What on earth is happening in Oz??

I’m stunned at the ease at which our popular Prime Minister has been ousted by his own party. In what democracy do we not allow an elected PM to serve a full term? I am also profoundly disturbed that Gillard made a deal with the devil. Make no mistake, I have nothing against Julia Gillard, in fact, she is intelligent and competent. And of course, I am a strong advocate for the historic day in which Australians can and will elect a female PM. However, this is unquestionably neither the means nor manner in which to accomplish that aspiration.

Poor Kevin Rudd. I always genuinely felt he had a good head and a good heart. Whatever his perceived faults or failure, this was completely unnecessary and a travesty.Can someone back home give KRudd a hug for me?

I’m going to remain optimistic and hope Gillard can lead Labor to victory. It remains to be seen how different her policies will be from Rudd? I think she’s watering down the resources tax (but can’t be sure as I’m getting all my news from CNN and Facebook. Sidenote - Stan Grant is the correspondent for CNN. For some reason, I’m really struggling to get on to SMH, ABC or any other news sites! Arggh!). Interesting times ahead.

Thank God it’s Abbott leading the Libs and not Turnbull. Mind you, the fact that we are one step closer to the reality of an Abbott dystopia fills me with trepidation.

In other local Nigerian news, I am having an incredible time working and living here. I am falling in love with Calabar with each passing day. I am trying hard not to contemplate that this will come to an end and enjoying every amazing moment I have here.

I am inspired by the wonderful staff of the Ministry who provide encouragement and information generously and willingly. They make me laugh every day, I think I make them laugh albeit with my naive questions. Despite the challenges, they are engaged and knowledgeable even though they lack the very basic of tools and technology to carry out their duties. It will be so difficult to leave them at the end of this, we have built heart-warming relationships discussing our different lives. They have made us feel so welcomed and their natural curiosity about Australia and us, as people, is very endearing. Everyone is horrified when I tell them we eat kangaroo meat!

The IT infrastructure is not as dire as originally assumed. The ICT team showed us the switches, patch panels and ports to illustrate that the Government is investing in networking all the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies). However, yesterday we had a massive storm which took out our switch. Obgi is asking for it to be fixed as soon as possible in order for us to test the speed of internet connectivity.

I hope the Governor will invite me back one day to roll out a project where we equipped all employees with laptops and conduct training and career development. One can have lofty dreams… :-)

Tonight we are going to a Lebanese restaurant of all places! My after work highlight this week definitely was watching the Nigeria vs Korea game in an open bar under a lightning-lit night eating fresh grilled pepper fish. The locals didn’t even mind that I cheered for Korea. They were fairly disgusted with the amatuerish missed goal opportunities. I asked them to cheer for Korea now! Yay!