Bumper Cars in Dakar

Today I got a ride to my hotel with a Japanese woman in the office who happened to be leaving at the same time as me and heading in the same direction. When I mentioned that I thought she was brave to drive here, she told me that it's not so bad, and I only need to go to downtown to see 'bad' drivers. Wow! I've seen good-bad drivers (Israel), crazy-bad drivers (Bangkok), and now, scary-bad drivers (Dakar). There was certainly no need for the humanitarian aid agency I work for to have a rule about no driving when on deployment, there is no chance in hell I would chance it here!

Dear Boss, I hereby tender my resignation...

Dear Boss,

I hereby tender my resignation with immediate effect. As you are probably unaware, there are numerous issues with my job and the current workplace which makes my continuing employment here untenable. Although, these in themselves, are reason enough for anyone to leave such a workplace, I have greater things coming my way right now.

I was planning on tendering my resignation in a few weeks' time anyway, but an opportunity has been delivered to me which gives me need to hasten that act. I had planned to leave your employ at the end of July and enjoy a month or so holiday before spending the Jewish New Year with my family in Perth. Following that, I was to move permanently to Israel. This is is a plan which has been roughly (and I use that word in its extreme sense) been in place since late 1993. The dream of returning to live in Israel has always been with me, and, as a wise sage once said (I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her here...):

If I don’t go, I will be forever plagued by the ‘what if’ and it will eventually consume your life and cause me to blame any future failings/mishaps on not ever taking the plunge.

It has already plagued for for a long time. But the fact that I tend to be attracted to certainty (in some aspects of my life) has held me back. No more. It is time to take the plunge and live my dream.

A Divided City No Longer

Pariser Platz - named so many years ago to piss off the French

I have always been amazed by the concept of war, especially, past wars. Mostly, because they don't make sense, but also because countries tend to behave in such ways which make even less sense. Even equating countries with toddlers doesn't quite explain things. The results of WWII are evident throughout Germany,  and although Berlin nowadays acts like one city, it is quite clear from how it looks that there are two sides to the coin.

A Wandering Jew in Berlin

Walking along the East Side Gallery - a remaining part of the Wall

With tens of thousands of Jews living in Berlin now, I wonder to myself a little bit, "why?". While I wonder that, I think others may wonder why Jews even want to visit the city. However, Berlin is, on the surface at least, an extremely multicultural city now with people of all different sorts of colours and backgrounds roaming around. On the one hand, it's hard to imagine the horrors of 20th century, but on the other hand, walking through Berlin, it's hard to forget them too.

The Opposite of Tears of Joy (Smiles of Frustration?)

I think I get a kick out of things going wrong, finding someone or something to blame, and then investing all my energy into somehow extracting my revenge. This tends to occur in the following form:

1. Me, the helpless victim, tries to purchase goods or services from big business.
2. Big business screws me over by not delivering as promised.
3. Consequently, I suffer some massive injustice. This may be that I end up having to pay an addition $3 to get something fixed, am uncomfortable in a plane because I get stuck next to some person who takes up my seat as well as theirs, or something similar. Either way, the injustice I suffer, is, naturally (when I argue about it), roughly equivalent to WWIII.
4. I pull out the Bacher gene (that part of the chromosome inherited from my maternal side of the family) and complain. This is the part that I may get the slightest kick out of it. I complain verbally or in writing. Whichever way I do it, I don't stop until I get my way. Of course, sometimes the effort is way more than the argument is about. But it's about principle and the satisfaction it brings. It feels little better if I can tell myself that the other party has somehow learnt from their mistake.

Lounging Around Lubeck

Why Lubeck? Why not?

How much is that doggy in the window?
Woof woof. Woof woof.

Honesty, not always the best policy

I am angry tonight, because once again I have been fooled into thinking that honesty is the best policy. I'm not saying that lying is the way to go, but leaving out key pieces of information is definitely the winning combination. For the second time in my adult life, the Australian government has screwed me over with respect to important things in my life because I give away too much.

The first instance, I had better not discuss here in too much detail - but lets just say I learnt from the mistake of honesty. The net effect? I am saving myself $500+ per year and the past half dozen years or so have proven that no one is worse off as a result.

A day or two after being offered my job in Denmark, I got contacted regarding the possibility of working in Antarctica with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). It was something I had applied for many months earlier after meeting some people who had worked down there, and discovering that there really was a possibility I could work there too. The place had always fascinated me, but I had put it together with becoming an astronaut - something I was unlikely to do unless I was one of those rich tourists. But these people made me realise it was possible. But after not hearing back from my application, I had given up. When this possibility reappeared, I got super-excited, but after much deliberation, I decided that a bird in the hand was better than two in the bush - so I stuck with Denmark.

Fast forward 16 months and another application with the AAD for their annual intake, and I receive an email notifying me I have been shortlisted and invited to attend a selection centre. Great! I was even going to be in Australia round about that time, so figured I'd be able to coordinate something to make it. In the midst of emailing back and forth with HR, I suddenly receive an email stating that I "do not meet the necessary medical checklist requirements". What?!? Although I truly believe 'tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. In this case, I had been handed a winning lotto ticket only to be told the next day that the jackpot was $0 due to a technical glitch! And what is this "medical" condition I have? Asthma. Yes, the 'condition' suffered by around 1 in 15 people. And when I say 'suffer', I mean, a couple of times a year I take the odd puff on the Ventolin - because I know how to look after myself. But no, this is enough, I'm told, to immediately rule me out of ever working for the Australian government in Antarctica (the Yanks would take me, I'm told...). And why? Because it's just too risky.Argh!

So the lesson here? Don't disclose something you don't have to. If you think you know better, you probably do. If you are confident that hiding something won't do any damage, but will get you what you want, then hide it. I am yet to determine whether this adage applies in general, or only with the Australian government. They're up to 2 strikes - one more, and they're out!