After our delightful walk on the beach last night (it was breezy but extremely beautiful watching the sun set over the ocean) we came back for a few more hours of work and then headed to dinner. We had a very interesting experience at dinner.
People who are attending the conference next week are slowly starting to arrive and last night three men from Zimbabwe joined us at dinner. Ben and I introduced ourselves to them and when they heard Ben’s name one of them said, “Oh, so you’re the OpenMRS guy!”
Ben played it off very nicely giving other people credit but they made several comments about his work and how important he is to OpenMRS.
It made me laugh because earlier this week I had commented on how everyone wants to run things by Ben or get his approval on stuff before they do them. Of course, I’ve known for years that he’s the best programmer around, but it’s funny to suddenly be surrounded by others that also think he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’m anxious to see what happens next week when 150 people are begging for attention from ‘The OpenMRS Guy’ (make that 151 1/2 because I’ll be in line with everyone else 😉 ).

In other news, the whales are back, although much further out than they were before. And also, I’ve had several opportunities to chat with the two guys that are here from Kenya. One of them is married and his wife is on leave for the month of October so he said that I could hang with her. They are also going to take us to their church. I asked for details about his church last night and he said it is small and everything is in Swahili but he promised he would do some translating for us. I’m already missing our church and although we can download the sermons it’s not quite the same as being able to worship together and watching Aaron in action.
It is much warmer today and I spent a while sitting outside soaking up the sun and watching the ocean. We’re having a barbecue tonight (they call it a braai here) and tomorrow we’re going out into Cape Town for dinner so there’s a lot to look forward to!
Here’s a shout-out to my Grandma who fell yesterday and had to go to the hospital. We love you Grandma!

Over the years some of you may have spent time pondering the very question that I found myself thinking about this afternoon…’How many games of FreeCell can a girl play in one afternoon?’ Today I had the chance to discover the answer. I play about 29 games an hour (with a winning streak, I might add). That means that if I played from the end of my lunch time until we leave in the evening for dinner I could play about 150 games if I didn’t take any water or bathroom breaks. Amazing, huh?
On a positive note, I was allowed out of my room to play this afternoon. I was able to spend the entire time (almost) downstairs in front of the fire. Not that I actually socialized with anyone. It turns out that the only way computer scientists communicate at conferences is through instant messaging and I’m not privy to their secret chat rooms, but at least I was warm!
Yes, this is my life in Africa. Some people thought I was so adventurous and wild running away to another continent. And it’s true; I’ve had the chance to experiment with all kinds of new things since I’ve been here (such as long hours of silence and FreeCell). Try not to worry about me too much. I’ve heard that on Friday there’s a chance that they will be taking a half-day. Those CS-ers are a wild bunch.