Just NB

Google Translate doesn’t always work the best, but I can’t find any articles in English. Article Source Google Translated version: According to the statement from the company operating Ambatovy has not yet officially received the license to operate which will go into production. Also, the Company has decided to curtail the activities of contractors who are not directly related to the completion of commissioning and testing techniques of plant Toamasina. According to this statement, “Ambatovy notified date (note: yesterday) subcontractors and suppliers of a possible future reduction in non-core activities during the period of completion of commissioning and testing techniques. Ambatovy continues its dialogue with the Government of Madagascar for licensure. For now, regular activities continue as usual. Ambatovy not considering layoffs of employees for the time since the company expects to receive the permit as soon as possible. “ This announcement follows another statement dated Aug...

Well, things are either going to get very interesting here, or, life will be totally back to normal. Yesterday the media/employee announcement came out. The national staff is worried. There are expected to be protests, etc, but again with those types of things my biggest problem in ME because I just can’t help but freak out whenever they happen - regardless if I’m with Louis, or in a secure camp, or that they have additional security, etc, etc. I guess for me to be able to be less scared during protests/strikes, I need practice to conquer the fear. Regardless of me getting a little jumpy, I’m safe. We have enough groceries to last us until we leave for vacation and we don’t have any plans to go into town. Our company charter lands on the plant site, we quickly get transfered to the Tana airport, and then we’re out. I’ve been asked (and asked myself) if we will lose our jobs, and while it’s a possibility, it is the absolute last resort. Over six billion dollars has been invested i...

Yesterday was a really tough day. At one point, I did give up. While I’m struggling learning this new “just do your reports and don’t try to fix everything”, it’s going to take some time. I’m trying to stay focused, and there are constantly things pulling me in different directions. I’m trying to finish one thing, and ninety other things are calling for me. They are just as important (or more) as the one thing I’m trying to finish. But for now, I just have to have a plan and stick with it. Since I’m a mega-list oriented person, I’ve started using Todoist.com to track and update my tasks. The tagging function requires premium access (which is $29/year) and in the last couple of weeks that I’ve had it, it has paid for itself. Now, this whole second blog thing is getting old. I’d like to just unblock it, and monitor the Google Analytics. I had a suggestion to start using Google +, but I’m not sure if everyone is on that bandwagon yet. I’ve thought about using a Facebook page, but I’...

I’ve had a few people ask me just what it is a do for a living. Politically correct version: I create a plan to audit/investigate all areas that present a high reputational risk or a high monetary risk. Examples: Reputational: Department X deals with the local community. I’ve heard that Department X has many corrupt staff with serious conflicts of interest. I have interviews, I research, I look over supporting documentation (or the lack of), I look to see that processes are followed, and then make a lovely report. Monetary Risk: Inventory kept on the plantsite isn’t tracked or counted properly. Therefore, the project doesn’t have the inventory when its needed, and they have to buy more to replace the inventory that is somewhere where they can’t find it or because it was stolen. These are two basic examples. In many cases the procedure was never formally set up so it is a freaking party!! ANYWHERE in the world, there is a lot of fraudulant activity. In Madagascar, there is...

What a shitty, shitty, shitty day. I know that there are good parts of my job but today they certainly were not highlighted. In 10 days, I’ll be on a flight to Tana, Joberg, Frankfurt, and then Montreal. Ten freaking days. The flight to Tana sucks because it’s on the smallest airplane and it’s often turbulent. The flight to Joberg sucks because it’s three hours of boringness, followed by one hour of customs. The flight to Frankfurt is wonderful. First, they always think I’m German (Bosch + my giantness) so they talk to me in German and I have no clue what they are saying but I respond in such a way that it looks like I sort of know. Second, still think the German language is one of the funniest things I hear. I mean no disrespect,  but when the flight safety annoucements come on, I cannot keep a straight face. Then, they serve us sort of good food, and then I passout for a good ten hours. Frankfurt kinda goes a bit overboard on the security, and Louis ALWAYS gets pulle...

This weekend we are moving back to our old “villa”. If I haven’t explained how our oh-so-fancy “villas” work, they are a large duplex. Each side has been divided into four private rooms and one common area. The common area has a couch, loveseat, coffee table, dining table, sink, cubbords, fridge, and water cooler. We aren’t supposed to cook, but in the very first villa I lived in I had we had purchased our own microwave. Each private room has a desk, bed, and bathroom. Louis and I lived seperately until late 2010 when we got the chance to move into the village for “a few months”. The village is made up of large houses and duplexes. We had our own duplex, which looks like a real house. We ended up staying there over a year, which was awesome, and then we got moved back to the camp. We knew it was a temporary thing, so we were just happy that we got to live there for so long. Since we’ve moved back to the camp, we keep having this carrot dangling in front of us. “Maybe” we’ll be ...

Although I have some good moments, work morale for me at the moment is low. When I was getting ready this morning, I thought, If I had this job and I was in Canada, would I be looking for a different job? No. I still want this job. At this location. While the job is incredibly frustrating, it’s a challenge that makes me learn, which overall makes me happy, but essentially I’m back to square one. What I had to learn while in my first role here - forget everything you think you know, do not assume anything or anyone is applying basic logic, and DO NOT try to solve problems. Take on the very, very top…say 2 problems…and go from there. I’m having to re-learn that process of forgetting common sense, etc. It’s been a challenge I recently got my job description (after six months in the role) and had to laugh when I saw this, “The role may challenge and tax emotions and stamina”. Ha! At least everyone else knows it too. So I started my morning with a different attitude. I’m here to do m...

I don’t care about what anyone says (except I care enough to write this under my password protected blog), but today I am very hopeful. My friend with cancer was getting tests to see if he qualified to get a new drug for treatment. He had a less than a 15% chance that he would be able to take this new drug. I’ve tried to not read Facebook updates lately because I can’t handle them. We have about 10-15 mutual friends and I can’t handle thinking about him right now. Not sure why I checked the updates today, but I am so happy that I did. He found out that he can get the new drugs. Many more things have to happen before he’s healthy or even out of the woods. For right now, this small event seems like a big victory. inutes. Day officially ruined.

Alright. Maybe I’ll be able to actually put on paper in a someone legible sense what it is that I’ve been trying to explain to myself. and Louis. But mostly myself. I’m freaked out. I have moments of fear and I can’t (or couldn’t) figure out what was going on in this mess of hormones, chemicals, and neuron-receptors or whatever. I guess I’ve always been slightly sensitive since the first weird strike/protest that I experienced. In my world, your work and home was safe, and the thought of anything otherwise made me uneasy. If I’d hear what sounds like a loud group of people, usually in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Oh, crap. Is this a protest?”. And then, not really on purpose, I kind of beat myself up for being scared of something so petty. I mean, strikes happen here all the time. Like 95…no 97% of those strikes/protests are more than likely peaceful. But the “threat” of what can happen, in a split second, is becoming a bigger issue for me…without me even realizing it. ...

Unfortunately, I got more updates about the people that were in a car accident last night. There were five of them, driving back from the wedding in the RN2 (a road I avoid in the daytime), and the three passengers in the back died. A co-worker, her husband, and an ex-co-worker, who was pregnant, are all dead. The people in the front are injured. I had to go into HR to drop off my in-country visa for renewal, and I didn’t want to go. Usually I’d hand it to her. She’s very nice and smiley. No one is at her desk. I’m kind of numb. Like, I feel sick in my stomach and I feel like I have heartburn, but I just feel totally un-sad about it. Maybe this is how I’m dealing with it. I thought everyone else at the office would be devastated. But if everyone got upset everytime someone died around here, no one would ever be happy. I’m very sad to have lost a co-worker. I just haven’t started feeling it yet.

  Although this “permit” thing has everything up in the air, I still have a job. And, if the permit thing doesn’t come through, it’s most likely to effect me next rotation, not this one. ASSUMING the worst, most likely, I will come back from vacation, continue to work, and it will be in October or November that the job “temporary holds” will start for me. Since I am essentially the biggest spazz in the world, you’d think that I would be freaking out? But…I’m not really. All I can freak out about is the five days until I’m on a plane to Frankfurt. I love Frankfurt. And when I come back, there may be a chance that I will have an extended holiday. I already have my flight and trip for China paid for in November, so I will most likely stay here, do the China thing, and then instead of flying back to Canada from Hong Kong, I’ll fly back to Canada. Again, this is all just a guestimation. It’s totally possible that we’ll get the permit. This is just…my non-spazztic back-up plan. ...

Again, this is Google translated. Not able to find English news articles. Original source Quite a lot of the “facts” are not true….but that’s Malagasy media for you…. Verification of the impacts of “Ambatovy” cunning of central government or shift? An urgent appeal “For Repair Damage and Human and Environmental Accountability for Increased Society Sherritt Ambatovy”, initiated by the Collective TANY had been sent by many people to high authorities and officers of Sherritt-Ambatovy May 2012. No concrete action has been taken neither one side nor the other. Instead, the central government had issued a provisional operating license for six months. Why six months? If there was any doubt, why not have readily applied the precautionary principle? In recent days, the authorities announced that they will issue the operating permit - “license to operate” - according to survey findings that international consulting firm perform on “impact on people and the environment” and a “bu...

  I KNOW I’ve had rotations like this. I KNOW that I am in a pretty stressful environment at the moment and I KNOW that it’s temporary. I KNOW that I need to try and be a little bit more patient. The next five days are probably going to suck. Or large portions of them. The only thing I can do is try to have as much patience and love for Louis, go to work, and just wait it out. Life is not so difficult. It feels like it is right now because I’m tired, I’m in week six, and I’ve had a really rocky rotation. I have to remember when I’d have multiple rocky rotations. Maybe I have been having multiple rocky rotations and I haven’t peiced it together, but I’m not ready to leave. Tonight Louis has band practice (love saying that, it makes me think we’re in junior high) so hopefully I’ll be able to sit in bed and play around on this thing called www.mixbook.com . As a Christmas gift to the girls I’m planning on making them an on-line scrapbook of our trip to Madagascar. I’ve had ...

  I was writing a post about my Sunday. How I’m battling any crankiness with the gym (this is a miracle). How I’m so appreciative that I have Louis. How I can’t imagine what it would be like without us and how I’m worried that he’ll get cancer. Like always, I’ve been Googling grief (I’m so much better when I understand the stuff going on in my head that I can’t understand) and I guess this is a natural process. Then I got a message. At least 2 people from HR died in a car crash yesterday. I knew one of them. I’m just completely stunned.

It’s Saturday afternoon. In less than 24 hours it will be Sunday and then the start of a new week. Thank freaking goodness because I need a new week. Yesterday was a good day, today has been iffy. I got mad a lot today. They are doing construction in my office and it’s loud. And on top of it, Louis had the nerve to start a msn chat with me telling me half a story and then got called away from work and I had to wait like ten minutes before he came back to finish telling me the story. Even worse at lunch, they didn’t have sliced cucumbers. Cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots is the only stable thing I know here. I sure hate them when I’m back in Canada but here, they are eaten usually twice a day. While I was telling Louis that they didn’t have sliced cucumbers, I could feel the tears welling up. Yeah, great. A table full of like six or seven guys, and I’m about to cry over cucumbers. Louis sees what’s about to go down and tries to save the day by giving me his cherry from on top of his jel...

Seriously now that I have this little mistress blog I can’t get enough of it. I didn’t realize how much I missed writing about what goes on in this crazy mess of mine until I stopped doing it. I could have always just kept an ol’ fashioned journal, but in this social-media generation….that just seems stupid. I had my first good day today in a long time. Maybe it hasn’t actually been so long, but it seems so long, because this week has been so, so, so bad. Louis is having probably the worst week of his life at work. Problem after emergency after problem after emergency…working until midnight in the rain…I’m not sure how he’s holding it together. Truth be told I’m not sure how WE are holding it together. In the past, if either of us have been stressed out it’s caused tension in our relationship. No, let me rephrase that, it hasn’t caused tension, it’s caused a ridiculous amount of fighting about a RIDICULOUS amount of nonsense. This entire rotation has been a complete ridiculousness of t...