Slooooooooooow...
Well things have been a bit frustrating (or is it just that Im easily frustrated?). I told MSF that I was going for the job with IRC, which turned out to be the right decision by all accounts (phew)! My coordinator spent plenty of time explaining quite how much work there was needing doing and the speed with which it needed to be done and I was relishing the chance to get stuck in, only then he went away (I assume on holiday) and handed everything over to the country director. Suddenly everything crawled to a snail's pace. I was told to get a visa so had to come out to London where I've been twiddling my thumbs for two weeks now. The first week, I heard nothing. At all. Now I didn't bug him as he'd told me he would be getting back in touch "during the week" and as a busy guy I didn't want to pester. Sunday I sent hm an email and received a reply saying that the HR Dept. in Addis had gone through a "restructuring exercise". Couldn't he have told me that was going to happen BEFORE I flew out to the 16th most expensive place on the planet?
Fortunately I know some people who live in London and I've been staying with them rent free, but even so my cash reserves are dwindling, quite worryingly so! The people I'm staying with are retired activisty types and do not seem to understand that I need to sit and wait for emails. And even if they understood it they don't seem to approve, so they encourage me to go out, or they "invite" me out to Kew gardens, far away from any form of electronic communication. Still they've been right cos nothing seems to bloody happen.
I kept myself occupied by going to the British library at first (free wifi for memebers, squee!) as I wanted to see if a book worth £160 was worth it. They couldn't get it. So I saw their exhibits and I've seen the Science Museum, the Natural History museum and the Tate Britain. One thing I realise is that they are all too general for me. I like hardcore explanations with a lot of text so that it's actually a learning experience, so I was a bit cheesed off by that, especially as all the walking I've been doing has wrecked havoc on my legs. Anyway I've also met up with various people I know and it's been lovely catching up, and this weekend I'm off to see my Grandad (since bugger all happens over yet another weekend).
The current date I'm looking forward to is Monday, as that is when my visa should be ready. It would be awfully nice if my country director could also respond to my quite reasonable request (one way or the other I don't care anymore) about whether they are going to pay for my anti-malarials. Anyway, we'll see.
Fortunately I know some people who live in London and I've been staying with them rent free, but even so my cash reserves are dwindling, quite worryingly so! The people I'm staying with are retired activisty types and do not seem to understand that I need to sit and wait for emails. And even if they understood it they don't seem to approve, so they encourage me to go out, or they "invite" me out to Kew gardens, far away from any form of electronic communication. Still they've been right cos nothing seems to bloody happen.
I kept myself occupied by going to the British library at first (free wifi for memebers, squee!) as I wanted to see if a book worth £160 was worth it. They couldn't get it. So I saw their exhibits and I've seen the Science Museum, the Natural History museum and the Tate Britain. One thing I realise is that they are all too general for me. I like hardcore explanations with a lot of text so that it's actually a learning experience, so I was a bit cheesed off by that, especially as all the walking I've been doing has wrecked havoc on my legs. Anyway I've also met up with various people I know and it's been lovely catching up, and this weekend I'm off to see my Grandad (since bugger all happens over yet another weekend).
The current date I'm looking forward to is Monday, as that is when my visa should be ready. It would be awfully nice if my country director could also respond to my quite reasonable request (one way or the other I don't care anymore) about whether they are going to pay for my anti-malarials. Anyway, we'll see.