all good things must end - part II

informal get-together dinner is always lined up on the first day of the trip

and despite having no sleep for 48 hours, the change of pace and the reinvigorating weather makes it all bearable

the boss treats us to a sumptuous meal knowing that I am always game for adventure and share his passion for the good things in life…..

dinner comprises of raw oysters (served with lime and tobassco sauce) followed by ostrich steak which tasted fantastic…my boss proudly claims that this “red meat has no cholesterol” to allay my fears….as if I cared…as they say when in rome…

the training sessions for the next three days were “ten thousand feet above ground” having little relevance to my work but I had to pretend that I was having the time of my life…somewhere in the room the HR manager maybe lurking in the shadows to observe who is being a good listener or otherwise

so I pretend to be having fun and have a look of excitement pasted on my face and I am nodding all the time to show my involvement as if I was tickled pink with excitement with all the mundane management reporting that no one in the room really cared for except for this asshole from Australia who had an opinion about everything…

during one of the informal dinners I meet a cocky twenty-something American who has joined the organization recently from the US west coast

he is full of himself….what would one really expect….he tells me that he is a registered democrat but will vote for bush because “the man must get four more year to finish the job in iraq”…the guy gave me the creeps....somewhere in the back of mind i am thinking of that joke that "if you are getting raped....might as well enjoy it..."..i guess this is what this guy's idea of foreign policy was....so we are all ready for four more years of excruciating experiments in foreign policy

i mutter my ambivalence about the elections & express my approval for US support for Pakistan which pleased him immensely and he gives me an affectionate pat on the back as if to endorse me with “you are alright…you paki ninkumpoop” look and I wondered if he knew where Pakistan was located on the world map

…..he is of Korean origin and blended in quite nicely in Singapore….but he did seem a bit flustered at being mistaken for a local by every person he met…much to my amusement