ack. too easy to drift into that place where I sit and stare at my computer all day long, overwhelmed by how much I do not understand. The world feels foggy and I am clumsily blundering through. blech.

BT coming to visit next week for 3 weeks and while i am so thrilled at the prospect of having him here, it kind of feels scary. I've been doing this wandering-alone-around-the-world thing for a long time. I have my schtick down. I�m worried I will not be patient as he wanders, wide-eyed, through his first experience in a low-income country... He's barely left North America in the last decade.

Will he have a break-down when he sees kilometer after kilometer of barefoot children? He did grow up in socialist central Europe� maybe he�ll think it�s just the way the world is. OR! Worse! Will he idealize the simple farming techniques and hours spent hoeing and weeding and fetching water? Nearly a decade ago, I had no patience for a certain type of backpacker, out to *experience* the world. Whenever I saw someone with a copy of "Ishmael" in his hand (and this was often), I'd sit on the other side of the restaurant...

I�m even worse now, please can we just drink our beers and not spend our time earnestly discussing how and why things are the way they are.

(i'm not really such a cynic. but it's all relative)

1:49 p.m. - 2010-04-13