I said I wanted to be busy...

I had soup and a ham and cheese pirukat for lunch today...

I got to eat about half of it between 2:45 and 2:55.

I got to eat the rest for dinner.

I said I wanted to be busy...

I started off the day with a coffee at the Ambassador's residence. His wife had organized it for all the new folks plus the spouses.

One of the members of the residence staff made me feel good. I spoke to her in Estonian, and she said I could speak in English. But I stayed in Estonia. By the time I left, she was hugging me, telling me how it sounded like I had studied Estonian for a long time and that I spoke it beautifully (not sure my Estonian teacher would agree with that, but at least the woman was being kind!). At least that was an improvement from the movers saying that some "they" said I didn't know a word of Estonian.

So the coffee was a lot of fun. It was nice to get to meet everyone and chat some. Turns out one of my colleagues is from SC, is enrolled Cherokee Indian, and is also part PeeDee Indian. We are probably cousins!


Talk about a small world!

I got back to the embassy just in time for my security briefing, which is something all new arrivals, including those on visitor programs like Fulbright, receive.

By the time I finished that, I had a few minutes to run to the Kohvik (little cafe) near the embassy to grab my lunch. By the time I got it and got back to my desk, it was 2:45. But I had two Fulbrighters coming by at 3, and had to be upstairs for an interview the Ambassador was doing by 3:15.

It was 5 by the time I finished that. I came downstairs and was able to work a little before my email, which is in the process of being transferred, started fouling up. First, people couldn't send me anything. They got bounce notices. Then I couldn't send. And finally, I couldn't even open emails I had in my inbox.

I am frightened about what my inbox will look like tomorrow...I was just beginning to impose organization on it (I love me some color categories in outlook).

I like organization...I was beginning to feel that I could get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what was going on and that I might drop some balls. I was in the DCM's OMS's office and I said I needed one of those big desk calendars. She said, oh, you can have mine. I hadn't even seen that she had one...it was on her back desk with stuff on it. She said she never used it. I thanked her profusely (she is super nice...we went to the coffee together today and she will be on the sailing trip Saturday), and I promptly wrote down all my meetings, all the events coming up, and all things that were due and when. Color coded, of course. And suddenly, it feels much more manageable.

I love me some organization.

I am liking this job. I am busy, but I think with my section, it is manageable. And I would much rather be busy than bored.