Serendipity

After a few truly fun days of travel : ) I am back in West Africa.  Not home yet, I’ll be running around for another couple of weeks doing training stuff. Even though traveling isn’t fun for me anymore, meeting people still is.  In France I stayed with friends of a friend-whose daughter is coming here to film a documentary!  It’s not where I live, but where I fly in and out of, and I’ll be here when she is.  Great coincidence!  She’s never been to W. Africa, and is a little nervous about coming.  I was able to give her some local currency, my phone number, and I’ll be a friendly face once my flight gets in.  Too cool!

Then in the shuttle on the way to the airport, (which was late, grrrrr), there were three fun people to chat with-from Texas!  Let’s all join hands and sing "It’s a small world."  It was a fun way for me to spend my last bit of time in Europe.  And I made my flight, hope they did too!

Here’s the best thing, though.  I’m still in the city I fly in and out of, not the country where I live, where I know very few people.  Doing an errand for a colleague, though, I made a GREAT connection this morning-a consultant who has already done what I’m going to do in the next few years, and who is excited about sharing her experience and suggestions with me!  And, her husband has produced tons of stuff in the language they worked in-one that’s related to mmm-BELLY-may!  When I fly through here again in a few weeks, I’m going to have all afternoon to get ideas and pick their brains.  And tonight, we’re not going to work, but we are going to have fondue!  Did I mention I LOVE meeting Swiss people?  That’s another great chance meeting-I met a person at the immigration desk who’s staying at the same guest house as me here, and he gave me (and my two enormous foot lockers) a ride last night!  He even hauled the foot lockers to my truck for me!  He’s the one having people over for fondue.

It’s a small, small world…