I have reached the point where life here seems somewhat normal.
Sure, there are surprises every day. Sure, there are things I'm not used to. But taking the tro-tro back from community service last Wednesday, I realized that I'm starting to grasp how things work in my little area of Accra. One of my classmates is going home for fall break, and he joked that he was just going to set foot in America, eat McDonalds, and then fly back, and I thought, "McDonalds! Weird." The thought of fast food like McDonalds, instead of "fast" food at a chop bar (generally stands on the side of the road serving dishes like waakye, jolloff rice, fufu and banku) or on-the-go snacks of grilled plantains with groundnuts (peanuts), has started to seem bizarre.
Now that I have reached this point, I'm going to Europe for 10 days. Hitting up London, Prague, and Paris (with a day trip to Chartres). To review, before August 15th, I had never been out of the United States. I knew people who would disappear to Europe, even fellow students who traveled to Europe over breaks, and I 1) was jealous and 2) thought I'd never be able to do anything like that. And yet, here I am, about to jet from Africa to Europe. It's much like how, for years, I longed to go to New York, was sick with envy of my friends Emily and Sam who would go up to New York all the time (Emily liked to leave me voicemails saying, "Oh, I'm strolling down Broadway right now,") and then I went to New York 8 times in the span of my last two years of high school.
It goes without saying that I'm excited beyond words. I've got a good list of things to do, and beautiful people to see. Many of my friends from NYU are studying abroad this semester (including my roommate from last semester), which is what is making this trip possible. One of the Sweeneyfamily is in London this semester, so we will head down to Fleet Street and be ridiculous together. (The Sweeney pilgrimage has been planned since I was 12.) I'll have ten days of autumn, I'm probably going to have to find myself a coat and I won't be wearing sandals for the first time since May. I'm enormously excited for the food.
It's funny, though, leaving. I know I'll definitely have my share of reverse culture-shock (which is part of the reason I'm going - to give me the broadest possible perspective in this 4 month adventure). All of us have good Ghana days and bad Ghana days. There are the days where we're delighted by the kindness of the people, by fresh pineapples and coconuts, by haggling for a really good deal on a bag, jewelry or a taxi. And there are the days where we miss consistant running water, are tired of being grabbed in the market, and would just like to walk down the street without someone shouting "Obroni! Obroni!" or being proposed to. But that's part of being here, and is extraordinarily good for us. But, as so often happens when we leave a place, we find that the annoyances and frustrations start to neutralize because they've become familiar. One of my roommates has started to say, "Don't worry - we don't have internet," when someone comes home, joking about how not having internet is familiar and having internet is strange. I am glad I'm leaving - and I'm glad I am coming back. (I think this will help my adjustment back to the USA, too... taking baby steps of leaving Africa.)
What's also strange is leaving each other. There are only 43 of us in this program and we rely on each other for many things. I wouldn't say we've all become best friends, but we have become a family - in that way that there's the person always argue with, the crazy uncle muttering in the corner, the cousin you adore, and no matter what, you must be there for each other. We do so many things together. When there's an NYU-planned excursion, everyone goes. And now we're splitting off into groups, or even flying solo. There are a handful of us going to Europe (most are staying in Paris, I might meet up with one who really loves Moliere), my roommates are going to Morocco, there are various excursions to Mali and Burkina Faso. Some people are staying in Ghana and travelling around, some people's parents are coming to visit, some people are going to South Africa, others to Egypt. One's going back to America. None of us have EVER been apart for 10 days, and we've suddenly realized that it's going to be strange not to be around each other constantly. We'll all come back and have incredible, different stories to share.
In many ways, this trip still feels absurd and unreal to me, but I think it's important in a way I don't know yet. I think something important will happen but can't speculate on what.
I'm not taking my laptop with me to Europe because that's dumb. I'll be able to pop onto people's computers to make sure nothing's exploded, but that's not my priority. Trust that I'm alive, and I'll be back soon. My flight leaves at 11:35pm Thursday (today, for me!)
Also: I tripped over a root today and sprained both of my feet. The left foot is sprained but not too badly, but my toes on my right foot are sprained something fierce. I am phenomenally talented at spraining things. Never broken a bone, but sprained everything there is to sprain, including both of my arms at the same time, and I've traveled through much of my life spraining toes left and right. But I haven't sprained a toe since freshman year of college, Privacy Ballet rehearsals which made me come to my first Design conference with a cane. 3 years is probably a record in my life for not spraining anything. This one's pretty bad, though. Praying for quick recovery, as that's just annoying.
Also2: I haven't been doing a ton of "this is how life works on a day-to-day basis in Ghana" posts. At first this was because I was still figuring it out, but once I figure things out they quickly started to seem normal. Now that I'm about to leave I realize that things like tro-tros are probably really interesting, so I'll probably make more of those posts in the second part of the semester. Helpful? Interesting? What do you want to know?
Also3: ruminations on "sell all your possessions and follow me" coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment