I'll just quickly ( I hope) update since my last post.
Mothers day: We had planned to take my mom for dinner or lunch, it didn't work out so
The day after: My aunt found out her brother in law was killed on the border of Switzerland and Italy. He was going shopping. He lived in Germany. He had his 'papers' but someone stole the bag where he put them in. He proceeded to cross the border and the Switzerland police strangled him, and threw him in jail. He died a day later ( this all happened around the end of last month) and they called his family telling them if the body wasn't claimed they were going to burn it. Can you imagine that? Y'know sometimes its not even worth it; going to or living in another mans country only to be treated in such a way.Its been said that at that particular border, MANY Africans have been killed.
Exams finally came and went. I'm relieved beyond words.
Me and my mother took a road trip to D.C. last week ( I love road trips!!) I went to visit a school over there. It wasn't my first time there but it was nice to drive there with my mom and just laugh and talk about stupid irrelevant things.
My cousin from Lagos just arrived ( yesterday) He's funny, and his laugh is infectious. Hes suppose to stay for two weeks or maybe longer. I'm excited that he's here, there really isn't anything like family.
10 things I don't understand
1. Why do people who work so hard in this country get the short end of the stick? They work hard and get no benefits, meanwhile the teenager who collects welfare, gets everything; a house, and her kids get into all the school programs.
2. why people are so greedy.
3. why people think America is heaven
4.why people call me an 'akata' because I was born here
5. Why
6.Why I have to pay for my ticket to go to Nigeria
7. Why my eyelashes,eyebrows AND my pubic hair have fallen out
8. Why I don't have a job for the summer
9. Why is getting the simplest of jobs so hard?
10.Why every black male in the good ol US of A aspire to become the next drake, or Kobe Bryant.
My Birthday is almost here. In approximately 13 DAYS!!! I'm sort of happy that I will no longer be a teenager, but its all sort of bittersweet. Here are my teenage years in a nutshell:
13-14- I went through an extremely awkward stage. I had pimples like mountains, my nose was too large for my face ( thanks dad!) but it got much better now :) I was also very shy and I kept to myself. When I was this age, things like carrying a purse or going to the movies with a guy was a big deal. Cell phones really weren't a big thing either...this was my 'I don't have a clue' stage.
15-16- I chopped my hair off and dyed it a reddish color. I styled it into a mohawk. This was my rebellious stage. I was depressed and I was crying out for help. My parents didn't really pay attention because their marriage was going down the drain. I was really at my breaking point. I wanted to slit my wrists and basically just 'off' myself. At 16, the summer before my junior year of high school, I began to loose my hair and everything went down hill from there. I was out of it.
17-18- I started wearing wigs, although I was still depressed about it. My parents finally got that divorce that we ( my siblings) were begging my mom to get. This was basically my 'growing' up stage. I started getting better looking and taking better care of myself, I was like a bride in the bridal chamber or something, getting ready and preparing for my 'unveiling' or the big ' reveal' after a make- over show . I started getting more attention from guys and I didn't know how to handle it. Despite all this, deep down I was still depressed. I think I was depressed all through out high school actually. I hid behind my wigs, eyeliner and my crazy jokes. When it came time to apply to college, I was screwed big time. My grades were very good, except for my math, and that messed me up. I applied to most of the schools I wanted to go to very late, and most of them told me ' we have exceeded the amount of students'...and blah blah blah....I went to a school in Florida and my depression got even worse. I stayed in my room most of the time, didn't try to make new friends and I was losing more hair, more eyebrow hair and what not. I wasn't homesick, I was sad/mad/depressed at the whole situation. My faith in God was nonexistent at this point, I was trying to find faith in Him, but I didn't know where to start from, and all the times my mother would call me from school and pray with me on the phone were to me at the time, a waste of my time and her breath.
19- I found out a lot about myself and other people at this stage. This is/was/still is my 'final product stage' and my rebellious stage and 'I'm- not-sure-of-myself-stage all mixed into one. I feel like I'm going through puberty all over again, you know that period where you hate everything about yourself and you wish you could change this or that? Yea that's how I feel. I can't explain it. But I've learned SOOO much about everything. I learned about love/relationships, I learned about God, and how to serve him better, I learned about different cultures/ music ( especially Nigeria's) I learned about different career choices and so many other interesting things. This ride they call ' teenage hood' has been quite a crazy one. I hope to take some of the things I've learned into my 20's, but I'll take most of those things and leave them where they are in my teenage years ;-) and so the count down to two-zero begins!!!
Have a good one
tb

