kind of funny thing for me to hold a pen right now and to write down something that is not connected to my study subjects. Last time I wrote an essay in 11 form. It was usually about some books that I've read or just some typical school themes. Now I'm on the 3 course of medical university in Ukraine. And I'm free to write everything that I want. But here is a question. What is the most interesting topic for me? What I want to tell about. That is really complicated. I would love to tell about my exciting hobbies, but I don't actually have any. I don't play any instruments, unbelievably bad at chess and don't really go in for sports. Sounds a little boring, I know. But I've got one thing that I'm really interested in. It is learning languages. Especially English. Not sure that I can call it a “hobby”, but at least it's better than nothing, right? I love watching serials and movies in English (with eng subtitles of cause I'm still not such a good speaker as I dream to be). I also read some books in original as I think that there is no translation which could reproduce the real meaning of the author's words. Not for so long time ago I used to think that my future profession would be connected to learning English. I dreamed to be a translator or even some ambassador. But my parents convinced me to choose medicine as it is more achievable to me. The whole first course I was regretting about this choice. The only thing I liked was English. And in my university there was only 1 lesson of English per week. One, Carl! The second course didn't actually differ. But this year I found out that there are a lot of people like me in my university. People who love English and would like to study it. And then I've decided to make an English club for these people. It's like some informal meetings after lessons. I usually prepare some presentations, videos and games for every time. At first it was really scary for me to imagine myself talking in front of an auditory like a lector. But everything has changed after the first lesson. It's unbelievable feeling to share my experience with other people and to see the way they like it. I really do my best for these lessons and I feel such a pleasure when I see that people appreciate it. My faculty is dentistry so I usually try to connect my themes with some dental issues. For example, we learn about caries and other diseases, teach each other how to communicate with our patients in English and so on. My students ( if I can call them like that 😄) like it and this is the most important part for me. Everybody is free to say everything he wants and nobody is ashamed to ask for a help with some grammar or to say “I don't understand”. It's OK. Because that's what we are doing. Studying! I'm glad to explain things as many times as person needs to be sure that he/she has got everything on well. Practice makes perfect! I don't know what my life is going to be in 2 years, but the only thing I'm sure about is that I want to connect my future with English. Studying or teaching? Both! Because I'm convinced that you can never be a good teacher if you don't improve yourself. Am I sure that my dreams will come true? No. But nothing is impossible for a willing heart. Right?☺️