M & E, baby

Last week we had a week-long EU (our donor) monitoring visit. A French lady, who’s accent in Portuguese really threw me off, had us all trundling round each community, asking and answering probing questions – as it should be. Transparency and accountability all the way! We received tons of watermelons – the backs of the trucks were full – as they’ve come to fruition with such abundance people can’t eat them all. I learnt loads about ‘the project cycle’ and monitoring and her comments were very insightful but it sure was knackering. Spent the entire day in the car on Saturday – 8 hours over dirt-track roads, no joke. The drivers take no prisoners too, flying over bumps and swerving violently round potholes and animals. My legs were twitching involuntarily by the end. Although on the whole I’ve become quite accustomed to long journeys now, clinging to the ceiling handle whilst holding a book barely in focus in failing light without feeling sick (talk about skills development). Or I just put music on and enter a meditative state. I slept for about 12 hours that night. Woke up in a daze on Sunday and felt homesick for the rest of the day, and Monday. Funnily enough the weather had turned cool and grey – rather like home! – and I was no doubt feeling the brunt of the serotonin slump. My cold shower is also a lot less inviting when I’m not sweating before I get into it. I had to do aerobics before hand to warm up. The sun’s back with a vengeance now though so the natural order and my mood have been restored.