Hi all,
It's Thursday here and I'm starting to settle in. I had a rough night last night with some of the worst jet lag I've had since I traveled to Asia. I was awake from 11-3...but I watched Breach on the movie channel to keep my mind off things. Like the fact that I live here now and I don't have any friends!! But back to basics.
I arrived on KLM via Amsterdam and it was all uneventful. My flight actually got in an hour early and both my bags arrived...hurrah! I'm staying at the Sheraton...which is like the nicest hotel in the country--probably one of the nicest in Africa. Holy cannoli!! It's like a palace! The first classic moment was when the check in guy asked if a room with two twins was ok. I asked if there was a room with a queen bed available. He said no. I said two twins was fine. :-) But I've unpacked my stuff mostly and am forcing myself to get up at 6:45 am so that I can get the 7:30 "shuttle" to the office.
Yesterday my sponsor took me around to meet everyone. This office is huge!! Especially compared to Sudan. My colleagues tell me there are over 200 staff people here!!! Needless to say I only remember about 5 people's names. Finding houseing for people is a problem...apparently the going rent here for an expat house is about $2,500 a month....plus we get it furnished, with appliances, etc. So it's a booming business! I don't think I'll get a house for about a month so for now the Sheraton is home.
My office is a bit of an annex to the main building. I'm on the roof. And in a cube that is so tiny I can't really move my chair around! I'm told that this will change in about a month (let's hope). But I did get one of two boxes of office stuff from DC and have put up pictures, etc. So far so good!! I'm not really "working" yet because of all of the check-in procedures I have to go through but I'm seeing a few emails and am being introduced around. I've actually got a field trip scheduled with my colleague next Wednesday so that should be really interesting.
I'll post some photos of the Sheraton and the office tomorrow or so. The Internet isn't too good here so I'll have to try to do it at an "off" time so I don't hog the bandwidth.
Sp, I guess I'm starting to settle in. It's going to be a process though. I can tell.
More soon,
Jane
3 comments:
Sounds like things are settling down okay...WE MISS YOU!!
love sarah frank zoe paige tagli tatu and tanzi
Thanks for the edits. Sorry I had to ask. Hope all is well, and I hope I get to come work over there at some point.
So exciting, Jane! I'm glad you are staying in a palace : )
Post a Comment