Comedy Talk | Ahmed Al-Shaibani | TEDxCEU
all right ladies gentlemen I was born mixed in Yemen my father was Yemeni my mother was half Indian half Djiboutian that is Africa and I wound up to be somehow Latino so I never knew what I represented me I was always confused the confusion really started when I was a kid my grandmother and her sister-in-law my grandmother being Indian her sister loved being African would take my cousin's and I to the beach that would set us off to play and they would always have an argument about which is the best sunscreen alternative my grandma that I was said or live oil is the best my African grandma said no coconut oil is the best think about it - coconut grows on a tree the tree is in the beach if it drops use it she last argument because my cousins were mostly Indian but but the fact that we were always covered in oil running around and tripping in the sand hurts because we looked like KFC you're running around but I grew up with these kids and as I grew up I wanted to be Indian I wanted to connect with my Indian part but I never quite exactly looked like them so that meant for me going the extra mile to be Indian from watching a four-hour Bollywood movie to eating spicy food for breakfast I'm not talking about putting some chili on your egg sandwich no I'm talking about chili with bed don't do it is bad for your stomach but the one thing that I actually wanted to be in was a wedding not my wedding a wedding because a wedding is the most important event of an Indian family because it is not about the people getting married it's an exclusive Indian social venue I just had to be there if you are in there no questions your Indian and so I tried but I was never in the wedding I was always part of the wedding I was mitrik all supporting personnel a driver if you may so I will pick my grandmother my little cousin my aunt and her cousin all in one car now usually they wouldn't talk to me they would talk to each other so I'm trying to talk to them so I asked them for directions which way should I go my grandmother says go oh right my aunt says go left I know I should go straight but I still want to talk with them so I keep going right and left and right and left until you get there and now we're late so there are no parking spots there was only one party's about that time and it was difficult to park so I asked my little cousin don't you go outside baby tell me how far am i from the other car and as I am backing I asked her how far is what she did this is the car this is the other car she comes from the car she does this this much like I know I don't know what to do with this information so after 15 minutes of me reversing and backing and reversing I managed to park the car somebody walks up to me he says you can't park here are you kidding me 15 minutes and I can't park here now we're late so I managed to park somewhere else I go inside the wedding so excited everywhere is Indians I'm among them I'm mingling now so I'm happy I sit down start eating and in the heat of the moment because it's spices in the end of the moment somebody comes to me and he says we need to talk okay maybe I would be crowned he says you need to leave I'm not gonna leave why you're not Indian yes I am you're not yes I am you're not Indian s I am let's take it over again everyone said no imagine the most awkward situation of your life and the only reason is I don't look in here enough that is stop me I shot again and again and again and again until the 17th wedding that's when I said to myself okay this is not gonna work I haven't moved too much so sad and then a cheese happened I found this interesting program an exchange program to the United States of America and I was thinking further inland foreign people well I was a foreign to them and I want to be anything I could be anything over there this is another Bank you say I was pleased in a small town in the countryside of Georgia [Music] those who make out laughing is it the first thing I just walked in to school first day two girls come to me this is what they said oh my god we cannot believe it we have been practicing your language for the whole summer and we cannot believe that you're from there can we talk with you I got excited said yes and they're like okay here we go como estas I'm not following what's going on you're not Mexican and so I hate to disappoint you but I am NOT just when I find a new I mean start I got already I became Mexican immediately but it didn't stop me okay people are gonna have their assumptions that's fine I'm gonna try to identify with an activity like American football or forming they were the only two options I had There and so I did I did I tried for the football team that's not the bad part the bad part is that I couldn't convince anyone that I was in the football team someone asks you yeah what are you doing like I'm in the football team yeah you're probably playing soccer that's what you you got a confused buddy so I joined the farm now it's not what you think what they have and the gloves and the thing and you out of the flowers and the trees and you got dogs and cats and rabbits running around no it was not like that this was an animal farm so I shared I made the guy how are you he asked me do you have any experience with farming I said no he's like well you need to pay attention take notes say okay he says alright this there's a field alright 25 chickens so that's very specific you'll have to go and find the eggs collecting eggs and put them in this box right here and that's what I did for good old five six months then due to my extensive experience with eggs Easter happened and I decided to be the Easter Bunny nay I volunteered to be baster bunny except no one family I don't have to dress like the Easter Bunny and so now imagine this I'm in the middle of the field there's a bunch of chickens running around I'm dressed like the Easter Bunny with the fluffy tail and the ears and I'm walking around hiding eggs and then it hit me I am the Easter Bunny because they're burning the Easter Bunny is different than all these the old there are other bunnies but he's still okay with it he accepted it I'm Indian but no really I'm African but no really I'm also an Arab but no really and at that moment I was a bunny but now really that's when I realize all of these things make up Who I am and I accept it to be different [Applause]