MinnesotaMel

One month down...

I have been a slacker on updating for the past few weeks. It is really easy here to get into a rhythm of get up, work out, go to work, work 10-12-14 hours- come home- go to bed. That routine is easy to fall into, but not at all conducive to keeping in contact, especially when there is no intenet in my apartment. I have heard that maybe we will have internet by August...I am not going to hold my breath.

Lots has been going on in the past few weeks. I don't know how much of it is interesting to others though...

Work: One of my colleagues went on R&R, and am his backup for some of his work. I back him up on the contractor entry-exit portfolio. The USG and GOI (Gov't of Iraq) have a special agreement that the USG contractors who are working with the reconstruction of Iraq do not need to apply in advance for visas. However, they can't enter Iraq without permission either. So they must submit entry request forms to my office for each of their employees, including details about what projects they are working on and how long they will be in Iraq. My office processes them by creating a type of diplomatic request note and sending this request to the Iraqi equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security. That Ministry processes the request and sends us back an official letter giving them permission to enter and exit Iraq. Though it is a bit tedious processing these notes, it is a critical component to the reconstruction of Iraq and a big time and effort saver for both the USG, our contractors and the GOI.

I can't remember if I wrote about my portfolio change earlier...I think I did. My regional management officer prtfolio has been shifted to consisting of only Baghdad PRT and ePRTs. The PRTs are Provincial Reconstruction Teams and they are located in a specific provincial capital city, working with the local government officials as advisors in the normalization of government and daily life at the local level. The ePRTs are the same, but they are embedded with a specific military brigade in support of the military's relationship with the local government. There are 10 groups I support all together. I support them in their mangement needs- making sure they get the resources they need to support their work, and trying to connect them with the embassy and DC offices that can assist in getting the work done most effectively. I have really enjoyed interacting with these teams so far.

The other part of my portfolio is doing special projects for the Management Counselor and Deputy Management Counselor. They really keep me running. In our first meeting I received a list of important projects a whole page long. Each day, I may get one or two crossed off the list, but another 3-4 get added. All of the projects are quite interesting though, and the work is teaching me a lot about running an Embassy and building processes for an embassy from the ground up. There are a lot of processes that are going to need to change as we move our Embassy offices into the New Embassy Compound later this year. "Traditinalize" is the theme of the year, or so it seems.

This morning I had one of the most interesting experiences here to date. I was asked to accompany my boss into the vault where we have stored many of the items that were originally found in Saddam's Palace when we moved in. The goal of our trip was to confirm the inventory list that was made in the past. I looked through the list...pages and pages of jewelry, weapons, knick knacks...as we waited for the heavy vault door to swing open. I really did not know what to expect...the images in my mind were of pirate treasure. The reality was not as glamorous, but interesting historically. The room was large, and sort of dimly lit because some of the light bulbs had burned out. There were cardboard boxes, footlockers, and a safe. It really looked a lot like someone's basement. The inventory work went pretty quickly. Someone in the past had done a really great job of cataloguing everything...the pieces of jewelry were each in a plastic ziplock style bag with an inventory number. The lighting made it difficult to appreciate the pieces of jewelry and watches, but some of them were quite beautiful. We did not have time to look at many pieces in detail, but there was one locket that had a photo of Saddam in one half and a photo of his wife in the other half. The footlockers had old medals, some of them with business cards from the people the item was presented by- the Minister of Defence of Bulgaria, the President of Armenia. There was a soccer ball signed by lots of people in Arabic. There were many walking sticks standing together in a cardboard box, made of various materials and decorated in many ways. There was a box of swords, and several boxes of guns. The military man with us commented on the variety of them. As we looked through and accounted for all of these things, I could not shake the feeling that I was just nosing around in someone else's basement. I wonder what the GOI will choose to do with these things when they take possession of them again.

Play: There is an employee association here that runs a small bar a few nights each week. I was initially on the board as the rep from the management section, but the more I have gotten into things, the more I think I will be involved. To celebrate July 4th we had a BBQ, and a few days later we grilled again to use up the leftover grilling things. The second night I got to be one of the cooks. And then last weekend I volunteered to work as a bartender. It really is a very good way to meet people, and I had fun doing it. However, like everywhere, there are many people who want to have the benefits of the activities of the employee association without actually volunteering to put nay work into the association. A number of key people are leaving in the next few months, and I wonder if other people will step up to the plate to assist ithe group and the community.

I have finished another novel by Marian Keyes. She is a great Irish author who writes about sad things in a funny way. I strongly recommend all of her books. The newest one I read is called "Anybody out there?" I have also started going to a weekly knitting/crocheting group. Last week I tried to teach a couple of people to crochet. It is sort of like the blind leading the blind for me to teach others, but it was fun.

That is about it for now...note that the work section is much longer than the play section.

posted by MinnesotaMel @ 6:18 AM