Back in Akwaaba House.

The conference is over, and we've made the drive back to our Toronto halfway home: Akwaaba House, 12 Treford Place, a bit south of College.

Yesterday was floor polish and elbow grease. We took this place apart and put it back together piece by piece. What was two days ago a highly lived house where you might hang your hat for a time now feels a bit more like home. The process from 'house' to 'home' was captured brilliantly via the time lapse feature of Nick Jimenez's digital camera. Watching five hours of hard work played out over fifteen minutes of sped up footage might seem belittling, but it was a bit of a rush seeing how things all came together.

At the same time, I think we all came together.

Life at home in Akwaaba House is like bunking with your friends every day at summer camp. We are all fast becoming friends and having a good laugh together as we learn each others' idiosyncrasies. As always, everyone washes the dishes differently: some wash a lot, then rinse, some rinse as they go, some pre-rinse, other over-sud. Nick had never seen milk in a bag before (I was only spared this shock by living in Michigan for two early childhood years) and poured the milk into the jug instead of adding the bag and snipping the corner. Everyone peels oranges differently.

I've never lived with so many other people who love what they do, love the work they've chosen, read so much, work so hard, and are generally such a cheery, immediately likable lot.