New Timetable

I have to get used to the new timetable in my new life; my weekend starts on Friday; shops close one to two hours throughout a day according to the prayer time, which I haven't figured out. I need to plan my days around that.

I worked the full day on the first day on Thursday. I was introduced to my colleagues, bought a sim card for my newly purchased phone (!), got an e-mail address and ID card and had a security briefing. Good progress, isn't it! Unfortunately, I was not given a private office as I hoped, but I will be sharing an office with another 3 people who all work for the same office. I don’t have an ocean view (the office seems as congested as the city and as I could see only three most senior people have their own room- lack of space everywhere in this country or at least in the capital.) but a kind of garden view of a courtyard. I can surely live with this. The most importantly, my immediate colleagues are very nice: Filipino lady, Pakistani intern and another national staff that I did not meet yet. I am yet to meet my big boss who is currently on paternity leave and another boss in the regional office in Delhi, India, as I have two reporting lines.

I am the only person in the office who work for this new UN agency that has been established since the beginning of this year for women’s empowerment and gender equality. There is lots of gender work to be done, and certainly a job is already cut out for me, which is good. On my very first day (when I planned to sneak out early....) I was given more than 40 resumes to review and create a short list. Next week, I will be in a series of consultation meetings in addition to more briefings. I look forward to getting busy and immersing myself in work. The UN is very small in this country, and in total there are only 11 expatriate staff.

I had lunch with Nepali international staff, who happened to be a friend of the landlady of the apartment in Katmandu. Such a small world! In the evening, I was invited to a dinner by UNICEF Rep and other colleagues and had wonderful crab curry and panacotta.

My focus now is to find an apartment as soon as possible. I will look at a couple of places this weekend. Wish me luck! Having a nice place is crucial in a place like this, where I will be spending lots of time by myself at home.

I was somehow misinformed about the office time. I read somewhere that the working hour is 7:30 to 3 without a lunch break. However, it turned out that it is a flex time between 8-9 and then you work till 4 or 5 with lunch break. Phew, I was not sure how I wold work the whole day without refueling...