From nicknames to food and back again

It’s official. Korpu, my Liberian name, has stuck. People walk by me in the halls and yell out, “Hey Korpu!” and I suppose it’s ok that they’re not actually calling me by my real name because I often don’t know theirs either. The novelty of the white girl with the Liberian name hasn’t worn off yet. A few Liberian colleagues have asked if I can cook some of the delicacies of the region where my name is most popular. My standard line right now is that I can barely cook American food, so they shouldn’t hold their breath for Liberian meals.

Speaking of meals, I think my immediate co-workers find my eating habits curious. There is no way I can get through the day without multiple snacks, but this really isn’t a snacking culture. Food here is basic and filling, and people eat three meals a day (lunch is usually the biggest) with little in between. Food allergies are basically unheard of, so the multitude of Lebanese food is quite helpful because I know what is safe and what isn’t. However on Sunday I went out to eat at a BBQ restaurant and explained the allergy, then ordered two side dishes I was told wouldn’t have milk or butter. When both arrived looking creamy, I asked again, “Do these have milk or butter in them?” I was told, “Oh yes,” quite pleasantly and honestly. Our waitress at a Moroccan restaurant last week thought I was requesting that milk and butter be added to my meal. You really can’t get annoyed because standards are just so different here, and there’s just enough of a language barrier for things to get confusing (English is spoken here, but it’s much more rapid and clipped).

And bringing it back to names, a Liberian woman came into our office for a meeting today and it quickly became obvious that she had lived in the U.S. She primarily resided in Boston, though she had been to Worcester, which was pretty cool to learn. When she asked my name and I told her Alexis, she said, “Oh, that’s a great name!” When we finished the meeting and she leaned over to say goodbye, she shouted, “Dynasty!” Awesome.