My Roommate

This is my room-mate Baikiatu. pronounced buy-keeya-tsoo

• She is from Sierra Leone and is doing a masters of international relations here in Jinan at Shandong University.
  
• She enjoys playing solitaire on her laptop. For several hours at a time.
  
• She makes very good African food. (None of which I can eat because like ALL African food it always has meat, but I can smell it and it smells good and everybody says it tastes good.)
  
• She has a baby daughter who lives in Sierra Leone.
  
• She thinks I'm a lunatic because when we first met I tried to break the ice by saying that whenever I'm leaving and say:
  "See you later, Alligator!"
  She has to reply:
  "In a while, Crocodile!"
  She never remembers the salutation, but now when her friends come over they just call me "Alligator" and laugh at my pyjamas.
  
• When her friends come over they talk loudly together in exactly the way you think they might - fulfilling many stereotypes about Africans that I previously thought were narrow-minded to hold. Even thought I've been to Africa. I mean, not Sierra Leone in particular, but some of her friends are Tanzanian and Kenyan, and I've been to those countries.
  
• Apparently I have some "black booty" in me. As not only a white girl, but also a ginger-haired white girl, it makes me very happy to hear this. I was told this by Baikiatu's "country-mate" Elizabeth. This Elizabeth also wants to give me cornrows or at least super-tight braids. Should I? I think maybe I could rock that.
  
• She likes to play reggae covers of John Mayer songs. I appreciate this musical education.
  
• She likes to play Celine Dion. I do not appreciate this.
  
• I'm not used to living with another person, but Baikiatu is easy-going and a totally A-grade roommate. She is also clean. She does not get annoyed when sometimes (read: very often) I just don't go to bed and stay up all night. Sometimes we even both stay up all night. This is handy. I can be in a mental place of total solitude, but know that another human being is in the room, therefore not go totally insane.
  
• We don't talk that often any more due to lack of common interests, but I like to think we have a nice mutual respect for each other.
  
• I am well aware that she might be the best roommate I will ever have in my entire life. Much appreciated.