Today was a day full of meetings. They're non-stop this week, actually. But today we had a big meeting at the Ministry of Education, followed by the continuation of our "board" meetings for the organization that I work for. The meeting at the Ministry was one that we had been trying to get for quite some time, so we were very pleased that it actually happened today! I got decked out in my lovely brown outfit, which, if I do say so myself, looked rather smart.
I'm learning the value of looking "smart" around here. People are very professional looking, and they really dress up here, and the more important the person they're meeting, the smarter they have to dress. It's just not respectable to wear a t-shirt and capri pants to the Ministry. You don't get any respect that way. And I already get less respect than others because I'm a relatively young woman, so I gotta at least dress the part as much as I can! I'm sure I could do a very long analysis on the dressing smart and respectably, but I'm a bit brain dead at the moment... anyways, suffice to say, we had a big meeting. I dressed the part. It went very well. I got wet, though... and not because I was sweating all day, but because it was pouring rain all day! It was so cold and lovely the whole day. It's now 25C in my room at 11pm, and I'm considering getting out my sleeping bag tonight because it might be a chilly night! The weather has changed overnight, it seems... but I'm not complaining... though I do have some plans to go to a village in a week to do some teacher training, and I'm a bit fearful that the mud will also precede me if the rains start with a vengeance to soon!
Tonight was an almost otherworldly experience as well. I wrapped up in a shawl and went to the Cathedral, where there was a quintet putting on a concert of passiontide choral music. It was amazing - they did the same thing last year and it was such a moving experience. This year was just as good, though there was a much bigger crowd. The members of the music group are very well connected in the UN type circles, so they invited basically everyone they know to the service/concert tonight. It was an amazing way to get people who will never darken the door of the church actually into the church, and they were hearing scripture - through the readings and the songs.
And it was so well done that people really went away with a good "taste" in their mouths of the whole experience. It was a good time for me, too, to just sit and listen to the music and the words, and reflect for an hour on what this final week leading into Good Friday and Easter is really about. I want to make more space for reflection on these things, and to hear from the Lord before Easter. But it's tough when it's so busy here, and when there are so many people on the compound... but I don't want to make excuses for myself, so I will just stop here!
Sorry, I feel like I haven't had much of anything very exciting to write about lately. But that's ok. I don't want anything TOO exciting to happen any time in the next few days, I'm just sorry for you that it makes for really boring reading :( But stay tuned! Things never stay calm for long in this town...
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