anti-negativity

Just last night I was feeling bad about starting off the blog so negatively. But I'm sticking to my commitment to always be true to my present state when I post, so that's what you get. Really,
things have been surprisingly good despite the obstacles. I don't think I wrote about that yet, the obstacles: the surprising contradiction that I have a large beautiful house with a cook and a guard but I have no furniture. (My neighbor loaned me a small table and a chair this morning, so I no longer will have to eat on the floor.) Like the fact that I'm here but my office is not. (It's moving here at the end of the month. My computer should arrive in October.)

By the way, having a cook and a guard is standard and somewhat necessary. For example, because I don't have a stove yet, the cook is using a traditional charcoal stove to prepare my meals (indoors, if it's raining). If I want to eat chicken, she purchases a live one. I may even get some chickens to keep in the garden-- mmm, fresh eggs. The guard takes care of odds and ends-- like calling the plumber to figure out why the water coming out of the tap is black, talking to the landlord about finally getting the electricity turned on, and keeping strangers from cultivating crops in my garden (Turns out that the mini millet field presently in my garden was planted by the guard next door. I told him he can use the field until the harvest).

I was writing to say that I'm not miserable. I'm ok, really, I'm just pissed off that things weren't prepared in advance, as they had agreed, and that I'm still sleeping in a mosquito tent. Now Washington has told me that I don't have a budget for furniture.

Honestly, I remain optimistic about this project and about my role in it. The needs really do fit my strengths and the professional challenges match those that I personally want to tackle. I still believe in the power of human energy and innovation. But now I'm getting impatient, I want to get started, I want to have the tools and resources I need to get the job done.