Officer in charge, bilingual 2 and half year old (and other stories)

People have asked me how exactly I got this job given that the whole issue of getting a job with the UN seems rather mysterious. Way back in 2005, I was invited to take an exam and passing it put me on something called the International Professional Roster. It was made clear to me that they would only go to this list if there was no one qualified internally. After 2 years of being on the list, I figured the chances of me getting a job were slim to none. But, nevertheless, I kept “expressing interest” in positions as they opened up but felt like my responses were going into a black hole. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I received an ominous 3 line email from someone in March 2008 asking if I was interested in being interviewed for a position at noon Geneva time. Before thinking about it, I responded “yes” only to figure out that noon Geneva time was 2AM my time and since K usually woke up around that time and being alone, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to complete my interview. I didn’t hear anything for 3 months and assumed I was out of the running till 3 days before my 40th birthday. So, 3 years, 9 months and 3 days after I received the initial email informing me of this exam, we all set off for our new adventure!

Getting to office in charge (OIC) I should explain the org chart. I belong to a group of staff people whose job it is to provide technical assistance to the entire region and as such, my supervisor is in Geneva. In essence, my team and I are being “hosted” here. Given my work style, I like having my boss miles and time zones away! Here in-country, there is a country rep who overseas the local staff but he isn’t my boss. He took his annual leave in December so for 2 weeks I got to be the officer in charge. I had many ideas for what I would do with all that power but in the end, I signed 56 different documents and ordered people to go home after the earthquake. The country rep came back on Monday so now, I am back to a being a “regular” staff person.

It is obvious that K at 30 months is starting to distinguish between Spanish and English even though he still speaks mainly “spanglish” some of his funnier sayings are:

1. During bath time, “No jabon in eyes”
2. During meal time, “una napkin please” not sure why una versus un
3. While playing with his trains “Thomas se hizo crash”
4. When he sees ants “Mama, baygon to matar the hormigas, please”

We are hoping to stay in a Spanish speaking country till he is 8 years old or so; that way he will have a solid base in the language. Since K has been on vacation, he spends more time with Spanish than English and it shows in his speech so, when I am home after work, I try to talk with him more and he has taken to repeating most things you say to him if he doesn’t understand. Rather cute..the whole process of language acquisition is fascinating to me. We are thinking of him learning Arabic or Chinese (mandarin) may be our next focus.

Speaking of ants, I have seen so many varieties and J is just in bug haven given the fact that he is an entomologist by training. I should add that I have this irrational fear of bugs in general. Topping the list are spiders, roaches and centipedes. Every time I dispose of one, I think about all those movies with giant bugs and envision for a second, all the spiders relatives coming back to get me-I did say irrational fear right?