opening ceremony and then some

today's the first full day of the congress. the opening ceremony last night was crazy. there were some technical glitches at first, but after that for the most part it fairly well. i did make one huge mistake though- i sent up a speaker to the stage way too early.

i didn't realize how much i was clueless on who's who in the greater christian world. it doesn't really matter to me who the folks are because i generally treat everyone who goes on stage the same, but it was weird to be sitting next to the archbishop of the anglican church in uganda and have people come up and randomly take pictures of him (who does that?!).

so far, i really really like my stage manager. he's a really chill southern dude who looks almost EXACTLY like gerard butler. he's a gerard butler stretched out a little bit sideways and has a southern accent instead of a scottish one. and he's really good at his job. i love production folk. i'm trying to be BFFs with the mic guy.

okay off i gooooo

CT 2010 day 1

arrived in cape town about 10 hours ago. some thoughts in bullet pt format-

• the 28 hr trek to CT felt waaay too long. on my longest flight (wash DC - johannesburg) the guy who sat next to me was a doc who was on his way to zimbabwe for medical missions. i was really excited at first because i wanted to hear his story. but then a few minutes later, he asked me out of nowhere if i'm also seeing double of everything. 30 minutes later he proceeded to spill the vodka that he asked to have with his coke all over his pants. i asked if he needed napkins, and he politely declined. i stopped talking to him for the rest of the 17.5 hrs on the plane.
• found out that about 20+ lausanne delegates were also on the same plane from DC to joburg. it felt like meeting old friends, even though it was my first time meeting them.
• speaking of old friends, saw some u09 staff in the hotel lobby last night. it was SO GOOD to see them! i forgot how much i missed them.
• woke up at 2:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. i hope i sleep reeeally well tonight.
• off to my first programme meeting in a couple hours. looking forward to meeting the rest of the staff!
• got this news from jon this morn: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130540715 a reminder that there is still so much work to be done...