Tuesday, December 09, 2014

A TALE OF TWO BADGES

Dear Pinky,

I miss you and those cold poorly lit rooms where negotiators fall to sleep, wake, fall to sleep, wake, and fall to sleep again.

Those late lunches and missed dinners seem just a fortnight ago last March in Bonn when the omen of your imminent leave was first made known, then in Bonn again last June where you were finally taken and I have to take refuge with Menique.

I tried taking you back last October for Bonn.

And again, with more effort, for Lima although I know the odds are not in my favor. 

Menique would have taken me back but I thought I go with Amarillo first and pray that the first week would be good to me.

I thank my Oxfam Family for making Week 1 happen.

Walls have been torn down and I am grateful, although it took awhile to adapt with Amarillo's preference for crowded computer tables, dead hours and early lunches, and the early trips back to the hotel which somehow inferred that this is a strange COP.

Strange, slow, boring, procedural, and even fetid.

So I thought that perhaps next year in Paris would actually be the better time to reunite with you as I thank Menique for again considering me, except that I would be so strung going badge-less and doing nothing in Week 2 since I can't really afford the $1K 3-day/2 nights tour to Machu Picchu and it's too early to visit them churches. 

I thank my Ateneo Family for making Week 2 happen. 




I am thankful to the door keeper who allowed me to watch in the CCTV Caballero Juan Hoiffmaister deliver a statement in behalf of the G77 and China.


I am thankful to a Fil-NZ colleague who also came for a Week 2 badge and kept me company for two hours.


And I am thankful to the UN guard who told me to leave because if not for that, then I could have never experienced the crunchy but delicate taste of Lima's Turrones.


In other words my dear Pinky, you are not worth the hassle with this kind of COP.

So I'll be seeing you next year, either as Kulay Rosas or Menique.

That I can promise you.

Truly yours,

El Hombre con el Distintivo Amarillo

PS: I am actually an Atenean by virtue of a certificate on Financing Local Development from the Ateneo School of Government in Rockwell. At least that's what the dean told us when we finished the course.

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