My life so far

Whew! Hardly a minute to process everything that's going on here. From meetings, we're shuttled into workshops, then off to lunch, then back for plenary sessions, then small group discussions, then dinner - well, you get the picture. Thilling, but very tiring.

Except for the destruction of my one and only plug adapter (involving an inattentive bishop - and no, I didn't haul off and slap him once the damage had been done, though by rights I could've done), everything's gone smoothly so far.

The food is excellent - a big thing, in my book, you know. Big, slap-up breakfasts, but yogurt and cereal available for those not wanting to indulge in sausages and eggs. Lunches and dinners always offer fish and meat and lots of veg and salad and desserts, complete with hot custard to pour on top of everything. Yu-um!

Fortunately, there's plenty of opportunity to work off the custard 'round the fire with the local band and dancers every evening. And tonight, we hosted a party for the Latin America/Caribbean guests, and well, I musta danced off 20 pounds. (OK. I wish I'd danced off 20 pounds - but I gave it a good go.)

One curious thing - I find I'm having a harder time understanding the white South Africans than the people of color. That accent that sounds to me like a combination of Australian and Dutch is impossible for me to decipher. Sort of like one long "A" with a few consonants sprinkled in. I have to have them repeat things two or three times before I finally get it.

But other than that, I'm faring pretty well. Not getting enough sleep (see, it's already midnight here), but who wants to miss a single minute of it? Not me!

By the way, thanks for all your well-wishes. I'll get back in the blog-groove when I return to New York. (And sorry I had to put the code verification back up for comments - was getting too many people wanting me to visit their websites about viagra.)

For now, cheers, and greetings from South Africa!