Back from Down Under

I have been back from Down Under for almost two weeks now. After putting in thousands of miles, many hours, crossing many time zones mixing up day and night in the sky, I am now solidly grounded again in Luanda. Aussie & NZ trip was hectic, but wonderful. My wife flew west from Houston and I flew east and we met at Cairns after over 9 weeks. Then we hopped from place to place (Cairns, Sydney, Christchurch, Queenstown – watched sheep shearing, saw aboriginal dance, climbed to the top of Sydney harbour bridge, watched Milford Sound in awe, had a sumptuous dinner with a host family, …) and met many wonderful people on the trip. We were on the move, but I am still moving at lightning speed. After arriving back at Luanda and taking a shower I was back at the office within 45 minutes to put in a long day. Jet Lag! No time for that. The next day I think I put in about 18 hours. emails! I am not sure who invented it. On the bright side - things are moving in the right direction: the new Angolan recruits are working out better than expected, the English Language Specialist (Dr. Elizabeth Platt) through the US Embassy is arriving on Monday and will be staying at our staff house as the University she will be working with could not provide accommodation, got invitation to two farewell receptions at the British Embassy and the US Embassy (on Thursday, and Friday respectively). The phrase “whatever it takes” truly applies to me. From turning on the light in the morning at the office to taking care of complaints from the expats to hobnobbing with these dignitaries – I am into everything. My management doesn’t want me to leave Angola, although I had agreed for a year only. I suppose I will hang around here for another year taking in the sights, sounds, and smell of Luanda. At the warp speed it’s just an instant. Thereafter Antarctica is calling me – I am not sure if it’s a death trap or a treasure island.

Warp Speed

It seems that way for the last couple of weeks. Organizing meetings, preparing for the British Ambassador’s visit to our office, renovation work in the office building, authorizing employees to participate in sporting events organized by a major oil Company, receiving people from Houston office, dismissing an employee, attending to rainwater getting into the office on a rainy Sunday – the list goes on. Obviously, with the previous Country Manager gone, I am also doing two persons’ work. At the end I was very tired, but I survived and everything worked out fine at the end. The British Ambassador Richard Wildash came to the office. We also met with the US Ambassador Dan Mozena at the embassy. We had lunch one day with the Pro Reactor Dr. Serdio of University of Agostinho Neto (UAN) to discuss brining the English Language Fellow through the US Embassy to UAN. We had our Company’s Annual General Meeting in a nice hotel. We had meetings with some bosses of Sonangol. If you are in Oil & gas business in Angola, you must go through Sonangol. Sonangol is the king here. All in all, all that was planned took place. Now the Houston visitors are gone and I am packing for my two-week leave in Australia. I need a break. My wife will fly in From Houston and meet me in Cairns Australia. So, I am heading for down under. Standby for updates upon my return.