Travels!

hit the grue with the Elvish sword

2009-04-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

It's 4am in the dungeon known as Changi airport in Shanghai. I have yet to see the sky in shanghai - at all, anywhere - but it's always sunny down in subbasement 3L or wherever the hell I am. Everything is very well signed, but it's still a laberynth. A vacant, carpeted laberynth with Starbucks and free, high speed internet. Echoing, cavernous, unmappable. Sooo very dungeons and dragons. Photo essay! In an hour, we depart for Kuala Lampur (BADGERS BADGERS BADGERS BADGERS) and then on too Jakarta, whereupon we will plan our workshop, sleep, present, sleep, fly back here. Jakarta workshop, defying expectations, will be well attended by government and NGO flacks. hooray!

Omnibus Celebratory Brunch

2008-08-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hey. We're cooking you breakfast. Housewarming, book launch party, excuse to drink before noon... we've got our reasons. You just show up, ok?

Copious breakfasty delights (veggie friendly), bubbly and OJ provided. Feel free to just show up. Please RSVP in the comments section below - significant and insignificant others welcome. Please let me know if you have food allergies, etc (jonathanwerve @ gmail).

Cheers,
Jonathan and Kate

WHEN:
Sunday, September 7, 11am-2pm
Cool kids come early.

WHERE:
2947 N Broadway #3, Chicago 60657
Near Broadway & Wellington
More or less in the vicinity of Clark and Diversey.

Call Jonathan at (415) 515-7662 if you have questions. Hope you can make it!

View Larger Map

Tarmac, etc.

2008-06-18T21:34:00.001-07:00

PNG: Going below zero.

2008-06-18T21:26:00.001-07:00

A few thoughts on the developing world, from a nation that isn't: Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Subsistence agriculture is tricky for classical economists. Working from a neo-classical point of view that has shaped the largest international development insitutions since the Bretton Woods agreement, subsistence living -- growing or collecting what you need on your own land, and taking a pass on the cash economy -- is a sort of baseline. It is the tabla rasa upon which development begins.

To techocrats sweating out the details of currency exchange and monitary supply from cubicles in Berlin or Washington or Tokyo, subsitence economy is like dark matter: We know it exists, but none of our instruments can detect it.

To villages that may go years without contact with outsiders or a national government, I imagine that the whirlwind of data in a Bloomberg ticker would seem quite a bit less real than the day-to-day work of pulling yams from the ground. But the subsistence economy in Papau New Guinea is not at all a blank slate. In a country of fantastic cultural and political diversity, these economies show quite a bit of complexity.

In this confusion, tragedy lurks: Despite village life's seeming naivete, subsitence is not a floor from which an economy can only grow, but a system in political and economic equilibrium, refined over millenia and by its own terms, highly efficient. In the South Pacific, village gardens provides a decent living to people, without the need for 60 hour workweeks. At least, it used to.

Change is here, brought on by haphazard national-level governing colliding with a world economy thirsty for PNG's lush natual resources. With is have come disruptive shocks to the economic and social life of PNG. While the economic tigers in Singapore, Thailand and coastal China rip along toward long term GDP growth, the rewards of development haven't materialized in PNG. But stunningly violent crime, AIDS and an unraveling of family life have certainly arrived. Things are bad here, and appear to be getting worse.

As it turns out, PNG's traditional subsitence economy was a long way from the bottom. So where do we go from here?... THat's another post.

Papau New Guinea

2008-06-17T00:49:00.001-07:00

Actual conversation at anti-corruption conference:

Her: Yeah, I wasn't even going to come to this conference, because my husband just got shot in the head.

Me: Whaaaaah?

Her: Yeah, it was the funniest thing...

Me: Funny.... like how?

Her: Well, not funny ha ha, more like funny that it didn't penetrate his skull. Just went in and slid around a little. So he's fine now. Hard on the kids though -- they're 7 and 9 -- kind of freaked them out. But now they're fine too. It was at their school, so everyone heard about it. They were the news kids at school, and now everyone knows their names, you know? So they're fine.

Our Apartment

2008-06-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

For those keeping score: this is what our apartment would look like if we had furniture, which we don't - all the pink stuff is fictional. Map is to scale, 1 pixel = 1 inch on full size image.

Shady Motel and other delights

2008-06-04T21:32:00.001-07:00

Recap

2008-06-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

First, the drive: me, Kate, pickup truck, Uhaul trailer, everything we own. Not fast up the mountains! I kind of forgot about the Sierra Nevadas. They're hella steep. ( I never won at Oregon Trail either. ) So we're basically crawling for all of Friday, and go 300 miles. We stop for dinner and do the math and realize that with 2000 miles to go, we're looking at another 9 days of this at this rate. So we're out Saturday morning well before dawn, pedal on the floormat, 5 minute gas stops, chugging along at 65mph. We did 2000 miles in two days. It was epic. Also, we live in a truly beautiful country.

Second: the apartment. We'd never seen the place - no pictures, nothing. It's a long story, but here we are, we show up, and it's fantastic. Twice the size of our old (rather large) place, a proper (big!) office for me, in a beautifully walkable hood and three blocks from a lakefront park. Also, it looked like the guy we subleted from left in a hurry. Like a big screaming scrape up the hardwood hurry. And he's got this steal of a place, and other than a craigslist post (no pics) didn't do much to get someone moved in, even though he was paying double rent. But whatever -- he's off the lease, we're on, and that's that. But I wondered about the story. So we meet our neighbor, and he's like: "Yeah, what's up with the people that lived there?" We have no idea. "Oh, I just wondered because there was a CPD detective here talking to them, then they moved out that night." Don't want to know! Also, I have no idea how to furnish our giant living room. I'm thinking Bocce court.

Pics to come tommorrow.

We have arrived.

2008-06-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. We're in Chicago after a two day, 2000 mile, slow speed, long haul dash across the West. We've moved in, ditched the trailer, and are working on getting internet turned on in the house. New apartment is great, and new neighborhood is fabulous in a hyper-yuppy kind of way. '

New details:

Eyler-Werve
2947 North Broadway Apartment 3
Chicago, IL 60657

TV sold. Need a couch?

2008-05-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

TV's gone. Now about this couch...

Biggest. TV. Ever.

2008-05-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Moving out and selling my big ass HDTV, with included metal/glass TV stand.

It's an older JVC with remote, picture-in-picture, hideaway front panel inputs. Conventional 4:3 aspect (32"x22", 40" diagonal (fine, so Pythagorus says it's a 39" diagonal, but whatever). DIV inputs for hi-def (no HDMI), plus S-Video, RCA, audio. Surprisingly nice integrated speakers - we use em for tunes. Love me some Super Nintendo on the big screen.

Yes, really $100, really works great.

Here's the catch: It's heavy. It's really heavy. It's like 200+ pounds heavy. And it's on the second floor. We got it up the (thankfully wide) stairs with three burly people. It will take that many people. Seriously, do not show up here alone (I can count as one person).

I have a truck and can drive it within SF city limits for $50. You will need a truck. It's a really, really big TV.

Pickup near Geary & 23rd any time during the day 9am-6pm. Pickup after 8pm possible.

See pics: https://post.craigslist.org/manage/687298124/n4ct8

Possible breakthrough on Chicago housing...

2008-05-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Details forthcoming...

Housing search = uuuuuuuugh

2008-05-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago, I had this all figured out. Now, due to a couple dumb mistakes on m part, it's ever-so-slightly fubared. I want this dooooooone. Also, it's 96* F in San Francisco, which probably isn't helping.

Apartments: what we like

2008-05-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

This is our checklist. It's not a hard-and-fast list, places we'll consider will have 80% of this. But mass transit, office, access to downtown is pretty essential.

Location (near transit, 0.5mi strict max, <0.2 ideal)
Location (near bike-to-work route, <6 miles from downtown)
Location (walkscore.com 80+)
Location (warm-fuzzy-safe-friendly)
Location (near JW's list of gyms)

Space (nice to live in, closets, hardwood, light)
Space (office - 1+ bedroom, 2 bedroom, den, nook, etc)
Space (kitchen – eat in, post-1990 appliances, dishwasher)
Space (bike friendly - garage space, elevator, ground floor, etc)
Space (parking for 1 available, street or garage ok)

Also:
Price (rent + parking) hard cap at 1200, target 1000.
Price (utilities estimate)

Move in date? (June 1)
Any management issues?

Apartments we're looking at

2008-05-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

UPDATE: Kate's not in Chicago due to airline issues + her desire not to go freaking crazy. This complicates things a little, but not fatally.

Feel free to editorialize in the comments section. From here, these look pretty good, except for the Rogers Park one, which isn't really on the El. But walkscore.com has them in the low 90s out of and ideal 100, which is great.

Icons: (?) are craigslist ads I like, /!\ is apartment people places, (v) are craigslist ads we're interested in.

Best Brunch Evah.

2008-04-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our mutual birthdays, and see our San Francisco posse before we head to Chicago in June, Kate and Jonathan invite you to our place...

Update: Thanks to everyone who stopped by. A good time was had.

Back in San Francisco

2008-04-07T00:49:00.000-07:00

Much flying later, I'm back in SF. Currently wide awake due to jet lag and enjoying a nice pot of tea. Thinking about breaking in on the whiskey. Will keep you posted.

Kate and I departing for a mini-vaction in Chicago in 5 days. Whoosh.

Drinking kava in Vanuatu

2008-04-04T05:07:00.000-07:00

"Traditionaly, we drink it fast. All in one go. I'll explain why later," said Harrington, proprietor of a delightful waterfront kava shack (and former ombudsman of Vanuatu). He handed us coconut shells full of slimy liquid and steered us to a corner of his deck -- for the spitting. We drank the kava. We gagged. We spit. We breathed heavily. We observed, in a purely clinical way, that our tongues were huge. Drink it fast. Right. We ordered more.

"Uuuuuuugh, that's awful stuff," said Harrington. He should know -- it was his kava. Kava is a mix of bathwater, pharmacological jungle roots and distilled liquid evil. And it makes your tongue go numb. Or, I should say, if maketh yor tun go nub. Delightful stuff.

According to wikipedia:

A moderately potent kava drink causes effects including mental clarity, patience, and an ease of acceptance. The effects of kava are most often compared to alcohol, marijuana, or a large dose of Valium.[1]

The sensations, in order of appearance, are slight tongue and lip numbing; mildly talkative and sociable behavior; clear thinking; anxiolytic (calming) effects; relaxed muscles; and a very euphoric sense of well-being. Sometimes this feeling has been mistaken for nausea.

Right then. Sounds good. We drank Harrington's kava. We patted his dog. We sat on his deck and watched the Port Vila lagoon turn from green to blue to black in the setting sun. Harrington skipped from group to group sitting in little circles of deck chairs, lighting candles, ensuring that all was well. His clientèle was a mix of ni-Vanuatu and foreign ministry officials, with the occasional ni-Vanuatu minister thrown in. He was quite proud of these official visits to his humble kava shack.

The night wore on, and a provincial governor arrives. We greet him and make small talk. Harrington beams. Our brush with local celebrity -- nice. With that all done, we prepared to shuffle on our way, when Harrington approaches, looking pained. There was someone we should like to meet. More dignitaries? Sure.

A man slides into a deck chair, a dark silhouette against the torches lighting the bar. His voice is deep and slow and clear. Harrington brings kava. We drink and spit and huff. N asks the man how many kava shells he has had. He says, "Six. Seven." A small shrug, as if such things are unknowable -- to count the kava would ruin the kava. Quantum kava.

N talks about the need for access to information in Vanuatu. N is remarkably smooth. The man nods slowly. I nibble on jungle greens soaked in salt and sauce. Harrington comes back, all apologies: he is out of kava. He switches from English to the local tongue -- or maybe French. I'm not following everything. No worries, he says, he can direct his guest to a nearby kava shack that is well stocked. We follow Harrington and his guest out to a battered pickup truck. The VIP is giving us a ride back to town. Of course. We ride, we talk, we arrive. I watch the streetlights with fixed attention. So quiet. So peaceful.

The man hands me his business card. It reads:
Director General, Government of the Republic of Vanuatu.

Right then. Of course.

Dili to Brisbane photos

2008-04-01T19:15:00.001-07:00

Timor Workshop photos

2008-04-01T19:06:00.001-07:00

I love that these images really captured the intense discussions in the small group discussions. It helps that Timorese tend to talk with their hands - it's hard to photograph a conversation.

Thanks to AusAID for the Orwell-sized mega-banner.

Brisbane

2008-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

I think I've figured out Australia -- It's what America would be if every TV channel was owned by Fox. Aussie TV = grim. Not that I have a lot of time to watch it.

Current flight tally, by the end of today: SFO > Sydney > Darwin > Dili > Darwin > Brisbane > Sydney > Port Villa. Which is more or less the halfway point. I'm also feeling a little funky, probably from some tropical bacterium that's hopefully being devastated by the anti-biotics I'm on. Or maybe I'm feeling funky because of said antibiotics. Good times.

Dili was ridiculously interesting, and I'm tempted to just say, hey, let's go live on a tiny, barely function island on the Failed States Index! It'll be AWESOME! We can teach people how to use hole punchers (this is at times the level of technical assistance being given to the people running the government, businesses, churches, and civil society groups -- they're really totally starting from zero. Blank slate -- fascinating, fascinating moment in history).

But mostly, I just want some active culture yogurt and my cold to go away. At this point I'm like patient zero for an East Asian sniffles epidemic. Passport, boarding pass, virus -- check, check, check.

Q: Why is Dili under lockdown?

2008-03-31T05:43:00.000-07:00

OK, a quick history of Timor Leste. The right half of the Pacific island of Timor was a Portuguese colony for some 400 years (think Prince-Henry-the-Navigator), until the Portuguese abruptly pulled out in 1975 (think Apocalypse Now). The resulting power vacuum resulted in political unpleasantness, which became real misery when the neighboring Indonesians invaded 9 days later and occupied the country rather than wait till the Timorese could get their shit together. Even as hostile occupations go, this was an ugly one -- conservative estimates put the Timorese body count at 180,000 over some 25 years. Not good. In 1999, Timorese resistance fighters and international pressure convinced the Indonesian government to put the future of Indonesia's "27th province" to a vote: Timor Leste would choose between autonomy within Indonesia, or independence without it. Three quarters of the country votes for independence.

This is when the real troubles began. After the vote, the UN moved to secure and administer the province immediately until a government could be established. In UN-speak, immediately means about three weeks to assemble a peacekeeping force. It was a very long three weeks.

After the vote, pro-Indonesian militias went on a rampage. Militias killed 1,400 people -- whole villages murdered -- and 200,000 people were displaced into West Timor. Within weeks militias knocked out the phone system and 90 percent of electrical grid was destroyed. In Dili, three quarters of all buildings were leveled. The economy contracted some 40% by the time the UN finally arrived in force, with Australian and Portuguese troops at the tip of the spear. Six years into independence, they're still here. Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are everywhere -- muddy, crowded lots of big hoop tents with Rotary International logos on them.

The current lockdown, to answer the question, is in response to an assassination attempt a few weeks ago at the President's house, a conflict stemming from some pissed off Timorese soldiers that hadn't gotten paid on time for a few years and finally went rogue. The curfew is for show -- no one really thinks the guerrillas are still hanging out in town. The shooting was shocking to locals because it is so uncommon here -- every decent sized building in town has UN police or Portuguese national guard out front, complete overkill. They'd gotten rather used to Dili being one of the safest places in the world.

There's a lot of concern that justice be served, rather than just shipping more Aussie gunships in. But it's hard to really grasp how little infrastructure is here. But try this for a judicial system: The entire country, at last count, has 9 judges, 11 prosecutors, and 6 public defenders. Of those 11 prosecutors, three of them are still living in IDP camps.

Roads are crumbling and flooded. The local hospital has been overrun by an IDP camp -- pigs in the halls. Malaria and Dengue Fever are everywhere. Youth unemployment is estimated around 60% -- but no one really knows because no one's collecting statistics. Electrical power is still spotty -- we did our workshop prep by candlelight.

But -- I'll be damned -- I really like it here. I had an amazing two days here and I'm really, really sorry I couldn't stay for longer. More on that tomorrow with a full report on the workshop, which was a strong success. We fly to Darwin, then Brisbane early tomorrow.

I Can Has Cheeseburger?

2008-03-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

Arrived Dili, capitol of East Timor

2008-03-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

THings we've learned about Dili: it's hot as hell.

Leaving Darwin, Australia shortly after dawn.

Nice flight over in a 30 seat Brazilia turboprop.

Downtown Dili on approach. Not much to see from the air.

Dili airport. One runway, no hangers, no planes on the ground other than a fleet of UN white choppers, a UN plane and a pair of Australian military Blackhawks. Our plane was prepping for takeoff by the time we cleared customs. One of Timor's many refugee camps greets you, across the street from the the two-room airport terminal.

Darwin

2008-03-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

First bed since Wednesday. Alarm set for 4:50AM to catch flight to Timor. Awesome.

Sydney!

2008-03-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

On our way to East Timor, boss Nathaniel and I fly to Sydney. In a few hours we fly to Darwin, Australia, and then on to Dili, East Timor the next morning. All told, about three days in transit.

After 18 hours of night, the sun catches us and we land in Sydney at dawn on Saturday. We'd boarded Thursday evening.

Sydney on approach. A bit blurry from the jetwash.

El Pacifica!

Our first stop in Oceana, Nathaniel buys a donut. Authentic Australia!

We spent the day wandering around downtown Sydney.

Taking pictures of black people is a popular tourist attraction in Australia. That entire crowd was standing around watching him play music. G'day, Aborigine!

Opera house. Person added for scale.

Obligatory birds. I think the one in the upper left was trying to eat the baby (center). Mom (lower left) moves to intercept.