June 4 Thursday
Today is a rest day. I am not heading out into the zemidjan (public transportation motorcycles) packed roads today, just staying at home trying to get ready for my work.
On Tuesday morning, I went to buy a smart phone, which meant applying for a local phone number as well. The phone cost me 70,000 CFA (roughly 124 dollars). I need the phone for three things: (a) making local calls, (b) Whatsapp (c) Gozem (which is the Togolese equivalent of Uber). All three are absolutely essential nowadays.
In the afternoon, I went to Champion and tried to stock up on some basic foods I could take the village. Unlike in Botswana, there are very few “supermarkets”. In Togo, most people buy things in open air markets that resemble American farmer’s markets, or on the side of the street in their neighborhood. When I was in Champion, there were perhaps two other customers in the entire store. The Togolese consider it way too expensive, and many of the goods are not their normal day-to-day needs.
The Champion stores seem to be owned by the Lebanese. They are the equivalent of the Indians in Botswana, who control the large grocery stores there (like Choppies). The Lebanese also sell cars in Togo and probably have a hand in many other areas of the economy.
I went to Champion looking low-carb foods that I could use to supplement the kinds of foods that are easily available in the village (mostly very high carb foods, like corn and yams). I found canned peas and string beans, some packaged cheese (like Vache Qui Rit), some tuna fish, and something called paté in French, which I don’t like very much. So I have not really cracked the low-carb puzzle yet, but I am making some in-roads here and there.
June 4 Thursday
My west African breakfast. Not exactly low carb, but very healthy and filled with lots of fat, protein and fiber: two fried eggs, one cup of black-eyed beans, one whole avocado sliced up. There is also some gali on the side (dried crushed cassava), but I ate very little of that. It is just to make the beans crunchy. Very tasty, very filling. Like I said, my goal is not to eat keto or zero carbs, my goal is to control blood glucose levels, and I think this breakfast is perfect for that.
June 1 Monday
We arrived at JFK terminal 1, for Air France, at around 8:15pm. I was accompanied to the airport by my wife and daughter, for which I am very grateful! We took Lyft for 80 dollars, which was the cheapest rate at the time. I wanted to give the Lyft driver a cash tip, and my daughter looked at me like I was an alien. After some confused back and forth, I finally understood the system. I checked in at the "priorty" counter (no people at all). Then we sat around and talked, taking pictures, until around 10:00pm. After that, I passed through security, which took about half an hour, even though I was in the "priority" line (remember the business class). Brief note: you do not need to take off your shoes to go through security now. Then I headed right for the Air France lounge, found the most comfortable chair, and had red wine and some very nice cheddar cheese, great for my low-carb lifestyle. Just a note: There is a shower in this lounge as well. I don't need it, but that is good to know for the future.
Arriving in CDG, the flight was 20 minutes late, so I had to run to make my connection. Luckily the arrival and departure were in the same terminal (E), and within walking distance. But I had to beg the security people to skip ahead to the front of the security line. Even then I had to budge in front of the flight crew for one of the other flights. I arrived at the gate jogging just as my flight was boarding, and jumped into the priority line. Another 30 minutes, and I would have missed that flight for sure. 1.5 hours of transit time on an international flight is not really enough time for a connection.
May 31 Sunday
I leave for Togo tonight at 1am. Off to do two months of fieldwork on Kpelegbe, a dialect of Ewe.
I bought a ticket for 8:30pm, but Air France changed it on me. I dislike the departure time because my normal bedtime is around 10:00pm. I will be a zombie by take-off.
Once again, I splurged on business class for both legs (JFK-CDG, CDG-Lome). Because of my weight and height, economy is really off limits, and even premium economy is a stretch now (I swear it is getting smaller and smaller every year). So I just bit the bullet and paid for business class. The seats are bigger, and you can recline horizontally at night for a nap. I have spent a whole lifetime paying for the cheapest possible travel deals, let me travel in peace for these last few years before I wrap it up.
My primary goal for this trip is to double the size of the Kpelegbe dictionary, from 700 words to 1400 words. I am bringing a bunch of picture books of birds, animals and trees to get the process going. I also hope to be able to start up the Ewe online dialect database during this trip with some preliminary on-the-ground planning and data collection.
The prospect of going into the field is thrilling. I can only take so much of the standard academic routine before going a little crazy. I try to do fieldwork every summer or every other summer, and I take a study leave for a year every three years. I know it sounds really decadent and spoiled, but without those trips I would definitely not have stayed in academics. I would have chosen some other profession all together.
This is the first entry in Togo Diary 2026. I will try to post regularly during the whole trip.
