So this is old news, but I had the second worst employment-related
experience of my life some months ago when I had to let someone go. We
had a new employee that we'd gotten a temporary security clearance for so we
could bring her on board while waiting for the Embassy to go through the full
process (the position had been vacant for some time, we had a conference we
needed the new person to attend, etc.). Anyway, after said employee went
to the conference, and was here for almost a month, the Embassy called to tell
me she wouldn't be getting a clearance coz it turns out her husband is one of
the Lesotho Defense Force "bad guys" who was kidnapping and torturing
police officers who'd supported the previous government. Ugh. So I
had to bring her in my office and, without giving specifics, let her her know
she didn't clear. So she's totally confused, says she's a good person,
has nothing bad in her background, etc., and starts crying. I tried to
delicately explain to her that the Embassy does a THOROUGH background check,
and that denial of clearance also could be because of "close
associations" (you can bet I wasn't going to tell her the real reason and
have her husband come after me).
Now, this woman is either REALLY naive, or is totally
clueless/blind about her husband, because she still kept crying, said she
didn't understand, she's a "good girl," etc. It was awful.
I told her it was all on the Embassy - that even though PC is a separate
entity, we still rely on them for security checks, etc. She wanted to
know what it was they found, I kept hiding behind "confidentiality,"
etc. Finally, I had to "pass the buck" and tell her any more
concerns would have to be expressed with the Country Director. I rarely
play this card, don't like doing it, etc., but it also reminded me why I never
want to be an Executive Director again. Ugh.
In other old news, I unwittingly caused a bit of a scandal at the
Embassy 4th of July party. Apparently, this is THE big annual event for
the Embassy here. They have a "BBQ," invite lots of locals as
well as all the expats, lots of government folks, etc. As it turns out,
the Country Director was out of the country, the DPT was sick, so it was up to
me to "represent" - along with the local staff and a handful of PCVs
who happened to be in town. Now, since it was a 4th of July thing, I
decided to dress the part. Wore my red sneakers, blue jeans, white dress
shirt with red tie, and then put on my U.S. Flag shorts on over my jeans.
Unfortunately, as I discovered upon arrival, this event is "formal dress." The Ambassador, diplomat that he is,
covered well when greeting me on arrival, laughing it off, but as I found later
he was NOT amused at all. His secretary threw me ALL kinds of shade when
she saw me, told me I should NOT have come dressed like that, etc. And
all I could think was, "Oh, well, how stupid of me not to think that a 4th
of July BBQ was a formal dress up!" I mean, how stupid is that?
Luckily, the handful of PCVs that were with me were not dressed up,
either, so for many folks it was just a sort of "Oh, those wacky Peace
Corps folks!" And, as it turned out, I was actually quite popular
with the locals who all wanted their picture taken with the crazy PC guy -
including the King's brother, HRH Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Still, when Wendy (the CD) got back, she still got called in to the
Ambassador's office to "do some 'splainin" Whatever.
So I finally got around to trying the local (as in South Africa)
soft drink. One of my big "misses" from the states is Dr
Pepper. They've got just about everything here EXCEPT that - hell, they
still sell TAB here! I mean, do they even still sell that in the states? Anyway, RSA makes this thing called "Iron Brew" and I finally
got a can in the hopes it would maybe be their version of Dr Pepper since no
one sells that. Not even. In fact, I can't even describe it except
to say it's gross. I guess it MAYBE kind of tastes a LITTLE bit like
Ginger Ale. Ginger Ale that a rat died in. Sigh.
But speaking of food/drink, I feel pretty sure now that I've eaten
more french fries (excuse me, chips)
in the past year than in the previous five years combined. Maybe longer.
They LOVE their chips here! And I will say the local supermarket
(Pick N Pay) across the street from the office makes really good chips.
Another surprising thing I've eaten more in the past year than the past 5
or more years combined is guacamole. Go figure. Not coz I get it
when I'm out (although I do, on occasion), but because they almost always have
avocados here, and I realized it's just not that hard to make considering how
good it is. So yay on that.
One more "fun fact" before I go. Until my recent
cruise out of Venice, I realized that the last NINE countries I'd been to in a
row all drive on the left. I got so used to it that I actually had a
panicky moment when my mom and I were on a shore excursion in Greece and I
thought "OMG, the bus driver is on the wrong side of the road! We're going
to die!"
It's an amazing, complicated world we live in - full of french
fries and chips.
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