After the previous week's VSO Christmas party I only had a few days back at BRIF before heading back to Dhaka for Christmas. Originally I had thought of just staying in Dhaka a few extra days to bridge the 2 but in the end I was glad I didn't.

As I've already mentioned (see week 10's entry) I'm currently trying to get an overall idea of where my NGO is as an organisation and where it wants to go. I've already had a general discussion with my boss to get his ideas but I wanted to do the same thing with the next management level down to compare, contrast and combine the 2. My plan was (and still is actually) to get the project managers and accounts staff to freely express their ideas and problems then group them into themes before analysing them further i.e. bolstering their views with hard facts. The ideal day for this seemed to be the next management co-ordination meeting early January as everyone I needed would be in the office anyway. What made it tricky was that I was planning on being away on holiday until the day before so had to prepare everything before leaving...

Originally I'd wanted to train Rabi to facilitate the session. It would be good for him personally and the organisation (skills transfer from me to him) and also more effective as the session really needs to be run in Bangla. However, the very day I get back to BRIF I learn that he will probably move to London early January to do an MBA. This is great news for him, almost certainly the right thing for his future, but it did rather bugger up my plans! As a result I spent the best part of my 3 days back at work trying to organise the session, both materially (checking the room, cutting up cards for the brain storming etc.) and logisically. This latter point is not as simple as it seems as it involved getting invitiations out to project managers in offices 30-40 km away with no phones or e-mail, not to mention finding a translator so I could facilitate the session myself should Rabi not be present. In the end I had one of those magical days when you prepare for the absolute worst all day but then have a series of lucky events right at the end that makes life so much easier. In particular, we couldn't get in touch with a translator for love nor money but at the end of my last afternoon he just appeared at the office with time available for me to brief him and give him a guidelines document! Top banana!

So I left for Dhaka safe in the knowledge that I'd done all I could for my return to work and that Christmas was going to be fun. With a few other VSO volunteers we'd decided to spend Christmas together in Dhaka, then 4 of us would head off to Darjeeling for New Year (see next entry). Personally it was my first Christmas away from my family and the UK, and I was wondering how it would be. In the end I was pretty good what with nights out here and there, staying in an expat's flat for improved comfort, a cracking Christmas day lunch (turkey, goose, all the trimmings, trifle, mince pie, booze etc.), twister and a James Bond film on DVD. I'd even managed to e-mail my family a phone number I'd be at on Christmas day so we could wish each other season's greetings. I all felt a little odd, but at the same time I did enjoy spending Christmas with a good bunch of friends and not having to cook. I suppose the strangest part was on Christmas day morning standing on a balcony at the flat we were staying in just wearing a pair of shorts (nice sunny weather) and looking down the street at a slum where kids were playing cricket in the road. You don't get much cricket played in Welwyn Garden City at Christmas.