On the Rug : Amoafoa

Over summer break I got to go back home and see my family and friends again. It’s the best feeling I’ve had in the last ten months. Freshman year was really rough; it induces a lot of hard thinking I guess we’re not always ready for. I appreciated the time to step back from it and process all of it; and just take it all in.Ghana is so bloody hot! And I loved it. I mean we all whine about it, and sometimes it is just ridiculous but after a New England winter? I mean bruh.

I spent most of the time at home or going out with my mother.

She’s gone on retirement now and loving every minute of freedom. It was just really refreshing to be back on familiar ground, to be around people I understood and who understood me. I missed walking down the street and greeting five different people, or the shopkeeper in the pharmacy knowing I always got Malt for breakfast.

It was also great because I was home for my best friend’s birthday. We just went shopping and shocked ourselves with how much we were thinking of spending. We’re pretty cheap. So of course we talked ourselves out of buying some stuff but we still did pretty decently. It was so nice being with them again.

(Reunited and it feels so good)

– Naa Kwaamah special
Church was so much fun . I missed it a lot when I left. The vibe of the praises of the adult service, the worship of the youth service, it’s so beautiful.

I miss home terribly now I’ve left again. Leaving doesn’t get easier I don’t think.

The most important thing going home did for me was that it reminded me who I am. I lost that somewhere between learning to like quinoa and writing my fifteen page papers. It’s important that with the whirlwind of new experiences, and all the questions you start to ask, the things you learn to love and hate, the opinions you form about topics you had never before thought of, the things that make up the core of who you are don’t get swept up. Going home restored that for me, and I will always be thankful for that.

It also reminded me why I left, and how blessed I am to have the opportunities I do now. It’s really easy to take it for granted when you live your privilege every day with no real reason to think about what your life could have been if things had gone a little differently. Twelve hours of electricity every other day leaves with little else to do but think.

I have learned to stay grounded and stay content with myself.I feel like I can actually say I’m happy now, both at home and outside of it. And while I will miss Koffee Lounge’s fried rice and Naa Kwaamah’s car I’m ready to continue with this other life I chose to have.

Also, in keeping with this new attitude of saying Sod it and doing the things I enjoy, I wore red lipstick without a ton of different lip liners or mixing six different shades. I give you, Velvet by Kiko Milano.

Peace, love and funk,