The Undeniable Signs of the Janded Student
Labels:
Culture,
Education,
Secondary School,
Travel
Before we get started, let's agree on some slangs, shall we?
'Jand' is slang for the United Kingdom, and traveling abroad generally.
'Yankee' is slang for the United States.
So, if I say I janded and I don't specify, it just means I travelled abroad. That includes Ghana and Togo … Okay seriously, no one says 'janded' unless they're referring to the Western world.
Now, I took a risk by using the term 'janded' because it might be outdated, old-fashioned, or worse still might reveal just how old I am. But assuming we are all on the same page, I will use that term
Anyway, in my time, there were two main things that signaled that you had janded: pencil cases and posters.
My senior secondary school days coincided with the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, F.R.I.E.N.D.S craze. In short, boy bands were the rave back then. Before then, of course was the Spice girls era. If you're nodding as you're reading this, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Those who janded (I wasn’t included), usually came back loaded with mementos of their travels. So, even if you did not travel, you could see what you were missing. Those things seem so trivial now, but back then, it was everything.
Girls came back with Backstreet Boys posters, F.R.I.E.N.D.S posters and pencil cases, and in fact, anything that you could remotely use to prove that you had gone abroad for summer holidays. I am still surprised that one ambitious girl did not come back with the actual cast members of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Now, that would have been something. The pencil cases especially were not limited to just music stars, but also Disney cartoons like Pocahontas and The Lion King, which debuted while I was in school.
After I graduated from secondary school and started going to UNILAG, I discovered that there were "mobile bookstores" under Ojuelegba bridge. I called them mobile bookstores, because they were vans, which had been converted to book stores. They sold magazines (remember Hearts and Hints), books, etc. Most notably, they sold posters, and I actually bought some of the cartoon posters (think Anastasia, Aladdin, etc) and gave them as birthday gifts to friends.
Now, are you thinking what I'm thinking? Here's what I am thinking: some of those girls may never have janded. The really sharp ones might have found their way to Ojuelegba, which was not far from Yaba, where my school was, and bought these mementos. All they needed to do then was to come up with a well-crafted, animated story about their summer adventures in some European country, and we would have been none the wiser. I have no proof, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The "Feel-A-Mongers" certainly would have pulled off that con seamlessly. Girls sha. Na wa!
So, what items would you consider to be the obvious signs of a janded student in your time? Kindly share.
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Lmaooo. I know this! I wasn't janding too sha but i got all my posters from magazines my sisters used to buy (she usually screamed blue murder when she realises what i had done. #Shrug) There was a chic that told us she was going for summer (100L summer break) and came back to school with clothes she had to wash *cough* We don't know sha but someone said maybe they were from answani lol. Ok, i'm not nice lol
Pencil case was a big one..,then there were the clothes you wore to the 'end of school year' or Christmas party. Kids were so shallow lol
hahaha!. This was rife in my school. we had a few students who we all knew were 'janders". They didn't even have to make noise. You could see t all the way from their towels, to their night shirts to even their school bags. Unlike some wanna be's who (I still believe they didn't even get to the airport) "mistakenly" traveled and we never heard "word" again. Sagamu was a school for people to oppress shaaaa! lol
Lol makes sense. I remember some girls that made us feel like we were missing big time. One said she went to Jand (UK) and relaxed her hair and she kept telling/showing us that they relaxed it well and her hair was really soft and flowing (we were sold) - isn't that how your hair is meant to be when you relax it anywhere? (Lol We were served bread and butter and we saw it as big deal). She even brought this hand lotion to school and would not stop shaking the boys so they could feel how soft the lotion made her palms.
Anyways maybe you can tell sha by the things they wear, how they wear things, their reaction to the different currency since almost everything in Nigeria is sold in thousands.
In my secondary school, it didn't stop at posters and pencil cases. IF you TRULY were a janded babe, you would begin every new session with the towel, sipper, backpack, mug and cereal bowl of whatever cartoon crase was out there. The most notable were the Pochahontas and Hunch back of Notre Dame characters (remember those?), alongside your poster and pencil case. Kai! see tensioning...... Plus my school folks were not mumus o. You must back up your towel with pictures of pigeons flying around you as per Trafalgar Square tins or no dice. Lol. Good times tho. Cherrywine.
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