I might be a control freak

Yep. I did it. I used the word "might." Because I don't think I am ALL the time, and I don't actually want to be a control freak.
I just want to be in control.
:)
These are two very different things.
Clearly.
Semantics, people.
Anyway, so . . . one of the things that I learned on my trip has to do with this.
I enjoy being in control - especially when nothing else is in my control.
Like when I traveled to another country, on another continent, to visit someone who, for all intents and purposes, I didn't know.
Kinda giving up a lot of control, and placing HUGE amounts of trust in another human being.
Who I didn't really know.
So I think I should recieve a few hundred bonus points for getting this far.
Right?

Because I had no control over anything - like driving (in theory I could have driven in South Africa - our crazy American driver's license works here. Perhaps it is becase we are the pretentious citizens of the world who frustrates our fellow human beings because we think that we are skilled enough to drive in other parts of the world. Where everything is on the opposite side of the car and road). The cautious person in me thinks this is probably not the safest thing to do, so I chose NOT to drive. But . . . still had no real control here, as well as when or where to eat, buying a bottle of water, internet or phone access . . . the list goes on. Oh yeah, I also didn't speak a lick of the language before my trip except "Thobela" which means hello. But not helpful in any sort of communication sense for me.

So. Because of this lack of control over everything in my life - it projected itself by having an extremely High Need to Know. Which looked a little bit like a lot of questions. A barrage of questions might be a more appropriate term. Things like:
"So, what are we going to do next /for lunch/ dinner/ later/?"
"What should I wear for this kind of activity/outing/adventure?"
"Where are we going?"
"How long will it take to get there?"
"When are we coming back?"
"Where are we sleeping tonight?"
"If you eat that snack right now, when will I get to eat lunch?"
"How long will this take" - soon followed up by "MY five minutes or YOUR five minutes - because by my watch there seems to be at least a 30-minute difference here."

You get the picture. I was irritating as hell with the questions. But its the only thing I could remotely control - the amount of information that was getting to my brain.
It made this 'vacation' a little less than relaxing.
But it helped me learn a little something about myself, on my own, without the help of a Johari Window.

Also? If I'm not fed every 4 hours I quickly become cranky. Yes, friends, some of you already knew this. But some people got to find out what I was like after 8 or 9 hours without any food.
Neat.

A couple of other things I learned (or in some cases, confirmed with very solid evidence)
- I don't like to be told what to do. This includes, but is certainly not limited to: wrapping up your food and putting it in the refrigerator, making the bed and suggestions for packing my luggage starting 3 days before my trip was ending.
- I have a specific way that I enter a new place, process the view, and then take a photo. When someone who is not a small child, and in theory should know better, jumps in front of the shot I am miliseconds away from taking, having already framed it nicely, I might want to punch you in the face. Because in this control-freak's opinion, you are ruining my shot.
- I am more adventurous than I ever thought.
- Continue to carry on lessons learned from the girl scouts - carry snacks, bottled water, and a good book to read. Will help you retain and/or retain patience when all else is lost.
- I am a very liberal, American, feminist woman, and don't plan on changing that.