So, my parents had 5 kids, of which I am the youngest. The first three were born in Nigeria, and emigrated here when the oldest was 4, the last two were born in Canada where we all grew up and currently live. I'm somewhat of a rare breed though. My father was very determined to pass on as much of Yoruba culture as possible to us. He made sure that all 5 of us learned to speak Yoruba fluently, he would even tell us Yoruba alos (folk tales), teach us Yoruba hymns, and even taught us how to read the Yoruba Bible. Growing up, speaking English was banned at home. I have several memories of my brother and I playing in our room and my father barging in holding an "egba" (a stick designated for the purpose of punishing), and disciplining my brother and I for speaking English. So now, I'm older, and I speak English like a Canadian, and also speak Yoruba fluently, but the way I speak it is very odd given the fact that I didn't grow up watching Yoruba movies regularly, nor did I spend a lot of time around the Nigerian community. My vocabulary is entirely descended from my parents, it's pure Oyo Yoruba the 70s and my father didn't allow what he refers to as amulumola (mixing English with Yoruba). If you ever did that, he would immediately tell you the proper word in Yoruba and make you repeat it back to him.

As a result of my somewhat atypical upbringing, for which I am very thankful, I'm poorly acquainted with modern Yoruba slang. The Lagos dialect where "ke" and "de" are constantly thrown in as filler words can sometimes throw me off if spoken too quickly. And Ijesa and Ijebu even more so, from how my parents have described it to me. I also can't speak or understand pidgin, especially when it's spoken quickly as well.

I hope to travel to Nigeria in the not so near future and spend time there. I want to learn the culture, learn how to speak like a Nigerian and integrate as much as possible. I wanna get to know all my relatives better and if God is good to me, I'd even consider finding a wife there and settling there. I grew up with so much here, but when I hear my parents tell me stories about their childhood and about the culture, it makes me envy their upbringing and lifestyle.

My question is, what would assimilating into Nigerian culture and lifestyle be like for someone like me, given my partial acquaintance with the culture already. Would it be difficult? A Nigerian lady I met told me that my Canadian accent would be a huge asset to me over there? Is it true? Or would it be seen it as pretentious? Is the country really as unsafe as it's depicted to be? Will I be at risk of kidnapping because I'm from Ilu Ebo (North American)? Please enlighten and educate me.

No place like home..
Ìlú bàbá eni kin bomo lérù.

Thank you Sent4rina, I hope that will be the case