Sudan or not Sudan?
Mumbai is no longer classified as a 25 percent hardship differential post. The Powers That Be – who, even more amusingly, be in Washington – decided that traffic has suddenly gotten 20 percent better; the air, 20 percent cleaner, etc. Me, I don't see it. But I'm a pretty small cog in these wheels
This is otherwise known as "the Iraq tax," by the way.
But, as they say, when a door closes a window opens. Or, the corollary: when the paycheck's purloined, a chance to get the hell out emerges.
One can generally always leave a lower-differential post for a tougher place. I now have the freedom to leave Mumbai for an echt 25 percent post without reversing my career over those one-way tire spikes.
Now, granted, 25 percent posts are not, generally, nice places. And K has already made it clear there are things up with which he will not put. And as hard as career opportunities are for him to come by in Mumbai, Cote d'Ivoire would, undoubtedly, present special challenges.
Here's the thing: Mumbai is a greasy, grimy city with toxic air and – the big surprise and disappointment – an even more toxic culture. Six months into a three-year tour, I feel adrift in tropical lassitude, peering at the event horizon of middle age.
(And yes, smarty-pantses: it's already occurred to me that the problem is not Mumbai but that "three years" thing, and at some level I'm thinking I can cheat the big 4-0, Zeno-like, if I take a three-year tour, curtail to split it in two, split that in two, etc. May it please the court to note that I'd be perfectly willing to attempt to refute this theory by, say, signing up for a three-year tour in Melbourne.)
Anyway. Khartoum is on offer. It'd be a one-year post, but really more like ten months. K (and the cats) would have to go back to the States for the duration. But, there are all kinds of large financial incentives attached to the job, I'd be running my own shop in an interesting place, and at the end of ten months (versus 30 months Mumbai) I'd have earned my freedom and could go anywhere -- back to Washington, or put in for Melbourne. Or Cote d'Ivoire, or something.
Of course, I'd have to take anti-malarials, and I have an irrational fear of anti-malarials. And people are trying to blow up the Embassy there, though it's not like that's not also a goal for some here (other than the staff, I mean). This, too, is the Iraq tax.
This is otherwise known as "the Iraq tax," by the way.
But, as they say, when a door closes a window opens. Or, the corollary: when the paycheck's purloined, a chance to get the hell out emerges.
One can generally always leave a lower-differential post for a tougher place. I now have the freedom to leave Mumbai for an echt 25 percent post without reversing my career over those one-way tire spikes.
Now, granted, 25 percent posts are not, generally, nice places. And K has already made it clear there are things up with which he will not put. And as hard as career opportunities are for him to come by in Mumbai, Cote d'Ivoire would, undoubtedly, present special challenges.
Here's the thing: Mumbai is a greasy, grimy city with toxic air and – the big surprise and disappointment – an even more toxic culture. Six months into a three-year tour, I feel adrift in tropical lassitude, peering at the event horizon of middle age.
(And yes, smarty-pantses: it's already occurred to me that the problem is not Mumbai but that "three years" thing, and at some level I'm thinking I can cheat the big 4-0, Zeno-like, if I take a three-year tour, curtail to split it in two, split that in two, etc. May it please the court to note that I'd be perfectly willing to attempt to refute this theory by, say, signing up for a three-year tour in Melbourne.)
Anyway. Khartoum is on offer. It'd be a one-year post, but really more like ten months. K (and the cats) would have to go back to the States for the duration. But, there are all kinds of large financial incentives attached to the job, I'd be running my own shop in an interesting place, and at the end of ten months (versus 30 months Mumbai) I'd have earned my freedom and could go anywhere -- back to Washington, or put in for Melbourne. Or Cote d'Ivoire, or something.
Of course, I'd have to take anti-malarials, and I have an irrational fear of anti-malarials. And people are trying to blow up the Embassy there, though it's not like that's not also a goal for some here (other than the staff, I mean). This, too, is the Iraq tax.
4 Comments:
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Anonymous said...
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- 8:13 AM
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- 8:14 AM
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esquiver said...
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- 8:14 AM
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Anonymous said...
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- 8:15 AM
Post a CommentHmmm. It sounded good to me, until I looked up Khartoum and, within the first significant paragraph, was presented with this link: "(see Khartoum diplomatic assassinations)".
It's not just the fact that there have been diplomatic assassinations (hey, it's Africa, big surprise) but that there have been enough to qualify for their own topic heading, like "festivals" in a Brazilian travel guide.
By the way, loved the bit about the employed monkeys.
Ryan
When I was teaching at the nonprofit agency, I had a couple of students from Sudan. They were both very glad to have gotten out of there. I imagine the life of a Muslim Sudanese woman would be very different from that of a US diplomat, but even so: Sudan. Yow.
Are there any other options on the table? Other than Cote d'Ivoire, I mean.
Chad? And Lagos is frequently available.
Yeah, I might hold out longer. Sometimes an "urgent call for volunteers" comes for some unlikely places -- last spring, it was Iceland. (What? No one wanted to learn the language?) With my seasonal affective disorder, though, I might fare better taking my chances with the assassins.
Love the journal though we are questioning your sanity. We're trying to visit everywhere you are stationed but we might have to draw the line at assassination prone places. Be careful of tropical lassitude. It may make you hallucinate, in other words, make bad decisions. But, from a data point of view, if can you be effective, have an interesting time and the probability of not be assassinated is low enough for you, it could provide ample rewards. We used to call this the fun to bucks ratio. It's an effective tool to help with decision making.
-V
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