Crossroads

I got the job with the international commercial arbitration firm. I got the offer yesterday while I was in Alexandria for a conference on the Human Right to Peace (keep your eyes peeled, fans of utopic, toothless international law, for the Alexandria Declaration on the Human Right to Peace due out this week…I was there when it was drafted!). I have accepted so I will start January 10th, right after my cousin and some friends head home from their visit earlier in the month.

I am nervous because I do not know anything about international commercial arbitration and now have to do a ton of reading in the next month to start filling in the gaping holes in my knowledge of all things legal and practical. I am also nervous because, although it is physically located in Egypt, this firm promises to be just as grueling and competitive as any American law firm and I just don't know if I am cut out for the pace and emotional stress of that kind of environment. I am a kind and easy going person and I worry that in my first weeks there I will watch my sensitive soul slowly crushed like a ticklish muppet under a steam roller.

In other news, in a moment that totally made my day, a coworker came into my office this morning to clarify something with the English speakers. She had expressed some concerns about something to a representative from the US government who replied "its on our radar screen." She knew it was an idiom but thought it sounded vaguely military and wanted to make sure it actually meant something good, like they were taking her comments seriously, rather than that they were about to attack us. I never paused to consider how disturbing that expression could be when sent to a perfectly innocent Arab NGO!!!