All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy

As I expected, while the owners of the firm are here, its been really busy! Lots of meetings, lots of reading! I finally got to see "my" office, which is in the same complex as the office of the Prime Ministers, so there's alot of added security, but my name was added to "the list", so I should be ok from now on. It's actually a really nice office, clean and bright, wireless internet, two desks, plenty of space, fresh paint, much better than most of the other offices I've seen! I should get there at least once a week if not more. Though I think initially I'll be spending alot of time at the Ministry of Municipalities, which is our big operation thats in the dumps. The MoM (Ministry of Municipalities) is in charge of all the services rendered to the population (water, sewage, land granting, etc). To the majority of Kurds, THIS is the government, this is who they see and what they interact with everyday...and its a disaster, to say the least!

I'll be working directly with the Minister to help her with some management techniques and to better work with the the team of Western Senior Advisors that we have working on specific areas. By far this is going to be my most chanllenging project. I know that she cares about getting the job done... but she has no idea how to go about it.

Having R and C (the owners) here is great, they're able to introduce me to alot of people that will both make my job and everyday life easier while here.

Yesterday I played tennis with the two Dutchmen on one of my projects and the Minister of Extra Regional Affairs also showed up and I played tennis against him as well. p.s. I'm terrible at tennis! I also recently tried swimming laps in the hotel pool, but it was so small I was getting dizzy doing so many flip turns! There is an all women's fitness center that I'm going to join and they have a full pool and other stuff, so I look forward to that!

I'm having a good time getting to know my coworkers and continue to get settled in here. This weekend we're going on an excursion out by the Turkish border and I'm really excited about seeing more of Kurdistan!