Day 1

Per usual, the first night at my destination meant sleeping well.  This lulls you into a false sense of security that you have been spared jet lag.  Oh no, the internal clock will not be tricked and I so I’m thankful for the rest I had and anticipate the insomnia that awaits.  However, with 8+ hours under my belt, I hit the gym, caught up on email and explored the vast buffet breakfast before meeting up with my boss to get down to business.  And even with impending jet lag, I glimpsed the top of the learning curve when I found myself explaining a complicated reporting mechanism to my boss instead of the usual vise versa. 

Today was an all-day workshop.  It was supposed to be morning to evening but because of a city-wide strike, the time frame was moved to afternoon to late evening.   The only benefit of which was we were able to cancel joining a 9p call with DC.  The workshop was somewhat typical.  An opening with back-to-back speeches by diplomats and several Ministers with media cameras swarming the room thrusting cameras in the audiences’ faces.  The speakers and presenters went long, the audience talked to each other, talked on their cell phones, and Q&A was more a stream of long comments than really questions.