rollercoaster

Apologies for the hiatus in writing…no real good reason. Or maybe Africa is a good enough reason :).

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day last week at a little Irish pub in Osu. The place was full of Oburunis, as St. Patty’s Day must not be as popular in Ghana, but we decided that was ok for one night. I met some interesting people though and managed to get myself a few free beers in exchange for sharing the real story of St. Patrick!

A group of us were planning on going to the Volta region for a weekend of hiking up waterfalls, mountains, and through bat caves. Berkeley and I were feeling pretty run down though so we decided to postpone our trip and head to Kokrobite instead.

Kokrobite is a town about 25km outside of Accra, so seemingly not far at all. However it took us a good 4 hours to get there due to the ridiculousness of traffic and tro-tro searching we ran in to. We made it though and had one of the most fabulous weekends staying at a place called Big Milly’s Backyard. It was not some secluded, ritzy resort full of white travelers on vacation. Instead it was a perfect mix of Rasta’s and locals and kids and volunteers and travelers from all over Ghana and Africa. There were fishermen all over the beach but I was never bothered by any of them and the water was calm enough to swim in! And, not least of all, there was an adorable Italian restaurant about 10 feet down the road that served heavenly bowls of pasta.

Between playing ping-pong, eating, and enjoying the people and the water we managed to find to find some time to gain some sort of control of the emotional rollercoaster we’ve been on. Maybe gaining control is a bit of an overstatment…perhaps realize that we’re on one is more accurate. Being in this environment as put us more in touch with our emotions than I have ever allowed myself to be in the past. I’m realizing a lot of things, most not having anything to do with Africa.

It’s unreal how much I miss my family and friends. More than I ever thought I would to be honest. Not that I didn’t think I would miss them, but my desire to be in Africa was so strong that I thought it would overpower any sort of homesickness I might be feeling. That’s not the case, and it has made me realize just how much I love being home. It’s made me question the future plans I thought I had so set in stone. Maybe I don’t want to again right after I graduate. Maybe I want to be around to see my friends get married and my sisters grow up. Because I’ve talked about leaving for so long, I saw staying as a concession, a failure. And I realize now that is not the case. At all.

Ironically enough, being here has also opened my eyes to how much I have not seen. Not just other countries, but in the U.S. as well. There is an insane amount of my own country that I have not seen and know nothing about. And beyond that, I want to see China, and Thailand, and Southern France and Greece and…how do I do it all!? (don’t worry Mom and Dad – no immediate plans, still coming home this summer to work :).

It’s also started to scare me thinking about what will (or won’t) change when I go home. The changes I’ve made in my life here, will I be able to maintain those once I get back in to the swing of things at home? Will I react differently to things? What will be the same and what have I missed out on? I know I needed to make changes so it’s exciting, but at the same time it makes me anxious not knowing what it will be like. The time here is flying by; two months from now I will have been home for a week and back in Ames starting work. It honestly seems like just yesterday I was gasping for air as I stepped off the plane in to the overwhelming humidity of Ghana.

This is what I spent the weekend overanalyzing and over-reacting to. But it was good. I think. Put some things in to perspective anyway. And made me realize that not matter how much I stress about it, it’s not going to change things. So I’m just going to enjoy my last month and a half!

love