Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Time has flown, I can’t believe I have been in Ethiopia for 6 weeks already. I have finally gotten settled into my apartment after being in the hotel for the first 30 days, made some friends, had friends leave, and gotten work figured out!

My apartment is ridiculous, thanks US government. I have a very spacious, 15 foot ceiling, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom apartment all to myself. It is quite amazing really, but very unnecessary, I do have space for when guests come to visit. The place also has a very nice, large, relatively updated kitchen, which was one of my biggest selling points. Another nice point is that it is a relatively easy walk to work, minus all the beggars due to the proximity to the Medhane Alem Cathedral.

So far, my experience is Ethiopia has been a positive one. I have met some cool expats through previous colleagues as well as through current ones. I have also met some fun locals. The people here, including our staff, are very friendly, outgoing and good people.

I have had friends visit, including Tim and Patricia from IRD, Hannan from middle school back in Napa, and Yates from VT. It has been helpful in the transition of getting used to this place for sure.

I have been going out way more than I need to and the ‘no closing’ of bars until they feel like it really gets the evenings into the wee hours of the night.

My only major negative here is the lack of quality internet. We struggle at times to get a decent single as there is only one option, that is owned by the government. They have zero incentive to put out a super good product, so the rest of us suffer. Other than that, nothing too crazy bad here. Much nicer than living in Kabul.

Finally went out to the countryside yesterday and saw one of our construction sites. It was nice to see the work we are actually doing and what is going on. It was also great to get out of the city and breath fresh air again… the dust and smog in the city can be pretty bad at times.

Going home for Nikki and Greg’s wedding on Saturday and that is awesome, really can’t wait to see everyone and spend some time back in CA.

That is about the end of my ramblings and thoughts so far on my first 6 weeks here.

Ghana and Bangladesh Trip Reviews

I didn’t want to get too far away from just ignoring my trips to two awesome new places that I did get to visit during my time with Winrock.

Ghana was to help with the Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP) development that USDOL requires all new projects to go through. My colleague Julie and I attended, along with a host of our local staff.

Arriving in Ghana was great, it was my first time to Africa (funny not 3 months later, I now call Africa home!) but damn was it hot. I was used to the heat from DC, but I really didn’t want to go to yet another muggy, hot place, especially a developing one that doesn’t have much for air conditioning.

I spent the first night in Accra while waiting for Julie to arrive, we took different flights as she had to leave earlier. The first night was uneventful, but it was nice to have a hot shower and a hotel before going up to Kumasi the next day.

Once we arrived in Kumasi our Project Director, Kwaku, picked us up and we went to dinner. It was good to see Kwaku again, as we had met first when he came to DC for orientation and training with US Department of Labor when we first were awarded the project.

The rest of the trip was a lot of jolof rice, hot rooms, working with our staff on getting up to speed on Winrock processes and procedures, and shitty internet service. The only thing we did get out to do was go see the Ashanti compound in Kumasi, which is where the Ashanti King (the original people of Ghana) still resides. Obviously we didn’t get to see the house/home that he currently lives in, but we toured one of the older ones that has been since turned into a museum of such. It was pretty cool to see and learn some of the history of the area and the people of the country.

Overall Ghana was a good experience, but much different than going on vacation, obviously. I would have liked to spend more time in Accra and get out to the beach, but it didn’t work out. Meeting the staff, eating millions of mangoes, and finally making it to Africa were definitely the highlights.

About a week after I got back from Ghana, I was slated to go to Bangladesh. If I were to do it again, I would have definitely given myself a little more time. I was trying to figure out a lot of things with my relationship with Caitlin, with work, and just life in general, and turning around and getting on a plane to go back across the world wasn’t exactly what I needed.

Bangladesh too was hot as hell, but luckily the internet and air conditioning situations were much better in Dhaka. Dhaka was hot, crowded, and overall a crazy place. The staff on WEA run that project like a well oiled machine, so going out there was a lot less ‘work’ and much more of meeting the staff and seeing how things run from the field level. At this point, I also had a pretty good idea I would be leaving Winrock in the near future, so I wasn’t as concerned, for better or worse.

In terms of work, I really really enjoyed our staff, especially Saiful, whom I went to a field visit with my first weekend there. We went out to Khulna in the SW of the country to see the work we were doing. It was really cool to see the countryside and to meet some of the people that we were working with and hopefully helping. The site visits were cool, but after about a few words from Saif translating things, it became him talking for half hour and me having no idea what was going on. After about 2 sites, I was ready to go.

The rest of the highlights of the trip were the other folks I met. The WEA building shared office space with another Winrock project, BCTIP, and their COP was an expat from Romania. Irinel was SUPER helpful in getting me to a better hotel and to hanging out. I had a lot of fun with her and meeting her friends and going out to see things. She also introduced me to a couple, Anne and Chris, who had just moved to Dhaka from Ghana. Chris was a big soccer fan and at the time the Euro Championship was going on, so it was cool to have someone to watch the games with.

Overall, Bangladesh was also a cool spot, but definitely not somewhere I would need to visit again. The ban on alcohol and overall cluster-fuck of crowds that is the Dhaka is enough to keep me away.

The final note about my Bangladesh comes to the terror attack in both Turkey and Dhaka. I was slated to go home the day after the attack at the Turkey airport, and left the day before the hostage situation at Holey Bakery. I for sure thought my flight through Istanbul would be cancelled, but to my surprise, they had the place up and running like nothing had happened. It was very nice to see, as it was a fuck you to the terrorist, letting them know they weren’t going to disrupt the daily lives of the Turks or the people trying to fly.

As I was traveling home, I heard about the situation unfolding in Dhaka, that was not more than a block and a half from where I had been staying at the Dutch Club. It was very scary to hear, as Irinel had talked about it many of times, and I had intentions of going to eat there while I was in town. I reached out to Chris and Anne and they had been there for dinner not 2 hours before the attacks started. It was very crazy to think that I would have almost guaranteed been there, had I still be in country. Chris and Anne were the only people I had been hanging out with, Irinel was out of country, and it would have been a Friday night, so clearly I would have wanted to do something. I was very relieved to hear they had not been harmed, but Irinel did know some of the people who didn’t make it unfortunately.

Missing both of those attacks by one day each really was scary, but also made me realize it wasn’t my time. It also helped solidify that I needed to start making some changes to make myself happier, because you never know when your time will come. So hear I sit, newly single, with a new job, and starting my second week living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a 2 year contract until September 2018…

My How Times Have Changed….

Well it has been over a year since I last did anything with this blog. I am not sure if that has been a good thing. Since returning from my trip to Ireland and Israel, I spent the last few months of Summer 2015 finishing up my contract in Kabul, with a nice trip to DC and California to see family and friends. I returned to the USA in early September once the ARTF contract had finished with no job, as IRD had nothing for me.

Luckily, I had some money saved, a new apartment with Caitlin, and no major worry of getting right back into a new job. Decompressing after spending time in Afghanistan is a real thing, and I definitely needed it. It was nice to walk around outside again, go out to dinner with friends, or just not have to worry about being blown up, kidnapped, or shot at. After a lot of applications and a few interviews, I landed a sweet gig with Winrock International, in Crystal City, which was super close to the awesome new apartment. Things were looking up! I took a trip to Oregon to get some hunting in with my favorite hunting buddies and then came back rejuvenated and excited to start work in the beginning of November with Winrock.

The position with Winrock was a position I was very excited about. I was going to actually be learning HQ processes and procedures (unlike what I got at IRD) and was going to be working on projects I felt passionately about. As much as I understand and know the work of building roads, hospitals, and schools in Afghanistan is helping people, it was much higher level work. My position within the Education & Empowerment unit at Winrock was going to be much more ‘grassroots’ level, working directly with people and the communities they live in.

My first couple of weeks was a whirlwind with us winning a new project, Ghana MOCA, working to remove child labor from the cocoa supply chain in Ghana. This project was funded by USDOL, which was a new donor for me to be working, so that was a fun and exciting new challenge. My manager was out of the country working on another project when this project was first awarded, so I had to do a lot of learning on the fly in terms of Winrocks’ internal processes as well as how to get a project up and running. Needless to say, this was a lot of baptism by fire.

Ghana MOCA took a lot of my time as well as it leading right in the holidays. Things were going great, was able to watch football and spend Fall in the states, which is far and away my favorite time of year, hang with my girlfriend and friends, and I had a cool new job. Thanksgiving was a bittersweet time for me, as my grandfather had become very ill and wasn’t doing so hot down in Wilmington, NC where he and my Omi lived. Thanksgiving morning, my cousins (Bo and Meredith) and my self drove down to spend the holiday with our grandparents and some other aunts and uncles. It was a great chance to spend the holiday with loved ones. Though the trip was short, it was great to see everyone and spend the time together.

Christmas was next up and though Caitlin and I had originally planned to spend it in CA with my family, I didn’t end up spending Thanksgiving with her family and I wasn’t sure if I was going to need to go to Ghana for work around that time, so we decided to stay in DC and spend the holiday with her family. We had a great time for Christmas, watching movies, hanging with family, having our little Christmas tree in our apartment, and all sorts of other fun activities. Christmas is really is a great time of year and I will always be grateful for the time with loved ones and family.

One other extremely fun memory from this previous winter was that of SNOWMAGGEDON! We got about 14 inches of snow (fact check please) in a short period of time that DC was just not able to handle. While Caitlin was very smart and used the time to study for her CPA, I decided to go out for a wonderful day of snow drinking with Danny and Chris. Man was it fun, we got hammered, drank lots of beers, and ran around the snow like a bunch of kids without a care in the world, it really was a great time.

After the holidays, work and real life settled back in. I did take a late season snowboard trip to Park City, Utah with Braden and we stayed at my buddy Julian’s. It was a lot of fun even though the snow was definitely spring skiing, but it was a fun first time to get to ride Utah.

The rest of the year kind of was a blur. Caitlin studied and passed her CPA exams, very very proud of her for that. While many her age, and even her supervisors still don’t have their CPA’s, she buckled down and got it done. I settled in at work and prepped for upcoming trips to Ghana and Bangladesh. The trips unfortunately kept getting pushed off and life in the office became stale. I realized more and more that the grind of commuting and sitting at my desk for 10 to 11 hours a day and living just for the weekend was not the life I wanted to lead. DC was beginning to grow on me and I was enjoying my time with my friends and going out, but not enjoying spending over half my take home on rent and barely making interest payments on my student loans. I needed a change.

That idea of change really came to a head when my grandfather passed away. My mom had thankfully been out in NC with my grandparents for a good period of time to help with the process and I did get a chance to get down there and see him before he passed. He was a shell of himself, but it was great to see him and hear stories from others about how he had impacted so many people. I didn’t know the man well, but I know he was a great man and really left a mark on all those that he encountered.

I have always known I want to leave a mark and sitting in an office in DC and barely getting bye wasn’t going to be the way for me to do it. I know it was a good step in the direction of my career, but I needed more. I had been in talks with my old boss Dan from Afghanistan who was running a project in Ethiopia. I had always known I wanted to get back to the field and when he offered a chance to go, I knew I had to take it. Sitting in DC, paying a boatload for rent and making $400 payments for the next 30 years on my student loans wasn’t going to get me where I wanted to be.

Shortly after returning from my trips to Ghana and Bangladesh, which were both great btw, and some very difficult conversations with Caitlin, I quit my job at Winrock. I packed up my things, unfortunately ended my relationship with Caitlin after 3 years, and moved to Ethiopia.

So here I sit, writing my first post in over a year, wondering yet again, what have I gotten myself into?

 

India, you hot….

It’s been awhile, so I figured I would update myself on what has been going on….

In Kabul, same old same old, except there have been a lot of attacks from the Taliban. They have really kicked it up a notch lately…. Attacking guest houses, car bombs all over the city, and just generally putting fear into most people in the city. It isn’t a good situation, though I still feel safe here in our house, I just worry more for some of my friends in non-secured locations.

Anyway, to a more positive note, and the main goal of this post, I visited India for a little over 5 days last week and it was amazing. It was amazing to get out of the compound and explore and not have to tell someone what I was doing and where I was going at all times like I was a child. It was also awesome to see the Taj Mahal, which has been on my bucket list for a long time. Other than the weather being HOT as all hell, the trip was great.

Day 1 – Thursday May 7th….

Arrive late to India, as my flight was delayed. Land in Delhi and head outside, holy shit it is hot. Thankfully not too humid though, reminds me much of summer in Austin. Head to the taxi stand and get a cab to my CouchSurfing host’s house. Of course the directions aren’t the best and there are so many neighborhoods and areas of India, that no one can truly know exactly where everything is. Finally after driving around neighborhoods for at least 30 mins, I find the location, sweating my ass off. Find the apartment and Shamik is there to great me. Hang with him for a bit til his wife Naadya (Russian) arrives home. We all hang out and Naadya makes us some fish curry for dinner, which is lovely. Shamik and I watch the replay of the first leg of Barcelona v Bayern Munich in the Champions League before bed time. Didn’t get much of a chance to talk with them, though they were very lovely hosts. Only draw back and reason I decided not to continue to stay with them was that they chose not to use AC in their apartment. So after traveling and being in the hot air all day, sleeping in what was at least 85 degree weather was not going to fly with me. That and they had a bathroom that looked like you had to shower by dumping water over yourself, which is fine, but not what I am looking for on a vacation.

Day 2 – Friday May 8th…

Wake up and pack my things. Shamik and Naadya head off to work and I head out for the day. Walk to find my first auto rickshaw and then catch a ride to the metro. Got ripped off on price, which will be a continuing theme, but now I know and really the price wasn’t all that much, all things considering. Take the metro, which is immaculate and very impressive for a country that doesn’t seem to have most of their collective shit together. Ride it up towards the center of Delhi to head to the Red Fort to do some of my first site seeing. Of course this does not happen as I get semi conned into taking a ride all over Delhi for the day. Ended up being a solid move as I didn’t want to have to carry my bags all over all day, so the bike rickshaw rider was the way.

Don’t remember the dudes’ name, but he was a nice guy and took me to see a lot of sites. Went to the old area and saw the spice market, silk market, the old mosque, the new mosque, a church, Gandhi’s memorial park, and finally the Red Fort. Along the way I bought some random presents, took a ton of pictures, and ate some amazing street food, my favorite being chloe bhature.

It was hot, sweaty, and gross but overall an awesome day. Also met a cool cat named Mohammed from Libya that was visiting solo and we walked around the Red Fort together. It is always nice to meet other solo travelers to build a little camaraderie.

After the Red Fort I took an auto rickshaw down to the train station and waited about 2 hours in the sweltering heat to ride down to Agra. Train finally came, took a little nap in my nice air conditioned train car and got to Agra a few hours later.

In Agra I caught a ride to my hotel, the Taj Resorts, which was very very nice. Went for a quick swim in the rooftop pool, got my first glimpse of the Taj, and then had a little dinner. It was nice to finally relax and take a cold shower. Went to bed early with plans of getting up early to go see the main even, the Taj Mahal.

Day 3 – Saturday May 9th…

Woke up early to head over to the Taj. Of course got bombarded outside of the hotel with “guides” and “rides” to the Taj, none of which were necessary. Indians are good-natured people but they can be damn pushy. I guess though, if putting myself in their shoes, getting that few rupees to do small tasks can be the difference in whether they eat that day or not, so I might be a little pushy too. Got my ticket and then made my way to the Taj. It was early enough that there were no lines an walked right in. The surrounding fort area of the Taj is impressive in itself, but nothing can compare to the first time you actually see the Taj in full view. The place is unreal and really one of, if not the most impressive building I have ever seen. I mean I have seen castles and things in Europe that are impressive, and Machu Picchu is amazing as well, but to thin, that this building was made, FOR ONE DEAD PERSON still just blows my mind. It took 16 years to make! Everything about the place, along with most of the monuments and sites I saw in India, was an absolute piece of art. Every little detail was done so precisely and for a purpose. In general one of the most impressive parts of all the Indian architectural work that I saw was the ability to make such precise, accurate, and identical pieces with such old-school, basic tools. To say I was impressed is an understatement.

Took a bunch of pictures and wandered the grounds for awhile. The oddest part of the visit was having a group of teenage Indian boys approach me to take a picture. At first glance, that seems normal, group of guys want their picture taken in front of one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. But no, they wanted a picture OF ME, with them in front of the Taj. It was odd to say the least. After looking around and at other sites though, I saw this to be a relatively normal occurrence, with Indians taking pictures with Westerners. I guess it is one of those things where many of the Indians are visiting Delhi and Agra as well for the first time and where they live they don’t come across many Westerners. So when they get the chance, they want a picture so they can say they have seen a Westerner before and show their friends back home.

Only other interesting note was meeting a Canadian girl at the Taj who had just been in Nepal during the first major earthquake. I could tell she was still kinda traumatized by it, though she said she was walking in the street when it happened so it wasn’t as bad for her. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to experience something of that nature, so far away from friends, family and home.

After the Taj, went back to the hotel, showered and took a nap before check out. From there, went to lunch and then toured a bunch of Agra sites for the rest of the day. Ran into Mohammed again at the Agra Fort which was cool. We chatted for awhile and then went our separate ways, hopefully he makes it back to Libya safely. The Agra Fort was very very impressive. It has been home to many of emperors and is still in use by the Indian Military to this day. After that went and saw the “Baby Taj” which is actually older and then on to the Moon Garden that is across the river from the Taj Mahal. All of these places were also amazing and I really enjoyed checking them out. But at the end of the day, I was hot, sweaty, and cranky and ready to get back to Delhi and the hotel.

Went and had to wait about 3.5 hours for the train this time, as the train was not on time. I sat in the sun, really just wanting to leave. While waiting for the train, I finally really saw a lot of the India I didn’t want to see. The street children there were in full force and were really heartbreaking. They ran in little gangs, and there were very clear hierarchies, similar to that of “Lord of the Flies”. They ran around and begged as well as collected bottles to recycle and try and get money for. Some of these kids couldn’t be older than 4 or 5, it reminded me very much of “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Finally the train came and I got back to Delhi and got a ride to my new spot, the Radisson Blu Marina in Connaught Place, very central Delhi. This hotel was very nice and had a nice restaurant and bar. Ate some dinner, showered, and utilized the AC and went to sleep 🙂

Day 4 -Sunday May 10th….

Woke up today with a few more sites that I wanted to visit and see around the city, as it was supposed to be my last day in town… This was not the case though as I woke up to an email saying my flight for Monday had been combined with the Tuesday flight…. A nice way of saying it had been cancelled. Oh well, you win some you lose some and there are worse places to be stuck for another day.

Had some breakfast and went out for the day, overly happy not to have to carry all of my stuff with me. Ended up hiring an auto rickshaw to go to a few set places around the city. We went to see Humayun’s Tomb which is another massive building for a few dead people. It was also incredibly well built and beautiful. From there went and saw the Lotus Temple and then off to some lunch at Al Bake, a shawarma place my friend Rachel recommended to me. It was awesome food and I really enjoyed it. Lastly I went to the India Gate and took a few pictures before calling it a day from the heat. The heat really took a toll on me by the end of the trip and I definitely will make sure to have my next visit be not in the dead of Summer. I was suggested to come between November and February as the most mild times of year. After all the site seeing, stopped at a shop and got some gifts for family and friends.

Went back to the hotel from there and relaxed in the AC. Also got some beers at the hotel bar and enjoyed those in the room. Had some dinner at the hotel restaurant and then called it an early evening.

Day 5 – Monday May 11th….

Being that I was supposed to leave today, I didn’t have many items on my to-do list left for this trip, but Delhi is full of sites and there was always more to see. Went and had lunch at a place called Punjabi by Nature, that was recommended by my co-workder Umesh. It was right in Connaught place, so it was an easy walk there. After that, I hopped on the metro down to Qutb Minar, which was in the far south part of Delhi. It was also an awesome piece of work to see and I was very very impressed with the intricate stone work that was done around that entire compound. After this little outing, headed back to the hotel and ate some of my leftovers from lunch for dinner. It was a pretty chill night and then just went to bed.

Day 6 – Tuesday May 12th….

Got up at like 9, went and grabbed some breakfast and then checked out of the hotel. Walked to the metro, because I couldn’t leave India without one more solid sweat, and then headed to the airport. The metro for the airport is awesome, it is an express way, with 4 to 5 total stops, and only cost 80 rupees, which with the exchange rate at 62-63:1, it was about a $1.25; awesome. It was clean, fast, automated, nice seats, everything about it was awesome. Really really wish the US would get with it and start investing in quality subway/metro systems.

Got to the airport, chilled and got on my flight. Overall, pretty uneventful day. Was actually really happy to get back to Kabul, to my room and my things. Plus at this point, Kabul is the closest thing to a home I have right now.

Overall India was amazing. The architecture and history there was something that I had never really known about, but now I am glad I do. I really would like to go back when it isn’t as hot and have some more time to travel. There are places up north and out on the coast that I really want to see. Until next time India, we will meet again.

Some initial thoughts…

Well now that I am here in the office for good, I have some fun first thoughts, like being referred to as Mr. Brauck, at all times, by everyone. It is weird, I will never get used to it, and it cracks me up.

Also, rearranging my room yesterday, I picked up the coat rack, didn’t pay any attention about how tall it was and jacked it straight into the light fixture. Who would have thought my first shower in Kabul would be a glass one… Nice work idiot.

Kabul, how did I get here?

Since I started my job in July 2014 as an unpaid intern with an international development organization in Washington, DC, my life as progressed very rapidly. I started getting paid in August as an intern, by November I was a full-time, salaried employee as a Program Associate, and by March 2015, I was promoted to Deputy Program Manager in Kabul.

Now, there needs to be some prefacing that there have been a lot of fortunate and unfortunate things going on at the organization, depending on how you look at it, for me to reach this level so quickly. None of those do I really care to describe cause I am not exactly sure what is going on, and well when the DoJ is looking into things, I rather just stay clear. So I’ll leave it as I benefited from some hard work and some fortuitous events.

During my time from July to March, before coming to Kabul for the long haul, I made 3 trips out to Kabul to help with GIS work and to meet the field staff. During these trips I also made a pretty good impression with the Chief of Party and other members in the field, that helped me be able to step into this position. There was also a gentleman that was a previous manager that decided to take an indefinite leave of absence without telling anyone, that helped leave a spot open for yours truly. The project is ending in September, and the spot needed to be filled. Was going to be too difficult to fill by convincing someone to leave their life at home, pick up and move for 6 months to Afghanistan and then have no guarantee of a job after that, unless you’re an idiot… Front and center, walks in ME.

What was I thinking…

As I walk up the stairs to check in my bag at 4 am on a Saturday, I can’t help but wonder, what was I thinking? Am I doing the right thing? I am leaving some of the most amazing friends, a steady job, a wonderful city, and for what? I usually don’t like to be complacent and welcome change, but I really do love Austin. I am heading to a country where I don’t know anyone and have no real plans set. I know I will be fine and have a wonderful experience, but I can’t help but miss the arrangement that was Austin. Gonna miss that place a lot and I know everything happens for a reason. I am gonna learn a lot on this trip and do amazing things. Peace out Austin and the US! See ya in a few months.

Happy happy, stressed

So excited to go home and relax for a few days before the spiral of madness that is my life begins. It will be nice to see friends and family as well as all my lacrosse buddies in Tahoe. But right when I come back to Austin, it is on! Have to be out of my house in 4 days and put all that I am going to need for five months into just a few bags, all the while I have continue working and say bye to all my amazing friends in Texas. I know it will work out and be fine and I will eventually figure shit out but right now it has me stressed. Did get an exciting bit of information yesterday… Gonna end my trip with a stop in Guatemala. Finally gonna see my friends Adri, Fabi, and Caterina whom I met at the Future World Leader Summit in DC almost ten years ago. Should be amazing! Might even go out to see Megan at her Peace Corps site but that is up in the air. stress stress stress just need to get through these next few weeks and start the journey to Peru!

It is really happening…

Oh man I am getting nervous. This is actually finally all coming together and I am going to be heading to Peru and Ecuador in August until December. In Peru I am going to travel and go see Machu Picchu, which I am insanely pumped about and then I am going to Ecuador to teach English. This trip is going to be such a blast and I can’t wait.