I can honestly say that this is the first time that I’ve really had a hard time blending in. Having had the opportunity to travel a ton has been an incredibly eye-opening experience, but it has also been a realization that I look like I can be from anywhere. While my family is of European descent, coming primarily from Germany, Austria, Russia, and Poland, people tend to think that I can fit into almost any group. People constantly ask me if I’m Italian or Spanish/Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and most recently, from the Philippines, India, or some general “Asian descent.” However, this is the first time that my skin tone has really been pointed out as being “foreign” by my Ghanaian peers. Being called an “obruni,” also known as a foreigner or white person, is a sure fire way to make me feel out of place.

I won’t say that this makes me feel uncomfortable, because it doesn’t really. I always find a way to feel like I belong, wherever I go. Somehow I manage to have people come up to me speaking the native language (Hebrew, Spanish, Croatian), even when everyone speaks English. However, sometimes you have to roll with the punches, even when every single person around you manages to call you out for your skin color or ethnicity.

I think one of the biggest difficulties of not being able to blend in is that people, such as taxi drivers, will try and take advantage of our differences and use it as a reason to jack up prices on taxi fares, street food (sorry Leslie), or even just giving us directions that don’t quite make sense. I get it; I look different. However, that is no reason to believe that I should have to pay 10 more cedes than my friend to go to the same place, simply because of the color of my skin.

Today was the first time that I finally spoke up when someone called me “obruni.” I responded by saying, “I have a name, you know.” He was shocked, but then asked if I even knew what the word meant. I defined it for him and he remained seemingly shocked, as if any light skinned person was too stupid to know the meaning of the word. He continued to still call me that and I just learned to ignore it. From these experiences in “harmless name calling” I’ve learned that no name or slang term can define you. Rather, you need to define yourself. Also, when people are staring at you for looking very different than your peers, just pretend that you’re a movie star that people are just so shocked to see… or that you’ve been walking around with a “kick me” sign all day and you truly hadn’t noticed.