My Other Office EDITED

I promised and here it is. These are pictures of my office at the Ministry. Asa's so thrilled to be out of that cramped office with all those guys (see earlier blog). And, getting to the ministry is much quicker and easier on her. She's taken possession of this office, making sure the cleaning guys clean it often (that would be the nice man in the picture, then I give tip), she's rearranged the furniture, had me buy a room freshner, and just made it an all around nicer place to be. Of course this must all be put into perspective as we're in a underdeveloped country.

You'll also note the picture of my wonderful grand nieces and nephews on the wall. The Afghans are fascinated with the concept of putting pictures of your family in the office... it's not done here. I'm guessing government officials have gotten into the habit of keeping the names/faces of their families a secret for security reasons. Sorry kids. When looking at this picture, they're convinced the kids are Afghan (except for blonde Maddy). Anyway, we also keep a bowl of candy in the office (tootsie rolls/pops) which is a big draw. Finally, I leave the office door open (something they also find peculiar) to serve as an invitation to walk in. My intent is to pull (not literally) people into my office to talk, a great means of collecting insider information. To date, I've learned it's all about the chocolate but I'll give it a while longer till I'm convinced they're just coming to see Miss Gail because she is so very nice :-}

Work has become most demanding of late. It's the annual time of year when we work with our Afghan colleagues to submit changes in organizational structures/operations which drive personnel, equipment, facilities and budget increases. The challenge is the process developed by the Americans, a process which must be followed in order to justify additional resources, but its just not a good fit with Afghan logic. I'm finding their logic so very different than ours, while also most insightful. Here's how it's working so far: the Afghans think because they really want the extra resources to fight crime, they should have everything they ask for. Of course the bills are paid by the international (primarily US) community, who must justify this increase in their budgets with definitive justification. I'm trying hard to get them to comply, but it's a challenge. The European Police (EUPOL) guys are coming into the ministry today to help me drive Afghan compliance to the required process, but I'm not holding out any great hope. If we fail, the Afghans will brief their program and it will not be supported by the international community... after yesterday's long discussion, they seem amenable to that outcome (no support). I'm using every skill I have in my little imaginary bag to juxtapose Afghan perceived requirements with fiscal responsibility. I'll let you know how it does.

OKAY, DID A FEW MOST NEEDED GRAMMATICAL/CONTENT EDITS. BUT I FORGOT TO SHARE WITH YOU THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT ABOUT THE MINISTRY OFFICE... dramatical pause .... I FOUND AN ALMOST CLEAN, OKAY TOLERABLE, BATHROOM!!!! Now that I'm spending most of my day over there, this is a godsend and I'm sure will contribute significantly to my long term health.