My 1st week

The past few days have been hard. I feel like I am having two totally separate lives: the life of going to work and getting busy with settling into a new job and a country, and another one where I come back to the hotel and mourn the loss of someone who was close and special for me. It is tough that I am so far from Canada and also I have no one to talk to about this here being new and not knowing anyone too well.  

I have spent the most of my weekend with a real estate agent. I have looked at many places, but nothing perfect yet (if there is ever a perfect apartment).  Similar to Malawi, you can have a huge house for a relatively reasonable price. But, the question is do I want to live in a large house on my own? Everything that I have seen is within a walking distance of 15-20 minutes to the office, which is good. However, there are constant power cut, and I have to consider the case where I work late and have to walk back in darkness. So, the route to go home and access to taxis also matter. I would say that security is utmost important in considering a place to live. Too much to think about…..

The agent guy is very nice. He told me that he is from the low caste of Dalit, and he has been very poor. He showed me one road that he helped construct when he was as young as 7 years old. He also showed me his grandson’s picture, and he is very proud that the father of the boy made it to the university.

The biggest accomplishment of the weekend was that I got a cell phone. It was a rather rigorous process, as I had to submit a photo, copy of my passport and fingerprints. I was happy that I ventured out on my own to the main road and walked around quite a bit. I also slept through the night, so I may be adjusting to the time zone little bit.

For work, it’s fine so far. My days (two days) were spent mostly on admin things, such as attending a security briefing, getting a bank account application form and reading reports and docs. It’s a busy time of the year, so I am just keeping to myself for now and trying to understand how things work. I participated in training on facilitation skills Friday half day, and tomorrow I will be sitting in a review meeting for one of core programs of the agency. I see my colleagues working, and I can’t wait to get busy, but I know I have to be patient and take one thing at a time. Moving to a new country for a new job never comes so easy.