Don't you just hate all those unsolicited emails that keep dropping into your mailbox? All that electronic junk mail that you have to sort through just to make sure that you haven't missed anything!
Well, I have no intention of subjecting you to that.
So.... here are the rules: If you don't want my blog to keep arriving unbidden by you, just commit it to your junkmail heap, block it, delete it, spam me - I don't care, in fact I probably won't even know about it, I'd rather keep you as a friend and bore you with my adventure stories after I get back than wear our friendship out.
That said, and because I am a relatively new blogger, I am going to try inserting a link to an article from our good old Dunedin paper the ODT. If this works you should be able to click on the link and find yourself transported to the front page of yesterdays paper where you can read even more about me.
Link to ODT
Yahoo.... it works!!! This blogging is great for the ego!!
Right. I am enjoying, or rather putting up with my last day in NZ for six months. I know that sounds awful, but its just that I am all packed and have ticked off all the things I had to do before going so I've got nothing left to do but 'go'..... and I don't 'go' until tomorrow so I'm all hyped up and every few minutes a thought comes into my head like: 'Did I remember to pack this?' or 'Did I leave instructions about turning the heating on?' Well, yes, of course I've done all those things, but it still goes through your head.
I will shortly go and busy myself in the galley and prepare a sumptuous gastronomic delight for our last dinner together for a few weeks and will try to avoid making it with curry (as I suspect I will soon have all the curry I can handle!)
So my next post will definitely be from 'away'.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Haiti thoughts
I digress briefly...... because I can - this is my blog remember.
My email has been working overtime for the last couple of days. The first indication of a problem was a notification cc'd to me from an emergency watch website to say there had been an 7.3 magnitude earthquake near Haiti and a subsequent tsunami alert.
My brain registered an alert at seeing the word Haiti because I had been there last year for 6 weeks as part of a joint Austrian / NZ team of IT & Telecom Red Cross Emergency Response Unit. At that time Haiti had just been devastated by three hurricanes in a row. I stayed in a hotel in Petionville and was familiar with Port au Prince, it's hillside shantytowns, poor construction, lack of infrastructure, and poverty.
The day before I left a school nearby collapsed killing a hundred or so. It was unfortunately inevitable, as is the outcome of this new disaster.
As the scale of the current event unfolds I find myself privvy to local knowledge that most people don't have. I have seen with my own eyes how ramshackle buildings are put together one on top of another, how long it takes to negotiate the narrow winding alleyways overflowing with people and the sheer mass of people who have outgrown their habitat - a bit like a human algael bloom!
It is difficult for people who have never been there to comprehend the scale involved but here is a picture painted with local comparison: The population of Dunedin represents the dead. Mix them with the population of Christchurch who represent the lucky survivors, then drop in the population of Auckland who represent the injured. Put the whole lot into a space about the size of Wellington, close all the roads, turn off the water, electricity and telephones, send the authorities on holiday, push over every second building, remove the toilets turn up the heat and wait. That to me is the nearest I can imagine of what Haiti has turned into. Hard to believe too that Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western world is just over an hour's flight from one of the richest nations on the planet! Hopefully in that statement lies part of the solution to speedy and efficient assistance for people who are in desparate need.
My email has been working overtime for the last couple of days. The first indication of a problem was a notification cc'd to me from an emergency watch website to say there had been an 7.3 magnitude earthquake near Haiti and a subsequent tsunami alert.
My brain registered an alert at seeing the word Haiti because I had been there last year for 6 weeks as part of a joint Austrian / NZ team of IT & Telecom Red Cross Emergency Response Unit. At that time Haiti had just been devastated by three hurricanes in a row. I stayed in a hotel in Petionville and was familiar with Port au Prince, it's hillside shantytowns, poor construction, lack of infrastructure, and poverty.
The day before I left a school nearby collapsed killing a hundred or so. It was unfortunately inevitable, as is the outcome of this new disaster.
As the scale of the current event unfolds I find myself privvy to local knowledge that most people don't have. I have seen with my own eyes how ramshackle buildings are put together one on top of another, how long it takes to negotiate the narrow winding alleyways overflowing with people and the sheer mass of people who have outgrown their habitat - a bit like a human algael bloom!
It is difficult for people who have never been there to comprehend the scale involved but here is a picture painted with local comparison: The population of Dunedin represents the dead. Mix them with the population of Christchurch who represent the lucky survivors, then drop in the population of Auckland who represent the injured. Put the whole lot into a space about the size of Wellington, close all the roads, turn off the water, electricity and telephones, send the authorities on holiday, push over every second building, remove the toilets turn up the heat and wait. That to me is the nearest I can imagine of what Haiti has turned into. Hard to believe too that Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western world is just over an hour's flight from one of the richest nations on the planet! Hopefully in that statement lies part of the solution to speedy and efficient assistance for people who are in desparate need.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Final preparations
Today something tangible happened. In the great scheme of things it wasn't much, it will never make headlines, and it won't change the world, but to me it was significant nonetheless. Written into my contract is a clause that allows me 25kg of unaccompanied luggage at no cost to me. Today my 25kg started it's journey to Colombo - unaccompanied, and unpaid by me. For the last week or two I have discreetly (so as not to cause upset) taken over the spare bedroom to make my preparations. I think I am a fairly organised creature for the most part so I have been laying out a collection of 'essentials', editing them, adding to, deleting from so that I end up with everything I think I will need to exist for 6 months in a place I have never been to, doing a job I have never done before.
How many pair of trousers will I need? Do I have a shirt I can wear a tie with if the need arises? What is the likelihood of that need arising? Do I have a tie that will match? Can I get away with one pair of semi-formal / semi-casual shoes? Will I really need a pair of jeans? Will I need a jacket? What if I run out of toothpaste, AA batteries, razor blades? Will I take my favourite kitchen knife?
Slowly the pile of stuff was trimmed to a more realistic sized mountain and 23.5kg of it was crammed into my trusty Zarges alluminium deployment trunk, its contents listed and declared for customs, forms filled in and it's hasps secured with nylon cable ties. I decided I would save the hassle of trying to coordinate a courier pick up for it so tossed it into the boot and delivered it to 'Toll Priority' for dispatch - or so I thought. "Where is that going?" asked a fairly disinterested employee from behind the counter. "How is it getting there?" was the next question and suddenly I realised I would probably never see my Zarges box again. Turns out that there is another 'Toll Priority' several blocks away and they deal specifically with the international dispatch of Zarges boxes (among other things). They are of course agents for the real company and of course the building was all locked up so I had to revert to the 0800 number that I should have started with. "The courier will be with you in 20 minutes", and good as his word he arrived. "This is the first time I've done this!" again made me lose confidence, but I must admit the driver seemed to have all the paperwork sorted in good time and left me with sufficient documentation to commence civil procedings with should I never see 'Zarges' again.
Off it went. I follow next week.
The point of this posting however was that today's dispatch of a small alloy trunk to Colombo ("it should reach there before you do") was to my mind an actual confirmation that I am really going somewhere. I no longer have to pinch myself to see whether or not I am dreaming. I do hope though that I will see Zarges again in the not too distant future along with it's contents, especially my Isongbook and mokka pot coffee percolator!
How many pair of trousers will I need? Do I have a shirt I can wear a tie with if the need arises? What is the likelihood of that need arising? Do I have a tie that will match? Can I get away with one pair of semi-formal / semi-casual shoes? Will I really need a pair of jeans? Will I need a jacket? What if I run out of toothpaste, AA batteries, razor blades? Will I take my favourite kitchen knife?
Slowly the pile of stuff was trimmed to a more realistic sized mountain and 23.5kg of it was crammed into my trusty Zarges alluminium deployment trunk, its contents listed and declared for customs, forms filled in and it's hasps secured with nylon cable ties. I decided I would save the hassle of trying to coordinate a courier pick up for it so tossed it into the boot and delivered it to 'Toll Priority' for dispatch - or so I thought. "Where is that going?" asked a fairly disinterested employee from behind the counter. "How is it getting there?" was the next question and suddenly I realised I would probably never see my Zarges box again. Turns out that there is another 'Toll Priority' several blocks away and they deal specifically with the international dispatch of Zarges boxes (among other things). They are of course agents for the real company and of course the building was all locked up so I had to revert to the 0800 number that I should have started with. "The courier will be with you in 20 minutes", and good as his word he arrived. "This is the first time I've done this!" again made me lose confidence, but I must admit the driver seemed to have all the paperwork sorted in good time and left me with sufficient documentation to commence civil procedings with should I never see 'Zarges' again.
The point of this posting however was that today's dispatch of a small alloy trunk to Colombo ("it should reach there before you do") was to my mind an actual confirmation that I am really going somewhere. I no longer have to pinch myself to see whether or not I am dreaming. I do hope though that I will see Zarges again in the not too distant future along with it's contents, especially my Isongbook and mokka pot coffee percolator!
more waiting
Some weeks had gone by and I hadn't heard anything so I decided to contact the person who was vacating the position I applied for. Communication pathways are sometimes convoluted in large multinational organisations - it is just the nature of the beasts. Anyway, the incumbent (we will call him Michael) had been told that I was indeed the new him so it was good to know that at least my application had reached as far as it had. Despite encouraging notes from Michael I still didn't have official confirmation for some more weeks so I made a conscious decision not to be counting any chickens prematurely. Slowly but surely though I found myself reading and researching more about the job and the country, and having more email contact with Michael. When the phone call did happen it came as no real surprise, but rather just signalled a gear change in preparations to go. There followed more intense preparations, a visit to the Travel Doctor for updated vaccinations, the issue of a complete Unichem chemist shop squeezed into a 1kg bag, more forms,and a trip to Wellington for a contract signing and collection of more forms and tickets.
So the reality of what was happening was starting to dawn on us. Sleepless nights were plenty and signaled the roller coaster highs and lows of the pre-deployment 'what ifs'. Just as one half came to grips with what was happening the other half started having doubts and vice versa. With much nurturing though things eventually calmed to a point where now it is just the odd ripple that upsets the delicate equilibrium of life.
So the reality of what was happening was starting to dawn on us. Sleepless nights were plenty and signaled the roller coaster highs and lows of the pre-deployment 'what ifs'. Just as one half came to grips with what was happening the other half started having doubts and vice versa. With much nurturing though things eventually calmed to a point where now it is just the odd ripple that upsets the delicate equilibrium of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)