When it Rains, it Pours!

In the space of 4 days, I am meeting up with THREE (3)--count them--bloggers! Two of them are from my Hart&Soul photoblog, and one is from In Soul, whom I've already met!

Yesterday, I met up with Ade Adeyemi who's Nigerian, living in London, but just finishing a 6-month work contract here in Eindhoven, Holland (1 hr. and 20 min. away by train). I had the chance to meet her by the skin of my teeth, before she heads back to London next week.

We spent a fabulous 4-1/2 hours together near the Central Station area of town, walking around, taking pics, eating Chinese, and getting to know each other.

And yes, we walked through the Red Light district (something Amsterdam is famous for, of course!) because Ade (pronounced ah-DAY) had not seen it before. I'm guessing it doesn't matter how often one sees it, it's still pretty shocking. And of course, the ladies absolutely will not tolerate any photo-taking. In the same area are also a lot of the also-famous Coffee Houses where pot can be legally smoked. In this pic, I loved the irony of the no-smoking icon against the cannabis seeds displayed.

At one point I asked Ade if she had a tattoo (we had just gone by a tattoo store) and she said Yes. There on the side of her stomach are these words: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." Doesn't THAT tell you something about this very wise 26-year-old!

I noticed that in almost all the pics I took of Ade, she closed her mouth. When I drew attention to it (because her open smile is beautiful), she pointed to the gap between her top front teeth. I then proceeded to tell her that she needed to embrace her open smile! We had been talking earlier about how Nigerians as a people are just now learning to embrace the arts (like photography and literature) and that this is changing the face of their culture.

These are precious times for me. I felt I met a friend for life. You can click here to see how she documented the day with pics on her site. Click here to see mine.

Tomorrow both Donica and I will meet James and his partner, Matt, whom I met last July in Germany, remember! They have since moved here to Amsterdam and are within easy walking distance from our apartment. We'll be meeting up for brunch tomorrow. It'll be Donica's first time to meet them and vice versa.

Then on Sunday I meet up with another photoblogger, Petra. She is Dutch and lives outside of Amsterdam, not too far away. Donica will join us for lunch.

Isn't it amazing how small this world is! Don't you just love it!!!!