My future forest...

My cross country adventures continue. I promised myself when I left Canada that when and if I ever settled somewhere, ideally Canada, I would plant one tree for every flight I take while over here working....not quite 6 months in, and so far I am planting about 55 trees! I will soon have my very own forest!

Anyways, I am in Kuala Lumpur this week...it is funny that we have meetings about things happening in Nigeria outside of Nigeria...but this is how the UN operates, for those that ever think "maybe I would like to work there". The thing is, no one really wants to travel to Nigeria, so really besides the jet lag and loss of sleep, I am not complaining of having to come out here! I get good food, a comfortable hotel, and I get to regain some sanity...you realize that once you are out of Nigeria, just how dysfunctional it is! As much as it is nice to get out, every time I have come to KL, I get more work to do! We here in WHO are currently in the process of implementing a brand new management system (computerized), however the non-computerized system doesn’t even function, so not sure how they think they can put in place a computerized one with all these steps and processes when the “current” one is ridiculously malfunctional! So, it is an interesting experience…I will not go into too much detail on this as it is a bit of a sore point with me, and it making me a little crazy…even more crazy now that I have to give up my Christmas holidays to support other country offices in Africa to get ready for it! Yes, I will no longer be hiking Mt Kenya, or sitting on a beach, or eating home cooked Italian food, or drinking drinks out of coconuts with little umbrellas…I will be spending my entire holiday working…however I do get to work in Kinshasa, which is a really fun city in DR Congo (yes the same country where the civil war has sort of started up again, but no worries, the fighting is days away by road), but I also have to be in Brazzaville, one of the most dull cities in all of Africa…I am really hoping they send me to Namibia or Mauritius so that I can get some beach time…but not looking so good at this point. There should be a few people that I will at least get to eat “Christmas dinner” with…consisting of some sort of sundried bush meat, muoi muoi (dried sweet potato) and palm wine! This just means I will have more holidays to take when I come home in May/June for the assortment of weddings and festivities I will be attending!

Don’t feel too sorry for me…I have already had a few decent holidays this year…and things always happen for a reason, so I will survive!

I am spending the night in Singapore and then leaving Saturday for Nigeria…only to pack again and head to Brazzaville on the 11th, until who knows when!

I hope everyone is getting ready for the holiday festivities…here in KL there are actually signs of Christmas, unlike in Nigeria where there is absolutely no acknowledgement of its existence!

I am way past my bedtime here, as I am writing in the middle of the night…I just can’t seem to get on a schedule here…the 7 hours time difference is really messing up my sleeping schedule…but the good thing in KL, is we take a 2 hour siesta in the afternoons for prayer time! So, I just pray in my sleep!

Merry Christmas!

Andrea