So here I am, in one of the places most people would like to be the least.
For unknown reasons the Dutch embassy in Kabul (Afghanistan) did not get an assistant controller and so is lacking capacity. This is being solved by asking people to come over on interim basis. Three of my colleagues in similar functions already came over to help out for a few weeks. Somehow also my name came up and I was asked.
What possessed you to accept? One might ask. To be honest that was also my initial reaction, but on reflection I decided that this was not such a stupid thing. Most people have an opinion on about everything (including myself). But in order to know what you are talking about, you have to experience it. As I was not planning on a posting here (1 year), this is a good opportunity to get a taste of life in a conflict area. On top of that, this is the safest way to do it. The embassy is well guarded and transport is done by armored cars, with a specially trained driver and Dutch security man on board.
What I do here is probably more boring than many other jobs you readers of this blog do, the special bit is just the location. To bore you, just a short description of my work (see also earlier blog). I look after the spending of development aid money from the Dutch ministry to, in this case, Afghanistan. So I check if reporting is done timely and correctly, budgets are met etc.
This is my living/bedroom. I also have a kitchenette, which I don't use as meals are provided for.
My daily routine I managed to arrange so far. I get up, stroll downstairs, five meters through the cold to the canteen. The canteen is just a container made to look like what I would call workingmen's or school canteen; counter, fridge, four long tables with eight chairs each, simple but effective. After breakfast I walk for another 1 minute to get via the coffee machine to my desk. Lunchtime, also not exciting, walk to the canteen, walk back. Straight after work I go for dinner. After dinner I think about going to the 'gym'. There are two rooms that serve as gym, one with weights etc, which I avoid not to look like a complete maggot next to the security guys. The other one has walking- rowing- cycling machines. Out of the three nights here I just managed yesterday to go there. That was a disappointment, how do people manage to run longer than five minutes?
For security reasons I can't put any pictures here. But this one taken from the plane shows how beautiful the country really is.
For unknown reasons the Dutch embassy in Kabul (Afghanistan) did not get an assistant controller and so is lacking capacity. This is being solved by asking people to come over on interim basis. Three of my colleagues in similar functions already came over to help out for a few weeks. Somehow also my name came up and I was asked.
What possessed you to accept? One might ask. To be honest that was also my initial reaction, but on reflection I decided that this was not such a stupid thing. Most people have an opinion on about everything (including myself). But in order to know what you are talking about, you have to experience it. As I was not planning on a posting here (1 year), this is a good opportunity to get a taste of life in a conflict area. On top of that, this is the safest way to do it. The embassy is well guarded and transport is done by armored cars, with a specially trained driver and Dutch security man on board.
What I do here is probably more boring than many other jobs you readers of this blog do, the special bit is just the location. To bore you, just a short description of my work (see also earlier blog). I look after the spending of development aid money from the Dutch ministry to, in this case, Afghanistan. So I check if reporting is done timely and correctly, budgets are met etc.
My daily routine I managed to arrange so far. I get up, stroll downstairs, five meters through the cold to the canteen. The canteen is just a container made to look like what I would call workingmen's or school canteen; counter, fridge, four long tables with eight chairs each, simple but effective. After breakfast I walk for another 1 minute to get via the coffee machine to my desk. Lunchtime, also not exciting, walk to the canteen, walk back. Straight after work I go for dinner. After dinner I think about going to the 'gym'. There are two rooms that serve as gym, one with weights etc, which I avoid not to look like a complete maggot next to the security guys. The other one has walking- rowing- cycling machines. Out of the three nights here I just managed yesterday to go there. That was a disappointment, how do people manage to run longer than five minutes?
For security reasons I can't put any pictures here. But this one taken from the plane shows how beautiful the country really is.
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