In Ghana, I’m discovering my dependencies. I’ve learned that I can live without food for a couple of days. I can live without any communication. I can live without heating or cooling. I can even live without running water. But I cannot, simply cannot, live without tea. And Internet.

I’m addicted to tea in a very real sense. If I don’t get one cup at least every twelve hours, I have migraines so severe, I can no longer function. This is something my mother struggles with as well. But easy for her, she lives in India! Where there’s a chai-wallah on every street corner serving the most delicious tea at the cheapest prices (Rs 2, approx $0.05).

Internet, well, I do get upset when I’m not able to get online for a day or two. Especially if I want to work. I began to realize before coming here that a lot of my life was online. Work, some friendships, sometimes relationships.

“The problem with being someone who loves to travel,” a friend said to me the other day, “is that you’re only really going to be able to keep up that lifestyle with someone who shares that love of travel. But the problem with finding someone who shares that love of travel, is that you’re often going to meet at points when you’re heading off to different countries.”  Or continents.

I’ve tried to cut down on my Internet usage, or at least my dependency on it. If it’s out, it’s out. Pacing around the room won’t bring it back. In my list of “Things to Do Before 30″ I mentioned that I’d like to go offline for about a month. Not completely offline– wrecking my career is no solution– but just checking e-mail, or light research. Not the hundreds of hours I spend each month uploading pictures to Facebook or chatting about how Obama might make a better President, though Hillary is better informed about foreign affairs, or reading useless but oh-so-funny blogs.

I had this kind of addiction to television a few years back. Today, it’s been over two years since I’ve even properly watched a show. I’m watching the news these days on Ghanaian television, but that’s pretty much it. So I know it’s possible for me to do.

I’ve happily taken some of my relationships offline. Long-distancing no more! Now I have to figure out how to work if I’m not connected. Any ideas?