And the countdown begins….

January 14^th 2005, 0855B

Well, yesterday I finally received some kind of “almost” definite word regarding when I’ll be home, & for how long. Chances are I’ve probably jinxed things by letting people know – Murphy is a cast-iron bastard, after all :p – and mentioning it here isn’t likely to help, but as of lunchtime yesterday there are enough personnel available to fully relieve this contingent, & there is no need to accept any applications for extensions. As such, come 3^rd March I’ll be getting on a plane & leaving Burundi in my wake.

There is still a chance that this might change – there’s a large difference between names on a piece of paper, & actual bodies arriving in the mission area after all, and if there’s a personnel shortage then I might still end up staying for an extra 6 months. But right now it looks very likely that I’ll be home, and staying home, at some obscenely early hour on the morning of 5^th March, or about 50 days from now.

So how do I feel about this? Succinctly put, I cannot fucking wait to get home :D

Sure, I’m going to miss the money the extra 6 months here would have brought in, but not a damn am I going to miss this place, or the locals. I have to be honest, & say that I detest 99% of the Burundians I’ve encountered, and my opinion of Bujumbura is such that a carpet-bombing campaign could only serve to improve the place.

Conversely I have already missed, & significantly so, my friends and my life, and the thought of getting back to them again in a few short weeks is one that puts a HUGE fucking smile on my dial :D

Like I say, I’ll miss the money, especially if I am out of a job come September, & I’m disappointed that I’m going to have to hold off on upgrading the notebook or buying that tasty zoom lens I’ve wanted for so long, but all of that is less than nothing when weighed against getting to spend time again with those people who mean the most to me. Hell, I’ll even take the time to pop up to Howick to see my old lady for a day or two when I get home – I just need to time it so that my sister ain’t around :p

But like I say, this still might change, & perversely the more excited at the prospect I become, the more likely it is that there will be a last moment requirement for additional personnel in the mission area, or that this deployment will be extended to May or something – we’re still hearing rumblings about that, even now. I certainly bloody hope not, & needless to say I will not be at all happy should that come to pass, but I’ll keep everyone informed as to what happens. Hold thumbs for me, ok? ;)

Otherwise, there’s not a whole shit load of news from this side. Work continues apace, with the same shit day in & day out. Work’s gone pretty well for the most part, though I’m busy with an exchange of snotty letters with the HR department at the moment, about those outstanding allowances from August. That’s one battle I don’t honestly expect to win though, at least not in terms of ever seeing the cash. Right now, I’m just aiming for the satisfaction inherent in bringing official & high level attention to the fact that they didn’t do their bloody jobs, & that in my opinion they have lied to me every single time I’ve asked for feedback. Actually, I’m having lots of fun seeing just how obnoxious I can be in a letter whilst maintaining an illusion of civility :p

I’ll be out of town for two weeks from tomorrow – I’m deploying to Mwaro again, possibly the last deployment we do before we come home – so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of response to my last little “love note” they come up with in the meantime.

I’m really happy to be deploying to Mwaro again, as I’ve always enjoyed the place, & it’s probably the only thing about Burundi that I’ll actually miss when I get home. It really is beautiful there, peaceful & quiet, and I’m always going to have good memories of the place. I’ll be a little out of touch while I’m there, as per usual, but I’ll do my best to call as many people as possible before I leave tomorrow morning, & I’ll keep in contact by sms till the airtime runs out. For now though, keep well everyone, & I’m really looking forward to seeing you all again in a few weeks :D

Cheers till then ;)