Getting ready to return to the "West": Coming to America

Hello World!

When I touch down in America, I will have been traveling for just around nine months. Nine months in developing countries with brief respites (five days in total) in developed nations. As I get ready to pack my backpack for the last time (until I leave in September again!) I have started thinking about the things I will miss, what I will not miss, and what scares me about coming to America.

Here is goes:

What I will miss about Africa:

1) The good nature of the African people.
2) While life is no doubt complicated here, the problems are simple.
3) People do not obsess over Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton. It is so refreshing.
4) The food! Oh…the food.
5) The clothes. I love how bright and beautiful the clothing is of African women. I have adapted well, and wear skirts, sarongs, or dresses almost every day and I don’t know if that will blend in well in Florida
6) The music. The drum beats.
7) The kindness of the people here. They are so open. The singing and dancing. People will drop into a routine at the drop of a dime. Humming, whistling, you name it: I have a constant soundtrack to my life here.
9) My wonderful friends. The people I have met here have changed me forever!
10) Have I mentioned I will miss the food?
11) Walking in the middle of the road. Cracked sidewalks + few cars = walking wherever you damn well please.
12) Almost everything!

What I will not miss about Africa:

1) Taking pills every freakin’ day.
2) Being sick all the time. It’s a constant battle with my body. In the last three months, I’ve been sick about 60% of the time.
3) The lack of beer choices!
4) Political instability.
5) The irregular business hours (see: siesta). But, then again, I also think life is too fast in the US. The grass is always greener…
6) Inefficiency. I love to do stuff on time. This does not happen in Africa.
7) Archaic Internet. Mosquito nets. And sleeping with one.
9) Not having comfortable seating. I have not sat on a couch in months.
10) Being the minority. Always being a stranger because of my skin color.

What scares me about America:

1) The complete lack of understanding about where I’ve been.
2) That so many people care about unimportant things like: “The real housewives of…God knows where”.
3) Have options. Twenty four hour options. Just options in general. In Africa, you buy what is available. That’s it.
4) A supermarket. I cannot remember the last time I was in a complete, and stocked supermarket. It might seriously be too much to handle.
5) Driving. Geez. I was a bad driver to begin with…and now I haven’t been behind the wheel in far too long!
6)  Credit Cards. I promise I will not use mine
7) Safety regulations. I am so used to having unsafe electrical wiring, plumbing, rodents, driving, taxis, housing, buildings, paperwork…I don’t know what I will even do if I don’t see flies all over the kitchen of a place I am about to eat at.

Writing this list gave me goosebumps. I truly think that every moment of the first few days will be nothing but a blur of intense mental overload. When I left for Africa, I wrote about how scared I was and how I did not know what to expect. In just nine months I have come full circle, and do not know what to expect in America.

I’m scared to go home.