Na gode

It's been a while, I know. Work's busy, but not. Y'know? Most of the team's been at ICASA (International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa) all week. I wasn't able to register, because the fees are too high, but I managed to sneak in to at least one presentation. The trick, I found, was to act like you belong there, try to get in, and if stopped say something like "my colleague called and asked me to bring her a document!" Worked like a charm. I wish I'd figured this out sooner, however, as the conference ends today. C'est la vie. I got to meet a couple of folks from the Benin chapter of NAYA (Network for Advancement of Youths in Africa) who came for the conference. One of the members, Pierre, spoke quite a bit of English, but the language barrier was significant enough to make conversation with my colleagues complicated. Thus, I served as our office translator and relayed various information to our visitors. It was quite enjoyable, though at times a tad embarassing as my French is not quite up to par. I was told that I must come to visit, if possible, before I return to Canada.

On a related note, I was overwhelmingly bored and restless last night after I got home. My usual routine of dinner, TV, bath, book, and sleep struck me as highly unappealing. I visited the restaurant and chatted with some people from Kenya who were here for ICASA and then visited my friend (P) at the gate. We've been engaging in a language exchange - I teach him French and he teaches me Hausa.

Anyhow, hate to cut things short, but my day is drawing to a close and I finally managed to get pictures off my camera, so I'm going to monkey around with that for a while. Later!