Another one of those updates, tea-el;dee-are, etc etc and so forth
This post is kind of for lebenketten because outside of Facebook and the occasional tweet she doesn't have any updates on my or anyone else's life. You know, since she's on the opposite side of the world right now. I also promised wishiwerel33t a mega figure skating picspam but LJ hates me right now.
So I am leaving for Nigeria in less than a month. For those of you who don't know, I'll be working for the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Nigeria (or the Idaho of Nigeria, as I like to call it) as an assistant director of HR. My contract starts June 1st, hence I should be there by that date, but I've been trying to negotiate pushing my arrival date back by a couple of days so that I can visit family in Indiana for Memorial Day. I don't think it will be a big issue considering June is the start of the "off-season" for the university and the new president is fine with it. But she doesn't start until July, and I will still need to get approval from my direct supervisor. He on the other hand has been really bad at responding to my emails (because that's the only efficient way to contact people in Nigeria these days, the phone connections are terrible). I think he will be fine with it, but I need a concrete answer before I book my flight. I also need to discuss with him some ... discrepancies regarding my visa paperwork. Oh, and I want to see about spending some time in Abuja before continuing to Yola. I think a day or two in a big city to get my bearings would be good before dumping myself directly in the bush. I've been a city girl all my life, so that will be the biggest thing to overcome, going from noise, traffic, hundreds of people to quiet and virtually no social life. But I luckily have work to keep me occupied. I kind of feel bad for the spouses (of ex-pat faculty/staff) who come in and are initially left on their own in a very foreign and hot environment, with spotty connectivity to the outside world. I imagine it can get lonely and depressing really quickly.
Right now, I'm trying to force myself together to start packing and wrapping things up here in DC. I'm moving out of my group house May 15th, so I have to help my current roommates find a replacement. I also need to talk to my landlord about the security deposit. Luckily I've decided to get rid of a lot of my things since I won't be taking them to Nigeria, so that will reduce the amount of stuff I have to haul back to Philly (and hopefully the costs of the vehicle rental as well). I don't know what I'm going to do about my sister's bike - since she keeps harassing me about it I've half a mind to tell her to get her ass out of Pittsburgh and come get it (lol). But I can probably take it apart and stuff it in a trunk instead of dealing with a bike rack.
I'm also helping my boss find a replacement for me. I decided to do this for two reasons - the first is because I want to make sure the person filling my current position is competent, since I will have to work very closely with them. The second is because I actually like my boss and want to take some of the pressure off his shoulders. AU has a really good HR department and they've virtually taken care of everything for us. All we need to do is provide when we're available for in-person interviews and they will set it up for us. It's pretty nice, actually. This is one of the many things I want to bring to AUN, because right now their HR department is a hot mess and pretty useless. I've been trying to take some HR training courses at AU but the one that I'm interested in has been TBD for the past two months. I need to follow up on that, because I think it would be a great intro to HR protocol and more skills/knowledge I could bring to the table. Right now I consider myself the "visa expert" (seriously, if you ever need a visa for Nigeria I'm your girl) but I would like to be able to offer a broader view on how things work here, and how we can implement a similar system at AUN. I just hope my future co-workers are open to my ideas. You never know when working with different people, especially those who come from a completely different culture and who may not look to fondly on someone who is younger, less experienced, and foreign.
Other than that, life has been relatively the same. I'm spending WAY too much time on ontd_skating. It has consumed my soul, but it keeps me entertained and happy so whatever. I'm also trying to spend as much time with friends and family here in DC before I leave. That, on the other hand has been taking up a lot of my evening and weekend hours but it's worth it. I'm not too crazy about going home and staying in my room after work so any opportunity to get out and live is good. Because of this, I'm sure I've gained 10 pounds and probably spent too much money, but the way I figure it, I'm about to go to a place where I will have no happy hour, no rock climbing, no random coffee shop hang-outs, no walking around aimlessly around monuments, no salsa dancing, no obnoxious drunken moments, no super-sweet treats or cheesy indulgences, no perfect weather, no public transportation (even the blasted bus), barely any internet, and no people who I've known for years who "get" my fangirl tendencies and who I can harass when I'm bored. So fuck it, I'm gonna live this up for my last few weeks, because I can.
So I am leaving for Nigeria in less than a month. For those of you who don't know, I'll be working for the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Nigeria (or the Idaho of Nigeria, as I like to call it) as an assistant director of HR. My contract starts June 1st, hence I should be there by that date, but I've been trying to negotiate pushing my arrival date back by a couple of days so that I can visit family in Indiana for Memorial Day. I don't think it will be a big issue considering June is the start of the "off-season" for the university and the new president is fine with it. But she doesn't start until July, and I will still need to get approval from my direct supervisor. He on the other hand has been really bad at responding to my emails (because that's the only efficient way to contact people in Nigeria these days, the phone connections are terrible). I think he will be fine with it, but I need a concrete answer before I book my flight. I also need to discuss with him some ... discrepancies regarding my visa paperwork. Oh, and I want to see about spending some time in Abuja before continuing to Yola. I think a day or two in a big city to get my bearings would be good before dumping myself directly in the bush. I've been a city girl all my life, so that will be the biggest thing to overcome, going from noise, traffic, hundreds of people to quiet and virtually no social life. But I luckily have work to keep me occupied. I kind of feel bad for the spouses (of ex-pat faculty/staff) who come in and are initially left on their own in a very foreign and hot environment, with spotty connectivity to the outside world. I imagine it can get lonely and depressing really quickly.
Right now, I'm trying to force myself together to start packing and wrapping things up here in DC. I'm moving out of my group house May 15th, so I have to help my current roommates find a replacement. I also need to talk to my landlord about the security deposit. Luckily I've decided to get rid of a lot of my things since I won't be taking them to Nigeria, so that will reduce the amount of stuff I have to haul back to Philly (and hopefully the costs of the vehicle rental as well). I don't know what I'm going to do about my sister's bike - since she keeps harassing me about it I've half a mind to tell her to get her ass out of Pittsburgh and come get it (lol). But I can probably take it apart and stuff it in a trunk instead of dealing with a bike rack.
I'm also helping my boss find a replacement for me. I decided to do this for two reasons - the first is because I want to make sure the person filling my current position is competent, since I will have to work very closely with them. The second is because I actually like my boss and want to take some of the pressure off his shoulders. AU has a really good HR department and they've virtually taken care of everything for us. All we need to do is provide when we're available for in-person interviews and they will set it up for us. It's pretty nice, actually. This is one of the many things I want to bring to AUN, because right now their HR department is a hot mess and pretty useless. I've been trying to take some HR training courses at AU but the one that I'm interested in has been TBD for the past two months. I need to follow up on that, because I think it would be a great intro to HR protocol and more skills/knowledge I could bring to the table. Right now I consider myself the "visa expert" (seriously, if you ever need a visa for Nigeria I'm your girl) but I would like to be able to offer a broader view on how things work here, and how we can implement a similar system at AUN. I just hope my future co-workers are open to my ideas. You never know when working with different people, especially those who come from a completely different culture and who may not look to fondly on someone who is younger, less experienced, and foreign.
Other than that, life has been relatively the same. I'm spending WAY too much time on ontd_skating. It has consumed my soul, but it keeps me entertained and happy so whatever. I'm also trying to spend as much time with friends and family here in DC before I leave. That, on the other hand has been taking up a lot of my evening and weekend hours but it's worth it. I'm not too crazy about going home and staying in my room after work so any opportunity to get out and live is good. Because of this, I'm sure I've gained 10 pounds and probably spent too much money, but the way I figure it, I'm about to go to a place where I will have no happy hour, no rock climbing, no random coffee shop hang-outs, no walking around aimlessly around monuments, no salsa dancing, no obnoxious drunken moments, no super-sweet treats or cheesy indulgences, no perfect weather, no public transportation (even the blasted bus), barely any internet, and no people who I've known for years who "get" my fangirl tendencies and who I can harass when I'm bored. So fuck it, I'm gonna live this up for my last few weeks, because I can.