No Celine. No Ethiopian music. Not even any gunshots tonight! Just a few crickets and a few creatures scurrying around in my ceiling. And the sound of my typing, of course. I sort of like hearing myself type. I was wrong, by the way, about where the Ethiopian music was coming from last night - the Ethiopian trade show is on the other side of town, not at the trade show. So I'm not sure why there was Ethiopian music blaring from the cultural center last night! I went with one of my friends to the trade show this afternoon after work, and it was, well... um, not really all that exciting, actually. But I got to meet loads of her colleagues from work, and even sat and had a drink with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce!
But the most exciting part of my day was my arts and crafts session with Andy, our visiting computer savvy guy (I'm not allowed to use the word "geek" anymore). He showed me how to put ends on the network cables and even how to attach them to a socket in the wall. It was like being back in arts and crafts class - I got to use special tools, put the different colored wires in certain orders and certain slots, and snap things together! Really, it was quite fun to do something completely different today! And I feel like I'm learning SO much by just hanging out with Andy and Rauf (the other computer guy who came along this week).
My not so favorite part of the day was where I had to get some of the translation staff here to sign their new contracts. The Director of Administration happens to be in a different part of the country at the moment, so he can't be here to sign all the annual contracts with these guys. So he asked me to do some of them on his behalf. Argh. I don't like administration, and I don't like having to try to explain employment things and salaries to people - especially when I don't quite get it myself!
And I have to admit that some of them can be quite... well... um... maybe "fierce" is the right word, when it comes to discussions of salary and money! Supposedly they already agreed with the administration on what their salaries would be, and of course, I'm not a part of that discussion at all. So now when they come to sign the contracts and still have questions about it... well, I can't do anything except refer them to the folks that they had the original discussions with. Unfortunately, those folks are in a different part of the country. And discussing some of these issues long-distance, even by phone, is a bit of stretch for them.
There are just some things that have to be done in person in this culture. And I'm learning what sorts of things can be taken care of by email or a phone call, and what sorts of things require a personal presence to get done. In our culture, we really value time and efficiency - get things done as quickly as possible. So you shoot off an email or leave a message in someone's voice mail. Quick and easy. But here, sometimes you've just got to get in the car, or even get on a plane, and go and sit down with someone and talk to them, face to face. But in a lot of ways, I can appreciate the face-to-face-ed-ness of this culture. It causes you to slow down, and to focus on the person that you're dealing with. And I like that. It puts the other person ahead of your own agenda and ahead of what YOU think is the most important thing to get accomplished. And I like things that help me focus on people, because people, not tasks, are what's important!
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