Blogging from Durban, South Africa

I am logging in and blogging from Durban, South Africa, where the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! Not hot or cold, but just right! I feel like Goldilocks saying that. Anyway, I have been here since Saturday, July 19th, and am at a conference. Needless to say, conferences don't allow one to see much of the city unless you play hooky. I didn't for the most part, and probably won't, because there's too much interesting stuff. I'm only playing hooky right now because I haven't found a session going for an hour and a half that catches my eye. I don't know if it's just me but time seems to pass slower here in Durban as opposed to New York. Do you suppose we in New York ought to learn how to slow down the clock a bit like here?

Anyway, the conference has been very good, and now that my presentation is over, I can breathe and enjoy it more. :) We have a beach party on our schedule tonight so that ought to be a treat.

Just to share some pictures, here is one of me after having traveled for what felt like endless days with very little sleep (but note, I did have a significant layover in Dubai and lost 8 hours upon my departure from New York)! But I was utterly exhausted when I got to Durban - can you tell here? Heh heh. And that's my wonderful room! You have no idea how happy I was with it, especially being so tired! You can imagine my brief moment of fear when the receptionist who took me to my room told me, "This is the worst room ever." I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not. I still am not sure. Maybe I should ask her. Heh heh.

And I can hear the ocean as well as see it from my room (except in the morning where there's so much dew on the outside of the window that everything is a thick haze of light). Here's a sample of my view. I have 2 large windows of that! Absolutely lovely. . . .

All in all, I have one day of conference left (tomorrow is our last day) and today is almost over - I have some poster presentations to attend and then the beach party. :) Then it's onto Johannesburg for a few days before heading to Malawi on Sunday!

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