5656 Miles Away

It is 0219 and there is a hole in my chest that mirrors the darkness coming in my window.

I am laying in bed.  I was hungry before I went to bed, so I had a snack from the refrigerator.  The fan in my window is blowing cool night air and white noise across my back.  There are no bugs in my room. My body is clean of parasites and prophylaxis.  I just brushed my teeth with running water.  The bathroom is about 14 steps away.  This computer links me to the world with a couple of mouse clicks.  Earlier I skyped with D.  It always cheers me up to see her face. My cat just brought me a toy to play with.  This is my reality here. 5656 miles away, in Nampoch, this is reality for no one.

I am living better than most of the rest of world and better than like 90%+ of humanity has lived.  Ever. 

In Togo right now it is early morning.  Dawn has passed about 45 minutes ago.  The sun is burning away the last of the night mist.  Ada is probably sweeping the compound or heating water for showering.  Tefoni is sitting under the neem tree trying to wake up.  Petite is walking around talking to people, or on his way to farm. Same people, different lives.   

 Tonight we drove 40 miles to eat sushi.  Then we picked my parents up from the airport.  They woke up this morning in Paris.  It is 4198 miles between Paris and Ladoga.  God only knows where the sushi came from. Do you realize how crazy that is?

I just realized that here dust is soft fluffy grey stuff.  In Togo dust is redgreybrown grit that walks in your house and flips you off as it sits down and spits on your floor. 

I can skype on my new iphone.  That is cool.

The other day I went to go cut down a dead tree in my parents' yard.  I dug the chainsaw out of the shed and went out there.  Then I realized I could feel the breeze over my toes.  I dont have the balls to use a chainsaw in flipflops like Togolese. 

Life here is so easy and convenient that many of problems that people have are just disruptions of that ease rather than anything real. 

Nampoch is 9 degrees above the equator, Ladoga  is 39.  That explains a few things I guess. 

It hasnt rained here for maybe 10 days.  I did not think anything of this until someone mentioned it tonight.