First day at work and I ran into Ban Ki-Moon

My first day was by all standards a really promising one. We drove to the UN right away and met lots of people, which was incredibly relieving after a couple of days in the periphery. I got to know quite a few Finns who work at UNEP and UN HABITAT and to draft the wordings of a resolution on the Arctic sea environment together with a small group of diplomats from other countries. I'm sure the job will be very, very interesting.

The UN compound was a pretty, green and sophisticated oasis, and the people seemed quite laid-back, many of them even wore jeans, which would have been unthinkable at the headquarters in New York. Today Ban Ki-Moon paid us a surprise visit. I didn't hear him speak, so all I can say about him is he's rather short. Funny, I also saw Kofi Annan on my first day in New York. Seems I always get to say hi to the bosses at the outset. The two have the great talent to look at a crowd and make you feel they've noticed you specifically. On both occasions the person standing next to me said proudly "he waved at me!" and I murmured to myself "no, it was at me!"

After work I walked to a nearby shopping mall, which wasn't very exotic, but catered to my need to go somewhere on my own and buy stuff for my flat. For my great delight I also got an invitation to a housewarming party tomorrow. Maybe I will have a social life here after all! We've also talked about going to the national park on Sunday with other interns. After such a satisfactory day and with great prospects for the weekend, it's easier to accept an eventless Friday night cramming Swahili on my couch.