Our fishbowl

    Sometimes it is hard to write the blog when nothing happens.  Sometimes it is hard when there is a lot happening.  I am afraid that both have applied over the last week.  Personnel issues are never fun and I have jokingly said that my job position title should be changed from Chief Medical Officer to Chief Personnel Issues Officer.  

     There was a good article in the New York Times recently on aid worker stress.  Thankfully, our stress here has revolved more around being ready and not having enough to do.  But that is also quite significant in it's own way.

     The expats here live in a strange social environment.  We are cut off from most of the social supports that we have at home.  Yes we have email, yes we have the US news, at least by internet.  But we don't have the interpersonal contacts from which we draw our comfort and reassurance.  Not in the same way that we have them at home.  We can develop some of those over here, but it usually is not the same.  Some people just don't do as well when isolated, especially when they aren't busy all the time.  These limited social interactions can also reduce the social inhibitions on behavior.  People can do things that they normally wouldn't.  That can make things interesting from a management point of view.  

     Once it is over, you look back and say, 'wow, that was crazy'.  But if I think that things get weird inside our fishbowl, it is important for me to remember that I am in that same fishbowl like everyone else.  You just have to be careful.