Africa vida

This weekend turned out to be much better than I expected. It had a theme: Africa. Originally (that is, until 4 pm on Friday) I had no plans for the weekend. Unless you count going jogging and grocery shopping plans (I don't, really). It was going to be one of those long empty weekends that I used to long for in my other life, when I always had about 16 competing things to do on the weekend. I guess the seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake. :-)

But then someone who works in the same building I do happened to ask me if I had plans for the weekend, because they were looking for someone to pinch-hit for the organizer of the children's program for a conference on Africa. I said, gee, it just so happens I have some free time. And then suddenly I was babysitting for seven rambunctious and adorable kids, and instead of staring at my computer screen or doing laundry all weekend, I got to play with dinosaurs and legos and change dirty diapers and climb a church tower, all with a baby strapped onto my front, and it was wonderful. And the conference itself was extremely cool: tonight I had a wonderful African dinner, met some really neat people (some of whom were even over the age of 8), and got to hear a gospel choir composed of Angolans and lots of spontaneous drumming. It rocked.

And thanks to a request from a friend, I also took some time to relive my own memories of being in Africa, which reminded me that really I am sort of a composite of all of the stories that I have heard and experienced in my lifetime, and that is a really cool thing. So, friends, bring on the stories!