Sinking in

About 22 hours into travel and only 3 hours of sleep after I finally left home, I was finally struck with the fact that I'll really be doing this. It was somewhere over the Sahara Desert when my seat mate, a Beninese pilot, and I started to combine our trays so that he could somehow squeeze out to the aisle to use the restroom. After he got up I lifted up the arm rest to see the landscape of this continent I have never seen before, and then it hit me. I am on a plane full of people who mostly speak French which adds to the excitement. I have spent time trying to learn about this country, their language, religion and culture and here I am sitting on a plane with them. It's the most amazing thing.

I've been trying my French in my head and trying to listen to them. I try when I can to communicate in the little French I know, but it seems to disappear from my memory when I'm on the spot. I did pick a little up on the flight: tres rapide.