Ain't No Power Like the Power of the People

No idea where this is from, but pulled it from my Twitter feed. If anyone knows who to credit, let me know. Must say it was good to help out with friends' kids today. A day wrestling and playing football with a 2 and 5 year-old is good for clearing one's head. Spending another quality night with the people of Egypt (or at least the many info streams) while I knock out the last of my final course work so I can get on to bigger & better things.
Peace/سلام

أنا مع مصر

What a powerful image (click to enlarge). Trying to sort my thoughts on today.Went into a late afternoon meeting just hoping not to emerge to news of a bloodbath. Just home from work and watching any feed I can.

Thinking of the streets I walked (and sometimes got happily lost in), now filled with tear gas and APCs. Remembering the little girl, who I had to challenge to an eating contest to get her to finish her kushari while her mother tried to contain her laughter. Thinking of the 18 and 19 year-old social work students I met at Helwan University, who adopted me at a conference. What will tomorrow bring for that bright, energetic, hopeful and hysterically funny group of young Egyptians (Muslims and Christians, it didn't matter to them a bit)? Thinking about hanging out on the bridges over the Nile, where today there have been running battles. Thinking about the friend I stayed with last March and hoping to hear from hear back from her soon. Just thinking about how much I miss the place, how much I love the people...
It's going to be a long night. And whatever comes, this is just the beginning.
My thoughts and hopes are with all of Egypt, all of the Middle East.
Peace/سلام

Great day in the morning!

Looks like I'm onto the next phase for Fulbright:
"I am pleased to inform you that the National Screening Committee of the Institute of International Education (IIE) has recommended you for a grant under the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for the academic year 2011-2012. Your application has been forwarded to the supervising agency abroad for final review."

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Jordanian Fulbright Committee, have I told you lately that I love you? Show me love, guys. And I'd prefer you not wait until June to do so.

For now, it's time to rekindle my romance with Hans Wehr.
Peace/سلام

Hello. My name is Methusalah.

I really am not somebody who minds aging. I did a little, happy dance in a tiny elevator in Istanbul when my Iranian friend pointed out my first gray hair. Badge of honor thing, I think. However, I can find humor now that I'm reaching a new set of benchmarks. Last fall, my freshmen students were half my age. Half. Many people in my graduate program never saw the 70s. Some barely saw the 80s. As noted here, I no longer qualify for many student discounts in Geneva because I apparently long ago aged out of the category.

Today, the UNHCR interns hosted the monthly interns' lunch for interns across the UN system. I am well aware I am older than most interns here. It was a small turnout, mostly UNHCR interns, but nice folks. Then some of them began discussing resumes, some trying to find work to stay in Geneva or just move into paid employment where they can. Several started discussing having to fill space with an "additional interests" section, listing hobbies or talents and whether that was a good idea or not. I thought, "My, it's been a while since I've had an interest section in my CV. Huh." I agreed that writing a CV is a special craft in and of itself and mentioned having to shave certain items off after 10 years. And I was met with blank stares. And the inevitable question from one of them, "How old are you?"

Ah, children. Gather 'round and the Crypt Keeper will tell you her tales of the days of yore.
Peace/سلام

Climb every mountain...or at least the one in your backyard

Two quick questions

If allegedly being able to see Russia from your house supposedly qualifies you to be VP, what does actually being able to see France from your house qualify you for? This is important since I'll be seeking gainful employment in coming months.

Also, if finding the baby Jesus in your piece of King Cake means a good year for you and the responsibility for throwing next year's Mardi Gras party, what does finding a little ceramic figurine of Garfield ice skating in your slice of galette des Rois mean? Whatever he may be an omen of, he now adorns my desk.
Peace/سلام

Week One: So it begins

Shooting for: free concert of a few of Bach's Cantatas tonight at Temple de la Fusterie - part of the celebration of the music conservatory's 175 anniversary.

Factoid of the day: The UNHCR HQ building was designed by an architect who had previously only designed prisons. Place sort of has an odd cruise ship-y vibe, too.

Discovery of the day: Those two giant boxes that seem to have long ago taken up permanent residence in the hall outside our office? The ones I was otherwise oblivious to? Yeah. Finally read the label this week. Condoms. Thousands and thousands of condoms.

Dreaming of: Terra Proibita, aka the 7th floor of UNHCR HQ, where the High Commissioner and other top officials have their offices. If for nothing more than to snoop. Thar be dragons! People sort of speak of it in hushed tones. I will likely get up there for interviews as part of my project. For now, I like to tease my supervisors with things like, "But, what if I just want to knock and offer to buy him a coffee? That's nice, right?"

Feeling a bit better about the world today thanks to: Tunisia!

Amused by: the very elderly, very chic woman who kept looking me over approvingly while we waited to get in the bank downtown at opening Friday: (to me, in French) "You must be a lawyer, no?"

"So what are your first impressions?" asked the long-time UNHCR staffer, an alum of my department at UT-Austin. I tried to pull it together to put into words.

This week has been mostly observations, so trying to give first impressions is like spreading the cards across the table and playing Memory: flipping cards over and over until you can make a match, in this case my observations with words to convey them. I've tried very hard to just keep my eyes and ears open and be the sponge this week.

I spent most of the week in my office, which is actually not bad for two reasons. First, Friday I discovered that most of the interns at HQ are sort of quarantined to two glassed-walled pods on the 6th floor, no matter who they work for. Great for networking with other interns, but I'd rather be integrated into the unit I'm working with. I work out of my section's actual office, on the 4th floor. Also, our office is a stopping point for every new staff member and many others. I met the brand new head of Legal Affairs this week, who stopped by to get some help on housing and relocation. Nice fellow and in just the same tough spot as all of us in finding a place to live. Though I'm quite sure he as a few more resource than I to deal with it.

I'm on the Ave. de France side, facing the lake. Aside from being able to see the lake, a bit of the Palais, and, if I lean, the mountains, my favorite thing in my view is the World Meteorological Organization building. I'm sure it's from growing up in Florida, but I have a deep-seated and rather irrational love of jalousie windows and the WMO building looks like one big oval-shaped bank of jalousie windows from my window. Or sort of like the overgrown lens of a lighthouse - even better. It's a silly, trivial thing that makes me happy. That's all.

I work for the Staff Welfare Section (SWS). We have sent students to Community Services for nearly 20 years. I am the first student from our school to intern in this section. Before arriving, I'd not been very sure what I that meant or what I might be doing. People said, "You're at the UN! Does it matter?"
Yes, it damn well does to me.
I'd gotten a vague description from my faculty liaison: Staff Welfare...counseling...assistance programs...
I admit, I was nervous. I'm not a counselor. That's not my end of social work. At all. I had struggled to try to make my first field internship a useful learning experience and I don't believe I was ever really permitted to succeed to that end. Wonderful people, but far too constrained on the part of my department and the agency towards hitting benchmarks that had little to do with me. It was a rough year.
Then I spoke to the director of the section and the staff member who would serve as my supervisor over Skype in early December.
They were just as unsure of the requirements of my department for the internship, the nuts and bolts requirements like hours to complete, but they were very exciting about having me intern.
"Just to be clear," I added, "I don't have a mental health background. I don't do therapy. I don't do individual casework."
I am not sure they couldn't hear my very rather audible sigh of relief when they insisted that's fine, that's not what the internship would be about. They needed somebody to lay groundwork and start developing programs. It was still vague, but it as up my alley.

I decided to start on the first Friday of the year knowing there would be a lot of admin stuff to take care of: getting my badge, tech stuff to set up...And, luckily, maybe because most people were still out on holiday, everything went smoothly.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I've been lucky, but I have to say that so far as I've experienced, the U.N. has the nicest security staff I've ever met at a large organization. The folks issuing badges chatted with me about where I was from and what I was doing at the U.N. The older fellow processing my badge asked what I had planned after the end of my internship and when I told him I didn't yet know he insisted with a smile that I would be staying on with the UN. The guards at HQ were incredibly gracious, joking in response to my walking in the first morning, throwing my arms out, and stammering in broken French, "So what do I do?" Leaving the first evening, one of them asked me how my first day went.

There are four people in staff welfare, including our support staffer. We're two Croatians (including the head of section), a Romanian, a Gambian and now an American. My direct supervisor is a trained social worker who has worked in Romania and France. Her background includes community work as well as more therapeutic practice. The head of our office also has a mental health background and like my supervisor sometimes sees staff in her office for sessions. The third person on staff, the other Croatian, is a trained psychologist. The section now has four members in the field as well: Dakar, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Islamabad. There are hopes for two more positions at some point in the future, in the Americas and another in Africa. The section in small but growing as the UN, like many organizations, fully grasps the need for a happy and fully-supported staff. While programs have mostly focused on staff, there is a desire to extend services of some sort to families.

All UNHCR staff, except for a few people in specialized positions or with certain backgrounds, rotates regularly all over the globe. Postings may last anywhere from about two years (hardship posts) to about five or six years. Except in cases of certain posts (Afghanistan, etc), people may bring their families. As you can imagine, this isn't easy, but then again neither is leaving your family behind. Issues like vicarious trauma, difficulties for spouses finding work and maintaining careers, the basic difficulties in relocating, disruption of children's educations, relationship strain, are just some of the issues encountered. It is often bandied about that UNHCR has the highest divorce rate in the UN system. Interestingly, the head of our office noted that though she's heard that for many years, she's never seen figures to prove it, which makes it part of the organizational mythology, for now.

The best and most exciting thing about this week is they just threw me right off the dock and into the water. Spent the first two days talking to the three of them about the section, the organization, printing internal documents to read about everything from work-life balance at he UN to UNHCR organizational culture, and brainstorming the project. It was a little overwhelming at first, but I actually like it that way - a bit of shock treatment. It also indicated that they were trusting me to rise to the challenge as a mature professional and already giving me a bit of autonomy, which I appreciate immensely. Nice for me and for them. Our director and my supervisor both expressed to me their real relief and satisfaction at how they were able to do just that with me, how much they appreciated my jumping immediately and performing so well out of the gate.

The actual work on an internship can be hit or miss. You hope, or at least I do, to not be placed where there is either nothing for you to do, where you're not permitted to do anything useful that would make it a meaningful learning experience, or where you're limited to doing things way below your abilities.

My project is big, meaty, challenging and exciting. I've been told by others on staff that this is the sort of thing they hire a consultant to do, that I might be able to publish on it, too. I'll be essentially completing an assessment of the relationship between UNHCR and staff families - how do they view organization and how does the organization view them. Along with that, I'll be assessing the challenges facing families of international staff (staff not working in their home country), any existing assistance programs, and beginning to look at how to develop adequate and sustainable support programs. All this ends up merging with lot of initiatives within the UN system and UNHCR like gender parity and improved work-life balance as well. Additionally, there is the realization of the importance of these types of programs on recruitment and retention and, ultimately, in being able to succeed in your mandate.

I'll write more about the methodology later, but I'm using a lot of qualitative methods and pushing for the most direct contacts possible, in part due to the perceived negative relationship. I'll be talking to folks all over the world and at pretty much ever level here at HQ. We're pushing hard for some field visits, within reason. There's a lot of balancing involved - not raising expectations (positive or negative) too high, maintaining clarity, etc. But I really do need a tough challenge like I need air and I've certainly got one here.

I was asked to draft a concept paper for the project to distribute to the necessary higher-ups by Friday. Initially, I was a bit stuck just fretting uselessly about proper formatting. Then I realized all the balancing that would have to be done for all sides. Not impossible, but certainly imposing.
Early indicators within HQ are good and the concept paper went out yesterday. Next week I start a slew of informational meetings with everyone from legal affairs to policy to medical services. Also have meetings with system-wide managerial staff from over in the Palais. Also getting in touch with the Budapest office and our SWS staff in the field. It's a steady, heavy diet of input.

It's a hierarchical organization for sure and I'm working via introductions from our staff at the moment. While I certainly understand that certain procedures help things run smoothly, I believe there's a hell of a comedy of manners to be written. Perhaps oddly, I sort of mean that as a complement. I think.

So that's the week that was.
We'll see what week two brings.
It's a lovely, sunny day and I have to get outside and play.
God, that rhymed a bit too much, no?
Sort of enjoying not having to be anywhere at the moment, though, as well.
Bon weekend, y'all.
Peace/سلام

I'm not who I think I am

It appears that the title of "Non-traditional student", typically used in the U.S. to designate an older than average student, does not exist in Switzerland, or at least not in Geneva.

Every time I've inquired about student discounts, so far, I've been met with the same response:
"Madame, a student is a person under 25 years of age."
It does not matter that I have my university ID and an International student ID card.
I am 11 years over the cut-off. Thus, I am not a student.
Not sure what that makes me as an unemployed, unpaid intern, trying to finish the last credits for her master's degree, but I am not a student.
Non!
Perhaps I am some sort of eccentric who not only likes working for free, but pays someone else for the pleasure to do so.

A few times I've been met with a bit of a tone. The guy who sold me my ticket to the symphony even cocked his head to the side just a notch in disbelief and sort of stared me down for a beat.

I must say my new favorite person is town is the woman at the ticket counter for the neighborhood pool, right behind our apartment building. She not only gave me a student price on my pool pass, she threw me the local price. I was nearly moved to reach through the window and hug her.
Peace/سلام

Dear Geneve

No disrespect, Geneva, but I don't find the Jet d'Eau to be all that. Of course, walking past, I've seen many people who would obviously disagree snapping photos like mad. It does remind me of a great sprinkler toy I had as a wee kid. However, you can't play in the Jet, or at least I haven't figured out how (w/o injury, arrest or - right now - freezing). It also reminds me of Letterman's old "prancing fluids" gag. Surely you've better things to brag on. I mean, Raclette, maybe? "The other melted cheese!" Watches that cost as much as some automobiles aren't much to brag about in this economic climate without sounding a bit gauche and out of touch. And Calvin...well, while really fascinating, he wasn't exactly a party with his Five Points, was he? You're a perfectly nifty city, so far, so I suspect it won't be too hard to come up with something.

Also, never, ever, do away with the marché aux puces at Plainpalais. Ever. It's reassuring and heartwarming that a market exists where I can, should I chose to, purchase a Pinhead doll, old movie cameras, broken watches by the truckload, a French press, kilm rugs, Andean woolly hats, not-so-gently used shoes, and random doll body parts...all in one place. Fabulous. I have my eye on a few items already. No, not Pinhead.

Finally, for now, might I remind you that your country is supposedly one where people consider themselves happiest in all the world. They don't often look it. What gives? Just asking.
Will write more soon.
Avoir. Merci.
Peace/سلام

Dateline: Thonex

Arrived to Thonex and am settling into my little monk's cell of a room. Actually, it should work just fine. The flat owner's been very helpful. Even took a bit of pity on my with all the shops closed for the holiday weekend and cooked a small meal for me. The other renter, a very nice WTO intern from China, leaves tomorrow, so not much to report there.

It's a pretty quiet part of town, save for the bank robbery not long ago. According to Nico they seem to have a robbery about every five years, which led to jokes about Swiss promptness. Even better, the robbery occurred across the street from the police station, though he couldn't tell me if that meant the robbers were bold, stupid or the police just incompetent.

I went to France for the first time in my life today. This is not a huge feat since France is about 100m up the street. You just hit the street and keep walking. The fact that if I wander off in pretty much any direction I'll be in another country is a bit odd to a kid from S. Florida, where there nearest state was about a ten hour drive away. Crossing the border was a bit anticlimactic with nobody around to check your papers, hassle you or hold you for 14 hours. Or bring you endless cups of coffee. Oh, how I miss my long conversations over coffee with the border guards at Bab al-Hawa, though.

I wandered into a small cemetery; the dead often make far better company than the living. Most of the graves were family plots, but there was a large memorial to four martyrs of the WWII resistance and a single grave for a group of refugees lost in WWI. Very moving to see a man's grave festooned with dedications of love from his family beside inscriptions such as "Rosette de la Resistance...Un Exemple!"

Unfortunately, this being a holiday weekend, walking around for a while instead of heading straight for the grocery stores proved a poor choice and everything was shut by the time I headed home. Managed to scrounge a packet of soup, a loaf of bread, some Kiri & a tomato at the one shop open around here. Tomorrow, I'll head back into France for a real grocery run and to hit up the halal markets. There's been some discussion as to whether shopping in France versus Geneva remains a bargain, but I'm willing to give it a go.

Set to start at UNHCR on Friday, mostly to get some formalities & paperwork out of the way. So this week is all about getting rolling and trying to start carving a routine.
And then figuring out how to hike to the top of Saleve, which was half shrouded in clouds today so that you could barely see the tram cables. The trees just below the clouds were coated in snow, so it should make for an excellent full-day hike. This town may be pricey, but walking's still free.
Peace/سلام

Bonjour, y'all

Reading: Just Kids by Patti Smith
Currently: House sitting for new friends in Gland - pron. Gloh according to my new friend Vincent, aged 5.

Just another lazy quick post to say I made it to Switzerland. It's not been a terribly fun first week, but it's getting better.

After a not so fun journey here, I landed in Geneva at about 2am. I was supposed to land in Istanbul, but it's a long, dull story involving standing in a queue with 2/3s of humanity in Frankfurt, with occasional flashes of remarkable, small generosities from strangers. My bags finally made it from Frankfurt on Christmas Eve and new friends invited me to stay at their home outside of Geneva while they went skiing. And, best of all, I may have found a decent room to rent for an actually reasonable price - no small feat in this town. Learning something new about this place and how to make my way every day. For the next few days I'm going to take it easy, read, walk, and rest.

I managed to do the two things I said I'd do on my first day here: paid my respects to Vieira de Mello and Borges at Planpalais and stopped by UNHCR to take in the place from the outside.

I'd been staying at the hostel, which hasn't been so bad, though a top bunk at 36 is not what it was at 10. The weather's been cold and we even enjoyed a decent snow on Christmas Eve. Most everything shuts down by about 5 for the holiday weekend, so I ended up at a kebab shop having durum and ayran for Christmas dinner. Since I actually can manage more Turkish than French at the moment, I was able to chat up the proprietors, who even had me stay for a spot of tea.

Best thing has been walking along the lake under low, gray clouds late in the day, listening to Scriabin and Coltrane. I'm sure there are others whose music will suit, but for now these are my guys.

If all goes well, I'll be moved in and start really settling in next weekend. My first day at UNHCR will be 7 Jan.
Peace/سلام

Transitioning

Watching: sad news of the loss of Richard Holbrooke
Working on: packing and repacking and repacking...(it's like editing, but with stuff)
Looking forward to: Wed of friends, stone crabs, and Key lime pie
Wishing: I could shake this cough!
Reading: has stalled for the moment

The wind is whipping the palms about outside. There's a hard freeze blowing in tonight; manatees and crops are at risk from the record lows. And local media is nearly as giddy as when a hurricane approaches.
Rearing my head from the sands of the SE Florida coast to say I don't have much to say at the moment, really.
Running like made to get things sorted and spend time with friends and family before flying to Istanbul a week from today.
Finished entering grades for my undergrads and really appreciate receiving emails from them wishing me well at the UN and thanking me for being "the coolest TA".
It's been a whirl with the end of the semester, this pit-stop at home...
Looking forward to setting my bags down in Istanbul for a bit before, I hope, taking the train to Geneva. Yeah, I know flying is faster, but it's not the same.
Anyway, check back in a week or so. Give me a chance to have some tea and clear my head.
Peace/سلام

From the mouths of cartoon dogs...

So, this little video's been making the rounds amongst students here in my department. I hear faculty and admin are catching on and some even have a sense of humor about it.
It was made by a student here, but I've no idea who. No, not me, though several asked.
Rated PG for a bad word or two.

Last one out...

Gorging on: MOVIES! Caught up on a lot I've been meaning to see for ages.
Reading: The Rebel by Camus and, most wonderfully, ANYTHING ELSE I WANT!
Leaving on a jet plane: Friday, bound for FLA
Listening to: Motown
Scrambling: to get my Swiss visa before 20 DEC

Well, that's about it here in Austin. If you're reading this, I've walked out of my department for likely the final time. The air is likely cool and sweet. Now, I'm not quite finished...not until May. However, in honor of a lot of things, here's a wee video. Embed's disabled, so you'll just have have to go look for yourself.
High school or grad school - sometimes the distinctions blur significantly - this just fits.
Peace/سلام

Allons-y!

Listening to: Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Scriabin

Geneva it is, folks. Off to UNHCR HQ to work on program development for my internship. More news to come...
Wheels up to Istanbul and old friends on 20 December. Likely off to Geneva by train just after the start of the year.
Peace/سلام