Happy Times

I’m still so relieved to hear that my London and beyond plans don’t have to change. My boss said, and I agree, that it’s hard enough to have a life when you do this kind of traveling all the time, so he didn’t want me to change my plans with family. Hurrah for that!! He’s quirky, but he’s usually extremely cool about this kind of thing, which I am SO grateful for – the world of consulting in general isn’t know for placing a high priority on the whole work-life balance.

I got an e-mail about a pre-bid meeting in Karachi for another project on August 3^rd, and someone asked if I would be available to go. I said that I was supposed to get in the evening of August 3^rd (although actually my boss wanted me to return on the 5^th, but if I have something useful to do there, I don’t think he’ll object), but if they could move the meeting to the 4^th, I’d be happy to go. Otherwise, I’d see what I could do. In any event, as I said, I’m sad to not have more time with the friends I made there, but I’m relieved to not have to spend any more time there than necessary. Apart from the fact that things there are getting tense again (I just got a warden notice from the American Consulate, telling me that they don’t recommend that American citizens travel to Pakistan unless absolutely necessary), I just didn’t exactly have a good experience there. I hate to sound like that, but – well, it’s true. It wasn’t what anyone would call a dream assignment. But I get to go back for a few days, wrap things up, take a few pictures, pack up my stuff, and get the heck out of Dodge. Maybe I’ll see if the tailor there can whip up a couple things for me before I leave…

Maybe I should just let that go.

In any event, it is officially less than three weeks until I arrive home, and now that I’ve got the countdown going in my head, it’s hard not to think of my remaining time in terms of number of days left. Funny – it was like that before I left, too.

It looks as thought we might be moving forward with getting the meetings we need to get, so that is a huge relief. The logjam that we were (and still are, in some ways) facing is just so frustrating, because it’s unnecessary, and it’s really in the interests of the government to help us as much as possible. And yet…no go. It’s very odd for me to not be able to just pick up the phone, call someone and introduce myself and set up a meeting.

As the old PM used to say, “ah...life in za trrropics.”

D and I have been practicing our French today. Well, she’s French, so mostly she’s been indulging my desire to practice my French. I have to say, though – I think I do fairly well, all things considered. And do you know where it’s going to be even easier to practice my French? In Paris!!!

I need to speak with a couple of higher-up types to ensure that the “one week in the ‘stan” thing that my boss and I agreed on isn’t going to ruffle any feathers. Well, it might ruffle some feathers, but we just want to stay within bounds of reason. It will be interesting to see how this goes. Now the PM here wants me to come back to overlap with my boss, but that’s right in the middle of my London-return home time, so I said I couldn’t do it. I didn’t specifically say why, I just said I couldn’t do it. I almost feel guilty of that, but I have to remind myself that I’ve tried to be flexible, and that this trip to London, and my return home, are both very important to me. So, that wins this time.

Apparently, even one week in the ‘stan isn’t necessary. I return there next Friday evening and leave the following Wednesday at a freakishly early hour. HURRAH! This really should be the last version…

D and I went swimming tonight after we got back from dinner – I am actually quite the fan of swimming at night, it’s really peaceful, and I haven’t been since I’ve been here. The pool is quite nice, and it’s good to have a change of pace. All the running is good for a lot of things, but my joints aren’t made for running every day – even when I was a kid. So it’s good to mix it up a little.

This whole trip has been very strange for lots of reasons, with all the back and forth, and the uncertainty. But in the end, I’m glad I came here. I’m sorry to have missed the things I’ve missed, but this was the right time for me to go away in a lot of ways. And like I said, that whole “I need a change of scene” itch has definitely been scratched.