Theory on frozen water

For the most part Emmanuel and I have managed to blend our lives together in such a way that I rarely notice any cultural differences between us. It seems natural at this point to eat African food, or hear countless phone conversations in a mixture of French/Ewe. Talking with my Mother-in-Law is the same sentence of " Hello, I love you" repeated over and over..

You know- normal stuff like that.

But every once in a while I am thrown for a curve. Like yesterday. I was enjoying a nice glass of green tea with ice. Before I got pregnant I really didn't use ice in my drinks- but now I love it. Emmanuel has been making comments about the ice, but I thought he was linking it to my burping problem and I didn't pay him any attention.

Yesterday the truth came out when he had another Togolese to back him up. He made a comment about the ice and turned to our friend. Our friend gave him a look and said "I am not going to say it, I would get in trouble."

What is going on I asked?

Emmanuel came out with the truth. In Togo- they believe that ice makes you fat.

Insert loud laugh here!! I thought it was hilarious! Frozen water turning into fat? Bloated maybe? Cold, yes- but fat is made up of too many calories accumulating in your body and turning into storage cells called fat. Last time I checked, water was void of calories.

So unless I see some proof- I am discounting this as a lie his mother told him. Along the same lines of "If you cross your eyes they will stick that way" or "If you swallow your gum it will stick in your stomach". Theory's like that our parents tell us just to scare us. :)