Flying home

Just wanted to share a photo I took through the window of the plane during the last leg - roughly at the spot where we crossed into Norwegian airspace - click to make bigger.

Home at last

It was a very long trip home...

We travelled as a group of six Norwegians, which was nice since I had someone to talk to along the way. Getting to Juba Airport around 1400 local time (1300 Norwegian time), we got through the check-in and security check with no hassle - travelling in uniform does have it's benefits. Then we had to hang around in the departure hall until well past five in the afternoon, being warm and sweaty. For some reason that was beyond the grasp of any of us, our little group was split up on two different flights leaving with fifteen minutes between us. We found it strange, and even more so when we realised that both flights had enough free seats to fit the whole group twice over.

Our first jump brought us to Addis Ababa, where we had some food before going through yet another security check. Our next flight was to take off at 2300 local time (2200 Norwegian time), and once aboard we realised just how little the UN must have paid for our tickets - if we had been further back in the cabin we would been riding in the galley... and as I'm sure most know; being in the back means more noise, more traffic in the aisle and less rest. Between take off and landing I got less than half an hour of napping, but I did get to watch a couple of movies and read a fair bit.

Landing in Frankfurt, we had time for a cup of coffee and a bite before boarding the last flight - again I was in the back, with my back against the galley wall. The nice thing was that I got a row all to myself, so I could relax and read some more while listening to music. It ended up being the most relaxing part of the jorney home to be honest...

We touched down at Oslo Airport about a quarter to ten in the morning, but our epic travels were far from done... we were picked up at the airport and taken to a nearby military base for our medical debrief and the handing out of medals. Since I've been extremely lucky (and also quite careful while in Sudan) I got a clean bill of health - at least until the results of the blood work comes in. They fed us too; slices of wholegrain bread with stuff on them, just the thing I've been missing the last year (the only bread I could find in Sudan was white bread).

After pinning a medal on us they drove us back to the airport; some of us had a flight to catch to get all the way home, some of us had made other arrangements. I finally walked through my door around 1800 on Thursday, home at last...

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...

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...

Home again on leave

While KLM isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, I think I prefer Lufthansa... they got better entertainment in Economy. Didn't get much rest on the plane either, the other passengers and the turbulence saw to that.

It is good to be home for a while, even more so since February is warmer than normal - well, so far at least. The downside of that is, off course, that everything is going to be wet and miserable... oh well, at least I am with the one who means the most to me; my wife.

My plans for the leave isn't great.. I'll putter around the house, order a few odds and ends for my fellow UNMOs in the Team Site, make sure the pantry is filled up and generally relax.

I'm going to get an early start on that last item; right away in fact.

Back from leave

Traveling can be stressful... even more so when pretty much all of Europe features closed airports, delays, cancellations, unhelpful helpers and other yule tide fun.

In short, due to the weather Frankfurt decided to close down and cancel all flight. Anyone remember that disaster flick "Airport"? Where the snow just comes piling down, the airplanes keeps circling and no one gets the bright idea to reroute? That's probably what they wanted to avoid - along with London's airports, Paris, Amsterdam and so on and so forth.

Luckily, even if SAS was anything but helpful today, VIA Travel (who is on contract with the Norwegian Armed Forces) pulled an amazing stunt and managed to get me rerouted... via Milan and Cairo. Granted, I arrived in Khartoum just in time to have a quick shower and head over to the UN Airport, but still...

Flying to Milan was slightly surreal... I was the only passenger in Business Class (which means that I got food, unlike the 'cattle' in identical seat behind the curtain.). The stewardess simply could not do enough for me, and even less so when she heard that I would not be home for Christmas. Offers of drinks and more drinks, two sets of pillows (I gently declined her offer of more), leaving the coffee pot in the seat next to me... Where the SAS personnel at Gardemoen had failed miserably in their service, the SAS stewardess more than made up for it. She was also quite interested to hear about Sudan and the UN Mission there... from what I gathered the son of a friend of hers is currently in Afghanistan, so I guess she could relate and compare.

Apart from the stellar service aboard, the flight was uneventful. All of Europe as far as I could see was covered in clouds, with just the very tips of the Alps sticking up through the cloud cover. Once below the clouds, what I could spot of northern Italy is flat, have a dusting of snow, and isn't nowhere as cold as Norway was. As for the airport... meh. It's an airport, and I'm just passing through. The cappuccino was pretty darn awesome though - but that would been more of a surprise if it wasn't.

From Milan to Cairo was, well, less impressive than the first leg, even if the seat was wider. The food was decent enough (two course dinner - a salmon salad for starters and filled chicken for main course), but nothing more than that... for being business class it was less impressive than Lufthansa's Economy class. I guess Egyptair just isn't in quite the same class as the Big Boys... or, alternatively, they don't rely on their business class passengers to line their pockets. To top of the experience, we were an hour late in taking off from Milan, so naturally we arrived an hour late as well. Plain awesome - if I've been on vacation I might even become annoyed with it. Since I was traveling on duty, it was just a case of 'meh' - I can't really be bothered to care to much when I'm traveling on someone else dime.

As for Cairo Airport... it's probably a great place to go to or eave from, but if I can possible avoid it I won't use it for a transit ever again. The place is huge, sprawling and impossible to navigate - partly because the terminals are so far apart you need a car and driver to get between them! So I spent about one hour waiting at the first transit desk, then a half hour driving around the airport with an armed guard, and then... well, lets just say more waiting was involved. All in all my planned four hour, fifty minute layover was reduced to just shy of one hour once I was past the transit check in...

Oh well... such is life. At least I had time to give my better half a call and get a large cappuccino - no where as yummy as the cup I enjoyed in Milano, but after almost three hours of not knowing what was going on it was certainly welcome. Checking in was reasonable painless, but had it's pointless parts, like sending our carry on through an X-ray machine with no operator...

Once aboard the Kenya Airway flight my mood improved considerably - happy, smiling Africans greeting us (just like the Africans I know from Yei), good seats (even if I was behind the curtain), clean and inviting interior... I can see why the airline calls itself the Pride of Africa. One of the stewards offered me to switch uniforms, and I must admit that his bright red dress jacket and black pants was stylish. Had I been even more sleepy I might been tempted to take him up on it, despite the fact that he would have to serve the hot snack in fatigues.

The hot snack was pretty good too - better than the chicken I got from Milan to Cairo, but less good than the spread of Christmas specialties I got on the first leg of my flight - a pretty decent beef stew with rice. The bun was stale, off course, but I don't think it's humanly possible to serve a truly fresh bun in flight.

Arrving at Khartoum I blew through the airport in twenty minutes, quite probably setting a new record for Norwegian UNMOs. No hazzle with the passport, no hazzle with the luggage, no hazzle with customs - I actually had to wait for the car instead of the other way around. The Norwegian House is still an oasis for us, and it felt great to kick my shoes off, grab a soda and shoot the shit with the AdmOff for a little while. But only a little while, since with my plane leaving in the wee hours of the morning, I barely had time to shower, change clothes and repack my bag - grabbing a couple of things I left in Khartoum on my way out and putting some things away in the Norwegian House for safekeeping... things like my travel uniform and heavy fleece jacket. It was nice to have in Norway, but I dont think I'll need it in Yei.

The flights from Khartoum to Yei was almost routine compared to the mess that was my fights too Khartoum - simply meet up at the UN terminal, get my MOP form stamped, say hello to the airport-kitty and have a coffee... and then snooze on the flight to Juba. Rinse and repeat for the helicopter flight from Juba to Yei, only taking a break from snoozing while landing in Torrit so I could get some fresh air and a chat with a Norwegian UNPOL.

Off course once back, I barely had time to put my bags in my container before I had to dive into work... in addition to my duties as G1 and D/TSL, I'm also filling in as Acting G3 for a while since the G3 went to his leave with the very same helicopter I arrived on. There is no rest for the wicked, and apparently not for an UNMO either. So yeah, I'm back in Yei. I dearly wish I had managed a longer leave, but I enjoyed the days I did get very much.

That thing in the chimey

Maybe not so strange that the chimney was blocked up... this is how it looks after it was bludgeoned to the bottom of the chimney by a 2by6 on a chain.

On the bright side, the chimney sweep was able to inspect the now very clean chimney with his camera on a stick, and while he thinks our chimney should be good for casual use it'll probably still need a new liner. But then, so might all the chimneys in the neighbourhood - he was somewhat surprised by the sloppy workmanship. Back when they built the houses in '75, they built them cheap - but at least we got a working fireplace again.

Being home on leave

It is... strange, I think is the best word, to be home on leave.

I'm sure most people can relate - over the last few weeks I've gotten into the habit, as it were, of being posted to Sudan. Now I suddenly find myself in Norway... not only is the temperature significantly lower, but the mindset is turned around completely too.  On the other hand, the mental refill a visit home provides is most welcome. A return to normality - however brief - is a great way to reset the brain... to show me that not everything is dust and mud and borderline poverty.

Much in the same way the contrasts within Sudan always grabs my attention, the contrasts between Sudan and Norway is at the forefront of my mind when I'm not busy otherwise. Not just the obvious ones - like the weather - but also the ones that are less in your face. Like the fact that you can pay with plastic in Norway, while cash is the only game in town in Sudan. You can get what you need both places, even if there is more legwork while in Sudan. The difference is that in South Sudan I get what I need, while in Norway I can get what I want - a big, but not always obvious, difference. Another difference I much appreciate is the fact that I can do real cooking while at home, buying meat I can trust not to have been out in the sun for hours.

 Yei the day I left...

...home, the day I arrived. Can you spot the difference?

Off course, being home can be troublesome too - like having to call the chimney sweeper to help clear a blocked flue. Blocked, I might add, because the guy who swept the chimney last year managed to get his chimney brush stuck in our chimney and left it there - WITHOUT telling no one. The chimney sweep that came by today was looking forward to looking up in the system who did our chimney last, and leave the brush and ball on his desk...

Home on leave

Norway is colder than it was when I left, and I don't recall there being several inches of snow on the ground either... but I'm home, and that is the important part.

My next mission, and I have already accepted it, is to not think about the issues of the Team Site, not think about the chaos that is UN bureaucracy, not think about the failing generators... at least not until the 20th, when I'll be back in Yei.

Last day of training / visit by the Commander National Joint Headquarters

Today was the last day of induction training - which was the 'first day' we missed almost two weeks ago. Kind of funny to hear the introduction to the course we were just about done with... As the other days, it was some good lessons, some less so and one missing completely. In other words, business as normal.

The afternoon was less normal - the Commander National Joint Headquarters (General Brovold) is making a tour of the mission, and as part of his tour he wanted to meet us over a cup of coffee for a free and honest exchange... what we think  about the mission, the support from home, the future of Sudan and many, many other things. As often happens when Norwegians meet over a cup of good, strong, black coffee, the talk was lively, unstructured and quite engaged. Brovold certainly seems to have both his feet on the ground, as we say in Norway, and what little laundry we had was hung out rather quickly, leaving us plenty of time to talk about our expectations from the mission, our thoughts on the referendum and the pros and cons of the various forms of malaria prophylaxis.

Later in the evening we all - that is us UNMOs, the NSE (National Support Element - aka our AdmOff) as well as General Brovold and his retinue - was treated to dinner... and what a dinner: the buffet at a local four star hotel. I'm stuffed to the gills.

Tomorrow we'll sleep in a bit - and then we'll start chasing after forms and signatures for sending our gear as well as traveling too our respective team sites.

Last (I promise) new gear

This time; A coffee mug! Or possible a coffee pot... or tea pot. It's for making and consuming hot, caffeinated beverages!

The makers of it call it a "travel press", and that nicely describes what it is; it's a coffee press that doubles as a travel mug. Coffee to go has never been more true. As those who knows Norwegians know all too well; we drink coffee by the bucket. So it was very lucky that my better half decided that she wanted to see if the local kitchen supply store had something else on sale still, because last we were there the travel presses sold for more than twice the price.

I have to admit; I'm testing it out right now =)

Oh, shiny!

Silicone seals, unscrews easily, leak proof closure - what is not to like?

Papers please...

Travelling to Sudan isn't quite as easy as strolling down to the shop to pick up a carton of milk, and requires a bit more paperwork than taking a vacation in the that strange place Norwegian calls the South (ie; somewhere warm and not Norway).

It's even more complicated than going to the US, even after the latest changes to the rules for doing that...

Anyhow, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place today; I got an electronic copy of my ticket. So now I got my Service Passport, my little yellow booklet with my vaccinations listed, my Entry Visa, my Travel Authorisation and my ticket... and add to that the entry form I need to fill out in flight with the address I'll be reachable at in Sudan and you got it all.

Okay, I kept you reading long enough - what you really would like to know is when I'm leaving, right?

My flight out of Norway is Sunday 19th at 10:20 in the morning, via Frankfurt and on towards Khartoum. I should arrive in Khartoum at 22:55 at night, which would be 21:55 Norwegian time and 15:55 in the afternoon EST.

Due to the fact that I have to check in at least two hours ahead of time (flying international and all), I need to take the bus that leaves from Moss shortly after 05:00 in the morning. Seems like my deployment day is going to be a very long day...

Lines of communication and cake

Just in case not everybody is aware of it, the following is my lines of communication:

• The blog is for things that are not private.
• For things that are private but not time critical, there is email.
• For things that are private and time critical, there is phone (satellite or UN copper)
• And there there is snailmail

Also, today I was asked to swing by work around lunch time (I'm currently burning vacation days), so my fellow officers and civilian co-workers could have the chance to wish me a safe trip. Nothing fancy - thankfully - but touching nevertheless and much appreciated.

Schedule changes

As the date creeps closer, some things are slipping. Like, say, the date.


I got an email today - in response to a question I asked - indicating that I won't be shipping out on the 13th. But then I always knew that there was a good chance of the date slipping somewhat. The latest info is that I'm likely to ship out on the 18th or 19th - if the UN in New York gets around to sending my paperwork in time that is.


The good thing is that it gives me more time to get everything in order around the house, as well as more time to learn how to use my latest gear.

More gear has arrived

As the date for deployment creeps closer, the last of the new gear has arrived - a new digital camera, since my old one is slooow to start and have started to eat batteries faster, and a hand held GPS just in case I get lost or separated from the team while in Sudan. I've actually been lusting for a GPS for a while now, but couldn't really justify one for biking to work... but now that I had a proper reason I got one.

The other big thing has been getting everything ready at home for me to be away for a prolonged period of time - the problem is that while I know I'm getting home on leave, it's impossible to say before I'm at the team site when my first leave is going to be. It can be one month after I deploy, it can be up to three. The average seems to be two, but we cant plan based on that.

Part of the preparations is to stock up on dried and frozen goods, and there is no cheaper place in Norway for bulk shopping than in Sweden. So I grabbed the new camera and the new GPS and went on my way...

Three lessons learned:

1. The basic map built into the GPS is very basic - thankfully I know where to get more accurate maps for free.
2. The GPS is quite accurate (if you put the coordinates in the photo into Google Earth and Google Maps, you'll discover what parking spot I was using).
3. The camera requires a little bit of getting used to to make good photos.

The things I pack

I've started to pack, and among all the other things I've packed two 'things' I hope I wont need.

One is my huge bag of medications, bandages and field dressings - I've must have gotten more bandages and antibiotics than most people will use in a lifetime. Hopefully I'll bring it all home unopened - apart from the anti-malaria medication , that is ;)

The other is my 'protective gear' - my ballistic vest, helmet and respirator. All in tasteful UN blue, which goes so well with my blue eyes... The vest is a Class IV vest by the way, so it's pretty damn heavy to lug around.

Like the medication, it's dead weight until it's needed. And if it's needed I'll be very happy to have brought it with me.

It's heavier than it looks, but the armour plates can quite literary stop a speeding bullet

 I also discovered a neat touch with the vest - the apron that protects my groin can be velcroed in an 'up' protection, giving my guts and chest an extra layer of protection if I'm sitting in a car. The collar can also be folded up, at the expense of limiting the mobility of my head - but doing so will eliminate the gap between my helmet and the vest.

Of the stuff I pack that I do plan on using, it's mostly clothes - uniforms, socks and shirts - and off course the 'sundry items'; a pair of extension cords, a small ½l water boiler, sunscreen, sunscreen and more sunscreen, as well as food and utensils. Most of my food will off course come from local sources, but all indications points towards how nice it is to have something quick, simple and Norwegian for comfort food. With that goal in mind, as well as the need for food that will keep well unrefrigerated, I've invested in an ample supply of dehydrated dinners and instant soups. To top it off some crispbread and instant oatmeal will make it into the box as well, along with - perhaps - a sleeve or two of dry cookies...

Dehydrated dinners - simply add boiling water, wait for five to ten minutes and enjoy.

No Real Norwegian would forget to pack coffee...

Lots of spicy soups to combat the bland food - rice and beans feature largely in the local cuisine.

Sunscreen, sunscreen and more sunscreen.

For eating on the go - proper plates I'll get once I've arrived and gotten my bearings.

For when I'm REALLY on the go - courtesy of the Swedish Armed Forces (got it in Finland from one of the Swedish
instructors)

All told I have two medium sized bags filled with soft goods, a small (60x40x40) Zarges box with various 'observer gear' and a large (80x60x60) Zarges with everything else. In addition comes the backpack and bag I'll carry on the flight as luggage - which will include what little civilian clothes I need to bring along.

End of initial training - good to be home

Lets face it - cramming three weeks worth of lessons into two weeks are going to leave you winded. I've been home for a couple of days and I'm not sure if I've landed yet or not.

The medical cases on Wedensday was very good. Instead of doing a huge case (which would have meant a few people got any real training, while the rest would be mere spectators), they had us work one on one, complete with make-up, bleeding wounds and some decent acting. Some less decent acting too, off course; we're officers, not actors on the silver screen... thankfully.

As for the IED and mine/UXO awareness... very centred on Afghanistan, less useful for me, but the bits on mines and UXOs was worth sitting through. Off course things are simplified a bit as an observer, since the UNs Standard Operating Procedure for travelling in an area that you suspect is mined simply says "Don't".

Thursday was something of a ragbag of lessons they hadn't had time for earlier - including one on the laws of war - and ending with beer and pizza in the evening, since it was the last night of the course for the UN personnel. The guys heading out for NATO still had another week to go, but not me...

Friday was spend mostly driving.. driving from Terningmoen back down to Sessvollmoen (about one hour) to grab the last odds and ends of our gear, as well as changing anything that didn't fit. Then from Sessvollmoen to Lutvann (another hour) to get the latest intelligence brief on Sudan, before driving home (a bit more than one hour) in time for food.

Overall, a busy two weeks but hopefully productive.

First part of the second week

As I'm sure y'all can understand, I've been a little too busy to do much blogging - when I get to Sudan things shou slow down a lot... everyone I talk to who has been down there points out the laid back approach to life all the non-europeans have down there. If it don't happen today, it may happpen tomorrow - unless it rains and we can't drive anywhere.

Monday was - apart from driving up here in the morning - more briefs and 'exchange of experience'. A fair bit of the later was very Afganistan spesifi, but still interesting to understand what is going o in that part of the world and to reaffirm my determination no to go there if I can at all avoid it.

Tuesday was a medical day - starting with a brief about the healthrisks in the area of operation (AO), and followng up with a brief on how to cope with stress caused by extreme situations irncluding, but not limited too, the after effects of decades of civil war in Sidan. The cliff notes of the former is "keep your hands clean" and "don't panic, most critters will rather run away", and of the later they read "it helps to talk about it, the sooner the better" as well as "call family daily". The last advice I'll have no trouble following - even less so since the options include the sat-phone (paid by the goverment, but don't abuse it), the UN phone system (cheap as dirt) as well as a - apperantly - well built out cell phone network.

Wedensday is meant to be a pretty 'hot' day - IEDs and mine awareness, complete with a medical excercise. I just hope the weather turns at least decent... tuesday was very wet.

The list of nice-to-bring item keeps growing, yet stays manageble by the simple fact that virtually anything can be bought in the capital before I am deployed to the teamsite. Of the things experienced voices suggests, the top items are a waterboiler, instant soup and oatmeal. Most teamsites offers decent - if somewhat pricey by the local standard - messhalls, which serves big, filling lunches... that means only breakfast and an evening snack needs to be prepared in the container if I don't feel like cooking.

Time to get cracking... only a few more days of training, and the intructors are making sure we dont waste time.