Just NB

There’s been a lot of ups and downs going on in my life lately. I don’t want to write too much about the job stuff, so I’ll sum it up. It sucks. I have a lot of cheerleaders and a lot of good leads. I’ve been shocked at the support I’ve received and am encouraged by management involvement in my job search. But until I have a signed contract in my hands, my life – where I live, where I’ll work, what I’ll do for work – is all up in the air. So…sometimes I’m a bit stressed. I was on my way back to work from town after a particularly frustrating meeting. A task that I NEED to get done can’t be done in the way that I had hoped for. I’m sure there’s another solution, but I expected that I would have been further along by now. I was in a pissy mood. It was hot, I was sweaty, tired, and cranky. Somehow I start talking to my driver about how the project should contribute more to the community. There is currently a lot of support to the community by our project, but as an employee of the ...

Let's start with when I came home from work and grocery shopping. Our housekeeper left ALL of this water. What this typically means is that a cyclone is coming. I hadn't heard about one...so I thought it was confusing.  Anyway, while I was putting away groceries, I really looked in our fridge. Um...it kind of makes me want to call Alcohol Annonymous?  First - mix for beach drinks.  Next, Maple Whiskey, Prosecco, a bottle of Rossi and a bottle of gin to make Negronis, 2 bottles of Captain Morgans that I bought in Duty-Free for a reason I CANNOT remember..  Some bitter orange for Negronis...oh, at least there's some healthy food. Amazing Grass , wheat grass, and eggs. But then, three or four different types of beer. Those Guiness ain't cheap!! It works out to $5USD/can!! That's a lot of money invested in beer....especially since I don't drink beer.  More alcohol to make Negronis. Oh - a Coke. That won't last long.  Some more....scotch, Dzama, Dzama coo...

The cooks at the cafeteria have lost their mind. Like, actually lost their minds. The cafeteria goes through ups and downs as far as the food quality. Sometimes it’s downright disgusting, in which case, I have a peanut butter sandwich. Or, if I’m really thrown off, I’ll just have a protein bar for supper. Other times, it’s not too bad, and the random time, it’s actually pretty good. But lately, I really think they’ve gone crazy. It first started when they replaced the green pepper with HOT SPICY pepper in the salad bar. Nothing like taking a huge bite of green pepper strips on your salad and then having your mouth and lips on fire for a good ten minutes. Next, was the juice situation. I wrote about this before. We used to have REAL 100% FRUIT JUICE and now we have some kind of juice with Arabic writing on the side and what I can figure out it’s made with 50% fruit juice. I consider the REAL juice a treat (has practically the same amount of calories as pop), but this 50% fruit juice...

Now that the trip is getting closer, I'm starting to get excited. The FINAL Itinerary is: May 5-16: Travel Madagascar May 16-20: Kruger Safari May 20-24: Cape Town (already booked my tickets to Robben Island ) May 24-25: Johannesburg (spa day already booked!) May 27: Back to work!

I DO NOT want this blog to be "The Chronicles of a Job Seeker in Madagacar"... I try not to talk about it TOO much, but really, I'm trying to make a career change, and it's a big part of my life right now. Two factors: My time has come to an end in the Finance Department here on the project. Expats come in, they train, they do implement what needs to be implemented, and then they hit the road. Fact of life. I can't remember if it's been "blogged about" yet or not... but...2-7 years ago if I had a job interview and I was asked my 5 year plans, my answer would be something like: I'd like to transition into an operational role while using my finance/compliance/internal audit background. If you take #1 and #2....you get...perfect timing to try and make that career change I keep talking about in my "long term" plans. It's hard to explain (and I'll save that for another post...) but I truly don't believe the Malagasy sect...

You remember the trip of a lifetime ? (Or, I should say, ONE of the trips of a lifetime!!). The plan was for me to fly to Tana to pick up my mom the night she arrived on Sunday. But this made me nervous. Air Madagascar has a wonderful history of cancelling flights and…a random flight on a Sunday….well, I decided to take alternative arrangements. So, the Saturday before, I’ll work until about 15h00, then go to the airport. I’m dragging Louis with me so that we can have a nice supper in Tana and spend the entire Sunday doing WHATEVER we want to until my mom’s flight arrives at 23h00. We’ll all go back to the crappy hotel , then we’ll wake up for our 05h20 flight to Toamasina Monday morning and we’ll go to work. (again zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) Saturday night Louis and I are staying in a sweet hotel !! (Although I was considering boycotting them because when I called to ask how much an air transfer was, the reception desk guy asked me to SP...

Ahhhhh Sundays. The one day I look forward to and the one day I'm not in the office. We started this Sunday sleeping in, not eating eggs , and relaxing. And then it was off to the pool. Somehow I changed Louis' camera to black/white. I have no idea how.  But the sky didn't agree with our plans to sit by the pool. Sometimes these things pass, but this one seemed like a real rain fall. For once I was kind of dissapointed not to spend Sunday by the pool because the water temperature was perrrrrrfect. But we had to get going anyway for our dinner date. We had plans to go to our favorite couple's house for supper. Eating anything other than cafeteria food is always a treat + the food cooked always rocks!! I had planned on taking pictures of the food.... but I inhaled it so fast it didn't stand a chance.  Friends, drinks, food, and fun. Always a recipe for a fun night. I think we could have spent all night there...talking, sipping wine, having fun....but tomorrow...

I'm back to running three times a week now (rain or .... intense heat) and I need some suggestions for songs!! I'd like some like...Rocky Balboa type songs that push  me to the max. Also songs that I can sing in the morning on my way to work. Louis is like ready to stab his own ears because 99% of the time the song I sing to get myself going in the mornings is "Forget You" (Glee Version). This has been going on for at least seven weeks now. So...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Since this is my blog, and I can write about whatever boring crap I feel like, and you can choose if you want to read it, I'm going to write about a concern currently have at the moment. Regardless of how stupid it is. :) I'm worried I eat too many eggs. And I'm not talking about this kind (although, given the chance, I would eat way too many of these kind!!!) First, a little background. I have issues with meat. I am totally pro-meat industry (although I haven't watched movies like Food Inc ., and I'm not sure if I want to), I think that if animals are treated humainly that it's fine to eat them...but I still have issues myself eating them. I try not to think about the meat that I'm eating was once running around or eating grass (or grass mixed with trash, in the case of the MG zebu). But I have never really liked eating meat, even as a little kid. I am trying to be more conscious of what I eat...I have a good 15lbs to lose (or 13 as of this week),...

When did I ever agree to wake up this early? The fact that I can function at this hour must mean that I'm getting old, because pre thirties (ick) if I was ever up at this hour, I'd still be drunk from the night before . What is wrong with the cafeteria??? Is there SERIOULSY no freaking peanut butter in this freaking country? Do they not realize that there are Americans and Canadians on this project that do not know how to live without peanut butter? And when is that 100% grapefruit juice ever going to be back? The kind that is JUST fruit and is so sour it almost hurts to drink. Don't they know I pray for it every morning in the truck on the way to work? Sometimes in song version (I'm not kidding. Ask Louis)? Thank goodness for Starbucks VIA instant flavored coffee. Sometimes I wake up just for you. Peeeuuuuwww. The room sometimes smells worse after the cleaning staff have done their cleaning. I love that guy's smile (a janitor) . He's always so smiley when h...

I was originally going to write about a funny story that happened this week, but I need to write about my next rotation! My mom is coming to Madagascar and I am getting SO EXCITED. I think this will possibly be my most exciting and adventurous vacation EVER. We are going EVERYWHERE in Madagsacar!! I'm finalizing the details tomorrow with A REAL TRAVEL AGENCY (this has been super hard to find!!!), but here's the itinerary. May 1: My mom arrives in Antananarivo. I'm flying up to meet her, since well....it's... umm... interesting landing in MG. She gets there around 23h00. May 2: After spending the night in an icky hotel (I just can't learn to love this place...even if it's provided to us for free), we'll fly back home to Toamasina (at 05h00. zzzzzzzzzzz) May 2-4: My mom will sleep, hang by the pool, go into town with the expat wives, or whatever she wants to do. I'm at work, so she'll be stuck by herself for a bit. May 5: We're doing th...