Arrival

Imagine you haven’t seen a lover for two and a half years. You parted without acrimony, but also without regret. Then one day you see her again. You’d forgotten how beautiful she was. The past falls away and soon you’re deep in conversation, laughing at the old jokes.

It was foggy at Heathrow, and that delayed the flight from Newcastle and the departure for HUDC. All of southern England, according to the pilot, was covered by fog, and indeed so it seemed. It cleared briefly at the coast, over Brighton, and then we flew above cloud and didn’t see the ground until we were descending to HUDC.

This is a new development, with housing for the English-speaking staff at the college. I find “complex” and annoying noun. And “compound” sounds punitive.

The housing is good, although it has the anonymity of a holiday apartment just now. The garden definitely has potential. There are no cockroaches (yet). The shower works. There are some shops within walking distance. There’s no television or ISP, but these are promised in the next days or even hours.

All things considered, and taking previous experience of this country into account, this is sheer bloody luxury.

Last night there was the familiar feeling of despair as the drink consumed on the plane died, and the realisation that everyone I love is thousands of miles away, and I couldn’t get a clear signal for the BBC World Service. I had a broken but refreshing night’s sleep, half dreaming about and half planning the garden.

This morning, all is well. We’re going to get photographs taken (the bureaucracy here simply cannot get enough photos of you), do some shopping, and then tonight we’re going to a restaurant. Friday and Saturday are the weekend – perhaps I’ll get a start on the garden. Sunday, we start at the college, though not teaching: the situation is uncertain with regards to students and classrooms... More about that on Sunday, inshallah.

[edit: this post and those up to and including the 26th Feb 2008 were written offline and posted on 27th Feb, when an Internet connexion was established]

Still Waiting

The latest news is that serial numbers have now been issued by the Ministry in HUDC, and that means that visa applications can now be made, and should be largely a formality.

Well, kind of. LM rang me today (I'm still "working" from home), and asked if I'd had to get a medical last time I was there... Yes! I'd forgotten all about it: the HUDC government required us to undergo AIDS/HIV tests. I seem to recall that it was a sham. We had to get the tests, and the results went on to our employer, but the time scale was such that we were already in the country by then. Maybe, the authorities thought that, if you were prepared to take a test, you must be confident of passing it... Or something.

The second week in February, probably, is our departure date.

Suddenly... nothing happened!

The middle management got back to Blighty earlier this week, and LM phoned me this morning.

Departure is now set back until 28th January, "but don't be suprised if that slides". The accommodation isn't ready - there was a trouble with the bathrooms (electrical sockets next to the washbasins, wall tiles on the floors - actually all par for the course in HUDC). The site manager told them that the project was only a month behind schedule, and this was astonishing. Indeed. The workforce are Egyptians, not locals, so that might explain this relative speed.

So if we do go out at the end of this month, we'll probably be in a hotel for a while.

The classrooms are far from being ready, the workforce consisting of HUDC's finest, a couple of depressed looking souls who turn up and mooch around occasionally.

And there's a problem with the students, who are to be teachers at the college in due course. They have been paid only nominally for the last month or so - something in the region of £10 per month. Naturally, they're a bit pissed off about this. This might lead to mutiny and is the biggest potential problem, as I see it, given the obduracy of HUDC's bureaucracy.

I've got curriculum development work I can be getting on with, in a fairly leisurely fashion it must be said. Also work for my masters degree. And making the most of the unexpected time with the family and my friends.