On a Sunday Afternoon

Life can be comical.

When you’ve been somewhere for a long time you want nothing more than to stay.

When you go back home, you inevitably say it’s good to be back.

Tanya and Sabastian’s apartment at The East Bank on a Sunday afternoon. Near Samsen and Si Yan.

Artist: Telepopmusik

Title: Breathe

Andrew

P.S. the remaining blog posts will be this format. Short whimsical thoughts followed by a picture, the pictures description and a song I’m enjoying at the moment.

Beautiful Thailand

We’ll this weekend I finally managed to escape the concrete jungle of Bangkok and went to the real jungle with some of my friends. Just outside Bangkok there is the small town Kanchanaburi best known for the Bridge on the River Kwai.

About an hour from Kanchanaburi there is a national park, Erawan, which has incredible waterfalls which you can swim around. This was one of the top 5 moments for me in Thailand so far and will be hard to surpass. Imagine swimming near a waterfall in the midst of a tropical jungle. It was incredible. There were monkey’s playing about only short distance away on the shore and the water was full over fish. You could even go behind the waterfall into a small grotto.

On the way back the long truck ride gave me a lot of time to just let my mind wander and I found myself the most relaxed I have been in perhaps the last two years.

From Bangkok,

Andrew

La vita e bella

Wow it has been a long time since I last wrote. I have learned that people outside of my family and CANADEM staff are now seeing this (Naomie the newest intern at the UN who used it to give her a sense of how things are in Bangkok and the UN, and even Nicholas Rosellini Deputy Assistant Administrator, and Deputy Regional Director knew of this blog). As such I’ll make sure to post regularly again and use this post to bring up everyone to speed.

The political unrest that built up and which ended with a State of Emergency being declared has not really escalated again beyond some small incidences outside Bangkok primarily in Northern Thailand.

Right after the protests things at work for the CD team really picked up as everyone was putting in long hours for the CD Learning Week from April 22-28. That is the main reason why I haven’t posted for several weeks. Just didn’t have the time. A great deal of my attention was spent on the creation of a Capacity Development for Local Service Delivery (CD-LSD) Community of Practice (CoP) for the Asia-Pacific Region which was intended to be an extended arm of the current global CD-LSD CoP. In the end it was agreed however that it would be beneficial for all involved if the CD-LSD CoP were to merge with the CD CoP that was simultaneously being created. Another big portion of my time went to finding panelists for a CD Talk with the main speaker Kanni Wignaraja Director, Capacity Development Group, Bureau of Development Policy on the topic of “Reinforcing State Capacities During a Global Financial Crisis: a SMART State for a SMART Society.” In the end I found three panelists one of which cancelled the day of the event which was a bit of a disappointment. Looking back several things could have been done better. In particular I should have screened the panelists a little better or just spent more time briefing them. Even still I received some positive feedback on a job well done which was nice.

Now that the meetings are over the 2009 Workplan is being revised with the CD Learning Week as the context for future activities this year. The Meeting Report which I will be drafting up tomorrow naturally has a “Next-Steps” section and these will also need to be reflected in the Workplan. Beyond the Meeting Report I will be making sure over the month of May that the Template which will be used to document innovative practices for Local Service Delivery receives comments/revisions and that those are then consolidated. This is of particular importance because one thing that was mentioned throughout the CD Learning Week was sharing such practices with each other within the CoP. In addition to this I will be reading up on, and keeping tabs on a new project cycle Bhutan and Nepal are involved in having submitted project documents which are now being reviewed by a Local Project Approval Committee (LPAC). Lastly, I will continue developing the Solutions Network for Asia-Pacific CD-LSD (previously PPPSD, fyi) page in preparation for it potentially becoming the online workspace for the CoP.

Outside of work things have been equally interesting. A new group of interns and volunteers are slowly integrating into the intern etc. community we have at the UN. It can be a little tough saying goodbye to those who I started with but I’m keeping in touch with most, if not all of them. Just a part of the experience. Another friend for instance will be heading soon to the UN HQ in New York.

Just recently I’ve moved into a new apartment which is much cheaper than my previous one but still very nice. Last night I had a small party to celebrate which was a real good time. Lots of old friends and new ones. Speaking of old ones I’m going to be helping Julien organize a Environmental Networking party he has called LUSH which will be tentatively held at the top of a hotel building that my friends boyfriend owns. This is something I’ll have to talk to him more about because I’m still unclear about a few things.

The night before the new apartment party I had the chance to meet a relative of mine from Canada Laura Drosdowich who was very nice. As I know my family is reading this I think I should say that I kept thinking over dinner that she (who has several tattoos including a ying and yang one) was the yang where my Aunt Leo would be the ying. The two have a lot of similarities but also stark differences.

That’s about it for the time being, I think everyone is now caught up. I’d like to finish off by saying that I still don’t know where I’ll be going next but I certainly miss Toronto my mother father and brother and the whole family and my friends (we’ll certainly have a lot to talk about the next time we go to The Unicorn).

Andrew

P.S. Dad I expect to hear you’ve placed at least top five in the Sporting Life 10k :-)

Songkran and UDD

Well I certainly cannot say there isn’t much going on. If you’ve been watching any international news you are probably aware that the UDD (red shirts) in Thailand have essentially shut down the city. The road blockades started late last week but really escalated after the ASEAN Summit and specifically on Sunday night. Although some parts of Bangkok have no blockades, because my apartment is so close to Government House and Democracy Monument Sunday night there were city buses being used as blockades at every intersection and sometimes even at small ones like the one at the end of my road. Due to this, taxi’s cannot get into my area of the city and on my way to RCA (the club district) to celebrate Songkran, I had to walk about a kilometre to finally get a taxi. Once in the taxi getting to RCA was difficult as the UDD had closed off major streets all throughout the city. Nevertheless, I met up with friends at RCA and we celebrated Songkran with thousands of others by splashing and squirting water at each other for several hours. It is a great way to celebrate the new year.

Yesterday, Monday, the police were cracking down on the protestors and we were instructed by UN Security to stay in our homes. I did this to the extent possible except for when I had to get something to eat. Around my area there were tires on fire in the middle of the road about 100 meters from my place and the buses which had been used as blockades the night before were set ablaze. I saw the billowing smoke from my window when I woke up and later when I went for dinner say what remained of two buses placed in the middle of the street with about a hundred soldiers sitting around the area. There were lots of pedestrians looking at the mess and I guess talking about what was happening all throughout Bangkok as the scenes around my place were not too uncommon.

Today everyone has been instructed to work from home. My general sense of the situation is that it is in the last stages of being resolved. I would like to add to all of this that while I’m perfectly safe it is only because of the UN Security and I have not yet heard a word from the Canadian Embassy. This is similar to when the PAD had taken over the Airport. Why did I register with them? Someone is asleep at the wheel.

Andrew

Spoke too soon

I may have spoken too soon about staying for an additional 3 months. This is not for certain apparently as it needs to get passed by HR. Although staying for an extra month did not need much approval so I've got my fingers crossed that 3 more doesn't either.

We'll see how it goes though.

Andrew

Ayuttaya Finally!

Since the last time I posted a message a lot has happened. At work the Mongolia SNAP workspace has been completed and the invitations sent away. Now we’ll see if it is actually used. The project proposal for the online MDG campaign which I’ve been developing with Julien has been submitted. Again, it will be interesting to see their reaction. A major project at the moment which I am contributing to is a CD Lessons Learned Workshop being held at the end of April. Lot’s of time is being devoted to this and Heidi deserves a tremendous amount of credit for putting all of this together in addition to her already heavy workload. I don’t know how she does it.

Outside of work Britton arrived from Toronto and stayed with me for a little while. We went to Koh Samet but although Koh Samet is nice I really would like to see some other parts of Thailand, especially Koh Samui. I will certainly try and find time to do this in the near future. Now Britton has been in the South of Thailand, I believe with a friend of his from Queen’s. Not sure when he will be returning to pick up some of the stuff he left behind.

I finally went to Ayuttaya! The old capital was a nice day trip out of the busy city. Because the area we had to cover was large we rented scooters for the day. That was kind of exciting as I had never driven a scooter before and never driven period outside of Canada.

Lots of interesting temples to see.

Coming up:

Songkran festival is coming up which is a really big holiday for Thai’s. For a few days everyone throws water at each other. I’m not sure to what extent this really happens but I’ve been told that you cannot expect to walk anywhere without getting wet so I shouldn’t carry anything important.

Also I’ve decided to stay on volunteering for an additional 3 months. The experience here I feel is immeasurable and I’m not really ready to go back to Canada yet. Not having found a job after this also contributes to this decision. What remains to be seen though is what I will be doing for those three extra months. I’m moving from my current apartment to a much cheaper one and have reworked my budget accordingly to maximize the amount of time I can stay here with as little money as possible. One lessons learned from the past 6 months (something the UN is always keen on knowing): Always budget assuming the worst scenario, even if you are led to believe the best scenario.

From Bangkok,

Andrew

P.S. If you want to get a sense of what Bangkok is like at night the video below is a good taste.

27

Hello there everyone,

Last week I had my birthday which in itself was not a pleasant experience (27 seems old, no offense to anyone older than that) but my friends here were really great. Over lunch we enjoyed a cake (thank you Adrianna for that) which I then shared with the rest of the staff. Yesterday night I had my actual party which was nice and relaxing. Only myself, and three close friends at my apartment. First we all went for some noodles at my favourite corner stall.

From Left to Right: Tanya, Julian, and Gaew

It actually became a scary night after dinner though as we were talking about scaring stories we had all experienced and then out of nowhere my phone rings with no one on the other end. This is no joke. Although it was probably a neighbour either above or below me it got everyone even more scared to the point where I didn’t want to go to sleep. Tanya was nice enough to stay over and watch movies with me to get my mind (well both of ours) off of scary stuff. Thank you Tanya for that.

Today, Sunday, I worked a little on the MDG Campaign which now unofficially has the title of i’MDG. Really catchy. I also worked on coming up with ideas to “package” a CD Learning Week which will be held in the end of April. This however is proving a little difficult as the week is actually comprised of three very distinct events where people who go to one event may, and probably is not permitted, to attend the others. Lastly I review the Global CD-LSD (new name for PPPSD) Community of Practice (CoP) for ideas to revitalize the Asia-Pacific CD-LSD CoP.

Now I sit at home getting back into the habit of writing on this blog something I am sorry to have neglected for the past little while. Tonight I will send my friend Britton an e-mail trying to organize things for when he arrives on Friday. And then there is always looking for a job.

From Left to Right: Lilliam, Julian, Tanya, Johannes, Beatriz, Adrianna

Thanks again everyone,

Andrew

Not too much happening

The past two weeks have been exciting.

During the week it is as busy as ever so nothing really new there. Two weekends ago however there were two really fun pool parties. One was for a birthday party on Friday night while the other was a going away party on Saturday. Speaking of going away parties I went to three in the span of one week and there will only be more to come.

Last weekend of particular interest was an art auction for Refugees which was put on by a church group that a friend of mine belongs to. That was an interesting time.

Sorry for such a short post and lack of pictures but I’m very short on time these days.
Andrew

Koh Samet II

I realize it has been a long time since I last wrote a post but I have been extremely busy at work taking on various projects and working extended hours. In addition to this I have been asked to write a project proposal for an MDG campaign for the Asia-Pacific region which is, combined with my actual duties, taking up literally all of my time. What little time I do have free is spent searching for job opportunities which I have to write cover letters for and find in the first place.

Despite all of this I have done a few things outside of work which I will share with you know.
The biggest news outside of work was a trip to Koh Samet, my second time to this island nature park just three and a half hours east of Bangkok. Organized by Julien the intention was that we would have a big pink full moon party. This however turned into a very small party with myself and three others. Nevertheless, it was fun and a welcome break from work.

Sorry for this short post but I have lots to do. I’ll find sometime during this week to write a little more. Also Britton will be visiting shortly so I’m sure some of the post which will follow will have a lot more to share.

Busy in Bangkok

Andrew

Great News!

Well I have two really big pieces of news. I’ll start with the biggest first. I found a place here in Bangkok called Crepes & Co. who sell.........CANADIAN PANCAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes that’s right a little taste of heaven a million miles away. I had heard that Crepes & Co. was a good place to go for breakfast and brunch and didn’t know before heading there that they sold this most majestic meal. When I read on the menu that they had this little taste of home I nearly shouted out for joy. I’m in no way homesick and I don’t want to give off that impression but those pancakes, dripping in maple syrup sure were good. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me so I can’t share a picture but not to worry, I’ll be going again and next time with my camera.

In other news, and my second piece of news which isn’t really that big, is that I went to the Chinese New Years celebrations on Monday night with some friends and we had a great time. There was dancing, music, some fireworks and lots of incense burning at the nearest temple giving off a very good smell.

Part of the celebration included releasing small birds (maybe sparrows not sure) from a cage. Although I don’t have a picture of this I did take a video and I've learned how to post video's so expect these in future posts.

With regards to work it’s pretty much the same story since the beginning of this year. Really busy. I’ve been given a lot of additional responsibilities which I am happy to receive as I feel far more involved with what’s really going on than when I first arrived a very long four months ago.
I’ve just past the halfway point and I can’t believe that I have so much time left. It feels like I began my contract here such a long time ago with everything that I have done. Hard to imagine everything that will happen in the coming months.

What an experience.

Andrew

Bonjour...

Bonjour, ca va?

The most interesting news I have to share is that my French level 1 course has started so I’m slowly learning the basics and trying to practice what I do know as much as possible. Still very early though but I hope to have a good foundation by the end of the course in April.

The work at the UNDP RCB is really starting to pick up. Beyond the jobs assigned to me on my ToR I have been tasked with putting together the Workplan for 2009 which is very near completion now. All that remains is update it once Delger comes back from holidays/sick leave and add inputs from the Capacity Development (CD) global team workplan. In addition, I am now the focal point for a CD Institutional Networking Event/Fair and the focal point for the RCB’s CD Brown Bag Lunches which is the easier of the two as once it is organized it will essentially run itself. Outside of work I have been putting together necessary documents for a MDG Campaign which I am proposing to the Deputy Director for the MDG Campaign in Asia. Working with me on this is Julian (the guy in the picture of the last post) and we think we have a good idea for them. Not sure at this point if they will be very receptive to the idea however as we have still not been given a time when we can sit down with the Director and really discuss it with him. On the positive side though Dipa Bagai, head of CD here at the RCB, is really supportive of the idea so at this point it’s a little bit of a waiting game.

This weekend I’m thinking I will finally go to the old capital. Something which I have been meaning to do since the first week I arrived. A motivating factor of my going there is to try and spice up these blogs. As more time is devoted to work and finding employment after this placement, it is becoming more difficult to find interesting things to write about. Unlike when I first arrived when everything was new and exciting, now things here seem common.

I’d like to thank my Aunt Leo and Uncle Glen for sending me a box full of all things Canadian. When I was opening it I was really excited. It was the closest feeling of Christmas I’ve had in near two years. The postcard of the Loon is now firmly attached to my office wall.

The picture for this post was taken in Cambodia on a regular digital camera but the quality is amazing so I thought I would share it.

Au revoir,

Andrew

Busy Beaver

The holidays are over and the office is once again busy with activity. Currently I am working closely with the Capacity Development team in finalizing the Workplan for 2009. This is great for me as I am developing a clear picture of their activities and what is coming up in the new year. Work still continues on the publication and I have put together something resembling a first draft for the introduction.

Last week was particularly busy with meetings and new responsibilities and this coming week will be even busier as I have more meetings and complete several tasks for projects which I am the focal point for. Good times but busy.

It’s not all just grim work though. This is a picture of a friend of mine in the office right beside mine taken at the end of the day on Friday by an intern from Spain. I’ve kept the picture which I told him would go immediately up on the blog.

Andrew