Days 100-116

Life here is starting to slow down, but it’s definitely keeping me busy. We are on our first week of finals right now. I had one Tuesday, Wednesday, & yesterday. Now I have two more left, one tomorrow & one next Wednesday. Then I have just a little over a week to enjoy my last moments living in Ghana before I board the plane & start my journey back home. I’m actually really nervous about being back home. When I got here there was some culture shock, but everyone expected me not to know my way around here. I was a foreigner so they gave me a lot of grace in adjusting back to life here. When I go home, so much has happened in my life & everyone else’s since I left in January & I know I am not the same as I was when I left that day. Everything that is supposed to feel so normal probably won’t anymore & everyone might expect me to be the same as I was before, but I won’t be. I guess dealing with that reverse culture shock really freaks me out. And I will be so sad to leave here. I have loved it so much. It has been such an incredible experience & Africa is a really amazing place. It is the complete opposite of home, but I love it. I think I have grown a lot here, I feel like I can do anything now. I’m still just in my 20’s trying to figure out where my place in this world is, but I have way more confidence in myself after spending half a year living here. I feel like after being able to handle of this, I can take on just about anything. And the best part is, I know I can do it all by myself. I had some guidance here, but for the most part I survived here all on my own, and loved doing it! I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment.

Last week I worked am event for the West African AIDS Foundation. We tested 100 people for HIV right on campus. I was just a volunteer, one of my friends put the event together, but it was pretty cool working something like that. We all tested ourselves as part of the event, even though I was pretty confident that there was no way I had it. But it’s nice to know for a fact that I am HIV negative especially after working at the orphanage where a few of the kids are HIV positive. 

Since I don’t really have a lot stories this time & my heart is breaking a little bit as I prepare to go home, I decided to make a list of things I will miss & things that I won’t.

Ten things I won’t miss:

1) The heat. I will absolutely not miss being constantly covered in sweat.

2) Being grabbed/touched/stared at by people all the time.

3) Cold showers.

4) Open sewage gutters & the smell they produce.

5) Having to make up fake boyfriends, fiancés, & husbands.

6) Not being able to drive myself places.

7) Paying for water & not being able to ever drink it from the tap.

8) Being covered in bug bites & always thinking they are crawling all over me.

9) Never having to get ready.

10) Hearing all the Ghanaian men SCREAMING at soccer on the TV throughout the entire hostel.

Ten things I will miss:

1) The adorable babies & the mothers that let me hold them all the time.

2) The African accents.

3) Never being in a rush & not having to be on time.

4) Those moments where it just hits me that I am actually living in Africa.

5) Being able to buy water or food off of peoples heads on the side of the road when you’re hungry or thirsty & stuck in traffic.

6) Watching my drumming teacher dance.

7) Spending my days with the children at the orphanage.

8) The concrete sense of culture that Ghana has.

9) All the friends that I have made here.

10) The lack of rules & guidance here that should make life so chaotic, but it’s all so simple.

There are many more things that I’ll miss. I love it here & leaving is going to be very hard for me. I already know that, but I’m just focusing on the fact that I get to see all my friends & family again. I miss them a lot so in the end it’ll be good to get home & I think part of me is getting ready to be back. I’m also pretty much completely out of money so I need to get home & start working again. Montana will always be my first love & I have definitely missed the lifestyle there. Even my friends that I’ve made here from America just aren’t the same. I think everyone has a sense of pride for their home, but I think Montana is the best home. I’ll be on my way to those mountains in exactly 2 weeks! Love to you all,

Kasey