In Which I am Rather Homesick

In one of our rather epic email conversations--we've gradually expanded from a few paragraphs to a few pages--my friend Kristen wrote something rather lovely about homesickness:

I wouldn't feel guilty about that homesickness. It's only natural, after all. You're off having an amazing experience, but that doesn't mean that home isn't as wonderful as it's ever been. You aren't letting that hold you back, and that is all that counts.

I have been very homesick. I miss my parents. I miss how easy life is in the US. I miss not feeling guilty for going to supermarkets. Only foreigners and wealthy Ghanaians can afford to, or even want to, shop at such places. Open markets and smaller local stalls and vendors are the norm.  Even in the middle of Accra, which I admittedly am getting better at navigating, I am a member of a minority--a minority with resources unavailable to the average Ghanaian. I miss being invisible. I miss being average. It is so surreal to walk down a street and have eyes follow me, have people turn to get a better look at me. I wish that I was being self-centered in this...

Maybe this is the half-way through blues. I am almost exactly half-way through my time here. Two month and one week down, two months and one week to go.

I'm posting a picture I took of home before I left. I miss the snow.