Sylvia's Journal

I woke up from a very vivid dream. I was visiting someplace, sitting at a dinner table, a dinner that preceded something else that required a speech. First one of my teeth came out, then more and more, they were like brittle barnacles – after a while I only had my front teeth left…and I was worried about what would happen next. I am trying to drag up the Freudian symbols from deep in my memory, from school days 35 years ago – teeth, speechlessness….hmmm.

I am reading ‘Games People Play’ from 40 or so years ago and have arrived at the heavy psychoanalytic part – games people play, having to do with power and sex – but so far teeth haven’t appeared yet.

I slept in this morning, a rare luxury. I put in the yoga DVD that I used to stay sane in Afghanistan, every other day and had, in spite of the best intentions, not used since I left Kabul. It was a bit of an effort to complete the 45 minute program. I didn’t like it anymore as much as I had in Kabul.

I rewarded myself with a full body massage that was so expertly done that it left me stunned and with serious massage brain for some time. Not able to do any work in that condition I took the hotel shuttle to Windhoek’s city center, hoping to visit the tourist information (closed), the museum (closed), a stationary shop to buy a roll of paper (closed), another store I was referred to for that sort of paper (closed). I gave up and found a nice café with internet so I could do my next scrabble moves with my three scrabble partners, have a nice (sauce-less) salad for lunch, a glass of cool white wine, some good coffee and a sinful dessert.

The stores that were open were like beehives and places best avoided. I returned to the hotel to finish facilitator notes for the simulation next week and am now ready to meet with one of the future facilitators to talk about how I can help him transform a lecture-driven approach to adult education into an experiential approach in his institution. This is extracurricular but it will be fun. My co-facilitator is also scheduled to land any minute now, so I will have an extra pair of experienced hands.