You Want Me To Do What???

I just read the Terms of Reference and work plan for the Yemen project, and as I’ve said before, the work looks really interesting. It also looks extremely challenging, both in good ways, and in somewhat overwhelming ways. Regardless, though, it will definitely be a memorable experience. (How could it not be?) I’m not quite sure where they expect me to fit into the process, but I’m glad there will be a team leader in place. The task, given the state of development and services in Taiz, looks completely overwhelming. The infrastructure is completely inadequate, the city power supply fails 10 out of 13 days, access to clean water is extremely limited and getting more so by the day as the few reservoirs that exist are increasing in salinity and being polluted by unchecked development, there’s extremely high unemployment, and very low capacity in the local and regional governments. So, should be a snap to fix, right? Oh, and the majority of recommendations that were described in the original master plan from 1978 were totally ignored. So there’s not exactly a long and distinguished history of land use planning being all that effective.

I need to remind myself that I won’t be doing this alone, so it’s not likely to be quite so overwhelming in practice. I hope. I’m just curious to see what the division of labor will be. I know there’s a Syrian land use planner who is already on the project, so I would imagine that he and I will share a lot of work - I’ll find out about the rest in a week, I suppose.

My boss said that if I end up having to spend a lot of money on clothes, I can expense it, so that’s good. I think there may be some disagreements when it comes time for my expense report, but I’ll see how it goes. This would actually be the (only) good thing about taking a one to two week trip there in early December, I could get the lay of the land, so to speak, before I had to go back for a longer haul. My boss asked if I could wear the clothes I had made in Pakistan, and I said I’d bring them, but I didn’t think they’ll be appropriate, since Yemeni women don’t wear salwar kameez. Apparently, they’re too revealing. And from what I can see, bright colors are a big no-no. That rules out almost every single piece of clothing I had made in Pakistan. So we’ll see what happens. Like I said – it’s still very confusing for me at the moment. But I’m having a few pairs of very wide-legged pants made for me right now, so hopefully they’ll be suitably modest to get me through the first couple of weeks until I can get my bearings.

Have I mentioned yet that I hate that I have to think about things like this, instead of just doing my job? I wasn’t sure if I’d beat that point to death enough yet.

But apart from that, time keeps ticking away, and I’ll be home soon! I’m excited to see my nephews because I’m sure they’ll look so much bigger and so much more grown up than when I left even though it’s only been a couple of months, I’m excited to see my friends’ babies who were born right before I left, and I’m just excited to be part of my life again. I’m also glad that I’m not going to be away through the end of December, as I originally thought back in the summer. Although, when I think about it, this is turning out to be almost the same thing, especially if I go to Yemen for a couple of weeks. I am seriously in need of some down time, kids. I’m so grateful that I’ve got an opportunity coming up, and that it represents the end of my trip here, instead of a break in the middle-ish, as originally thought.

So, you know what’s not a great idea? Tripping on an uneven sidewalk, and tearing off part of the top of your big toe while walking down the street. Especially if you’ve got several blocks left before you get to your hotel and the footbed of your flip flops start to get slippery and then sticky from the blood. Yes, that’s gross, but if you think that’s gross, try cleaning it out and looking at it. Ouch. Looks like I’ll be wearing my running shoes for the next few days, eh? This is why I travel with a supply of Bactine and band aids, though. And Cipro, if it starts looking a little septic in a day or three. (Oh, I kid, I kid. I rinsed it out the best I could and have been spraying and re-spraying it with Bactine – I’m sure it’ll be fine.) But my lack of coordination is a nice constant in my life.