So, we’ve hit the 2-week mark. For most this isn’t significant but for the traveler it is. Two weeks is enough time to travel to a faraway land and make it feel like your own. Two weeks is just enough time to scratch slightly below the ‘touristy-surface’ that the country puts up, but not long enough to make the place your new home. Two-weeks is the perfect vacation time, time away from reality, from responsibility, from everything that has become secondary. But what happens when those two weeks are ending, but your journey is only just beginning? What happens when the two weeks are here and gone and instead of packing up your suite cases, you’re just finally starting to open them up? What happens when two weeks is done and instead of feeling like a guest or a visitor, you’re starting to feel like part of the family?
The two-week mark is tough for most, but especially the traveler, the nomad, the ‘I know no real home’ person. And for this reason, I wanted to dedicate this next blog post to all the little moments that have happened over these past two weeks. All the moments that made me smile, the moments that made me sad, the moments that made me miss all I left in America, the moments that made me believe I can make this my new home, but most of all the moments that just took my breathe away—the ones that reminded me what my mom always told us to:
Choose the Joy.
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1. On one of the first nights at my homestay, I let my brother and sister keep my take my IPod outside with them while they did their chores. I didn’t think much about it at first, but as I sat in my room doing my 900 pages of language workbook I could hear and see them through my bedroom window as they sang and danced to the Little Mermaid soundtrack.
2. One night, I was showing my host family pictures of my friends and family back home. They were so interested in every picture and everything I had to say. And even though they couldn’t understand most of what I was saying, I’ve never had a group of people more attentive to the conversation at hand. There were no phones to distract us, no music blaring so loud we couldn’t hear one another, no TV broadcasting todays tragedies. Just me, my 4 host siblings and my mom, huddled around one bench and one outside light, laughing and sharing stories under the start-lit sky.
3. One of the other Peace Corps volunteers brought a football and on multiple occasions we have been able to play with local people around the community, mostly kids. But my favorite time was when we were playing in my backyard and my mom stopped everything she was doing to come play with us. Even though we cannot communicate well with her, she still wanted to be a part of what we were doing. She was so eager to learn the game and laugh along with us. We played for 45 minutes with no words exchanged, just cheers of encouragement and laughs; which was better than anything I could have asked for.
4. The first day of school was tough. I had no idea where the school was, I was still confused by my host family, as I’m sure they were confused of me as well. I was disheveled for most of the morning and I know I didn’t hid it very well either. After seeing me come out of my room looking lost, my brother Simon offered to walk me to school, but what I didn’t realize is that he wasn’t planning on just walking and dropping me off, but rather he waited outside the school for my entire 4-hour session and then walked me back for lunch. He might only be 7 years old, but he is wiser and kinder than anyone I have ever met.
5. On Sundays, we rest. We finally have a day to ourselves, no school, no work, no responsibilities. And on our first Sunday off all the trannies still all decided to spend it together. We all walked into town and met up under the ‘3G tree’. We all did our own thing—some did homework, some chatted a bit, others played football, while others played cards against humanity. Even though we were all doing different things, we were all still together, near each other, feeding off one another’s energies, and that’s what I loved the most. I think that’s what inspires me the most about these people—their ability to make you feel whole, even when you’re 32970294 miles away from everything that used to make you ‘whole’.
6. For our swearing in ceremony, we must learn a typical African dance, and while I LOVE to dance, this type of dance is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. I was nervous and scared that I was going to/ do look like an idiot. And of course, when I came home from class my host family asked to see what I learned. While at first hesitant, I pressed-on and showed them all that I learned that day. And to my surprise, I was flooded with cheers and words of encouragement. We ended up listening to music and dancing all night around the backyard.
7. The first week I was here, my best friend from home sent me something that she wrote. The article was about me leaving, about us being a part, and how it would/does affect us individually and as best friends. To say this made me sad and miss her and home, would be an understatement. I miss people from home every single day, I wish the ones I love the most could be here with me, experiencing and seeing what I’m seeing. I want them to know what I’m going through and see that not only is it making me stronger, but also more aware of myself and my surroundings in relation to the world around me—and this realization, I think would make them beam with happiness and joy.
8. Being able to see stars and the full moon, without any light pollution corrupting the view! I’m not sure exactly why, but this is something that brings me endless amounts of joy. I love the stars, the more I can see the happier I’ll be.
9. New foods! While I am very saddened by the fact that cheese will no longer be in my diet, I am happy to say that I don’t mind the foods that have replaced it. Groundnut soup and rice balls have become a weekly staple, as well as cabbage stew and boiled plantains. I’m starting to become more like a Ghanaian by eating out of the same bowl as my host family members and using my hands instead of utensils.
10. Most nights I sit outside with my host family and just watch and listen to them talk, laugh, and interact. I usually cannot contribute, but it fascinates me to see them interact, bounce ideas off each other, laugh uncontrollably, fight to no end, and then make up again. They do this repeatedly and never get bored. There are no phones, no screens, no music to distract them, they all just interact, not because they have to but because they want to. Nothing is forced, it’s just natural. It’s something that I’ve always wanted but never knew how to achieve.
11. Throwing 22 random people together and then shipping them off to a place that is nothing like they’ve ever known—to me that sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, but to my dismay I was pleasantly surprised. These people are unlike most people I’ve met in my life. Maybe it’s because were all stuck in the same situation, because hey let’s face it—there’s nothing else we can really do, its either eat or get eaten. But in reality, the group dynamic is so much more that that-- what it seems more like is that we all genuinely care. We care for each other, we care for the people that we want to help, but most of all we care about what the Peace Crops stands for—bringing friendship and peace to the world.
12. The first Sunday I was here, we were supposed to go to church, but “unfortunately” that did not come to play, but instead we stayed home and my host sisters and brother showed me how to do wash and I showed them how to take a selfie. At first they were just taking selfies with each other while I did wash, but as they started warming up to me, I was included in them to. And this inclusion made me happy because this meant that, I wasn’t just some random American living in their house, I was starting to become a family member.
13. The Peace Corps staff is amongst some of the smartest people I have ever met, and I had professors who had 2 PHDs... They know anywhere from 3 to 5 to 11 different languages, have read over 500 books, and have multiple degrees. But I think the part that makes me the most impressed, is that with all this knowledge they still choose to stay and teach us. They choose to teach us because they believe in the work that we are doing and they believe in the fact that we have the ability to help their people and their country, and this belief is all I need to get me through.
14. Cross-breeze on a Tro-Tro. Just breeze in general really, I mean do I really have to explain why? its Africa hot here people.
15. FANPOP/FANICE. I could spend a whole blog post explaining why they are so good and what they are, but I’ll just say that it’s basically just a delicious FROZEN dessert (even though we usually eat it before 10am).
16. Whenever my language teacher (LCF) Osman says ‘Garbany! Garbany! Garbany!’, (which means Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!) and has the smile as big as the Sun because I can remember how to say something as simple as ‘I ate food in the afternoon’ in Dagaare.
17. When someone from my host family refers to me as ‘Sister Adwoa’ instead of Taylor. Adwoa is my new name in Twi. I was born on a Monday; therefore, this is my new given name. I won’t confront them about it, but I think that they gave this to me because Taylor is just too hard to say—but hey, I’m ok with that.
18. Getting an ICED COLD beer after a long-ass, 6-hour day of language training. I mean I’m only human, jeez.
19. Ok and building off number 18-- COLD WATER SACHETS. I’ve never consumed and craved cold water so much in my life.
20. Nights when I actually NEED to use my top sheet that I brought from America. Also, known as a night when it gets below 75 at night, because now I’m someone who thinks that’s cold—WHO AM I??
21. Watching Disney movies with my host family and seeing their reactions because they actually don’t know the ending like the rest of us do. Reliving that excitement, terror, and even sometimes the sadness, as if I’m 5 years old all over again.
22. When people from home message me and say that they miss me BUT they are also so proud of me and what I’ve set out to do. Don’t just tell me you miss me, and that I should come home—if you do, you’re doing more damage that good: remember that.
23. Hearing my trainees/ host family members laugh uncontrollably- sometimes even for no reason. Laughter is the best medicine; I will always believe this.
24. The kids weren’t the only one to borrow my iPod though, my mom was also very curious about American music. One night she asked if she could take the iPod to bed, so naturally I said yes. Once in bed I could hear her humming loudly to the song on the iPod, I thought it was so cute, but it wasn’t until I realized what song it was that I was overcome with emotion. She was humming to ‘Every day is a Winding Road’ by Cheryl Crow, and while to her this was just another random song, to me, in that moment, it was so much more. That song embodied everything that I have been experiencing these past two weeks—the excitement, the homesickness, the heartbreak, the joy, the sense of new found adventure. And in that moment, that song, her humming, it just made it all click for me: I belong here, in this moment, at this time, with these people—it is where I’m meant to be.
25. Last but not least—I am happy all the new joyous moments that I will experience in the next days, weeks, months, and years to come! Always Choose the Joy and you’ll find happiness in everything you do.