Weekend away

Went away to a resort nearby. An acquittance of mine (I guess she is my friend now!) happened to be coming this way, so I decided to go along. Just a 30 mins speed boat ride, here I am in front of indigo ocean and on a white sand beach!

I didn't do anything special, sitting by a pool, mostly reading, sipping soda water etc... It is refreshing to be away from the chaos in the capital.

This was one of the reasonable resorts (about 220 USD with full board, cheap for the standard in this country!). The food was mediocre, but it was simple and adequate. I enjoyed the stay.

Sitting on a lounge chair, watching the sunset and beautiful colors of the sky... I guess you don't really need much more!

明日からまた仕事頑張ろうっと！

となりのしまにおつかい

Taking a 10 minutes boat ride

going to pick up dry cleaning

to the next island

crescent moon above dark water

海のモチーフ

デザイン変えてみた。どうでしょう？見にくい？？最近海岸で撮った写真です。ちょっとやらせが入っているけど、というのは貝のレイアウトを自分で変えてから写真を撮ったので。

こういうミクロでアップの写真が大好き。森の中の森とか、海岸の砂浜の一角に広がる小さな世界。箱庭の世界。道端に落ちてる葉っぱや石や、ふとしたカフェのテーブルに飾ってある花や、見逃してしまいそうな小さな花に一瞬の感動や美しさを感じる。ダイブで潜ると、珊瑚も一つの森のよう。泳ぎながら、この色良いなーとか、その色の組み合わせと来たか！なんて魚に心の中で突っ込みを入れながら水中のワンダーランドを楽しむ。

光の調節とか使い方が分かり始めたので、夕方の写真とかサンセットとかなかなか前よりは上手く撮れるようになってきた。オンラインで写真のクラス取ろうかな〜。

Island Life

自転車に乗っている人が多い。カーボンフリーな生活。首都では滅多に見かけないけどここでは女性も。

Island Life

デザートはバナナ！

週末の楽しみ

Today's menu was a tower of banana-cinnamon pancakes, vegetable scramble eggs and fruit salad- having friends over for breakfast on the weekend. It's one of a few ways to enjoy ourselves in this rather quiet (dull- if I am blatantly honest!) place. As soon as I can get hold of some Japanese rice, I can host a sushi party!

Mission report

Back from the trip to the north. One hour flight and speedboat trips.

This time I visited three islands and met with local government stakeholders, community organizations and women and men in the community. Very good insight to the gender issues and island life in general! We worked hard. We even had meetings at night starting 8:30 after the prayer time.

I was traveling with a national colleague whose parents are from this area. We got invited to dinner at her relative's house and got to enjoy a local feast! On the photo, typical local breakfast: thick roti type thing with coconut, and shredded tuna and coconut with lime, onion and chili. Very tasty!

White sand and walls made of coral stones. Picturesque little street lined with coconut trees

Always feel re-energized and motivated after coming back from field missions. This week, we have a validation workshop to present findings (partly of this trip) and analysis of gender issues with central level government stakeholders.

国内出張第２弾！

Going off to the northern area to visit a few islands in order to have some consultations with local government and communities!

It is difficult to push activities through now due to the political situation, so even a small activity makes me really excited! Contrary to the time when I was in Nepal, I do not have many opportunities to travel outside of the capital in this country. Traveling can be very costly, as it involves normally both air and sea transportation quite expectedly. I used to go on field missions almost every month in Nepal. I love these trips even with sub-standard hotels and long travels, as I get to see the real issues in the country and interact more with national partners and colleagues. Building relations is one of the important parts of the job.

Upload photos and entries when I am back.