Relaxation? Think again.
Where should I start? There's much to say, though 'twill most likely boil down to just a few paragraphs, given how bad I am at expanded writing projects. Should I talk about Africa? About customs? About the other things, like Florida and planes and jobs? I suppose I should start at the beginning; divining what the beginning is, though, is the hard part.
I won't have access to AIM or other real-time chat miscellanea for another two weeks. My computer is in another state, for amusing but irrelevant reasons. I'll be reunited with my personal piece of hardware after said two weeks, but until then, I'd prefer not to install anything.
Over Winter Break last year, I was contacted for a job. It seems someone had heard of me through a friend of a friend, and was interested in hiring me. (Oh, the grapevine, what would we do without you?) I had a meeting with my prospective employer; or rather, a screen for my respective employer, and found out what the job was about, and the basic details. 'twas after this that I knew I would be spending a majority of my summer in Africa.
Here's where we get to the part where I tell you what I can. I was hired as a 'security consultant'. Cool title, and somewhat true. It involved me making sure that, if things went awry, my employer's interests would be taken care of. Also, I would be (as mentioned earlier) spending most of the summer in various parts of Africa, as that was where my employer's interests lay. 'twas all rather exciting, since this was my first time doing this sort of work. I was to go to Morocco, Egypt, Niger, Madagascar, Somalia, and a very short stint in Sudan. Not necessarily in that order. In fact, there are places on that list we visited multiple times, like Egypt and Morocco.
My impressions are mixed, much like the countries themselves. For example, Morocco is basically modern. I even found a McDonald's there (actually, several) though I wasn't actually looking. They have skyscrapers and cities to fit them; yet there are also vast stretches (mostly towards the interior) of undeveloped land, or villages, or tribal/nomadic territories. Plus, everything is subtly different, especially the people. The ethnic ratios are not as I am used to (though they are about what I expected; I didn't expect them to be like home) and the culture is notably different. A little rougher around the edges, I think. Somalia, on the other hand, is dirt poor and disease-ridden, almost entirely black (there are a few Arabs, Turks, and generally middle-easternish people), and I can't (or couldn't, at first) understand a word, relying mostly on intonation and body-language to get along. 'twas interesting being stared at for being white, rather than being female. Well, in all honesty, probably both.
I remember spending a week in a hotel in a city where there was gunfire nearly every night. Usually distant, but once ('twas a Wednesday) I had to go downstairs and stick a pistol in this guy's face to make him and his buddies stop shouting and waving their guns around. I don't recommend the experience for the faint of heart, or for anyone, really. Especially when you can't understand what is being shouted.
I think the place I liked most was Madagascar. I stayed there for only a couple days, but 'twas the quietest of the bunch, and the prettiest. I was on a plain, facing east, and my time was still messed up enough (the first visit, at least) that I got up every morning to see the sunrise.
The customs officials in New York would not have let me back into the country if they had known I had been in Somalia. As 'twas, I was scheduled to spend five days in quarantine (longer than normal, as I am given to understand, partially at my request - I got paid for the extra time under watch), and that turned into a week and a half. I'd caught a cold on the plane, and they weren't sure what I had.
Now, however, I am safely back in the States. Spending the last two weeks before school starts at my parents' house will be...interesting. Post again soon, maybe.
I won't have access to AIM or other real-time chat miscellanea for another two weeks. My computer is in another state, for amusing but irrelevant reasons. I'll be reunited with my personal piece of hardware after said two weeks, but until then, I'd prefer not to install anything.
Over Winter Break last year, I was contacted for a job. It seems someone had heard of me through a friend of a friend, and was interested in hiring me. (Oh, the grapevine, what would we do without you?) I had a meeting with my prospective employer; or rather, a screen for my respective employer, and found out what the job was about, and the basic details. 'twas after this that I knew I would be spending a majority of my summer in Africa.
Here's where we get to the part where I tell you what I can. I was hired as a 'security consultant'. Cool title, and somewhat true. It involved me making sure that, if things went awry, my employer's interests would be taken care of. Also, I would be (as mentioned earlier) spending most of the summer in various parts of Africa, as that was where my employer's interests lay. 'twas all rather exciting, since this was my first time doing this sort of work. I was to go to Morocco, Egypt, Niger, Madagascar, Somalia, and a very short stint in Sudan. Not necessarily in that order. In fact, there are places on that list we visited multiple times, like Egypt and Morocco.
My impressions are mixed, much like the countries themselves. For example, Morocco is basically modern. I even found a McDonald's there (actually, several) though I wasn't actually looking. They have skyscrapers and cities to fit them; yet there are also vast stretches (mostly towards the interior) of undeveloped land, or villages, or tribal/nomadic territories. Plus, everything is subtly different, especially the people. The ethnic ratios are not as I am used to (though they are about what I expected; I didn't expect them to be like home) and the culture is notably different. A little rougher around the edges, I think. Somalia, on the other hand, is dirt poor and disease-ridden, almost entirely black (there are a few Arabs, Turks, and generally middle-easternish people), and I can't (or couldn't, at first) understand a word, relying mostly on intonation and body-language to get along. 'twas interesting being stared at for being white, rather than being female. Well, in all honesty, probably both.
I remember spending a week in a hotel in a city where there was gunfire nearly every night. Usually distant, but once ('twas a Wednesday) I had to go downstairs and stick a pistol in this guy's face to make him and his buddies stop shouting and waving their guns around. I don't recommend the experience for the faint of heart, or for anyone, really. Especially when you can't understand what is being shouted.
I think the place I liked most was Madagascar. I stayed there for only a couple days, but 'twas the quietest of the bunch, and the prettiest. I was on a plain, facing east, and my time was still messed up enough (the first visit, at least) that I got up every morning to see the sunrise.
The customs officials in New York would not have let me back into the country if they had known I had been in Somalia. As 'twas, I was scheduled to spend five days in quarantine (longer than normal, as I am given to understand, partially at my request - I got paid for the extra time under watch), and that turned into a week and a half. I'd caught a cold on the plane, and they weren't sure what I had.
Now, however, I am safely back in the States. Spending the last two weeks before school starts at my parents' house will be...interesting. Post again soon, maybe.