I felt a cool breeze go through my face when I woke off the plane. First time in my life I've seen such blooming and enchanting nature. The airport was dominated by the greens around it and it made you feel like you were in a movie. I remember my dad saying.

¨Hamdi, come on we're leaving you¨.

I didn't go straight to my dad because I wasn't worried about getting lost because the airport was super small.

¨Hamdi, come on we're going to leave you¨

We leave the airport with my uncle and grandpa picking us up and it's a good hour drive to the city where my uncle lives.  My uncle's house is a decent size house and he has wifi which is really rare in JIgjiga, the city I was staying in. The first thing you notice when you drive through the roads is the trash and the smell of everything. The first few weeks I had to get used to everything.

Me and my younger brother were so tired after a couple of hours we went straight to bed and we wouldn't eat anything except bread for days because we didn't like anything. That would eventually make us sick and not make us leave the house. Me and my brother were home while my other brothers were outside having fun with my cousins and going places. 

¨Is that Lebron Jordan?" wondered my cousin.

¨Yeah, it is.¨ hesitated by me

After a while we got used to the food, then I would go outside and always feel embarrassed because I had good clothes on, food, electricity, etc and I just see kids outside with ripped shirts, no shoes, and dirty pants. 

I thought I was only going to Africa to see family and have a nice time but when I got there it taught me something. It taught me to take nothing for granted because one day you could be in that kid's situation. When I was there I wouldn't eat my aunt's food because it didn't taste like my mom's, I never had someone cook for me other than my mom, and trying new things wasn't my thing. All of my other brothers ate my aunt's food but I was sorta being disrespectful for noting eating the food she cooked so after that day I knew I had life easy. I would always say,

¨I'm good, I already ate¨ 

I lost 20 pounds during that summer 

People on the block/street knew I was American because of my glasses. They would walk up to me and say ¨How are you¨ in very broken English but you could tell that they wanted to learn English. They would always ask me about how America is and how big the buildings are and how smart everyone there is. They were talking to me as if I was someone better than them or someone higher up to them in society but I didn't feel comfortable in that situation. 

When I left Africa that summer I came back a different person physically and mentally. I got darker and skinnier but my mindset changed. I learned to not take anything for granted and respect the people who care for me. I'm not perfect and so are you. But we can all improve.