It has been two months since I first arrived in Djibouti! The days go by surprisingly fast. While the job can be frustrating, I can honestly say most days here are not that bad.
Also, I now have something to look forward to. For those who do not know, military personnel who are deployed for as long as I am get a 96 hour pass and two weeks R&R. In August, five of us are going to take our 96 and travel to Tanzania to hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. I am not in the best shape right now, and it is a four-day hike to 19,000 feet, but it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. How can I pass it up? Additionally, it looks like I will get to take my R&R during Xmas, which means I will get to see my family during the holidays.
I hope everyone has had an opportunity to take a look at the pictures I posted on Photobucket. You get a good glimpse into my trip to Ethiopia in May and some of the interesting things I have gotten to do while I have been in Africa. Some people have asked me to post pictures of me at work on Camp Lemonier. I have been meaning to do that, and I promise I will try to do that soon.
I wish I had more to say, but to be honest, most of my days are spent working. We generally put in 12 hours here, and that leaves little time to get out and do things other than an occasional night out in town for dinner. I hope to eventually get a bit of normalcy, and a day off, but right now I am working to try to improve the current contracts I have been handed. From a procurement perspective, this really is the wild west, and there are a number of things that have been done in the past I just cannot stomach as a Contracting Officer. As I have mentioned previously in the blog, there is a good group of people here right now, and I believe we are making some real progress in improving the contracting process. Until then, I will just have to keep plugging away.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: Me slaving away at the office
