This is for the one I love

Dear Trader Joe's,

I miss you. I miss your marinated tofu. I miss your eco-friendly re-useable bags. Things are different here. I go through black plastic bags like they're water. I tried buying a reusable bag...but the zipper broke. I still use it though. I use it when I don't have time to do my own laundry, or its raining outside and I can't hang my clothes. I put my dirty laundry in this plastic re-useable bag and take it to Akuafo Hall and pay 9 Ghana Cedis to get my laundry washed and dried. It really is nice not to have starchy underwear. I'm sure you understand.

Sometimes when I am eating Jollof Rice for the third day in a row I find myself thinking of Morning Star Farms fake chicken patties. Sometimes I crave whole wheat bread so much I convince myself that the white bread that has been dyed brown actually has nutritional value. I dream about brocolli flourets sometimes. Not every night. No, its not that bad, I just...miss them. I miss you. Your know what's funny? I used to love plantains so much! I would only eat them like twice a year, sometimes I would get them with a salad when I had long breaks between classes at school. I used to think about fried plantains. Now I just think about how many plantains I have eaten in the last week. Its a lot. What wouldn't I do for canned corn? For almond butter? For soy milk?

Trader Joes? Do you still sell soytzels? They were so good with organic peanut butter! The wonderful burnt taste...it took awhile to get used to it...but once I did I was hooked for life. It was like that scene in Mr. Hollands Opus when Mr. Holland is explaining to his wife how he felt when he first heard John Coltrain. It was just like that!

I watched When Harry Met Sally last week. It was so funny. I don't know if I ever really appreciated how much I love that film until it was the first film I'd seen in awhile. Billy Crystal is not even remotely sexy, but I would fall in love with him in that film, just like Sally does. I've been reading Harry Potter over and over. Maybe I can't admit that its over? I think I appreciate that I know what's going to happen, but it doesn't take away from the excitement at all! It is still so wonderful. I found a copy of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince last week and now I've been reading that one too. Its so amazing, J.K. Rowling is a genius. I hope you don't think I'm crazy.

When I travel for my winter break, I might have to eat meat. I really want to climb Mt. Cameroon, but to do it I will have to put my diet directly in the hands of my guides. And, it seems pretty obvious that jerkey and dried fish is easier to carry around a mountain than eggs. That's okay though...my cholesterol must be really high right now.

I'm being brave...my body really hates it here. I think it might hate me more when I get back to you...but you'll win it back over quickly with your fiber cakes, your organic strawberries, your wonderful coffee, your cheese. Oh, your cheese! How I miss calcium! In little more than seven months I will be full of wonderful memories and a once in a lifetime experience that I appreciate more than I could ever, ever express. I will also be full of starch. But, you'll help me fix that. I know you will.

I love you.