Right now, I've been told to talk about a place where I feel like a foreigner upon my arrival. Truth is though, I feel like a foreigner wherever I land. I've got 3 passports, 3 identities, and none of them fully realized. I've lived in both Nigeria and London. I'll start off where I feel the strangest.
Arriving at the Murtala Mohammed airport in Lagos, Nigeria is truly unimaginable unless you do it yourself. The second you step off the plane, you're blasted by the smell of sweat and humidity. No longer walking, as if wading through the air to the passport check and baggage claim. My family, although arab, can easily be mistaken for American or English. Most of the people there can't tell the difference. Stepping outside after the baggage claim, there are about 300 people waiting in a crowd. Now I'm not the thinnest person, and being white is enough to get screamed at. A few of the people waiting outside will scream out, "Oyibo" which literally translates to 'boiled chicken'. It's what they call anybody as light skinned as my family. The worst I've ever gotten was when I was in the 6th grade. I was walking out with my mother, looking for my dad, who was there to pick us up. All of a sudden though, a man who clearly had no money, home, or true belongings ran up to me and poked my stomach while laughing. He walked away singing, "Oyibo Orobo", which everyone knows means 'boiled chicken swollen stomach'. My brothers just laughed and my mother had hardly noticed but I wasn't surprised considering how I must've looked. As it turns out the place that felt the most alien to me was also where I spent the first 10 years of my life.
Arriving at the Murtala Mohammed airport in Lagos, Nigeria is truly unimaginable unless you do it yourself. The second you step off the plane, you're blasted by the smell of sweat and humidity. No longer walking, as if wading through the air to the passport check and baggage claim. My family, although arab, can easily be mistaken for American or English. Most of the people there can't tell the difference. Stepping outside after the baggage claim, there are about 300 people waiting in a crowd. Now I'm not the thinnest person, and being white is enough to get screamed at. A few of the people waiting outside will scream out, "Oyibo" which literally translates to 'boiled chicken'. It's what they call anybody as light skinned as my family. The worst I've ever gotten was when I was in the 6th grade. I was walking out with my mother, looking for my dad, who was there to pick us up. All of a sudden though, a man who clearly had no money, home, or true belongings ran up to me and poked my stomach while laughing. He walked away singing, "Oyibo Orobo", which everyone knows means 'boiled chicken swollen stomach'. My brothers just laughed and my mother had hardly noticed but I wasn't surprised considering how I must've looked. As it turns out the place that felt the most alien to me was also where I spent the first 10 years of my life.
