Time flies...

I'll try to write in English once in a while that everybody can follow 'the trip' a little bit.

A quick update for those who haven't heard of me for a long time and are reading this blog for the first time.
I'm back to Jerusalem, working for the same NGO I have been working since November 2002. By the way, anyone knows of a FoodSec who'd be willing to come for 2 months to write a proposal? We need one urgently!

Last time I was here for almost 1,5 years (no blog at that time, sorry), then I worked at the HQ in Madrid and then 5 months in the Philippines (check here the highlights of that mission).
Always working on Finance / Management / Human Resources.

In between, I bought my flat in Setúbal, have almost finished my Kundalini Yoga teacher certification and have started teaching Kundalini Yoga in Portugal - and I'm LOOVVINNG IT!
I also have a dog, Juni :-) - now spending the 'Summer holidays' at my parents' place.

This time, I came to Jerusalem for 2,5 months, covering part of the maternity leave of the Mission Administrator. It's already been more than 3 weeks, since I arrived and weeks seem to go by... super-fast!!

Work - I finally have the feeling I know more or less where I'm going. It was a long week but one of the reports due is almost out of the way (just waiting for HQ's comments), the other one is a task for next week, after the accountancy is done and closed. Finally, the audit was postponed as there were other (more urgent) files to attend.
Next week, a new colleague is arriving (French, who already lives here, so still plenty of free room at the expat's house) and the current Head of Mission (German) is leaving. The new Head of Mission (British-Swiss, what a combination...) will only arrive around the 20th-22nd.

So far, I haven't got any pictures or travels to talk about as I'm working on the translation (I'm trying to become a free-lance translator for real) and not going out much (or at all, actually).

Apart from work, here goes this week on Susie's space and time...

Monday, on one of the streets just before the office, there were 3-4 police vans and a few police horses. There's a lot of wasteland around this neighborhood but hardly the type of place where you'd bring the horses to practice... A few streets down, from what I could see, there were two military jeeps too...
I had my answer upon arriving to the office. Many of the houses around here (our house and the office are on an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem) are illegal, no permits issued by the County so, once in a while, the County sends a demolition team, guarded by military jeeps, that they carry on their task. The horses are meant to scatter the population in case a crowd starts to gather at the site and the vans in case they need to take someone in. Just the view you like to have on the early morning...

This week's menu:
- stuffed mini-zucchini with egg and cheese soufflé (pretty good actually) and greek salad; scrambled eggs with tomatoes and mini-zucchini tortilla; meat balls with roasted potatoes and carrots; peppers and tomatoes stuffed with spaghetti, peas and corn; eggplants stuffed with minced meat, carrots and peas; rice and fish salad and beans and meat stew with white rice.
All this on hot Summer days...
Is it good? Well, yes. Would I rather a salad? Well, yes.
Yesterday, my meals were watermelon, watermelon and watermelon!

No 'party' this week. The closest to going out was the ice-cream with Ed. on Wednesday evening. Two big scoops, one of Vanilla with chocobits and one of Coffee! :) Remember the sweet shop by the supermarket? Now they also have homemade ice-cream, pretty good and the terrace is full of customers all the time!


The beginning of the week felt like we were on a sauna, pretty stuffy but, by now, the weather is a bit cooler, which is great when you have to stay at home working on the weekend. :-( My colleagues headed off to Eilat (south, on the Red Sea) and Tel-Aviv (West, by the Mediterranean) . (click on the map to see it better)

And I'll do the same in a couple of weeks! Though I think my first trip will be to the Dead Sea!... :)

Only 9 days left until I have to send the translation so you probably won't see much of me until then, either here or by email.

Enjoy the holidays or, for who's at work, enjoy the Summer, have lunch outside, have a drink at Sunset before going home...
On Tuesday, back home from a long and a bit frustrating day, the Sun was this amazing orange-red ball of warm light, slowly 'going down' into the horizon. Looking at that, how can you not let all the troubles and exhaustion just wash away and feel peaceful, united, ready to enjoy your evening?

Soundtrack to this post: "Life in Rain" - Quantic, Lux – "Northern Lights", "Kerma Elastica" - Hughes, Bobby Combination, "Desert Rose" - Sting, "The Homes of Donegal" - Paul Brady & others (lyrics).