One week down... or is it one month?

So, I feel that I must correct some misperceptions about my Sierra Leonean life and my participation in the fight against Ebola.  The media has shown all kinds of pictures in people in full body suits with respirators and the whole bit working with patients.  That is not my life. At all.

On a daily basis, I wake up in the morning and head into my office.  I generally either stay there the whole day or run around to various meetings.  When I do have to go to the OICCs (quarantine units for kiddos), I won't be allowed to go into any "red zones," which are areas where there is a risk of infection.  So all in all, my risk of catching Ebola is very, very small and my life is very different from those people who are working on the front lines.

In some ways, my life here is easier than my life was in Boston.  We have someone who drives us around (although making the arrangements for drivers can be a pain), someone who cleans our apartment, and someone who does our laundry.  So in that sense, it's much easier than home.  However, this is still an emergency situation and there are some things that are definitely hard.  Everyone here is working full stop, so although it's not explicitly stated, that's kind of the expectation.  I've been here for a week and I'm already attending meetings with major partners (like UNICEF) on my own.  There is no time to get oriented, you really just have to jump in with both feet and hope that you don't sink entirely.

As I'm sitting here reflecting on the past week, the thing that I can't get over is how quickly I found my place in the office and started taking on responsibilities.  That's why it feels like I've been here for a month rather than a week.  My biggest fear here actually isn't Ebola, but rather it's making a big mistake or just not meeting the expectations of my colleagues.

One thing that I can say for sure is that this will be an experience unlike any other I've ever had.  I'm surrounded by really incredible colleagues that I've already developed a great deal of respect for and I look forward to learning from them.  I have no doubt that coming here was the right decision and I just hope that I can rise to the challenge

So, here are some highlights from the week:
-We have a giant TV that didn't work, so I made it my mission to figure out how to hook up a computer to it so we could make movies.  And I was successful :)
-My roommate made chocolate cake and it was lovely
-I went to one of the beautiful beaches near Freetown and fell in love with Sierra Leone a little bit
-I found out that one of my colleagues, who is Serbian, lived briefly in Topeka, Kansas
-I realized that wine here is cheaper than at home, although everything else in the supermarket is more expensive
-I put up pictures in my room so now I have the smiling faces of the folks I love to keep me cheerful

Next week so far on the docket I have a trip in the UN helicopter to see our OICC in Kenema, a meeting with UNICEF, and a meeting with the Minister of Health.  So ya know, I'm of course not at all intimidated.