I'm at work and it's 9:30am and I find myself already suffering from Friday syndrome (yknow when you become completely unproductive and just want the weekend to be here?).

It's especially funny that I should feel this way because I'm just freelancing and it's not like I have huge major deadlines. Plus I've been doing this for a week.. the first work I've done in 4.5 months.. yet I'm wishing for the laziness that I've been complaining about all this time because at least then I can sleep in until 11am, avoid spending 2 hours a day on public transportation and eat healthy, home-cooked meals instead of going back to the office routine of $8 takeout lunches.

This office smells like the agency in Dubai where I interned.. either that, or it smells like that 89.3 Radio 4 FM studio in Ajman where I also interned... maybe it's a small office smell. It's definitely a small office - 45 people total, with me being the 5th person in the media department.

On Wednesday I interviewed with another small agency here. It's an office of 10 people, but 70 more of them are in the Maine headquarters. If I joined the media team, I would be one of two people in the Boston office, and one of five people total with both offices combined.

This is all just very funny.. I come from a place where there are 800 media people in one building. The guy who interviewed me on Wednesday told me that moving to such a small team would be a huge culture shock, and would I be ready for it. I gave him a non-committal smile that said, "I really don't want to do this but you're offering a great salary so don't make me say anything I might regret."

The commute to work is so long. It's actually about 40 minutes sitting-in-the-train time, but 20 minutes goes in all the walking and train-changing so it's actually an hour door-to-door. I'm used to a 30minute commute that involves a 10minute train ride. It's funny that in Chicago, Sarwar had the hour long commute and I was a hop and a skip away from work. Now it's reversed. Unfair. *sniff*

Still, the long train rides have allowed me to catch up on my reading. I finished "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah, who was a child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil war who luckily was rescued and rehabilitated by UNICEF. It's a remarkable story - I can't believe he survived so much gory bloodiness and merciless killing after going through the physical, emotional and psychological madness he describes in such a clear, calm, third-person manner. As hard as it is to believe, I get the sense that it was easier for him to fall into and accept the madness of war and become a killer, than to get off the drugs he was pumped up on and learn to forgive himself and become a "normal" member of society - even though it took less time to rehabilitate.

It's a terrifying and sad read, but it does have a message of hope in it, that comes from Ishamel's own strength and endurance. And it certainly makes you appreciate the UN's work even though we all criticize it and think it's ineffective. If they're able to change lives like this one by one,they're definitely doing a wonderful job. Highly recommended read.