Readjustment

Lots of people are catching up on blogging because of Snowpocolypse/Snowjam/Snowmaggedon 2014 so decided to follow suit.  I've been meaning to write about readjusting to America for some time now but find it hard to put into words how it's going.  Plus it's hard to neatly close a chapter in your life that's been so significant but that's what I intend to do.

Being back in America is amazing overall.  What's not to love about real toilets, hot showers, being close to loved ones, and an unlimited supply of cheese?  I still actually really enjoy going to the grocery store or farmer's market because it's so easy compared to the trek to the market I endured in Ghana and I can get anything I want!  But there are hard parts too.  I've experienced culture shock before and it's not easy to handle.  Just as there are ups and downs to living cross-culturally there are also ups and downs to the readjustment phase- and life in general really.  I think one aspect of American life that's been really hard for me is being overwhelmed by choices and the consumerism of our culture.  I've felt a lot of panic and anxiety in certain situations that I never did before such as underground parking decks and elevators and I'm still working through those issues.  And also the feelings of busyness...it's gotten better but in the fall I felt busy all the time even if I wasn't.  It's hard to explain but even if you're not so busy you feel as if you are or should make yourself so.  There are just certain parts of your culture that you don't really think too much about or question until you're immersed in another culture.  But I hope to hold onto an appreciate from simplicity and a quiet life that I acquired while in Ghana.

It's been harder to keep in touch with my Ghanaian students, friends and family than I though it would.  In some ways part of me still feel so connected to Ghana but also very disconnected.  Hearing about situations from people that I wish I could help but I'm so far away.  One way that's helped is I've become involved volunteering with a non-profit called Ghana Medical Help which works to provide basic medical equipment to hospitals in the more impoverished Northern part of Ghana where I lived.  I'm hoping to go back to Ghana to visit this summer and also combine that trip with assisting the mission of GMH.  I discovered Ghana Medical Help while doing research on non-profits for a business elective I took called the Business of Philanthropy.  It was a really unique and interesting class and a lot of the writings I completed as assignments helped me process my time in Ghana.

School has been a great way to readjust to America life and try to figure out what the next step will be.  My goal is to work in non-profit management preferably in international development in Atlanta after I graduate but I've learned to be open to other options.  I interviewed for a couple of positions with non-profits earlier this month but neither was a good fit.  Because of the graduate research assistantship I'm doing with school, I'm looking for something part-time which is hard to come by.

It's not easy trying to sum up my Peace Corps Ghana experience in a just a few words when people find out I served there and ask "How was it?"  Wow what to say?  Amazing, life-changing experience, a huge blessing, a time of growth, wonderful, inspiring, yet frustrating, disappointing, terribly difficult, isolating, heartbreaking.  There are so many stories, experiences, and people to tell about which is why I started this blog in the first place.   A lot of it was for me to process as I was living in the moment but some of it was to share Ghana with others as well and to keep a record for the future.  I've had a few people suggest to me to write a book which a lot of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers do. I think I exhausted a lot of my writing on the blog but I'm considering doing a children's book if nothing else to do and keep for myself.

Thank you for reading this little blog and how Ghana shaped me into a stronger, more patient, balanced, and determined woman.  With that I'm closing out Step in Ghana (sorry it took so long).  We'll see what the next Step in...blog will be.