Harare Day 2 – Chillin’ in the Heat
Slept very well last night despite the heat. I think I’m getting used to it. It’s a strange feeling just lying on top of the sheets with nothing on and not under my usual 20 TOG goosedown duvet. I’m sure I’ll get used to it. I don’t know how I’ll feel when I return to Dublin on the 28 Feb. I’m sure I’ll adapt. The tan will help!
Today is one of those days where I do nothing and yet feel like I have had a very full day. Some activities are organised but I take a raincheck. There’s a pool in the hostel and I spent quite a while swimming in it or sitting on the side of it chatting. I even lie in the sun on a sun lounger, first time ever, for all of 10 minutes. My paperwhite chest is now a very mild shade of pink.
The weather is glorious with a brilliantly blue sky and a diamond bright African sun. There are a few white fluffy clouds scuffing around. The humidity is very low and there is a gentle breeze. The makings of a perfect day, as it is.
We meet a young couple, an English lad and his Canadian girlfriend, who are camping. They are travelling in the opposite direction to us and we exchange travelling tales. We all now have lots of travelling tales now.
There are some German scout leaders there on a training course, or something. One of them was quite chatty but the others were teutonically taciturn. There is also a Japanese family with an older wispy man who smokes constantly; much to my irritation as the smoke gets up my nose. There are several young Japanese men who are very polite but sometimes look even more American than the Americans themselves..
The staff prepare a lovely meal for us consisting of lashings of barbecued meat, rice, mashed spuds and different veggies all heaped high on my plate. It is nice eating out in the open under an African starry sky. About halfway through, thunder and lightening starts but it is fairly far away and it doesn’t rain, as we fear it might. After dinner, we sing happy birthday to a member of the hostel staff who has a huge warm smile and the most amazing beaded hair. We have chocolate cake. Yum. An Indian young man with great teeth makes lassi for us all. It is delicious.
The day feels very spacious and some reflections on my life in Dublin enter into this space. I think about how I work alone and also live alone. I also reflect on how this isn’t a problem; that I’m quite solitary but not lonely. I often say I’m not a group person but I feel more human when with groups of people. My work is very solitary but then the nature of psychotherapy is very much about what’s said in the therapy room stays in the therapy room. And yet I remember how alive I felt facilitating group therapy. I’m considering changing my working practices to include some sessional work in rehab or addiction aftercare. But, I’m just reflecting, not making any decisions. Decide in haste, repent at leisure, they say.
Off to bed at 10;30pm
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