I realized a couple of weeks ago that I miss Ghana. Even as I realized that, I reflected upon it (because as both a teacher and a Fulbrighter, what else have I learned to do but reflect?!). I realized that I missed certain aspects of my time in Ghana. I missed walking from 37 to the Embassy. I missed people finding it amusing that I would walk from 37 to the Accra Mall, or maybe they just thought it was amusing that an obuni would do this, especially since trotros are plentiful and cheap. I miss stopping in at Woodin and seeing what was new in the way of cloth prints. I msis the bats flying from 37 over my house on campus every evening - every time I see a flock of birds here winging around, I check to see if they are really birds or if they are bats as I secretly hope them to be (I have been disappointed every time). I don't miss the bugs, but have not unconditioned myself to check out every small dark spot I catch out of the corner of my eye, particularly in my kitchen - it is almost always the screw holding the plastic backsplash behind my stove. I also don't miss public urination - one of my first days back, I saw two people standing on a street corner with their backs facing traffic. My first thought was "how dare they!" then I realized that they were not relieving themselves in public, but were in fact just standing there. Much to my relief.
I realized today something else I don't miss: laundry. Please do not think that I had not realized the luxury of washing machines upon my return - I fully appreciate this wonder of not-so-modern-technology (invented by a woman). However, today my power went out for a little while due to the amazing winter storm we are having in the DC area right now (I will have been off school for almost 2 weeks by the time we go back on President's Day. I have to think that Mother Nature is fulfilling my wish for a real winter following the world's longest August.) Anyway, my power went out, and I had laundry in the machines - sheets in the drier and towels in the washer. The one day I decide to do wash and the power goes out - no one ever said I had great timing. So, I cannot let the towels sit in the washing machine, that's tempting fate, and mildew. So I hung the sheets up in my apartment and proceeded to wring the towels dry. The water was HOT, the towels are thick, and I scalded and blistered my out-of-laundry-wringing-shape hands. To have the power come back on 45 minutes later. Not wanting to tempt fate again by re-submerging the towels into the washer, I just let the cycle go and will wash them again another day.
My partner in Fulbright, Leslie, is planning on going back to Ghana for a visit over the summer and I long to join her. I also am looking to teach overseas somewhere else. I survived and thrived (mostly) during my time in Ghana and I yearn for the new and challenging, although I will miss the seasons and the snow. Maybe this storm is Mother Nature's way of saying that weather I love will be here when I return.
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Back to your old tricks again. If you have the urge to say that Ghanaians pee in public, go ahead and say so, no need to couch it in pseudo flashbacks. Thank God you left Achimota before the sewerage problem. No doubt you would be salivating to report about the poos and pees.
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