American Boy

It's weird being a foreigner... Even though my parents came from Nigeria, I never felt less American than my friends... But now I have to get used to people turning their heads to see the owner of the funny accent when I speak in public... some people just look at me like I'm not speaking English at all... at first I kinda enjoyed sticking out a bit - now it's a little annoying having to answer dumb questions... The only part I do still like is dispelling myths and stereotypes people have about the Yanks... I thought they were jokes at first, but they really do think we're all 400-pound, shot-gun toting Nascar fans who don't know about anything outside the states. Some girl looked at me like I had magical powers because I knew who Nicolas Sarkozy is.... Sometimes I feel like I should just play into the stereotypes just to see what kind of reaction I get...

Today

I must have a secret bad weather fetish. First I left beautiful heaven-on-earth Southern California for New York, the city of extremes. I remember melting into a puddle every August and freezing my tukkus off every January. I think I can remember every day when I actually thought it wasn't too hot or too cold or too anything else - that's because there were so few days like that. I enjoyed the place, though (something I didn't realize until after I left - Joni Mitchell was right)...

Now I find myself in London. There must be gold beneath the streets, or something else so powerful it makes people forget about the 300 rainy days a year, bad food and dislodged cobblestones that I swear are out to get me. The city has a lot of great aspects to it - I just hope I learn what they all are before my time here is up.

Trying to stay positive though... can't you tell?