Back to France, and gone again

Wow.  More than 2 months since I updated this site.  Sorry.  I finally abandoned my refusal to get onto a Facebook account, and I forgot this blog for a while.

After the escape of our lady hostage, my workload picked up quite a bit, spending time with her as well as with the families of the 3 men still missing.

I left Congo on 9 November, going to Paris for debriefings.  I stayed in Paris for 2 weeks for an internal training course, Field Oriented Operational Training.  This should allow me to be the coordinator of an entire project in the near future.   After 9 years of finance and human resources, I am ready for a change.

I then had a little over 3 weeks of vacation.  Most of that time was at home in Lyon, but I also made a 

4 day trip to Bucharest, Romania - the flight is cheap.  The city center is beautiful, although the rest of the city consists of soviet-style apartment blocks.  I walked a lot, visited a couple of museaums, It was a good trip.

My vacation was good.  Other than my trip to Bucharest, I stayed pretty quiet.  And I totally disconnected from my job with the crises cell for the kidnapped Congolese staff members.  The weather was exceptionally warm for November, so I did a lot of walking in the city, sometimes up to 5 hours at a time.  Good food, good wine, good companionship.  But at the end, I was getting bored.  

Now I am on the return trip to Congo.  I had briefings in Paris today.  A lot has been happening during my 6 weeks away, in the North Kivu in general, and also in MSF there.  And things will continue to move when I arrive.  Never a dull moment.

I will be in Congo for Christmas.  I love Christmas in the field.  I have loaded up on gifts for the families I look after (3 women and 11 children!) and for the other expatriates living in the house with me (up to 12), plus some Christmas food.  They are inexpensive gifts – I couldn’t do otherwise – but I love playing Father Christmas.  Ho ho ho.

I should be staying there until the beginning of February.  Seeing how I hate cold weather, I might have to find a way to extend my trip until spring………..