"Out of Africa" literally

Since last Sunday when I arrived in Paris, Amsterdam, then Toronto it has become clear that I am no longer in Kinshasa but most definitely "Out of Africa".  The contrast is shocking.  The first hot shower after two and a half months (actually the first shower, period!), the smooth roads, the comfort, the greenery all seem somewhat foreign - welcomed but strange all the same.  As I talk with my family concerning what life is like there in the Congo, they have a hard time grasping it.  But then, so do I, and I have been living it for the last few months.  It doesn't seem possible that in 24 hours you can go from a situation of abject poverty to absolute ease for everything in life.  How has this world become such a dicotomy?  Two absolutely different worlds it seems.  And when I'm here, the world there doesn't exist and when I'm there, this world is like a distant dream.  This is the reality of the missionary life especially for those of us who serve in places very unlike our home culture. I might be Out of Africa temporarily but I somehow think that Africa will never be completely out of me!