Saturday morning Dave again ran errands in town. These errands included picking up some medicines for Jen, still not recovered from her illness. Poor thing, she had been three days already in Zambia and had not stepped foot outside of the apartment. It was a letting-go opportunity for sure.
Dave took some time to rest also, after he returned to the flat. The days here are full and intense on every level: physical, emotional, and spiritual. We joke that each day here is like three back home, and we have full, intense lives even there.
In the afternoon Dave drove out to the airport to pick up Tom. Tom is a Harvard student who became interested in our work in Africa after meeting Cheri at a conference last year. Tom arrived with great cheerfulness, despite a long delay at the Johannesburg airport and some trouble getting through customs. We have learned since that he approaches everything with great cheerfulness--an enjoyable quality in anyone, and particularly in a co-worker in Africa.
Tom arrives.
We drove around town for a while in search of a room for Tom. The city is full to the brim with visitors because of the gigantic trade fair happening here over the weekend, and rooms are at a premium. Our searching met with success before long, however. Darkness found Tom installed in a guesthouse right downtown.
Dave returned to cook a meal for himself and Jen in the flat. After resting all day, Jen reported, she had turned a corner. With this good news to enjoy, the two monks retired soon after supper.