Sunday, June 06, 2004
My flight arrived in Philadelphia at 5:30 last night, on time. The travel was about as pleasant as such a long trip could be, made much more pleasant by traveling with Deena. She had received word that her Father had died, so we were both traveling as a result of family crises - she to Detroit, me through Detroit to Phila.
Immediate impressions on returning:
Even from the air, everything is so rectilinear! The fields are neat checkerboards of color, the houses are all lined up in an orderly way, the streets and highways straight, purposeful.
On the ground, everything is impersonal, mechanized. In the airport rest room the toilet flushes automatically when you get up, the faucet runs only when your hand is under it, the paper dispenser automatically gives you paper when your hand approaches.
Everyone is hurrying and intent on getting somewhere. No-one saunters. Walking isn't fast enough, there are moving walkways. People scurry out of the way of electric carts delivering people. Unattended trains stop, doors open, recorded warnings are announced and then the trains leave. It all looks and feels like being processed. Automatic. No one talks to anyone else, except for the few couples who are moving together.
The security is oppressive. Line up for inspection after inspection. Why did you arrive with only a backpack and no checked baggage? There is the sense of video cameras and official observers everywhere.
Almost everyone is white! And so many older people - in Africa there are always hoards of little kids running around, teenagers trying to peddle stuff to you or just hanging around, only a few old folks. And most young women there have babies strapped to their backs.
The crab soup, hamburger and fries on the way home were fabulous! And the martini was served in a triangular glass with a lemon peel twist just the way I prefer it. With gin instead of Konyagi. They had everything we ordered - if it was on the menu, they had it. What a difference!
At my sister's, there are all these appliances - for coffee, for remote TV, FAST internet connection, sound systems, microwave, toaster oven, ice water from an outlet on the refrigerator, water without having to boil it first for that matter, just a profusion of all kinds of gadgets and devices and STUFF. Tons of books, phones, magazines, newspapers, brochures and announcements lying around. PAPER! Framed photographs and art on the walls. It is all comfortable. Convenient. Safe. Private.
I'm home.
Immediate impressions on returning:
Even from the air, everything is so rectilinear! The fields are neat checkerboards of color, the houses are all lined up in an orderly way, the streets and highways straight, purposeful.
On the ground, everything is impersonal, mechanized. In the airport rest room the toilet flushes automatically when you get up, the faucet runs only when your hand is under it, the paper dispenser automatically gives you paper when your hand approaches.
Everyone is hurrying and intent on getting somewhere. No-one saunters. Walking isn't fast enough, there are moving walkways. People scurry out of the way of electric carts delivering people. Unattended trains stop, doors open, recorded warnings are announced and then the trains leave. It all looks and feels like being processed. Automatic. No one talks to anyone else, except for the few couples who are moving together.
The security is oppressive. Line up for inspection after inspection. Why did you arrive with only a backpack and no checked baggage? There is the sense of video cameras and official observers everywhere.
Almost everyone is white! And so many older people - in Africa there are always hoards of little kids running around, teenagers trying to peddle stuff to you or just hanging around, only a few old folks. And most young women there have babies strapped to their backs.
The crab soup, hamburger and fries on the way home were fabulous! And the martini was served in a triangular glass with a lemon peel twist just the way I prefer it. With gin instead of Konyagi. They had everything we ordered - if it was on the menu, they had it. What a difference!
At my sister's, there are all these appliances - for coffee, for remote TV, FAST internet connection, sound systems, microwave, toaster oven, ice water from an outlet on the refrigerator, water without having to boil it first for that matter, just a profusion of all kinds of gadgets and devices and STUFF. Tons of books, phones, magazines, newspapers, brochures and announcements lying around. PAPER! Framed photographs and art on the walls. It is all comfortable. Convenient. Safe. Private.
I'm home.
