With Habib in hospital in Dhaka all week I stayed in town too. He went back home on Friday though must stay in bed for 6 weeks and generally rest his leg for 3 months! I'll be heading back to BRIF on Monday so I'll discuss with him then how he intends managing the organisation from his bedroom. Hopefully, faced with the obvious difficulties this creates, he'll seize the opportunity to change his management style and delegate more to the senior managers. I fail to see how we can do things differently, but then again my particular brand of logic is rarely useful around here!

What then of this week just gone? Well, it was a great one really. Apart from visiting Habib every day or so to go over e-mails and documents I need him to review, I spent a remarkable amount of time in the VSO office downloading things from the Internet. A rumour had reached my ears that Microsoft had released a major update for Windows XP (called Service Pack 2) and this got me thinking about all the different things that my computer needed improving, particularly security patches and anti-virus updates. With a bit of help from Mike I connected my laptop to the office network and checked out what I required. It turned out I had a whole bunch of files to download and that it wasn't possible to download them all in 1 day! The solution I found was leaving my computer in a locked office overnight to safely download all that was required (plus a few other goodies like Media Player 10), and even with that it took all of the next morning to install everything. The end result though is a safer computer and with all the viruses that fly around people's e-mails these days that's a big relief. Seriously though, am I the only person who receives so much virus and spam mail, mostly offering cheap drugs?!

I admit that the above sounds rather geeky but rest assured that my reasons for declaring Wednesday a great day are far better. First of all, I had an interview with the VSO country director for a job starting after I finish with BRIF at the end of March. The position would involve following up on the work done by 2 previous VSO office volunteers who had developed and implemented a knowledge management system last year, as well as doing short interventions with different NGO's who have requested a management adviser from VSO. These NGO's could be existing partners, perhaps even with a volunteer, who don't have the skills to deal with the problem, or they can be other organisations who have approached VSO for help. Into the latter category would fall the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which is part of the UN. Apparently, if VSO agrees that the project they have fits with VSO's own strategic objectives, I'll be doing 2 weeks for them! Cool!!

I wasn't that worried about the interview, for the following reasons: 1) I knew the subjects they were looking at pretty well and had spoken to some VSO staff to get more details 2) I generally enjoy interviews, but most of all 3) I was the only applicant for the job! I'd asked a senior programme manager about what was happening with the selection process after the deadline for applications had passed, and he told me that the country director would tell me her decision shortly. When I asked about the apparent absence of a shortlist of candidates or interviews he just sort of smiled, and when I asked if they had been inundated with an application of 1 he replied "you may well think that but I couldn't possibly comment"! And so it was, as it wasn't an interview at all but a discussion about certain practicalities and some details about the work to be done. In fairness though, we did start with a question about why I was offering only 3 months when the ad had specified 6. Once I'd explained that it was for personal reasons, that I wanted to finish at the same time as Sarah at the end of June, and that I thought I could get most of the work done in the time anyway, we were fine. So, I've got a job - Hurrah!

That very afternoon I had a meeting with Plan's IT manager to see a presentation of the accounting software I want. It was quite a quick meeting really, and I'd seen most of the things presented before. However, what was great was that by the end of the meeting I had dates for when they will come to BRIF to train our staff and configure the system for us. What is more, they agreed to give us a PC as they have 10 that they are replacing and our accounts department PC is really poor! Result! I now have to make sure that all the key staff are available for the training, and that before that happens we have defined our chart of accounts and project structure ready to set up the system. While I wanted to push this project along a lot faster I didn't expect things to happen this quickly. We could now conceivably install and configure the software, enter all the vouchers for January and continue testing it for a total of 3 months before I leave. That way, and if all goes well, I can leave at the point when BRIF officially moves over to a computer-based accounting system rather than disappearing half way through the process.

The rest of the week was public holidays as it was Bloody Eid time again i.e. the major Muslim festival when they slaughter cows and goats in the streets. The messy part happened Saturday, and as luck would have it, Sarah and I had already decided to disappear for a few days that very weekend. We were both struggling to find decent and personal Christmas presents so we decided to have 2 nights in a nice hotel instead. We checked in as soon as they would let us Friday midday, and with the exception of an excellent tapas and rioja birthday party thrown by a lovely British expat couple, we didn't venture outside the hotel's grounds until we checked out on Sunday. That way we avoided the carnage outside on Saturday, and generally maximised our time lazing by the pool (which was baltic by the way so no swimming), watching satellite TV, eating and drinking. A truly decadent time was had by all, and it was a great way to finish off a really successful week.