Feeling Better

I am happy, (very, very happy) to report that I am feeling much better. I knew that I would freak out at some point after my arrival, my freak out just lasted longer than I was expecting. I can tell you the exact moment that I stopped being upset.

After posting my last entry, I was quite upset. I walked back to the house and was grateful to find Annie there. Everyone else was gone at a CBW party so we had some one on one time. Annie has so much experience traveling and she has an uncanny ability to tell things like they are. I cried and told her what was going on with me. The talk that she and I had lent a lot of perspective to my situation. By the end of the conversation, I thought that I was doing much better.

Then I decided to make some phone calls. I left messages for Leia and Joshua. Then I did what many people do when they are away from home and feeling upset. I called my Mom. As soon as she asked me how things were going, I started to cry. She and I spoke for 16 minutes. She was very encouraging and said some really nice things. When we got off the phone I was walking back to guest house #1 and the light bulb went on in my head. Seriously, it was like someone snapped their fingers and it occured to me: Get a grip, Bree. (I do actually have inner dialogue like this on certain occasions), crying and moaning on about how hard things are does absolutely nothing to make things better.

Now, just like that, I feel back to normal. Thank goodness, because the first week here was really rough. Just in time for my realization was the weekend.

Sidenote: [Thursday also proved interesting because I got to do some African cooking with some ladies who live on the camp and made strides towards making a new friend. Drew lives in our house, (the lone male among us...poor guy), and I had not spent any time with him prior to Thursday. We sat down on the front porch for a while on Thursday and talked about the camp, religion and politics. This is the first time that I've had a conversation like this since I have been to camp and I was extremely glad to discover another person who was interested in discussing topics that matter to me.]

This weekend our entire group when to Winneba. We stayed at a place called the Lagoon Lodge. It was beautiful. Nice beds and...(wait for it) running water! The rooms (which we shared, two people to a room) cost approx$12.50 per night. We stayed for two nights, so my portion of the room bill was $12.50. Crazy. A little slice of paradise yea but 5 minutes from a beautiful sandy beach. There is a fishing villiage near by so when you stand on this beach on a nice day, you see African fishing boats. I have always had a bit of a fascination with the ocean. I love to stand in the water and watch the horizon. I could happily do this for hours at a time.

One result of the tumult of feelings that I have been having is that I haven't really had the realization that I am in Africa. It is very different here, but that awestruck feeling about being half way around the world has been missing. The beach brought it home for me. Those boats were so beautiful. I love the ocean. I am in Africa.

Ok. I really feel like I scared everyone with my last post, but I just wanted to infuse some of how I was feeling at the time into the blog. I think that I will continue to have ups and downs as time goes on, but I do think that the worst of the emotional roller coasters (culture shock) may be over. Knock on wood.

More later, for now I need to go. Again, thank you so much for the encourageing words. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel.