Diary of a super important legal intern

I sincerely apologize for the rather long interruption in my regular stream of updates. Here are some long overdue snapshots from my *new life* as a Legal Intern in the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the UN Intl Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania:

Scene 1:
I'm settling into the pace in the overcrowded intern office on the 7th floor at the ICTR . There's a lovely view of Mt. Meru out of our panoramic window, not that I can see the view because I got stuck at the desk near the door. There are 12 people in my office, representing 11 different nationalities, usually chattering back and forth in a mix of the two official languages here, French and English.
It's day 3 at work and I finally get my computer, a nice Dell Pentium 4. Unfortunately I need a surge protector/extension cord to be able to plug it in. After 20 minutes of asking various people, calling around different offices, and promptly being handed off to others, I finally get the correct extension and am able to speak to a guy at the Building Management Services office (BMS).
-Hi, I'm Eve, a new intern in OTP. I would like a request an extension cord for my office computer.

-Ok, have you filled out a request?

-Um, no. That's why I'm calling.

-No no no no no, you cannot simply call the office. You must fill out the online request form.

-Right, but I can't get online because I can't plug in my computer yet.

-Yes, but you must complete the special form online and have it signed by your supervisor.

After a full 5 minutes of this verbal circumnavigation, I sigh and hang up the phone. But no, I am not yet defeated by the complex absurdity of UN bureaucracy. I march down to the BMS office, conveniently located down the block, outside the UN compound, and I find my telephonic interlocutor. After a 10-minute conversation about his family, health, kids etc, he hands me an extension cord! Victory is mine!
I happily trot back to my office, plug in the computer, start everything up, click on Internet Explorer and then… realize my Internet connection is not working…

Scene 2:
It's the end of my first week at the ICTR. After several days of translation work, photocopying and other tedious assignments, I am called down to the courtroom during an afternoon session. I try to conceal my excitement as I put on my suit jacket, smooth my hair, kick off my flip-flops (office norm) and slip on my heels. I grab my shiny new security ID badge and proceed down to Trial Chamber 1 where my case, Military 1, is being heard. I scan my ID and the light switches from red to green as the door clicks open. I push past the heavy curtain, appropriately colored "UN blue," and pause by the simultaneous interpreters' booths to bow to the judges. I pull up a chair next to Kartik, the assistant legal officer, and he hands me a stack of important confidential documents. I look eagerly down at the papers, waiting for my assignment. And then Kartik asks me to make 15 collated copies so we can distribute them as exhibits in court. Oh, more photocopying… Yay.

Scene 3:
Late afternoon on Friday, the end of my second week at the Tribunal. I'm already here much later than most people on Friday, a half-day of work here. Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt (it's casual Friday, aka "cultural attire" day at the UN), I walk down the clinical hallway to the office of Rashid, one of the trial attorneys. I hand him a thick witness binder, containing confidential protected witness information and certain background searches I had performed as preparation for this witness taking the stand the following week. As I walk back down the hall, gearing up to leave, I pop into the office of Greg, another trial attorney on the Military 1 case, just to wish him a nice weekend etc. We get to talking and he asks what I'm working on…

What I'm thinking: I'm working on finally getting out of here so I can go meet my friends for happy hour.
What I say: I just finished preparing the Higaniro binder for Rashid.

Greg: Oh so you're done? How would you like to work on one of my witnesses?

What I'm thinking: Cool beans, I'd love to do some more substantive work. Let's talk about in on Monday cuz I need to get outta here.
What I say: Sure, no problem.

Greg (passing me a huge thick binder): Oh great. Here's all the info. Go ahead and read through the documents, do an analysis of his statements, translate the Belgian immigration documents, and draft some questions for cross-examination.

What I'm thinking: Oh my God, I am totally unqualified for this job. I'm just going to back out of this door s-l-o-w-l-y.
What I say: Yup, I got it.

Greg: Oh and it'd be great if I could get this by 10pm tonight before I leave for Nairobi.

What I'm thinking: 10pm?! Are you nuts? It's already past 4pm on FRIDAY, aka 3 hours after everyone else has already gone home! Find some other sucker buddy, I'm outta here!
What I say: No worries, I'll get started on that ASAP.


Welcome to my life :-)