One week in...

Survived fat free fruit and veg - I ask you...supermarkets that seem to make no sense but offer endless choice at first glance - symmetrical streets, being the new girl, loneliness and wandering why I keep on uprooting myself - tearing myself off from everyone and everything I know...but this time I felt compelled, I couldn't stay in Africa..

But I want to note something I'd never seen before. A large African American woman in the supermarket had two eyes tattoed above her very ample breasts. It clearly said - grab a load of these - which made me laugh as they would have been hard to miss - but this is not the land of the subtle...
xxxx

Time to get back to it...

I found a diary of sorts of a trip I took when I was 21 and frankly, I couldn't remember much of it when going through it except I did recognise a certain dry, narrative that hasn't changed much in fifteen years. So here I am in the States - day 4 - half enjoying it, half feeling startled (Why for God's sake do they have to label fruit and veg as "zero fat" - words confound me.) But the kindness and openess of people is heatwarming - particularly the African Americans who make me laugh and chat on the streets and help me out when lost. My neighbours in the temporary apartment even came down to see if I was ok yesterday trying to tune in my TV - which when I did - promptly switched off as utter crap and gave me a headache. Found BBC Radio 4 instead on my laptop which was far more soothing. Anyway - to work tomorrow - onwards and upwards. Time to go...xxx