Il n'y a pas de temps...

So these keyboards aren't getting any easier to use.

And being in Togo is like being in a new school. Everything is new, different, and exciting! It's also a bit surreal. Just writing in English let alone speaking it is becoming difficult, which is good for my French, but very bad for my writing speed (which sucks anyways due to the poor internet connections). But enough complaining for now... I don't have enough time to write about much if anything because I have to go meet Fr. Boniface for lunch. But I did manage to find a cybercafé (one of the perks to the f'd up keyboards is that all of the accents are readily available) that will allow me to copy files from a flash drive to the computer! That should allow me to write on my computer and copy/paste online. So I will leave you with the promise that the next time I am online there will be a nice long post! Salut.

AFRICA!!!!

Shit. I thought that I was throught using these damn foreign keyboards! It took me about minutes to write that, making it the most expensive sentance I've ever written.

Now that that's out of the way... I'm here! Colin and I landed at about 7pm last night after what I hope will be one of the longest continuous days of flying that I will ever have to endure. I will leave you to your imagination of the "wonderful" accommodations on the two 6+ hour flights (see crying babies, wrestless neighbors, poor food, and uncomfortable seats for details). And to top off the traveling bit, Colin and I didn't exactly meet up as planned. There happen to be six terminals at CDG, each with separate wings (pun intended). And the only "easy" way to navigate them is by moving on to a connecting flight or leaving the airport. So the plan of meeting at my arriving gate didn't exactly work out since my gat was only used for arriving airplanes. Oh yeah and the gates/terminals are all connected by an intricate bus system. Eventually we met up at our connecting flight gate with some time to spare (4 hours before our flight) and did a little catching up.

After a long 7 hours of sleeping and being woken up multiple times by a rather attractive flight attendant, who must have thought that I was mentally challenged when it came to French, we made it to Lome! Little did we know that our adventure had yet to begin!

Don't Forget Your Keys

It was a rare occurrence for a speaker to have a message that succeeded in reaching me throughout my college career. And to the surprise of many, I did attend a fair number of speakers in those four years. Some of them I was mostly present in a physical sense; because as the monks know all to well from my two week retreat at SJU, monotone speakers in a poorly lit room is a recipe for a nap.

There was one speaker in particular who did manage to get through my thick head and impeccable REM cycle and that was Fr. Edwin Leahy (I have to double check that name) from the St. Benedict's Preparatory School out in Newark, New Jersey. He was the honorary speaker at my graduation and without him I would've walked away with my diploma the idea that I was a voyager on an odyssey out of a Star Trek episode...Ha, sorry Matt (class speaker), you're a smart kid and a great guy, but given my life philosophy of experiential learning it is a bit difficult to listen to a message like that from someone who has graduated college and doesn't know how to swim.

Back to the message, Fr. Edwin started and ended his enlightened and engaging speech with four words: "Don't Forget Your Keys." He told us (the graduating class) not to forget our keys as we leave college and begin the next stages of our lives. And he wasn't speaking about car and room keys, although I am sure that they were implied at one point or another. But he was referring to the keys that would open the doors to everything good in this world, Faith and Good Works. Now it is not hard to see how a Benedictine can come up with these important keys, however I would prefer to to be a little more specific. Faith and good works are very general and apply to many of life's closed/locked doors. But the keys that I have chosen to bring along with me on my excursion, or at least the two that are currently at the forefront of mind are (Social) Responsibility and Open Mindedness. I will be sure to elaborate more on these in the weeks to come, as time will not be an issue for me.

Well since I haven't forgotten my "keys," I guess I should inform you that I did manage to forget a pair of waterproof pants that will probably come in useful during the two rainy seasons. They are currently sitting on a box in the corner of my closet. And rest assured, if the water line running up my wall ever breaks that box is going to have one very dry lid. I am glad that my pants at least have a some hope of being useful over the next nine months.