FOOD-LAW-MANIA.
THE LAWYER, WHO ‘RULED’ THE FOOD AISLE....Azeezat Ifemide Adejare.
I went by a store where I worked, for four months shortly after landing in Canada in 2018, and the intense nostalgia that I felt, inspired this post. Enjoy…
A feature I’ve found to be quite common- when reading stories or articles about fellow Internationally trained lawyers in Canada- is the ‘full ground' syndrome, that we relocate into Canada, with.
We are certain, beyond any iota of doubt, that while we pursue the Canadian licensing process towards being called to the Canadian bar, we would very easily find a role as a Paralegal, or at the very least, Legal Assistant in a law firm (no matter the size).
The reality of how erroneous I was about this notion, finally hit me a couple of months, and hundreds of applications after: Every field is skill-specific, and requires the prerequisite knowledge, expertise and experience; being overqualified (especially from a foreign country), does NOT automatically amount to an added advantage!
So, you can imagine how humbling an experience it must have been, for the opportunity of working in Customer Service (forget this sugar-coated nomenclature, we call it ‘Sales Girl’ in Nigeria), to be presented to me (who was majestically addressed as “D-LAW” in naija!), as a rare privilege I should count myself very lucky to have. To cap it all, the store owner unknowingly made things worse for me, by going on an edification spree about how I was, in her words: “a highly placed professional in the Nigerian judiciary” (this is the point where I use the emoji with both hands on my head.. mogbe!), while introducing me to my team members. Oh, how I scrambled for knowledge and active roles within the Unit!
Nonetheless, I kept at the job with unrelenting enthusiasm( even though I felt my strong will nose-dived, every time I put on my uniform to go resume work.) Within 3 days, I was lauded for being such a fast learner (Me, in my head: “Kimon! Do you have an idea what it takes to survive the Nigerian Law School?”) After the third week. I was introduced to the process of “facing”, which simply means to arrange products in an orderly manner, to make them more attractive and easily accessible to customers. Guess my assigned aisle in the entire store; the place where no one else wanted to work, but it is the very thing that lights up everything for me…
The Food Aisle!
I found the much needed comfort ‘facing’, while on my feet for several hours on the food aisle, and whenever the thought of how long the journey to the Canadian bar crept in, I would imagine how satisfied a customer would be: from easily assessing their food products, to satisfactorily consuming the meals made from these products. I found myself smiling a lot, sometimes amidst tears… I was adding value, effectively!
I know by now, you’re wondering where exactly I'm going with all this, so here goes the highlight of this post…
Having imbibed the art of being finicky from a long time friend, Kofoworola, whose extreme attention to details rubbed off on me during our friendship albeit short-lived, coupled with my background in logistics, the mastery of systematic approach of issues of the law, as well as, towards the drafting, review and handling of a wide variety of complex commercial contracts and Agreements, I was soon singled out as the ‘Queen of the Food Aisle’ because of how I was able to make the role nobody wanted appear so easy. And the icing on the cake? Customers actually noticed how improved the entire aisle had become in terms of orderliness and easy location of items, and I quickly became the go-to person for anything that had to do with the aisle.
The experience that supposedly began as a low point of my life turned around to become the birth of insurmountable greatness that is unfolding beautifully, piece by piece…
May every of our life challenges be turned into a spear, gliding us towards unimaginable greatness!
Can I get an “Amen”?
********"****************************"
@thatfoodielawyer takes your taste bud on a ride with her Asun recipe(spicy barbecued goat meat), with a twist. Click the link below, for more as you watch the video
:https//www.instagram.com/p/B2DHSbWFBTr/?igshid=ibd4fxrua2a7
@thatfoodielawyer Instagram handle:
http://www.instagram.com/thatfooddielawyer
email: thatfooddielawyer@gmail.com
LET’S ALL BE MAD BUT, BE NOT MAD.
Poem, written by Azeezat Ifemide .
Are They Mad?
They’re “western”, from the saner climes; they colonized a region and ruled by instilling unimaginable fear on the ‘subjects’; they segregate the people based on their skin color and social status, rained terror on the land, leaving everyone terrified of experiencing Nightfall in Soweto…
Are They Mad?
They light creatures of like-kind on fire, watching with satisfaction, as life seeped out of the victim in the most horrific manner! They justify their dastardly act, claiming these creatures have enjoyed “better prosperity” on their land, and therefore deserve to burn! “How dare they?” they ask.
Now, I ask…
“How dare you?”
Who do you pay, for the oxygen that you inhale and carbondioxide you exhale?
Who do you pay, for roaming the large expanse of land, on which you build, multiply and chase your dreams?
Who do you pay, for the sunshine and the rainfall that take turns to provide you comfort when you need it the most?
Is any man an island on his own!?
Are We Mad?
We respond in the exact same manner we speak vehemently against; becoming exactly what we condemn! Burning down buildings and businesses owned or co-owned by our very own; rendering our own already under-employed citizens jobless in the process. We create unrest in our own land, making a mockery of the unique privilege of experiencing a violent free independence of our motherland…
Am I Mad?
I am mad at the leaders, who have ruled and continue to rule my motherland; exchanging the baton of power as though they were running a relay race, and ruling the country with the same level of cluelessness, recklessness and irresponsibility!
I am mad at the leaders who have turned my motherland into a subject as well as, an object of ridicule that its own citizens would rather not reckon or be associated with.
I am mad at the leaders who have made successful citizens with admirable jobs, leave everything behind and flee the country under the ‘guise’ of migration, for a minus 45 degrees temperate region to rather earn a living doing ‘odd’ jobs on multiple shifts, just because the system at least, works!
I am mad at the followers, who have given in to the faulty system and would rather scam another, of their hard earned money; treating national currencies with total disregard, acting with reckless abandon!
I am mad at the followers, who have defaced my fellow resourceful, resilient and unbreakable-spirited citizens around the world, and renamed us in the most distasteful of ways!
Am I mad?
Yes, I dey mad over my beautiful country, Nigeria, a land overflowing with abundance of milk and honey. A 200 million population of the most versatile melanin dripping people, who ever graced the face of the earth!
I dey mad over the “ginger”, and the swag, and the ‘never give up’ attitude of my countrymen, which is responsible for the default statement that “oozes” from their mouths even in the most difficult situations:
“We die here!!”
I dey mad over my country, the preferred hub, which women from every race would raher marry from; I dey mad over the distinctness of the Kente, the Ankara, and the Adire fabrics, adorned by the most proportionate and sumptuous bodies of voluptuous women,
wey set die!!!
I dey mad over the robust African culture, the richest in the world, I dare say, expressed in Arts, in Craft, in Folklore, in Clothing, in Cuisine, in Music, and in several beautiful Languages.
I dey mad over the courageous and fearless bursting of the azonto, the etigi, and more recently, the shakushaku dance moves on the biggest and most prestigious stages across the world, in celebration of outstanding excellence!
I dey mad over the ‘baddest’ combination of the silkiest Amala, the slimiest Ewedu, the smoothest Gbegiri, and the rich local flavor of the palm oil stew, cooked firewood style!
I dey mad over the healthy contest between different versions of jollof, which has only ensured we an even wider variety of cuisine from Africa, to the world!
At the end of the day: We’re all mad here!
However, let’s all be mad but, be not mad…
Written by Azeezat Ifemide Adejare.
THE LAWYER, WHO ‘RULED’ THE FOOD AISLE....Azeezat Ifemide Adejare.
I went by a store where I worked, for four months shortly after landing in Canada in 2018, and the intense nostalgia that I felt, inspired this post. Enjoy…
A feature I’ve found to be quite common- when reading stories or articles about fellow Internationally trained lawyers in Canada- is the ‘full ground' syndrome, that we relocate into Canada, with.
We are certain, beyond any iota of doubt, that while we pursue the Canadian licensing process towards being called to the Canadian bar, we would very easily find a role as a Paralegal, or at the very least, Legal Assistant in a law firm (no matter the size).
The reality of how erroneous I was about this notion, finally hit me a couple of months, and hundreds of applications after: Every field is skill-specific, and requires the prerequisite knowledge, expertise and experience; being overqualified (especially from a foreign country), does NOT automatically amount to an added advantage!
So, you can imagine how humbling an experience it must have been, for the opportunity of working in Customer Service (forget this sugar-coated nomenclature, we call it ‘Sales Girl’ in Nigeria), to be presented to me (who was majestically addressed as “D-LAW” in naija!), as a rare privilege I should count myself very lucky to have. To cap it all, the store owner unknowingly made things worse for me, by going on an edification spree about how I was, in her words: “a highly placed professional in the Nigerian judiciary” (this is the point where I use the emoji with both hands on my head.. mogbe!), while introducing me to my team members. Oh, how I scrambled for knowledge and active roles within the Unit!
Nonetheless, I kept at the job with unrelenting enthusiasm( even though I felt my strong will nose-dived, every time I put on my uniform to go resume work.) Within 3 days, I was lauded for being such a fast learner (Me, in my head: “Kimon! Do you have an idea what it takes to survive the Nigerian Law School?”) After the third week. I was introduced to the process of “facing”, which simply means to arrange products in an orderly manner, to make them more attractive and easily accessible to customers. Guess my assigned aisle in the entire store; the place where no one else wanted to work, but it is the very thing that lights up everything for me…
The Food Aisle!
I found the much needed comfort ‘facing’, while on my feet for several hours on the food aisle, and whenever the thought of how long the journey to the Canadian bar crept in, I would imagine how satisfied a customer would be: from easily assessing their food products, to satisfactorily consuming the meals made from these products. I found myself smiling a lot, sometimes amidst tears… I was adding value, effectively!
I know by now, you’re wondering where exactly I'm going with all this, so here goes the highlight of this post…
Having imbibed the art of being finicky from a long time friend, Kofoworola, whose extreme attention to details rubbed off on me during our friendship albeit short-lived, coupled with my background in logistics, the mastery of systematic approach of issues of the law, as well as, towards the drafting, review and handling of a wide variety of complex commercial contracts and Agreements, I was soon singled out as the ‘Queen of the Food Aisle’ because of how I was able to make the role nobody wanted appear so easy. And the icing on the cake? Customers actually noticed how improved the entire aisle had become in terms of orderliness and easy location of items, and I quickly became the go-to person for anything that had to do with the aisle.
The experience that supposedly began as a low point of my life turned around to become the birth of insurmountable greatness that is unfolding beautifully, piece by piece…
May every of our life challenges be turned into a spear, gliding us towards unimaginable greatness!
Can I get an “Amen”?
********"****************************"
@thatfoodielawyer takes your taste bud on a ride with her Asun recipe(spicy barbecued goat meat), with a twist. Click the link below, for more as you watch the video
@thatfoodielawyer Instagram handle:
http://www.instagram.com/thatfooddielawyer
email: thatfooddielawyer@gmail.com
LET’S ALL BE MAD BUT, BE NOT MAD.
Poem, written by Azeezat Ifemide .
Are They Mad?
They’re “western”, from the saner climes; they colonized a region and ruled by instilling unimaginable fear on the ‘subjects’; they segregate the people based on their skin color and social status, rained terror on the land, leaving everyone terrified of experiencing Nightfall in Soweto…
Are They Mad?
They light creatures of like-kind on fire, watching with satisfaction, as life seeped out of the victim in the most horrific manner! They justify their dastardly act, claiming these creatures have enjoyed “better prosperity” on their land, and therefore deserve to burn! “How dare they?” they ask.
Now, I ask…
“How dare you?”
Who do you pay, for the oxygen that you inhale and carbondioxide you exhale?
Who do you pay, for roaming the large expanse of land, on which you build, multiply and chase your dreams?
Who do you pay, for the sunshine and the rainfall that take turns to provide you comfort when you need it the most?
Is any man an island on his own!?
Are We Mad?
We respond in the exact same manner we speak vehemently against; becoming exactly what we condemn! Burning down buildings and businesses owned or co-owned by our very own; rendering our own already under-employed citizens jobless in the process. We create unrest in our own land, making a mockery of the unique privilege of experiencing a violent free independence of our motherland…
Am I Mad?
I am mad at the leaders, who have ruled and continue to rule my motherland; exchanging the baton of power as though they were running a relay race, and ruling the country with the same level of cluelessness, recklessness and irresponsibility!
I am mad at the leaders who have turned my motherland into a subject as well as, an object of ridicule that its own citizens would rather not reckon or be associated with.
I am mad at the leaders who have made successful citizens with admirable jobs, leave everything behind and flee the country under the ‘guise’ of migration, for a minus 45 degrees temperate region to rather earn a living doing ‘odd’ jobs on multiple shifts, just because the system at least, works!
I am mad at the followers, who have given in to the faulty system and would rather scam another, of their hard earned money; treating national currencies with total disregard, acting with reckless abandon!
I am mad at the followers, who have defaced my fellow resourceful, resilient and unbreakable-spirited citizens around the world, and renamed us in the most distasteful of ways!
Am I mad?
Yes, I dey mad over my beautiful country, Nigeria, a land overflowing with abundance of milk and honey. A 200 million population of the most versatile melanin dripping people, who ever graced the face of the earth!
I dey mad over the “ginger”, and the swag, and the ‘never give up’ attitude of my countrymen, which is responsible for the default statement that “oozes” from their mouths even in the most difficult situations:
“We die here!!”
I dey mad over my country, the preferred hub, which women from every race would raher marry from; I dey mad over the distinctness of the Kente, the Ankara, and the Adire fabrics, adorned by the most proportionate and sumptuous bodies of voluptuous women,
wey set die!!!
I dey mad over the robust African culture, the richest in the world, I dare say, expressed in Arts, in Craft, in Folklore, in Clothing, in Cuisine, in Music, and in several beautiful Languages.
I dey mad over the courageous and fearless bursting of the azonto, the etigi, and more recently, the shakushaku dance moves on the biggest and most prestigious stages across the world, in celebration of outstanding excellence!
I dey mad over the ‘baddest’ combination of the silkiest Amala, the slimiest Ewedu, the smoothest Gbegiri, and the rich local flavor of the palm oil stew, cooked firewood style!
I dey mad over the healthy contest between different versions of jollof, which has only ensured we an even wider variety of cuisine from Africa, to the world!
At the end of the day: We’re all mad here!
However, let’s all be mad but, be not mad…
Written by Azeezat Ifemide Adejare.
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