01 September 2006 - 10:26
If you hadn't heard, I hate my current job as Administrative Coordinator of the PC training program in Kaedi. Being in Kaedi again during the rainy season sucks, but I can handle that. The source of my hatred actually lies in the fact that I have to live in a dirty house with six other people who don't like to keep it clean, that I have to work under two bosses who disagree all the time and then try to put me into the middle of their petty arguments, and that the people I work with are not very good at what they do and won't listen to me when I try to make things better. I tried to quit twice already, but was told that I wasn't allowed to because they can't find anyone else who can do my job, much less do it well.
So I've pretty much shut down to doing the bare minimum requirements of my job and stopped caring. Now, I just walk away when someone annoys me or is rude to me. And I've been spending a lot of time away from Kaedi recently, which is nice. Last week, I went to Nouakchott to finish up the last issue of the newsletter that me and three other PCVs were responsible for, minus two of them. So Cailin and I busted our butts to get it finished, and then it wouldn't print because both the original file and the backup got corrupted somehow. Whatever. Both of us took off to St. Louis, Senegal, for the weekend with seven other ex-pats from Nouakchott and stayed for three days in a hotel on the beach, playing games and relaxing. It was probably the best way to spend my birthday that I can imagine (and afford). I headed back to Nouakchott Sunday evening, then came back to Kaedi Monday morning.
Once in Kaedi, I went to work immediately, worked 12 hours, passed out, woke up, ate breakfast, worked four more hours, then got in another car and went right back to Nouakchott to try to find a house so that there won't be three of us living in the tiny house that we're all storing our belongings in for the summer once the training program is over in a couple weeks. The person whose house I was originally going to take asked me to meet with her landlord, who decided to increase the rent by about 30% and refused to make any repairs or paint the house (the paint is falling off the walls in clumps because it hasn't been painted in six years). Luckily, a house just fell into my lap a couple days ago - a married couple that came here last year decided to leave a few days ago, and they offered me their house, which is exactly what I've been looking for. We signed a contract, got the utilities switched over to my name, and I bought all their furniture, all in less than 24 hours, right before I came back to Kaedi.
Then I went back to the office, fiddled around with the newsletter file, and got it to print...BINGO!
So now I have a place to live as soon as the training program is over - two bedrooms, a large salon, a nice kitchen with a pantry (I've never seen a pantry in Mauritania) and shelves, lots of cookware, a real oven with a range, a large refridgerator, lamps, a couch, bed, desk, bookshelf, and chest-of-drawers...quite a step up from the way I've been living for two years. And the new office is coming along quickly, but it will still be a few months before we move. In the meantime, my office in Nouakchott is waiting, set up with my own computer and AC. I almost feel like I'm moving back to America...almost. It's going to be really nice having a few more comforts finally...
Thank you to everyone who tried to call me or sent me emails on my birthday - sorry I have been too busy to respond!
