Life is beautiful

While I was sneezing and coughing at home, trying to get through a cold, I got a phone call telling me to come for an interview for a research position. WoW! Great stuff. I cant wait to get there and offer the best I have. I feel my academic work and the World of Work program prepared me well for an inteview situation. I mean it is really a tough exercise, not to be underestimated. I think we are not used to being scrutinized so closely and the nervousness can make you look more inadequate than you actually are! Compensating for the tediousness of the cold, I induldged in buying new books: a prize-winning South African novel titled 'Coconut' from a young writer, a book about African masks from a well-known Swiss collection and Calland's 'Anatomy of Power in South Africa' - I am truly looking forward to 'dig into' these books and I understand better why Lovemore Mbigi was always talking about books and encouraging to read us more. I mean how else do you get pleasure and education at the same time?

But the most amazing thing happened the other day in the gym. I was going through my routine as this tall, well-trained guy walked up to me. "So, you are from Canada ?", he goes, looking at my 'Youth Canada' sweater and I respond in the affirmative. Now, this is all very ordinary but this case is a bit different. He and I are regulars at the gym for the last three years or so and once we had a big fight about some meaningless issue. Brad Arden would probably confirm that it is about territory and defensiveness, one ambitious male not wanting to share the space with another. Anyway, I explained to him my relation with Canada and we chatted about all the rest, like the best of friends. I left the gym much happier than I was before. To turn adversity into comradeship is a beautiful, gratifying thing.