Hitch from Hell - Positive Update

Since I last wrote a couple things happened...

Number one:
Out of the blue, I was served an absolutely delicious bowl of tomato soup. For the two weeks leading up to this, every day the soup consisted of flour, salt, and hot water. Stir in a few shreds of carrot and call it carrot soup. Add a couple mashed peas, call it vegetable. But then, suddenly, this delicious bowl of tomato soup with perfectly crisped croutons and a hint of rosemary. I exclaimed out loud when I tasted it and Mark said "oh yeah, Tak is back". Tak has been a cook here for more than 10 years. He's an older guy from somewhere near Nepal. He's missing a lot of teeth, and doesn't speak much english, but he's got enough to smile and have a conversation when he sees you. "Hi... how are you?... good good... night shift? yeah night shift.... very good [smile, nod, laugh]... have good night". He works way too much as do all of our kitchen staff, but for some reason he makes effort to make us exceptionally good soup. And he likes doing it. I'm touched.

Number two:
In our office we finally got it together and asked our boss about getting another person or two and he was great about it. He says he gets a lot of resumes from local people and he'll send us some. I'd be happy to actually have an Omani in the office. I'm happy to have my job, but part of me thinks its dumb that I get flown halfway around the world to do it. Its not like its THAT hard. I'm convinced you could take a reasonably bright person, who never stepped foot in a university, and make them a perfectly good QC after not too long. Especially in this part of the world. Hell, I'd say the same thing for a lot of jobs.