Sycophants

On friday night, C ordered brain. It was served chilled. It tasted like foie gras but a little more "organ"-ny

The weekend came and went filled with high flying young diplomats partying around me. The party on friday night was a great source of anecdotes however, as I dont want anyone to lose their job over the fact that they didnt know who was in charge of their country, I hesitate to publish these amusing stories here. Suffice it to say that if you are a young diplomat representing a country with mild political problems, at 3 am and after a couple of drinks you may not remember the exact name of the general who actually runs the show in your home capital. That said, diplomats from stable democracies can suffer from similar embarassment as their myopiea excludes the bigger picture. Ultimately, many (NGO, HRO, IGO, UNO, embassy staff, etc) expatriates here are sycophants, "sucking off the nipple of the conflict", which usually means that my proffession is greated with particular relief. People at these events will often ask me "Which organization do you work for"? To which I reply "I was posted in the UK for four years with the ICC before coming to the middle east, but I left after I could feel that I could no longer grow there. Now I work at the HU in the research department." When asked to explain who the "ICC" and "HU" are, I tell them astrophysics which ellicits the usual wide eye gazing ("wait your a scientist AND your not socially awkward?").