Waiting, then Gearing to Go!
It’s been a stupidly slow span of days - since we got back from our break, we’ve been pushing to get the contract hassles sorted before the start of phase three…
3rd August
The day started with a home meeting with the dynamic duo about how we would finalise the training manuals we have been using for the past few months - I did get some of the required writing done but I have found myself sick of the sight of these documents so it was a real struggle to keep at it. I also gave Mum a call for her birthday - sounds like Dad got together a great event to surprise her with. The afternoon had we three take a trip into UNICEF to chase up some correspondence & restate our contract concerns, explaining we were not committing to any new/ongoing work until this was sorted - the terms “legal advice” were floated &this got some response but nothing definite. Hawwa let me know that I would probably be heading to Addu on the 12th. Paula also informed us that the UNICEF liquor license has expired & it may take some weeks to get another...
4th August
The morning saw some more scribbling but my heart wasn’t really in it after the previous day’s meet - instead, the day was dissolved with fictional readings & some snoozing I seemed to have missed in the previous week. Otherwise, there was little to recommend this day...
5th August
I took a very lazy start to the day - Heidi convinced me to join her at the Hulhule pool for the day, with plenty of swimming & another novel (finished Pratchett’s “Thud”) to while away time before her boy Huxon arrived from up North. Once I was sun-cooked enough, I took myself back to male’ for a late lunch at Jade (including a good coffee) before heading home. We invited a few folks around for a take away dinner but most of them got sidetracked with another “going home” gathering - Rhonda did join our household (Nic & Shane, Heidi & Huxon, plus me) to put a significant dent in the remains of our alcohol stash...
6th August
We three consultants met with our next batch of students briefly, talking through the questions they had around the new placement arrangements & revised assignments - we also took our chance to natter with Neerish about her role during this placement, which the Faculty had ideas about but none of us could decipher (still to be sorted). I responded to some email when I got home - Naeem let me know that the date of my move had shifted as the government had called a public holiday for the next day, leaving little time to resolve “some outstanding matters”. I went to the office of our phone company to pay the bill - I ended up waiting nearly three hours for a process that took less than five minutes, but at least I got to finish another book (A Christie’s “Body in the Library”). Another quiet evening chatting with my colleagues & waiting...
7th August
Nothing like a seemingly spontaneous government holiday to encourage folks to slack off & do nothing - my day was spent scribbling & generally dribbling about at home (way too hot to be outside). That said, I did get another book (M Moorcock’s “Sailor on the Seas of Fate”) & the last of my alcohol stash finished...
8th August
Nothing more boring than an unplanned long weekend in ale’ - Nic, Shane & I spent the day at home, working our way through a stack of DVDs we had not seen (Simpsons movie, Hancock, Stardust) as well as one we’d all seen (The Godfather). I did get to escape the couch briefly when Huxon took me out to buy some snorkelling gear - rumour has it there is passable-to-good snorkelling options if Addu if I actually get there...
9th August
Having had quite enough of our flat, I took my chance to go out with Nic, Shane & a bunch of ex-pats for a surfing trip - yeah, I can’t surf for sh!t but I did get to try out my new snorkel set in some of the roughest conditions I’ve faced here. They were a pretty fun crew to go out with, mostly air taxi pilots who we’d not met before but they made us feel welcome. Between the sun & fighting the currents (Nic nearly got swept away by a nasty one), I wasn’t surprised to find myself crashing early when we got home...
10th August
We went early to the Ministry to meet with the senior managers about how the students would be included in the Male’ office during that phase of their placement - of course, the key decision makers were absent (& apparently undoing much of what we’d built up in the past few months) so this meeting achieved very little (thankfully, we’d expected little else). The remainder of the day was lost with more scribbling whilst camped in front of TV & ‘net.
11th August
We’d heard the UNICEF decision maker would be returning today - several calls to the office seemed to confirm a meeting for the following day had been planned (progress?). I read a bit more (moved onto P Rothfuss “The Name of the Wind”) & tried some basic shopping but my heart wasn’t in it (too distracted by the coming discussions). In the evening, we caught up with Joanna’s for her own “going home” gathering (she’s technically been here illegally for a fortnight but that’s beside the point) - an otherwise pleasant night was interrupted by a call from Ken’s (local UNICEF chief) who informed us that it would not be just for him to meet with us before deciding on our contract situation & he would rather we let the Contract Review Committee (same mob that’s been dithering on this for three months) sort it out tomorrow. Much discussion & some texts followed - we got a meet with Naeem the following day to confirm what he would take to the CRC but that was the best we could pull together...
12th August
Not a lot of sleep was had by any of us before we got to UNICEF - the proposal Naeem said he’d take to CRC seemed to sort our situation from the past three months but left some questions about Nic & Heidi’s circumstances for the next three. I wasn’t ready to go straight back home afterward, instead taking myself off to get a new backpack (my old faithful has finally died, this cheapy will do for now) & some more ear bits (only cheap jewellery available here & it breaks easier but what will you do). Another day lost to waiting for a result from today - I tried to kill time by seeing another film at Athena Cinema but we didn’t get the required ten ticket buyers to justify a screening... Finally, Naeem called with the news around 10PM - the CRC had agreed to pay us according to the proposal we had talked through with Naeem (a matter of some thousands of dollars) but the other aspects (ie, Nic & Heidi in Male’) will still need to be sorted…
13th August
I finished the packing I’d been working on for the past few days, confirmed some details on moving to Addu tomorrow & caught up on this document...
3rd August
The day started with a home meeting with the dynamic duo about how we would finalise the training manuals we have been using for the past few months - I did get some of the required writing done but I have found myself sick of the sight of these documents so it was a real struggle to keep at it. I also gave Mum a call for her birthday - sounds like Dad got together a great event to surprise her with. The afternoon had we three take a trip into UNICEF to chase up some correspondence & restate our contract concerns, explaining we were not committing to any new/ongoing work until this was sorted - the terms “legal advice” were floated &this got some response but nothing definite. Hawwa let me know that I would probably be heading to Addu on the 12th. Paula also informed us that the UNICEF liquor license has expired & it may take some weeks to get another...
4th August
The morning saw some more scribbling but my heart wasn’t really in it after the previous day’s meet - instead, the day was dissolved with fictional readings & some snoozing I seemed to have missed in the previous week. Otherwise, there was little to recommend this day...
5th August
I took a very lazy start to the day - Heidi convinced me to join her at the Hulhule pool for the day, with plenty of swimming & another novel (finished Pratchett’s “Thud”) to while away time before her boy Huxon arrived from up North. Once I was sun-cooked enough, I took myself back to male’ for a late lunch at Jade (including a good coffee) before heading home. We invited a few folks around for a take away dinner but most of them got sidetracked with another “going home” gathering - Rhonda did join our household (Nic & Shane, Heidi & Huxon, plus me) to put a significant dent in the remains of our alcohol stash...
6th August
We three consultants met with our next batch of students briefly, talking through the questions they had around the new placement arrangements & revised assignments - we also took our chance to natter with Neerish about her role during this placement, which the Faculty had ideas about but none of us could decipher (still to be sorted). I responded to some email when I got home - Naeem let me know that the date of my move had shifted as the government had called a public holiday for the next day, leaving little time to resolve “some outstanding matters”. I went to the office of our phone company to pay the bill - I ended up waiting nearly three hours for a process that took less than five minutes, but at least I got to finish another book (A Christie’s “Body in the Library”). Another quiet evening chatting with my colleagues & waiting...
7th August
Nothing like a seemingly spontaneous government holiday to encourage folks to slack off & do nothing - my day was spent scribbling & generally dribbling about at home (way too hot to be outside). That said, I did get another book (M Moorcock’s “Sailor on the Seas of Fate”) & the last of my alcohol stash finished...
8th August
Nothing more boring than an unplanned long weekend in ale’ - Nic, Shane & I spent the day at home, working our way through a stack of DVDs we had not seen (Simpsons movie, Hancock, Stardust) as well as one we’d all seen (The Godfather). I did get to escape the couch briefly when Huxon took me out to buy some snorkelling gear - rumour has it there is passable-to-good snorkelling options if Addu if I actually get there...
9th August
Having had quite enough of our flat, I took my chance to go out with Nic, Shane & a bunch of ex-pats for a surfing trip - yeah, I can’t surf for sh!t but I did get to try out my new snorkel set in some of the roughest conditions I’ve faced here. They were a pretty fun crew to go out with, mostly air taxi pilots who we’d not met before but they made us feel welcome. Between the sun & fighting the currents (Nic nearly got swept away by a nasty one), I wasn’t surprised to find myself crashing early when we got home...
10th August
We went early to the Ministry to meet with the senior managers about how the students would be included in the Male’ office during that phase of their placement - of course, the key decision makers were absent (& apparently undoing much of what we’d built up in the past few months) so this meeting achieved very little (thankfully, we’d expected little else). The remainder of the day was lost with more scribbling whilst camped in front of TV & ‘net.
11th August
We’d heard the UNICEF decision maker would be returning today - several calls to the office seemed to confirm a meeting for the following day had been planned (progress?). I read a bit more (moved onto P Rothfuss “The Name of the Wind”) & tried some basic shopping but my heart wasn’t in it (too distracted by the coming discussions). In the evening, we caught up with Joanna’s for her own “going home” gathering (she’s technically been here illegally for a fortnight but that’s beside the point) - an otherwise pleasant night was interrupted by a call from Ken’s (local UNICEF chief) who informed us that it would not be just for him to meet with us before deciding on our contract situation & he would rather we let the Contract Review Committee (same mob that’s been dithering on this for three months) sort it out tomorrow. Much discussion & some texts followed - we got a meet with Naeem the following day to confirm what he would take to the CRC but that was the best we could pull together...
12th August
Not a lot of sleep was had by any of us before we got to UNICEF - the proposal Naeem said he’d take to CRC seemed to sort our situation from the past three months but left some questions about Nic & Heidi’s circumstances for the next three. I wasn’t ready to go straight back home afterward, instead taking myself off to get a new backpack (my old faithful has finally died, this cheapy will do for now) & some more ear bits (only cheap jewellery available here & it breaks easier but what will you do). Another day lost to waiting for a result from today - I tried to kill time by seeing another film at Athena Cinema but we didn’t get the required ten ticket buyers to justify a screening... Finally, Naeem called with the news around 10PM - the CRC had agreed to pay us according to the proposal we had talked through with Naeem (a matter of some thousands of dollars) but the other aspects (ie, Nic & Heidi in Male’) will still need to be sorted…
13th August
I finished the packing I’d been working on for the past few days, confirmed some details on moving to Addu tomorrow & caught up on this document...