Back in the A-F-R-I-C-A

What it is. Yes I am back in Togo after a very tender, magical time spent in wonderland, a.k.a. Greece. I would post pictures, but I cannot find the cord necessary to plug into the computer to do so. It is somewhere hidden in Nacho's tender, magical locker that I think has about a week's worth of dirty laundry, a whiskey sachet, her iPod cord, a solar charger, some flip-flops and other various important necessities such as a camera cord. My trip to Greece was great. Let's just leave it at that. The trip back to Togo is what makes my life so much more interesting. I missed my flight from Athens to Dubai because my flight into Athens from Thessaloniki was late. They also made the flight out of Athens early, which gave me absolutely no time to get my luggage out of baggage claim and check in to Emirate Air. So, they booked me on a flight with Olympic Airlines into Dubai. Olympic Airlines. Where to begin? They ran out of blankets, they gave us only one choice for the meal (beef pastitsio--a Greek noodle casserole--that I actually did eat. I'm so glad I practiced eating meat before I came to Africa, but who knew I would have to put it into use in Europe?), the headphones did not work and there was only one TV monitor with only one choice of a show per 1000 seats, the flight attendants were saucy as hell, and the bathroom would put even a latrine at a bus station in Togo to shame. But, before all of this even happened, my leave-in conditioner was taken from me at the security check in Athens. That's right, LEAVE-IN CONDITIONER. The woman tried to also take my Tom's of Maine Cinnamon-Clove toothpaste that was given to me by my mother, Biggie Smalls, but when I started crying and pleading to her that where I was about to go was so undeveloped that they didn't even have Tom's of Maine toothpaste, she placed her pointer finger vertically over her mouth and told me to keep quiet and furtively threw the toothpaste back in my bag. Afterwards, ss I was trying to cover my red, swollen eyes from my fellow travelers with my favorite big, Togolese, haute coutoure sunglasses, I noticed that one of the lenses had fallen out (they finally broke-I knew it would happen, it was only a question of when, because these are the second pair of these glasses, but the first pair had a different demise. The ear piece fell off). So, I just let them all have it. I was sad and couldn't hide it anymore. I spent the night on a chair in Dubai (8 hour layover), but not before checking out the Duty Free Shop. To make up for my sadness and loss of leave-in conditioner, I bought a big bag of almonds, Haribo gummy bears, and anti-wrinkle eye cream. My friends met me in Accra and it was like a gift from god.
The marathon in Togo has been cancelled because only 3 people are running it. I am still running the Ghana marathon, but have decided to participate in a bike tourney that runs across Togo and supports the same scholarship for girls' education. It is in November. Today, I will be leaving for my village and I am nervous and also scared to see the state of my house. Bat guano and mice turds fall down from the cracks in the ceiling, especially in my bathroom, and it is not a very welcoming site. I will have a lot of work ahead of me and I am tired and too lazy to wash my hair that has dusty mud in it from yesterday's bush taxi ride back to Togo. I think about all of you and miss you all so much. I have to keep reminding myself that this is all an adventure even when I am twiddling my thumbs, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure why I did this and how much longer I can do this. I am lucky to have this opportunity and I am experiencing new things all the time, even though they are not always very comfortable. I am okay. I am okay. This is an adventure.