Once more in Juba

The flights were... okay. Not great, but not horrible by any stretch of the imagination. Mostly they were just boring...
First leg from Oslo to Frankfurt introduced me to the worlds laziest sandwich as the airline food: A miniature sub with margarine on, served with coffee, tea or softdrink of your choice. Small wonder I hit McDonalds at the airport to get something a bit more substantial in my belly before the next leg of the journey...
Frankfurt to Adis Ababa was a code share flight, so instead of Lufthansa I got to fly with Ethiopian Air. The upside of that is that since their planes are slightly older, they have the older style seating - which is a lot more comfortable when you turn a row of three into a makeshift bed. I got several hours of decent sleep out of that without getting a kink in my neck. Most enjoyable - even if I missed out on the onboard breakfast.
That turned out to be a very minor issue though - along with two fellow officers (one German, one from New Zealand) I had some pizza in the terminal while waiting for the turboprop to take us the last leg to Juba.
That last leg was uneventful until arrival... for some reason my bag was put aside for extra inspection, something which lasted until I mentioned that I was with the UN. At that point any interest in  my bag disappeared like the morning dew, and I could go out and meet with the AdmOff who drove me back to the Norwegian House where a bed was waiting.
The Norwegian House still isn't fully operational, for instance the kitchen is still not up to spec. So dinner today will - I'm informed - be Thai food at a good restaurant. And then I will go to bed and sleep like a log...

It is good to be home

I arrived home around lunchtime yesterday, and boy is it good to be home!
Yesterday was filled with unpacking and unwinding... it was a long trip home with almost 22 hours since I arrived at Juba Airport until I walked in the door back home. Well worth it though - it is really nice to see my family after three months away from them.
Future plans for my leave isn't much, apart from enjoying the two weeks I get to spend at home.

Almost home

The bags are packed, ticket and passport in my pocket and al I have left to do is wait. In a few hours time I'll be in Addis Ababa for the first time in my life, and just before midnight local time I'll be airborne and heading for Frakfurt. I'll arrive in Germany right around the crack of dawn, so it'll be nice to have almost two and a half hour there to grab some real food (the breakfast they servein the air don't count) and maybe do a little window shopping - one of my nepaese friends made a request on behalf of his son that I would like to honour>

The fight onward from Frankfurt to Oslo should only take two hours, which means that even taking into consideration the drive from the airport I wi be home around lunchtime. I must admit that I look forward to being home again... it's been about three months.

Quiet time in Juba

It has been a quiet day in Juba. The paperwork I was waiting for dumped into my in-box shortly after I got up, so I didn't have to go the UN camp to find it. With the day free, I ended up being the Acting Admin Officer's Assistant; in other words I helped keeping an eye on the local contractors installing the access points and the basic cable.

Later I went out with the acting AdmOff to procure various items... like a dozen lawn chairs and other outdoor furniture, as well as three Jerry cans worth of diesel for the generator. Later today we'll likely head out for dinner - yesterday I had a Chicago Beef, so I'm not sure what I'll have today. Depends where we're going I guess.

Tomorrow I'm out of here. I can hardly wait!

New Norwegian House

The term "Norwegian House" has become somewhat of a misnomer... It's more of a "Norwegian Compound". Four major buildings in a large and fairly new compound, complete with armed guards and concertina wire along the top of the outer wall. The biggest building contains the offices, kitchen and livingroom, with a second small living room if people can't agree on what to watch on the TV. There is two smaller buildings with 8 and 6 bedrooms respectively;  eah with an attached bathroom. Lastly there is the utility building which have a laundry room, storage room and the technical room.
It is still a state of "just moved in" down here, but I've gotten one of the furnished rooms to use while I'm here.

Tomorrow I will take some photos and see if I can't get them online - in addition to getting back to the UN compound and get some more face time in with various people. If I have to spend a day in Juba, at least I can try to be marginally productive about it.

Sooo ready to go on leave

How excited am I about going home? Excited enough to wake up at four in the morning and not be able to get back to sleep apparently. Which would be less bad if I hadn't gone to bed sometime after midnight... oh well, I can sleep in Juba.

The helicopter should be here in a couple of hours... enough time for me to drink some coffee and hang around the office while making double extra sure I haven't forgotten anything important.

Sunday morning in Yei

Yesterday afternoon and evening I wasn't feeling my best, so I opted for an early night. The downside of that was that I was up and about again at four in the morning... oh well. More time to pack the bags for my leave.

And yes, I'm going home for my very last leave! Heading out of Yei tomorrow, have to spend a day in Juba for "Administrative purposes", then heading home via Addis Ababa and Frankfurt on Wednesday. For once my bag will be heavier going than coming back too, despite having a long shopping list of things my fellow officers have asked me to pick up for them in Norway*, since I will be taking back a number of things I just can't see needing in South Sudan for the last few weeks of my Tour of duty down here. If there is a next mission for me down here there is quite a few things I'll simply leave at home I think... unless the mission parameters changes. Hmmm... might have to bring everything again, just in case. At least I'll be quicker about bringing them back to Norway if I find that I don't need them.

Most of the lists of who gets to go where have starting to trickle in too. Granted, there is a couple of names that don't appear on the lists for staying in UNMISS, going to UNAMID or UNISFA or the list of people being repatriated. Or in other words, some of the UNMOs have fallen through the cracks and are neither staying nor going. Juba is trying to clear that one up, but it might be a few days.

*) Electronics are cheaper - even with our 25% VAT - and more easily obtained in Norway than in most of Africa and parts of Asia, apparently.

Waiting for a stamp and a signature

My updated Leave Request is currently at the CMPO - the UN equivalent of HR for officers. I'm pretty damn sure getting it approved will be no trouble, since a) They recommend that as many as possible use as much as possible of their CTO/AL, b) I'm not going to redeploy to another Team Site, and c) They pretty much told me so.

So with a bit of luck and the people at HQ getting off their duffs, I'm out of here by Monday, followed by a day ad a half in Juba before heading home for about two weeks. Not as long as some of my other leaves, but I am running out of both Annual Leave Days and time to be on leave; the last three weeks of your Tour of Duty you're not supposed to leave the mission area.

I also decided to treat my self to something nice for my last few weeks down here so I went ahead and bought a case of Stoney Tangawizi, the ginger beer I made a post about not that long ago. I can have one with my dinner every day I got left in Yei, and still have time to hand the crate in and get my deposit back on it.

If you're wondering about the missing four bottles they are in my fridge right now, getting cooled off.

Leave and such

Today is the day I was supposed to go to the airport in Norway and return to South Sudan after my last CTO/AL at home... so I guess it was fitting that today was the day that HQ lifted the restrictions on going home on leave. And not only lifted them, but suggested that more than the usual amount of officers can go home on leave. Oh, and please take as much leave as you possible can, would you kindly? Tomorrow, or possible the day after, I'll know if I will get home soon. My G1 is trying to get the puzzle laid out properly, so that everyone who wants to go on leave will be going, and for as long as they would like.

Also today we got the redeployment order for those UNMOs who will move from UNMIS to UNAMID - the mission in Dafur - and much to my joy two of my UNMOs who were slated to be repatriated will be allowed to finish their Tour of Duty. And while Dafur is most assuredly as nice as Yei can be, at least they won't go home and miss out on the MSA and other goodies.

Hopefully I will have even more good news tomorrow!

Well... screw.

Just got a message from Khartoum - due to the uncertainty of what will actually happen with the mission after July 9th, all eave after that date is cancelled until further notice...

I'm not to worried about me, but I do feel for the non-Norwegians down here who actually pays for their own tickets. What makes it even worse is that a bit more than a week ago I asked Khartoum if I should set up the Leave Plan for July as normal, and was told "yeah, go right ahead".

The people you touch along your way

Traveling, as I do, in uniform sometimes lead to interesting chance meetings - brushing against other peoples lives and realities as it were.

While at the airport in Amsterdam I ran into not one, but two US citizens... the first one was a gentleman about the age of my father-in-law, whom polity tapped my shoulder and inquired where I was from and where I was going while I was standing in line for buying a cup of hot cocoa. Since the story is there to see if you know a little bit about uniforms and patches, I told him as it is: I'm from Norway and I was heading to Sudan as part of the UN mission there. He smiled, nodded and thanked me for serving, before he hurried on his way - presumably having his own flight to catch. The second was a lady about my own age, who after making sure I wasn't "one of those SEALs" wanted to talk about the recent incident in Pakistan (which I'm sure everyone is aware of by now); wanting, as it were, my professional opinion. Our little chat quickly turned to Africa in general and the situation in Sudan in particular; she was heading to Ethiopia to do some unspecified work and had clearly spent some time reading up, and her conclusions were spot on and obvious to anyone familiar with that part of Africa (ie: corruption and inter tribal tension is the major stumbling blocks).

A few hours later, while sitting in my seat and reading a rather hefty tome of an airport book, a rather young looking stewardess came by, sat down in the empty seat across the aisle and after making sure I wasn't needing anything wondered where I was heading too... spoke to her for a good ten minutes, about the mission, the time spent away from home, the fact that I haven't really slept since yesterday... she was honest enough to let me know that she couldn't have a boyfriend who was away for two or three months, even if it was only for a year. In between offering to find an empty row so I could stretch out, she let me know that she though my wife must be a saint for waiting at home for me. I must admit... she's right. I'm a very lucky man to have such a wonderful, loving wife as I have.

Three chance meetings, three lives touched in different ways. I think I like traveling in uniform...

All things must come to an end, including my leave

Tonight, a little before 0300, a taxi should arrive outside my door to take me to the bus stop down town so I can get on the 0313 bus to the airport. While not an ideal time to travel, it sure beats last what I did last time I went back down after leave: spend the night in the airport. Overpriced coffee and barely padded chairs is not my idea of a good start on a long journey...

As I'm typing my bags are packed, my uniform hung out, the Norwegian money is taken out of my wallet and replaced with a thick wad of Sudanese pounds, and my portable hard disk is in the process of being filled up with new films and TV shows to augment the heap already on my laptop in Yei. The official word on weither or not I'll have to move from Yei to Juba is "don't know" - the UN don't always work fast...

I'll miss my wife and family when I've left - going back to Sudan after being home for a while don't get any easier even if I've done it a few times now. It don't help any that our cat has turned up his charm to 11... it may be that he fears the competition from little Miss AC.

Well, maybe all the way to 12...

So in the end, I got to spend some quality time with my loved ones and got a lot of stuff done too - and I'm over half way done with my year in Africa. And that is not a bad thought to end this leave with, is it?

Still on leave

Being home for a short time is great - I've gotten to see the branches on the trees go from being mere sticks to being covered in fresh green leaves since I got home and I've gotten the whole living room rearranged.. and I still have about a week and a half until I'm going back to Sudan.

It's good to be home...

Good to be home again

The trip home this time around was a serious case of hurry up and wait...

First I had to rush when the helicopter arrived an hour earlier than it usually does - so I could spend a day in Juba. Mind you, that day in Juba was well spent - but at the end of it we still have the usual stress of MovCon wanting everyone to check in in less than 45 minutes so we could have the joy of sitting in the small waiting room for almost two hours...

Up in Khartoum I had just enough time to eat and repack before I had to hustle through check in again - check in ends an hour and a half before take off, and there is not much to do in Khartoum International Airport at night... and no where comfertable to sit either.

In Amsterdam there was quite a push from everyone to get through the passport control... I could almost have lifted my feet off the ground and just been carried along. But once the guy have glanced at my passport and asked if I was going home on leave there was little to do but grab a bite and wait patiently to board my next flight.

And once home in Oslo? Sit and wait for the bus - two hours.

So it is really good to be home for a couple of weeks - no stress of rushing around just to wait somewhere else

Back in Khartoum, once again

Once again I am in Khartoum - today was supposed to be a full day in the big city, but due to the meeting in Juba I only got a few hours in town.

I'm really looking forward to my leave now. I know it's really not that long since my last one, but it'll be nice to be home for Easter and get early spring in Norway.

As for yesterdays hush-hush... the cat is out of the bag now, so I may speak more freely. Yesterday all the other Norwegian military personnel in southern Sudan meet with the Norwegian Minister of Defense, who was on a fact finding tour with a view to what Norway can provide if/when a new mission in South Sudan is rolled out. Very interesting, very worthwhile and better by far than sitting a whole day in Khartoum.

Farewell party for the UNPOL TSL

Or for those not too used to MLAs, farewell party for the United Nations Police Team Site Leader.

One of the benefits of being the Action Team Site Leader is that at times you have to represent the UNMOs at various happenings. Last week it was the Soldiers Gala down at BanBat, yesterday was the farewell party for the outgoing UNPOL Team Site Leader. They had the party down at Twins Hotel, the only steel frame building I'm aware of in Yei. Tasty food, cold beer and lots of emotions... he was most assuredly in two minds about going home.

The outgoing UNPOL TSL - in the middle, a few of the other Police Officers and me.

Sisyphus had it easy...

After all, all he had to do was to push a boulder uphill, watch it roll back down and do it again - for eternity. I mean, he got to be outdoors, had a decent view, plenty of exercise... he was probably something of a tourist attraction too, being pointed out by those just visiting (which was a fair number, according to Greek mythology).

On the other hand, the G1 in a Team Site have to do all the paperwork, set up leave plans, sweet talk both his fellow UNMOs and the people above him in Sector, try to make everything fit together in such a way that not only is everyone satisfied with the result but also keeps the percentage of people in the Team Site as close as possible - but not below - 75%. On top of that, the G1 have to do it in an office, sitting in front of a very slow computer while being buggered by all sort of distractions... just to have people come to him when everything is wrapped up and asking to change their leave (usually with good reasons too).

Yeah, Sisyphus had it easy.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that my carefully laid leave plan for April and May have been uprooted, shuffled and shaken... and I spend all day trying to make the jigsaw fit all over again - with no edges and only pieces of cloud - so that everyone is satisfied. And off course the deadline for sending it to Sector was last Friday... but the G1 in Sector is very understanding and don't have a problem with amendments as long as I can explain why.

End result? After working around two leaves which cannot be changed for very good reasons, I got a new plan down for April and May... but one that means I will miss a family happening myself that I had hoped to be able to attend. In short, my next leave will be from April 13th to May 5th - unless the midden hits the windmill AGAIN!

At times pushing a boulder uphill for eternity looks quite tempting.

Back at the Norwegian House

The worst part of travel is the waiting... and the waiting... and the waiting.

The flights themselves were pretty okay - the short jump from Oslo to Amsterdam was mostly lost in zoning out, while the longer trek from Amsterdam to Khartoum was spent watching movies on the tiny screen in the seat in front of me. First out was "Master and Commander", while the second was the horrible animated "Lord of the Rings"... you either have to be really tired or possible have smoked something illegal to enjoy that movie. Good thing I was that tired...

Due to the fact that the AdmOff was off on a farewell dinner, I and the other UNMO who arrived tonight had to grab a taxi to get to the Norwegian House... even if we up until today have been told to never do that. Lets just say someone is going to hear about that later...

Time to grab some sleep - have to get up way to early tomorrow to grab the flight to Juba and on towards Yei.

Getting ready to head back to Sudan

Even the best times must come to an end, and so must my leave. Tomorrow evening I will be heading to the airport, to catch a plane before dawn on Tuesday - which means today was the last "normal" day on leave.

Well, as normal as can be on a Sunday in February when you try to squeeze it dry. My better half and I first went shopping at the local garden store - picking up of all things a stevia plant - before heading down to Sweden on the combined mission of going on a trip and get the last odds and ends for the pantry. Tomorrow I'll do the last little things that needs doing; visiting the post office, grabbing a couple of rolls of films, grab one or two things in the grocery store and wash the car before parking it for the next couple of months.

 Snow, snow and more snow... I won't see this in Sudan, nor have to deal with temperatures around -16ºC (3ºF) either.

Today's haul - juice, instant tea, crackers and other odds and ends.

Snowy afternoon

After shopping today I noticed that it started to snow... and it's gotten more and more snowy since then. And while I know that February is supposed to be deep winter, the reasonable warm (+1°C) weather when I got back from sunny Sudan caught me off guard and lulled me into a false sense of security... oh well, tomorrow I must shovel snow by the looks of it.

 Not quite African weather - huge snowflakes coming down, covering everything in a thick, white blanket...