Mornings in Hibernation

We have been in 'hibernation' ...

** Side note - 

Someone asked me this week what is the difference between hibernation and lockdown. 
My best response was that when we are in lockdown serious s*** is going on outside - we have to stay inside to be safe. Hibernation is more to do with monitoring the situation from a known location to see what happens. 
Anyway, I think that's the difference. 

Now. Back to today's main programming.

We have been in 'hibernation' now pretty much all week. Yesterday we went into the office. Wednesday, we were allowed to leave the premises. Which I did just because I could. 

But since it has now been almost 7 days straight of being home (counting the weekend), I have gotten myself into a pretty nice habit. 

Mornings. 

my 'office' 

In the mornings, I stay in my pjs for as long as I can. I wake up early while it is still cool, get myself a yummy Kenyan coffee, open my computer and read the news. And start working. Emails and writing and such. 

And eventually, say around 11am, I will get myself together, get dressed, get some food and move to my desk. And continue working. 

This is going to be a difficult habit to give up when we head back into the office. 

Degrees of Separation

They say that there are an average of 6 degrees of separation between any individual on the planet. 

Via

In fact, in looking for a photo, I discovered that social scientist Stanley Milgram (of the infamous Obedience to Authority experiment) tested this theory as well, in what he called the small world theory. He found that between any individual and some other random individual, there is an average of 5 people in between. Hence, the 6 degrees of separation. 

In the NGO world though, even though it is a world that spans the globe, it is much smaller. 

Some might argue it is too small. 

***

A few weeks ago a logistician friend of mine in Ireland had to conduct a logs induction for 2 people he had never met before - never even heard of. A man and a woman who were being deployed to 2 separate countries shortly after that. Indeed, the man and the woman being inducted had not met, nor heard of each other either. 

So the scene is set - 3 complete strangers sitting in a room together talking about logistics.

Now, this friend of mine is very chatty, so of course he started talking with these 2 about their past experience, where they had been, where they are going, what they will do there... 

And it is in this process that he discovers that they all have one thing in common. 

ME. 

(ok, and my old housemate in Haiti too - so 2 things in common)

Yes, sitting in that room were 3 people who had never met nor had any knowledge of the other peoples' existence, yet all 3 of them were acquainted (professionally or otherwise) to me. 

6 degrees of separation? 

Try 2...

(oh, and apparently they all had a great laugh about it then, and then my loggie friend and I had a great laugh about it afterwards)

And that's not the first time that has happened...nor will it be the last...

Shameless Self-Promotion

I don't really like to post what organisation I am working for here in this space. For a few reasons. 

1) All the opinions here are my own and I don't want them to be responsible for them coming back the organisation I work for. 

2) If you know the organisation I work for, you can easily find me. And that's kinda creepy. VERY creepy actually. 

3) Well, mostly just those 2 reasons. 

BUUUTTTTT.... There always comes a time to break the rules. Especially when self-promotion is involved. 

So - go read the blog I wrote for my current organisation about the Kenya elections. Much more exciting than the blog I wrote yesterday about being in lockdown. 

It's here: http://www.goal.ie/NewsDetails/223

Cool. 

Big Brother

Today is election day in Kenya. A day where Kenyan citizens go to the polls and cast their ballots for their chosen presidential candidates (amongst others).

Today is also day 1 of me not being able to go out of doors. 

Lock-down. 

My organisation has placed expats under lock-down more on a just-in-case basis. Just-in-case something happens like last time (post-election violence), just-in-case we need to be gotten a hold of, just-so-we-know-where-you-are. 

It's not a bad plan really - because nothing is likely to happen, at least not today or tomorrow, and hey who wouldn't normally welcome a free day to stay home?

Yeah, except it's that same-old, same-old rule...when someone says you can't do something, what do you want to do, but do it?

And now the stir crazy-ness steps in. My housemate and I feel like we are in an episode of Big Brother, with nothing to entertain us (really there is - tv, internet, Skype, exercise...), nothing to do (ok, we are working from home), and the only option is random bursts of energy (on my part by jumping up and down) or random acts (on his part - throwing an empty coke bottle in the air). 

And then of course there is wine. And it is after 5pm here. So I have chosen wine. 

Big brother ain't got nothing on me yet. But let's see what tomorrow brings...

I didn't know what photo to put here.
And then I found this cute one of me in my Dad's old shirt that says Go Climb a Glacier.
And climbing a glacier sounds awesome right now.
Compared to sitting on the couch. So there's the logic.