I have been complaining a lot lately. If its not the internet, its the water being out, or the a/c is broken or...the list goes on. It may be the reason I haven't blogged in about a month. I'm not really homesick but I'm not totally content here either. I definitely am not ready to go home.
Today, my friend Jaclyn and I decided to go to a smoothie place we heard about. It is in Osu, which in a taxi, only takes about five minutes to get to. But we walked. That did a lot of good, getting out of the house and into the air. Usually when I eat or drink something here I have to prepare myself for it to taste NOTHING like it does back home. Things are just different, not necessarily worse. Mac 'n cheese, for example, is not like the kind my grandma makes, ya know? Well...these smoothies were out of this world. They were even better than the smoothies I'm used to from home or "insert smoothie joint of your preference here." This was another good moment, the smoothie alone.
So as Jaclyn and I were sitting there sucking down our Berry Blast and Venice Boardwalk (one original and one not-so-original title) we noticed the only other two white people in the place and decided to say hi. Us "oborunis" have to stick together. Anyway these two girls were from Colorado and Montana, one of them was a senior in high school and the other was sixteen. They started telling us about their Ghana experience. They are also here for school, for the entire semester, which is longer in high school...so they'll be in Ghana until June. That was the first thing that struck me. Being here till June. Then they went on to explain that the exchange program they're studying through has them all at different home stay sites. So none of them are together. They are completely immersed in the culture. The 16-year-old is with a family of five, I believe she said, and they have cable. The high school senior is living half an hour outside of Accra with a 54-year-old man.
At this point in the conversation, I'm feeling like a total jerk for having complained about being so far from home and not really understanding why people keep grabbing at my arm in the marketplace. When I was a high school senior, there is no way in hell I would've volunteered to go on a home stay in Africa for an entire semester to live with a single guy. I mean...never. The thing is, these two girls are so happy to be here and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. They had their complaints, too, but shrugged their shoulders and laughed them off. I'm thinking it could be a lot worse and I should be lucky to at least be living in a compound with other Americans. I have two months left and I'm soaking it up. It'll be over before I know it and I won't be able to get this experience back. It will still bug me when the water's out but I'll try to keep my opinions to myself.
This coming week is our Spring Break and my three friends and I are going to Cote d'Ivoire. We have absolutely no plans as to what we're going to do while we're there but it will be a blast, nonetheless. Blog post and pictures to follow, for sure. Also, a side note...I'm waiting to find out about this really crucial position that I applied for at NYU in New York so keep your fingers crossed for me! Much love. <3 E
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