Sunday, August 2, 2009

She's makin' a list...

I'm realizing more and more what I'm going to miss when this is all over. I've had some pretty great and new experiences here in Africa. I feel surprisingly comfortable walking and driving around Accra and chatting with the people. I still theorize that the moment I set foot on American soil I will feel a sudden rush of relief from the underlying anxiety I feel here and might even kiss the ground. But all the same, there's a lot to miss from this country.

The non-tangible things I will miss most:

-Children’s smiling faces

-Little hands constantly reaching for me and touching me

-Getting ready each morning in 30 minutes tops

-Teaching

-Everyone smiling and waving at me

-Vendors

-Being called “my sista”

-Women with baskets, bowls, crates and everything else under the sun balanced on their head

-Everything being green

-Learning about the world first hand

-The burnt smell of the air

-The fabrics the women wear

-Being with people all the time

-Speaking French with the locals

-Humidity (it’s cozy and warm)

-Wishing every time I blinked I could take a photo with my eyes

Some of the tangible things I will miss most:

-Mango

-Frankie’s Pizza

-Hostel fried rice

-Cadbury Chocolate with biscuits

-Gigantic Water bottles

-Rhapsody’s

(Ok please take note, as I just did, that ALL of the tangible things I’ll miss most are food. Nice!)

Things I don’t foresee missing anytime soon:

-The smell of urine wafting from the gutters

-Being dirty 85% of the time

-Having to put used toiled paper in the trash…not the toilet

-Anxiety

-Suffocating from exhaust on every taxi ride

-Potholes

-Preacher Man who sings for the Pentecostal church behind the hostel

-Mosquito bites

-Stomach aches

-One handed lukewarm showers

-Not being able to escape witnessing all the poverty and sadness in the world, as important as it is to see and learn from

Things I CRAVE!

-Salads and Vegetables

-Security

-Eye shadow

-Clean clothes

-Tuna

-Riding a bike

-Ketchup

-The news

-Red meat

-Fluffy shower towels

(This list is subject to change as I come home

and realize what I truly miss)

.....this, and a couple of other final posts from Ghana below...

5 comments:

  1. "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder..." ~Chesterton

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  2. P.S. My favorite "my favorites:"
    ~~Wishing every time I blinked I could take a photo with my eyes.
    ~~Being called "My Sista."
    ......These are just sooooo full of indescribable feelings. Love them.

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  3. I love your lists. I wonder how many of your cravings will go away after a few weeks, you know, after you indulge yourself in each thing. I wonder how many of the Ghana things you miss most will become cravings after a few weeks.

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  4. Great thoughts Anne Marie. I am sure that you have mixed emotions about now as the time approaches to come home. Call and Ty wrote under our table Sunday night. You will have to look for what they wrote when you get home. Travel safely home....

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