A Paris

I have arrived in Paris!

無事にパリに到着しました。アパートもこじんまりとしていて、居心地が良いし、なんと言っても立地が素晴らしい！ルーブル美術館までも歩いて１５分くらいで、家を一歩でるとありとあらゆるレストランが並んでる。

既にスーパーマルシェに３度も行ってしまった。美味しそうな野菜を見ているだけで幸せな気分になる、ホント。途上国から来るとあまりの違いに、すぐにはアジャストできません。

今日はセーヌ川のほとりを散歩。自分がまだパリにいるのが信じられない。

毎日３０度の国にいたのに、こちらはまだかなり寒い。風邪引かないようにしないと。

Last Weekend

Taking in the best part of the country fullest on the last weekend.

I went to a resort, which is 20 minutes speed boat away with a colleague/ friend and her family. 

I didn't get to dive but snorkeled all day.

When will I have an opportunity to swim in the Indian Ocean with colorful fish and be on this white sand beach next time? Feeling little sentimental as there are many my last something in the country (Actually some my first as well, friends would ask me "have you done, eaten...? No?! then I have to take you before you leave!!" type things). 

I hope I will come back some time.

波の音を聞いて、潮風に吹かれていると、主都の喧噪も仕事のストレスもすぐに忘れてしまうのが不思議。

最後の週末にリゾートでのんびりできて良かった。今の時期、この国はハイシーズンで、割引価格では予約が取れないのだけど、旅行関係の仕事をされている同僚の家族の方のおかげで行く事ができました。感謝。

ダイビングはできなかったけど、一日中スノーケリングをして、最後にたくさん魚を見られたので、満足です。インド洋の青さと真っ白な砂浜を目に焼き付けて。

まだまだ

来週の月曜日が最終日だっていうのに、明日はまた研修を決行。頼まれたら断れない．．．。そろそろ、やり残した仕事とか片付けたいのに。只今、明日のプレゼンの準備中です。これが終われば山を越えるかな？いつものごとく、きっと空港に行くギリギリまで仕事していることでしょう。

お別れイベントも盛りだくさんです。ランチやら朝ご飯、ポットラックディナーまで。近場の安いリゾートを同僚が予約してくれたので、彼女のご家族と一緒に１泊、木曜日の夕方から行ってきます。

Back to work now. 研修はいつものごとく、ジェンダー問題とジェンダー主流化について。今回は国連のスタッフ相手なので、手強い参加者はいないと良いけど。

Surprise Farewell Party

My colleagues organized a surprise BBQ party for my farewell, and it was so nice. 

One of my friends offered to take me out for an evening yesterday to the next island. We took a 20 mins boat ride and strolled around, and then she said let's get in a cab to go have a drink somewhere. We got off the cab and my friend started to walk over to a pre-school. I said "why are we going to a pre-school?" and her answer was "oh my sister works here and I need to pick up something." I walked into a yard, and there they were, my gender trainers were there and they yelled out "surprise!!" with a big smile.

Apparently, this plan was cooked up when I organized a refresher workshop for them at the end of January. They coordinated to make sure that they don't take the same boat as me. My friend was such a good actress. I am giving her Oscar best actress award.

We had four huge fish, grilled potatoes, chocolate cake etc. First time I had BBQ and ate with my fingers. We also danced one last time the one billion rising flashmob. I had lots of fun. It's funny how they all speak the local language among themselves (I am usually the only foreigner) but I have fun anyway just hanging out.

I will really miss these guys. They are a group of such nice and committed people. We are building a stronger voice on gender issues in this country, and I am more hopeful despite the situation in the country. Creating this group as well as helping one women's organization to get established are at least two small achievements that I am proud of. I really hope that they will continue and develop.

This was the farewell party No.3. I still have a week, so I don't have to say bye to anyone yet. Thank goodness! I dread leaving and saying good-byes. I am worried that I will be so emotional...     

Her(his)story Making in MV

One Billion Rising Campaign in the country was a huge success.  It was the best turn out ever in the history of the country for a social cause according to my colleagues. We danced, made a pledge and rose up to say "enough is enough" to violence against women and girls in solidarity. Most importantly, we had a blast!

Team members worked hard day and night. This time, it was a NGO who was leading organizing it but we all supported. When you do this kind of work a boundary between personal and professional doesn't really exist.

This will be one of the best memories of my time here. 10 more days and still counting....

Promotion video message that we developed.

撮影散歩２

The main objective of my photo shooting walk project yesterday was actually to take pictures of doors. I like doors (in an aesthetic sense and also makes you wonder what is on the other side), and those in this city come in assorted colors.

The city, which I called home over a year, itself never grew on me to be honest. It is over-crowded. Motorbikes drive by you so close and fast. Sidewalks are practically non-existent. There are only a few historical buildings. Not much local crafts. This place seems like a toy city made of lego blocks. But, if you look closely, there are some charming aspects. These colorful doors are one of the charms in my opinion.

Let me also list up nice things about the city just to be fair: weather, nice sea breeze, easy to get around-taxi is very reasonable (one drop anywhere in the island costs about 1.3 USD) and you can pretty much walk everywhere anyway, decent Thai food, ocean view, fish-based local cuisine (but not really available in restaurants).

Still wondering around looking for more doors..      

ちなみに、ここの街の家には全部名前が付いています。ドアの横／上のプレートがそれ。例えば、海のそよ風、雪の雫とか黄色の波、金の館、等。システムがはっきりと分からないけど、ちゃんと登録してあるそうです。

撮影散歩1

Taking advantage of the last few weeks in this country, I took a walk around the city with my camera this afternoon. A few photos from a local market.

By the way, I am the only one who thinks about how they would taste, when I see fish during diving? I can't help it. What do you think? I am Japanese. 

Talking about capacity building

Capacity development is often one of the main things we do in development work. It basically means that you train local people to do things better and be self-reliant. It is often compared to "teaching someone to fish rather than giving fish."

Anyway, today I received an e-mail from my government counterpart, who has become a friend. She told me that she has learnt many things from me, (nice of her to say) and one of the good habits she learnt from me is to acknowledge and respond to each e-mail (!!). Apparently for her me saying something like "thank you. I will review the document and revert back." was special.   

I thought it was funny that she thought it was a good habit, because I take that for granted. She is a very responsible and competent person, but in many countries, something as basic as this may not always be a "common sense." It may be hard to believe for you, right? 

I remember I used to write in e-mails to local implementing partner NGOs "please acknowledge this message" in Nepal. It was one of my ways of "capacity building", but I was quite frustrated that they didn't respond to e-mails and I had to call them to follow-up. It can be a bit condescending, but you also need to keep them accountable without being too bossy. I guess it is much better to show a good example.          

I found an old entry on capacity building.

Pleine lune

先週末は満月でした。なぜだかピンク色に写ってしまった夜空。

Francais encore

Je suis en train de lire un roman en français, qui est un des cadeaux de Noel de mon copain (y compris une paire de gants et chapeau de laine de Népal….il était plus averti probablement parce que je me suis plaint que il ne m’a pas donné un cadeau en mon anniversaire!!). 

En le premier page, j’ai trouvé dix mots que je n'ai pas compris. C’était découragent franchement. Les mots comme éplucheur, évier, égouttoir, cavette et agenouiller…etc. Vous pouvez imaginer facilement que c’était une scène qui se passe dans une cuisine. 

Je le écris aussi pour réviser la grammaire et des vocabulaires, connaissent que personne ne le lit. Il me faut activer des cellules de mon cerveau.     

J’ai commencé à apprendre français quand j’avais dix-neuf ans à l’université au Japon. Ça fait déjà plus de dix-sept ans. Incroyable!!

En tout cas, je continue à lire ce roman et étudier un peu en préparation pour mes séjours à Paris.    

Fushimi Inari and more

Visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine

These series of red gates on a hill side are very picturesque. If you would like to do the whole trail, it could take up to 2 hours. We turned back a half way through and had lunch in a small Udon noodle shop. Sweet sake drink was so warm and perfect after a walk.

We both did a fortune telling draw Omikuji- you shake a box and a stick with a number comes out. You tell the number at the counter, and you are given a piece of paper that tells your fortune, a bit more sophisticated version of fortune cookies. Mine was good. I don't remember exactly, but it was positive in  all aspects, like moving house is good, love life is good etc. My poor boyfriend didn't have very good luck. He was pretty upset and didn't want me to translate everything. One common thing in both of ours was that the lucky direction was north east. Is this some kind of an omen? What is in the north east direction, I wonder..?  We normally tie the paper to a tree brunch unless it is the best luck "big-luck". It will improve the luck, if you leave it at the shrine. A funny (or not so funny) cultural experience for him.

Anyway, the whole trip was great. It is interesting to see your own city through the eyes of a foreigner.  I guess I have also almost become foreigner in my own country.

We also visited Kiyomizu temple, saw a beautiful 5-hour kabuki performance, went shopping, took a walk to a temple on a small mountain on the new year day and had a private tour of the temple, watched Kohaku in kotatsu eating mandarine oranges, went to a movie theatre and even did a calligraphy in addition to the trip to Awaji island with a stop-over in Himeji and Akashi. All in seven days!!

(photo credit: FR)              

Mouthwatering Indeed!

It's hard to cross off everything on your list of things to eat, when there are only three meals per day. 

雨の姫路城

On the way back from Awaji Island, (where my parents and we enjoyed natural hot spring onsen) we made a detour to visit an UNESCO world heritage, Himeji castle. It's known for the beautiful white wall. It was under refurbishing, so I don't have a photo of the castle itself. Apparently, the refurbishing process takes as long as six years!  There were many nice details of the architecture.

It was a rainy and cold day.

Paradis

Every time I see it, I cannot believe how beautiful it is. Breathtaking colors, sound of waves and sunshine.  Can you ask for anything more than this?   On a sand bank 

Family Dinner

こぶしくらいの大きさのの太巻き。美味しかった。最後の晩に家族五人で行った先斗町の和食やさんにて。滅多に全員揃うことがないので、楽しかった。

One Billion Rising Campaign

This time, I am dancing with a bunch of young people to a song called Break the Chain as a flash mob at an event to be held on the February 14th. My job is getting better and better ... :)  This is all part of another global campaign called One Billion Rising, and a local NGO is organizing a national campaign in the country. We are calling one billion people to rise up for justice and gender equality and to stop violence against women. I am curious how this will turn out and reactions in the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5N8rSy4CU   

Jour de pêche

Parce que je vais partir le pays bientôt, mes amies ont organisé un jour de pêche aujourd’hui.

Nous étions sept personnes dans un petit bateau. 

Il faisait très beau avec le ciel bleu. Je n’ai pas réussi malheureusement, mais en totale on a attrapé quatre poissons. Le capitaine de bateau les a coupés tout de suite et on les a mangés comme sashimi avec de la sauce soja et du jus citron que j’ai apportés- celle de spéciale du Japon.  On a aussi cuisiné des nouilles sur le bateau. On a passé quelques heurs sur un banc de sable. J'ai fait la sieste. Il n’y avait aucune personne que nous.  On s’est bien amusé. Beaucoup de soleil, nage et un peu de bronzage.       

Muji

１９００円の無印の靴。途上国のでこぼこ道には最適。靴がすぐに傷むからね。

Kyoto Re-Discovered

Nice thing about having a guest is that you also get to be a tourist in your city. It is all the more wonderful especially with someone so close in such a special place- Kyoto!

Considering the stay was only 7 nights (my boyfriend left a few days earlier than me), we were able to do so much, yet without making it too hectic. We had all kinds of weather, rain, warm sunny day and even flurries of snow. There are so many many great and beautiful things to see in Kyoto. I myself haven't seen probably a half of what it can offer in my life. Though I could only show him a fraction of what Kyoto is and can be, it was so special. I will write about the trip in the next few weeks.           

引っ越し

200キロ　

木箱に詰めてゆく人生を
壊れ物も思いも恋も

２０１１．１２月

いつもの事だけど、引っ越しの荷物を詰めていると、色々考えてしまうのは私だけだろうか？消費社会とか、環境問題とか、はたまた”所有するとはどういうことか”みたいなことを漠然と考えてしまう。

インテリアの物や洋服は好きだけど、あまり買い物はしないようにしているのに、どうしてこんなに物が溜まってしまうの？７年ほど前に友達の結婚式用に買ったドレスとか、マラウイで作ったアフリカドレスをまだ持っていて、今回は意を決して捨てたり人にあげたりした。本も大事なのだけ残して、正直惜しいものもあったけど、同僚や友達に譲った。

何が大事で、何を残しておくべきか。考え始めるときりがない。古くてもまだ状態の良い服は、一体いつまで着れば良いの？皆どうしているのだろう。

大分減らして、箱４つくらいにはなった。本の箱、洋服と靴の箱、インテリア雑貨の箱とお皿の箱。もちろん、持ち物によって人は定義される訳じゃないけど、ここに私の人生というか、生活が集約されているんだなと思うと、少し感慨深い。一つ一つの物に、思い出や気持が入っているからね。

カナダで初めて一人暮らしをする時に買った、Ikeaの３６５日シリーズの白のお皿のセット。気に入っていたけど、今回で手放す事にしました。カナダからネパールに送られて、そして今回の赴任地でも大活躍。５年間どうもありがとうね。新しいお家でも、美味しい食事のお供になりますように。