existentia

Wow…it took someone contacting me privately about my adventures in Angola (via last.fm - after reading this blog!) to remind me that I actually have this blog in the first place! Okay, time for an update on what has been happening in my life recently, should anyone be interested…

2008 is going to be a year of change for a lot of people and I’m proving no exception to this. The Angolan adventure came to a mostly successful end in March after I completed what was necessary of me in the project. However since the start of this year, when I discovered things in Angola were coming to an eventual end, I started to think about the direction of my career. I realised that although working in Angola had been a very worthwhile experience my technical skills had been left to stagnate somewhat (the role I was performing in Angola was more process driven than technical). This tied with the fact that there was some re-structuring going on back at my company in the UK meant that I took the time to look for a fresh challenge in my career. This search became more urgent once I realised the flat I was renting was to go on sale (and in fact was sold last month). I had no ties left in Aberdeen aside from my current job and so I targeted the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and London as all potential locations for the next step in my career.

So what developed? Well, I didn’t have to look very far for a new opportunity and in the end have not actually left the company I was working for before. Instead I’ve transferred to a new team and will begin working in the wonderful world of Enterprise Content Management from the end of this month. This also includes the exciting prospect of finally escaping the gray and dreary city of Aberdeen and relocating to Glasgow. I’ve already been lucky enough to sign a lease to look after a friend’s flat for a year in the lovely Merchant City district (see below) and will be moving in over the next couple of weeks. I can’t wait!

It’s only April and already this year I have a new job and I’ll be living in a new flat, in a new city. Who knows what else lies in store!

St. Andrew’s Church, Glasgow
The view from the living room of my new flat!

Why do I only post in this blog when I’m in Angola! Probably because it’s one of the few times when I have the time to do so. So yes, here I am, a New Year and back working in Luanda and where I’ll probably be working on/off until at least June now.

It has been interesting to look at the changes taking place in Luanda over the last five months or so. The pace of construction taking place in the city center is really quite frightening. Office blocks and luxury apartments are going up seemingly everywhere and the company I’m currently working for hope to be moving into their new flashy offices later this year.

The infrastructure outside of the city also seems to be improving with new roads and bridges being built, thus finally helping to undo a lot of the damage dealt by the long civil war Angola suffered up until 2002. This reconstruction work is in part to help pave the way for people to travel, register and vote in the first elections in Angola since 1992 that are due to take place in September of this year. I for hope everyone’s sake those elections don’t trigger the same problems we are currently seeing in Kenya.

It’s not all positive though. There is still more people in Luanda than there are homes (flying over the expanse of shanty towns on the approach to the airport is a sobering experience) and affordable housing just doesn’t seem to exist here. I’ve been told rent for a one bedroom apartment here costs around $1200 US which put the cost of living here almost on a par with London. A quite ridiculous state of affairs when you consider that Angola is still effectively a third-world country.

But I guess any progress is better than no progress, and when there is so much conflict and doubt in the world just now (is it just me or has everyone written off 2008 already?) it is encouraging to think that at least Angola should manage to end 2008 in better shape than it ended 2007. Here’s hoping.

Kissama National Park

Looks like I’ve been rather negligent of this blog in recent months, but I can assure you all I’ve been rather busy. On Monday I will be departing to Luanda once more for my last 3 weeks in Angola for the year. Will there be more trips to Angola next year? The jury is still out on that one for now.

I’m looking forward to it once again. I’m developing a rather strange affinity with Luanda and the people I work with over there (a mix of Angolans, British, Americans and South Africans!) so it will be good to catch up with them. At the same time though I’m starting to feel a little detached from my life back in Scotland and I think once I return home at the end of this month I’ll have to make an effort to correct this. Either that or move to West Africa for good!

Luanda doesn’t do good roads!