Adventures of a Texas Omoge Pt2. : East or West

IN my 12 day visit to Nigeria, I got to meet a bunch of people. Many of my Dads coworkers, church folks, family members and what not. And it seemed as though they all planned it because people kept saying things like "East or West, Home is the Best" or We need you people to come fix this country, and all these other hints to the benefits of moving back to Nigeria. Of course, most of these people are folks who have never lived (long term) outside the country. Many have visited the U.S. or U.K. for short periods, but never lived for 9 years, which means their perspective is a bit thwarted.


This brings me to the point about the word "HOME" what exactly is home, for someone like me. I can make some great arguments about Nigeria being home, seeing as its where most of my family is, its where I was born, it is my motherland. BUT I can equally make some great arguments for the U.S. being home. My friends and life is here. I LOVE it here, life makes sense here. School, work, relationships, spiritual home and everything else. I appreciate many things about both countries, and I am UNIQUELY blessed to be able to experience two very different places because it gives me a very unique perspective.


For my parents and their friends, I know the ultimate goal is to return and make a life in Nigeria. This is a future that is not really tangible to me. Please don't misunderstand me, I would never say never, but as at right now, the level of anxiety that I had being in that country for 2 weeks, is much too serious for me to pack my bags and go to Nigeria and do......what? Will that change...? Potentially, but until then I am on the path to getting my law degree and planning a life that is here in the United States, and making frequent visits to my home country, and maybe exploring some possibilities. There is ALSO the small fact that I am a woman, who would like to be married someday, and depending on when that happens and to whom it does, that decision will probably not be mine to make alone.


UNTIL THEN! I am a Nigerian American living and LOVING it in America, where, fortunately LIFE MAKES SENSE.


See my next post about some of the things that dont make sense in Nigeria.

ADVENTURES of a Texas Omoge Part 1

As my "about me" says, I moved out of Lagos, Nigeria in 2003 and had not been back since, UNTIL, this month. On March 8th 2012, I got on a Delta Airline plane to visit my home country, and BOY! was it an interesting trip. I have lots to talk about, and in an effort to not be overwhelming, I will break it all down into a number of posts, and help guide my non Nigerian readers with some pictures. Sound good? Good!

Post. 1 The Journey (To and Fro) I decided to fly Delta airlines to save about $100, and have one stop over in ATL. And this turned out to have MAYBE not been the best decision ever. A 40 minute delay in Houston caused me (and about 8 other people) to miss our connecting flight in ATL to Lagos, so I ended up stuck in Atlanta, Georgia for 24 HOURS! WHAT IN THE WORLD? I was so upset about it, and the whole situation, was not even handled well by customer service. I made my way to my hotel with one of the other people in the same situation as me, woke up and took the train to go sight seeing in Atlanta. So Atlanta was alright, Actually truly enjoyed seeing the city.

P.S. ATLANTA has a lot of Black people. That was really cool, and somewhat of a good prep for Nigeria! Lol. Finally made it into Nigeria on Saturday March 10th.

FAST FORWARD TO my return trip. At the airport, the people at the check in area first tell me that my "DIRECT FLIGHT" from Lagos to ATL is stopping in Accra, Ghana to change crew.
GHANA!

I thought, OH GEEZ, this is about to be a HOT MESS AGAIN! Then, the lady tells me to hurry up to the Gate because the plane would be leaving early. I was confused since it was only abt 7p.m. and my flight was scheduled to depart at 9:35 P.M. I still hung with the the parents and said my goodbyes (with minimum tears, of course!)

N.B. Hanging with my parents in Nigeria was SO MUCH FUN! They are too cute!
Finally headed to the gate about 7 45, got through security and what not, and by 8 p.m. I was sitting at my gate. Turns out our plane was not leaving early as she LIED to me, we left Lagos as scheduled and flew 30 minutes to Accra, Ghana, to "change flight crew" which ended up taking us about 2 hours. We finally left Ghana, and sometime after my Nap #2, I heard an announcement, first asking if there was a Doctor on Board. THEN another asking if a passenger had Vaseline, or Ky-Gel or something of that nature. I considered offering my lip gloss but soon fell back asleep.
Long story short, a pregnant passenger had fallen into labor, and a few hours later, we were landing the plane in Dakar, Senegal to get her medically cleared to continue to the U.S. One of the hostesses paraded the brand new baby boy around the aircraft! #Preciousmoments
This entire trip makes for a very funny story, and thankfully, miles compensation from Delta airlines which means I JUST might be taking off soon to go see Barcelona!!!!!!!!!