MinnesotaMel

The Sunday before Eid

It is sunday here in Lahore, and I thought I would take my first complete day away from the office and enjoy a bit of pampering. First stop on the agenda was the Avari Hotel, where I have eaten dinner before but not explored the shops or the beauty salon. For my first surprise of the day - the concierge broke the news to me that the beauty salon is not open on Sundays. Someone had recently mentioned that many stores were not open on Sundays, and the ones that were open did not open until noon, but somehow I assumed that this information would not apply to a hotel and its services. Guess I will have to wait for another day. So now while I wait for my car I will have a lazy breakfast.

BREAKING NEWS
The concierge just came and told me that the beauty salon is specially open today because of the eid holiday! I am in luck, and need to hurry there before the lazier Lahorites rise and come for pre-holiday pampering. I have a reasonably good excuse for not updating my blog recently- I still do not have internet at my home. Getting here during ramadan, the time when devout muslims are fasting during daylight hours, has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because there are iftar parties in the evening to break the fast and get to know people. A curse because every business has an excuse for low productivity of its employees. That is the excuse I have gotten from the internet provider. Eid happens this week Monday through Wednesday, and then we shall see what new excuse emerges :)

I have filled my days with getting to know the ins and outs of the consulate, hosting visitors from the embassy in Islamabad who want to know the same things as they also start their tours, and learning the talents and challenges of my staff and colleagues. I am happy to report there are more talents than challenges among my staff. I am in charge of the following functions, either through direct supervision or through chain of command - human resources, financial mgt, information managment, general services, facilities maintenance, commissary, travel, banking accommodation, tdy guest house mgt, phone system, mailroom and apo services and housing. I am also the backup consular officer. It is a busy work day. The consulate's staff is growing quickly in order to manage the increased project funding aid we are providing to pakistan. Each new American body here means more housing, transport, etc, and more local support staff, which means my little empire is exploding, as is our little consulate building built 20 years ago to hold 1/4 of the bodies in it now. My big project now is to figure out how to fit everyone here in an efficient workflow plan while searching for a new place to build a new facility. The building of the new facility is probably 5-7 years out, ruining my record of New Embassy Compounds in every tour.

Lahore is an amazing city. Population projections claim the city has about ten millions residents, and based on the traffic jams here, I can believe it! Everyone is friendly and smiling, even the 2 month old baby being held in his mother's lap on the back of dad's motorbike as all three whip through traffic together. Scenes like these are very common, but I am not fast enough with my camera to catch one...yet.My pedicure is going well. If only I could stop nibbling my nails enough to get a manicure too. A goal for my time here.

I have also given up diet coke. Week 1 of dropping to one per day is complete...this week I am down to none. My staff are lucky it is a holiday and that at the end of the week I will be in Islamabad for meetings. Hopefully the worst of my withdrawal will be over by then. The food here is really yummy. Lots of meat- lamb, beef, chicken, fish- not a good place to be a vegetarian. Also very spicy, even when they are trying to tone down for western tastebuds. My housekeeper-cook has been good about keeping my meals balanced with veggies and salads though. I also have a favorite restaurant called gunsmoke where the young waiters are dressed up texas style and slam things around. For a steak place it can't be beat here, especially the prices - about 12 dollars for a steak meal.

I really like my house. It is not the largest in the housing pool - and may actually be the smallest one- but I don't feel like - am rattling around in it. It has three bedrooms, each with attached bath, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a formal living room. It has lots and lots of closet space and storage - bliss! It took me until this last week to figure out how to get hot water out of the shower in the master bath though - user error not to know that knob directions might be reversed here! The shower unit itself is like climbing into a space shuttle, with jets possible from every direction. It looks like it will be fun for relaxing in the winter months when I will want to warm up.

The weather is now starting to cool from what can be described as a summer heat that was both hellish in its heat AND humidity. And I am told I missed the worst of it with my arrival in late august. I think timing of my home leave will be critical next year to strategically avoid the same.During one of the visits recently, we visited the closing of the border guard ceremony at Wagha. It is ceremonial, with both the Indian and Pakistani sides building a stadium and having cheerleaders on its side to outdo each other each day. A sight to behold - and I took some video which I hope to post on facebook soon. When I have internet :)

Gosh, my feet must be a mess, because he is still working away almost an hour later and still no polish to be seen. But my fingers are getting tired of blackberry pecking. So I set the blackberry aside for a while. The wonderful pedicure ended up being less than $10, including tip.

After the pedicure, Tim, a friend from the office, and I went to the Lahore Zoo. It was very quiet at the zoo, because everyone else was out preparing for the three day holiday. The zoo is better than one might expect, with some very natural habitat areas for some of the animals. The collection includes lions, tigers, camels, hippos, monkeys, chimps, elephants, zebras, giraffes, rhinos and many different kinds of birds.

Eid Mubarek!

posted by MinnesotaMel @ 5:15 AM