I'm tempted to begin any reflection on the last weeks with some trite sentiment like “It's a whole different world here,” but then I imagine a wise man like Paul Farmer putting his hand on my shoulder and saying, “You're right. It's a parallel universe. There really is no correlation between what goes on in your wealthy part of the world and anywhere else.”
You can't help but notice the Winnie-the-Pooh and New York Yankees and Fubu t-shirts. My first weekend here, the man at the bakery - where I went to buy bread for breakfast with J, my host father – was wearing a University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota t-shirt. That's where I live, I told him. My parents went to school there! When he saw me on the street some days later, he stopped to say hi to the guy who made a big deal of a purple shirt.
