Also Traveling?

So I decided to join Susie in talking about traveling*. I've done a bit of traveling in my life. I've been to the UK and France, but that was when I was four or five years old and I hardly remember it. I've also been to several US states, Canada, Mexico, and Italy, and the most foreign place I've been to is Ghana.

I spent two weeks this past summer volunteering in Ghana with a bunch of other high school students, and it was an amazing experience. Most of my days were spent repainting some rooms in an elementary school that were really run down. There were also some days where we taught classes, played with kids in a pool, or spent time with kids at an orphanage.

Pretty much everything about life in Ghana is different from my life in the US. Ghana is always hot and humid, while my town is always cold and rainy. There are open sewers on the side of the road and, as far as I could tell, no enforced rules about driving on the roads. Chickens and goats roam the streets. The running water is not always running, and the drinking water comes in single-serving plastic bags. I had to sleep under a mosquito net and coat myself in bug spray that was so concentrated, it sometimes melted the plastic in my shoes.

One thing that always sticks out to me was a conversation I had with another volunteer. He kept talking about how much he wanted a giant glass of Coca Cola. At first I was puzzled. There was plenty of Coke in Ghana. But then he pointed out that there were only 300 mL glasses of it, and he wanted 40 ounces. He said, "I want so much Coke that I don't know what to do with it all. I miss abundance."

I think one of the main things I took away from the experience was the understanding of how lucky I am to have what I have. I can drink water straight from the tap without worrying about my safety. I don't have to think about whether or not the water will be running or if I'll be able to take a real shower. If I want to buy a 72 oz. bag of chocolate chips, I can. There are so many things that I used to take for granted that I appreciate a lot more now.

And despite having so much less, the Ghanaians seemed to be much happier than most Americans I know. People always seemed to be singing, dancing, laughing, and having fun. They were some of the friendliest people I've ever met. It was inspirational to see so much joy and friendliness everywhere, and it also helped me to see that we don't really need material things to be happy.

I hope to travel more in the future. I loved learning about a completely different culture, so I want to do a lot more exploring of the world as I get older.

This is starting to get a bit long, but I would like to say that I also think themes would be a great idea! Not sure of how we would organize that, though...

And sorry about this picture. It's Friday. I can't not do it.


Happy Friday, and DFTBA (Doctor, Fight The Bad Aliens!)