Hey there! My apologies for being absolutely silent for over 4 months. After my trip home for the holidays, I have been incredibly busy. My work load has increased dramatically plus I started taking language classes and trying to spend my free time with friends to practice language and take advantage of my time here.
But I have to write now because I had the most incredible Easter weekend and I have to share it with everyone. I have seen orangutans at the zoo before and thought they were remarkable but seeing them in the jungle, swinging through the trees is indescribable and breathtaking. I was especially moved by the interaction between a mother and her 4 year old. That might be yet another sign of the baby-fever I've had since I turned 30 two months ago. I think the orangutan babies are a lot cuter than any that Rob and I could produce (no offense, honey).
Please take a look at my pictures, hopefully the captions will tell most of the story!
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Did anyone else read the book "Henrietta, the Wild Woman of Borneo" when you were a kid? I remember it being one of my favorites and I have never forgotten it. This is a review of the book from Amazon:
"This is the story of a little girl who feels unlovely and like nothing she does is right....So she runs away....or more correctly tries to mail herself away to Borneo, where she will, of course, fit right in. Well, her package (of herself) is never mailed and she discovers that she is loved and does fit in her family after all! This was my favorite book when I was little and I pray that the publishers will re-release it so my daughter will get to enjoy it!"
If anyone can find a copy, I'd love to read it again. It must have had a substantial influence for me to remember it after all these years. Well, there you have it, I finally went to Borneo and I had a wonderful time but most of the weekend, I was just wishing my family was there, too. You all would have loved it (well, except for the leaches and the fire ants, ouch!).
Love and miss you.
Stacie
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Grindstone
Selamat Malam (Good evening!)
Once a month posts seem to be all I can get around to, sorry! We have been very busy lately, which is nice because it makes the time go quickly and I don't feel as homesick. Many things happened in October since my last post. Our project has grown, we FPFs have been assigned regions, and we've taken on a few other small projects that keep us busy.
Edie, Jen, and I decided to split the country up into regions because we wanted to be able to get to know the local officials and develop relationships with them. Deciding how to divide it was a challenge, and we were all wondering who would get Bali! We decided to leave Bali off of our coverage area because there is already a full time FAO international staff member there (lucky him...how did he get that job?!). We also decided to leave Aceh off because they don't take too kindly to strangers up there and we've hired an Indonesian to represent us. Also, Sulawesi is covered full time by another FPF from Australia named Emma who is lucky enough to live there full time and doesn't have to deal with the nightmare that is Jakarta (which now goes by "da karta," by the way). So we are left with Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan. We decided we all need to share Java because it is the most populous, has the most cases, and is easily divided into west, central and east. After much debate, I ended up with Central Java and Central Sumatra (might have something to do with being the middle child). Edie has West Java and South Sumatra and Jen has East Java and Kalimantan. Most of the ducks are raised on Kalimantan and Jen has a weird duck fetish so it works out perfectly.
Central Sumatra is going to be a lot of work because we are just starting the program there. Next week I have to help run a local government workshop for the district livestock heads from four provinces. This is about 100 people that we have to convince to accept the program and get them to choose 8 vets from their districts to be trained in PDSR. And that is the easy part. A major problem is that many of these people will send someone from their office who has no authority to make decisions, or not show up to the meeting at all. So before I head home for the holidays (Dec. 14!!) I have to travel to all the districts who were not represented or who rejected the program and try to convince them to participate (diplomacy skills in hand).
The good thing is that Central Java is a piece of cake compared Central Sumatra. It was one of the first locations to be involved in the project and has some of the best teams in the country. Also, Borobodur is in Central Java, so I will probably get to go back there many more times! The bad news is that we are starting a huge operational research project evaluating the effectiveness of the program and much of this work is going to be done in Central Java. It could be quite a challenge but as far as I know, my role won't begin there until I get back in January. I'm going there later this week to get to know the officials in the region and meet with the dean of the veterinary school there to talk about future collaboration with Tufts.
The operational research is just one of the projects we are starting in addition to the PDSR training. We are also starting a project targeting commercial producers in West Java where most of the commercial industry is based. Our PDSR project was started last year based on the assumption that backyard poultry were primarily responsible for spreading the virus because they are free-range in the village. This is now coming into question so we need to make connections with commercial producers and see what kind of problems they are having as well. This should be very challenging but also very fun.
I have posted pictures from my trip to Bali during Itul Fitri. We had a great time. I took a scuba refresher course and Jen got certified. I hadn't been scuba diving since I went in Tahiti in 1999. It was incredible. There is nothing more beautiful than a coral reef and nothing more relaxing than being weightless underwater. Your eyes are filled with life and color and all you can hear is yourself breathing. We saw a US WWII cargo ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese. Originally, the navy tried to salvage it and drag it to a port on northern Bali but they gave up and left it on the beach next to a tiny Balinese village. Then, in 1963, Genung Agung, the largest volcano on Bali, erupted and the lava flow pushed the ship off the beach into the water. Now it is a beautiful underwater garden and a huge tourist attraction which provides money for the local people. Other than diving, we spent one day surfing and a couple days just relaxing at the beach.
My other pictures are just a selection of those I've taken in Jakarta and at a meeting we had a few hours away from here. I have two kittens that I adore. I'm going to do my best to find them a home here before I leave but if any one is interested...I'd love to see them again! They are so sweet. All the street cats here have really messed up tails because of a genetic mutation causing vertebral malformation. Because of this, Paulo has no tail and Cipu's curls around like a piglet. Pretty cute. I haven't taken any good pictures of their tails yet but I posted a couple pics of the kittens so you can see how cute and sweet they are.
Things I miss from home after almost 4 months (other than family, friends, and pets of course!!) include: veggie burgers, dryers, libraries, driving (I won't even attempt it here), sidewalks, jogging outdoors, closed sewers, fresh vegetables that probably won't give you E.coli, and football games.
Things in Indonesia that I will miss when I leave: nasi goreng spesial (fried rice with a fried egg on top) for $0.50, Pocari Sweat (Indonesian Gatorade), Bali, Cipu and Paulo, 2 hour massages for $10, a whole day of housekeeping including laundry and ironing also for $10, how Indonesians laugh at EVERYTHING, and practicing the Indonesian language with taxi drivers (today one taught me the word for funny...lucu).
Things I will not miss when I leave: taxi drivers honking at me constantly (taxi, miss?), sweating, people calling me mister, open sewers, smog, the busway, traffic, treadmills, fresh vegetables that will probably give you E.coli, and smoking in public places (as in all of them).
Hope to see you when I'm home for the holidays. The countdown has begun (32 days until I leave Jakarta!).
Cheers,
Stacie
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Once a month posts seem to be all I can get around to, sorry! We have been very busy lately, which is nice because it makes the time go quickly and I don't feel as homesick. Many things happened in October since my last post. Our project has grown, we FPFs have been assigned regions, and we've taken on a few other small projects that keep us busy.
Edie, Jen, and I decided to split the country up into regions because we wanted to be able to get to know the local officials and develop relationships with them. Deciding how to divide it was a challenge, and we were all wondering who would get Bali! We decided to leave Bali off of our coverage area because there is already a full time FAO international staff member there (lucky him...how did he get that job?!). We also decided to leave Aceh off because they don't take too kindly to strangers up there and we've hired an Indonesian to represent us. Also, Sulawesi is covered full time by another FPF from Australia named Emma who is lucky enough to live there full time and doesn't have to deal with the nightmare that is Jakarta (which now goes by "da karta," by the way). So we are left with Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan. We decided we all need to share Java because it is the most populous, has the most cases, and is easily divided into west, central and east. After much debate, I ended up with Central Java and Central Sumatra (might have something to do with being the middle child). Edie has West Java and South Sumatra and Jen has East Java and Kalimantan. Most of the ducks are raised on Kalimantan and Jen has a weird duck fetish so it works out perfectly.
Central Sumatra is going to be a lot of work because we are just starting the program there. Next week I have to help run a local government workshop for the district livestock heads from four provinces. This is about 100 people that we have to convince to accept the program and get them to choose 8 vets from their districts to be trained in PDSR. And that is the easy part. A major problem is that many of these people will send someone from their office who has no authority to make decisions, or not show up to the meeting at all. So before I head home for the holidays (Dec. 14!!) I have to travel to all the districts who were not represented or who rejected the program and try to convince them to participate (diplomacy skills in hand).
The good thing is that Central Java is a piece of cake compared Central Sumatra. It was one of the first locations to be involved in the project and has some of the best teams in the country. Also, Borobodur is in Central Java, so I will probably get to go back there many more times! The bad news is that we are starting a huge operational research project evaluating the effectiveness of the program and much of this work is going to be done in Central Java. It could be quite a challenge but as far as I know, my role won't begin there until I get back in January. I'm going there later this week to get to know the officials in the region and meet with the dean of the veterinary school there to talk about future collaboration with Tufts.
The operational research is just one of the projects we are starting in addition to the PDSR training. We are also starting a project targeting commercial producers in West Java where most of the commercial industry is based. Our PDSR project was started last year based on the assumption that backyard poultry were primarily responsible for spreading the virus because they are free-range in the village. This is now coming into question so we need to make connections with commercial producers and see what kind of problems they are having as well. This should be very challenging but also very fun.
I have posted pictures from my trip to Bali during Itul Fitri. We had a great time. I took a scuba refresher course and Jen got certified. I hadn't been scuba diving since I went in Tahiti in 1999. It was incredible. There is nothing more beautiful than a coral reef and nothing more relaxing than being weightless underwater. Your eyes are filled with life and color and all you can hear is yourself breathing. We saw a US WWII cargo ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese. Originally, the navy tried to salvage it and drag it to a port on northern Bali but they gave up and left it on the beach next to a tiny Balinese village. Then, in 1963, Genung Agung, the largest volcano on Bali, erupted and the lava flow pushed the ship off the beach into the water. Now it is a beautiful underwater garden and a huge tourist attraction which provides money for the local people. Other than diving, we spent one day surfing and a couple days just relaxing at the beach.
My other pictures are just a selection of those I've taken in Jakarta and at a meeting we had a few hours away from here. I have two kittens that I adore. I'm going to do my best to find them a home here before I leave but if any one is interested...I'd love to see them again! They are so sweet. All the street cats here have really messed up tails because of a genetic mutation causing vertebral malformation. Because of this, Paulo has no tail and Cipu's curls around like a piglet. Pretty cute. I haven't taken any good pictures of their tails yet but I posted a couple pics of the kittens so you can see how cute and sweet they are.
Things I miss from home after almost 4 months (other than family, friends, and pets of course!!) include: veggie burgers, dryers, libraries, driving (I won't even attempt it here), sidewalks, jogging outdoors, closed sewers, fresh vegetables that probably won't give you E.coli, and football games.
Things in Indonesia that I will miss when I leave: nasi goreng spesial (fried rice with a fried egg on top) for $0.50, Pocari Sweat (Indonesian Gatorade), Bali, Cipu and Paulo, 2 hour massages for $10, a whole day of housekeeping including laundry and ironing also for $10, how Indonesians laugh at EVERYTHING, and practicing the Indonesian language with taxi drivers (today one taught me the word for funny...lucu).
Things I will not miss when I leave: taxi drivers honking at me constantly (taxi, miss?), sweating, people calling me mister, open sewers, smog, the busway, traffic, treadmills, fresh vegetables that will probably give you E.coli, and smoking in public places (as in all of them).
Hope to see you when I'm home for the holidays. The countdown has begun (32 days until I leave Jakarta!).
Cheers,
Stacie
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Bali Hai
Last week was my first trip to Bali. Who would have thought when I was in South Pacific in 12th grade, I would actually make it there? It was everything I expected and I didn't even get to see very much of it! Jen Zambriski and I went to observe a PDSR officer refresher training so we can better understand what they are supposed to be doing in the field. The training was helpful but kind of tortuous because the beach was across the street from the hotel where the training was held. We also attended a debriefing about the two confirmed human cases that occurred on the island. All the major players were involved: FAO, WHO, CDC and dozens of representatives from the government of Indonesia (GoI). It was interesting to learn about how the cases were handled and how we can work together to have a more effective response to future cases. Later in the week, we attended a mock field experience with the officers. They had to practice wearing their personal protective equipment (PPE), testing chickens for the bird flu, vaccinating and culling (unfortunately).
During our time off, Jen, our translaters (Wanty and Efa), Robyn (communications coordinator) and some of the master trainers went shopping, ate out at western restaurants, and went to the beach. We were on the west coast of the island so the sunsets were breathtaking. It was a relief to be there during Ramadan because we didn't have to worry about offending people with our normal eating and drinking habits. Most Balinese people are Hindu. We stayed through the weekend to enjoy the free vacation time and Jen and I decided to tackle surfing. The pictures are worth a thousand words so please check them out. We took two two hour lessons and by the end of the second lesson, we were able to stand and turn. Cowabunga, dude! The hardest part is getting up on the board and we felt like we had done dozens of pushups by the end. It is a great workout and so much fun. We only attempted the small waves but we are going back next week for more practice! Jen's favorite part was the cute little "surfer girl" shorts and t-shirts they gave us to wear in the water. We spent 2 hours one night at the Surfer Girl store picking out some to take home with us.
Next week is the beginning of Itul Fitri. I am still learning about Muslim holidays but this is the week before the end of Ramadan when everyone goes home to visit their families. Most of Jakarta is shut down, including the Ministry of Agriculture, because most people moved here from other parts of the country. We basically get a week of vacation although we are supposed to be getting work done, technically. I think I'll work at night and spend the day on the beach or in the water. I haven't been scuba diving since 1999 and I think it is time to take a refresher dive! There are also a couple of volcanoes to climb which I of course can't resist climbing sometime.
However unPC it is, I have to say that I am looking forward to the end of Ramadan. It is so crazy how hungry everyone is all the time and I feel terrible drinking my coffee in the office and going out to lunch. There are "breaking fast" parties quite frequently so everyone can break fast together. There is a set time every day when this is supposed to happen and everyone stops, listens for the call to prayer, and gets out their drinks and sucks them down. Today I was on the bus for the fast breaking and it was weird to see everyone simultaneously pull out their water bottles. Then they eat all night, sleep for a couple hours and get up at 3 in the morning to eat again before the sun comes up.
Don't forget to check out the pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
I've also linked my picasa page to Jen's so check out hers for some pictures of me drawing blood from a chicken.
We came really, really close to bringing a kitten home with us from the office today. Jen has a friend back home watching her cat that she says she will take our adopted cat when we get back home. The kittens we found were still very young, though, so despite our loneliness, we decided to leave them with their mom. Maybe after we get back from our next trip to Bali they will be old enough...so cute. I know, Mom, the last thing I need is another cat!
Love,
Stacie
During our time off, Jen, our translaters (Wanty and Efa), Robyn (communications coordinator) and some of the master trainers went shopping, ate out at western restaurants, and went to the beach. We were on the west coast of the island so the sunsets were breathtaking. It was a relief to be there during Ramadan because we didn't have to worry about offending people with our normal eating and drinking habits. Most Balinese people are Hindu. We stayed through the weekend to enjoy the free vacation time and Jen and I decided to tackle surfing. The pictures are worth a thousand words so please check them out. We took two two hour lessons and by the end of the second lesson, we were able to stand and turn. Cowabunga, dude! The hardest part is getting up on the board and we felt like we had done dozens of pushups by the end. It is a great workout and so much fun. We only attempted the small waves but we are going back next week for more practice! Jen's favorite part was the cute little "surfer girl" shorts and t-shirts they gave us to wear in the water. We spent 2 hours one night at the Surfer Girl store picking out some to take home with us.
Next week is the beginning of Itul Fitri. I am still learning about Muslim holidays but this is the week before the end of Ramadan when everyone goes home to visit their families. Most of Jakarta is shut down, including the Ministry of Agriculture, because most people moved here from other parts of the country. We basically get a week of vacation although we are supposed to be getting work done, technically. I think I'll work at night and spend the day on the beach or in the water. I haven't been scuba diving since 1999 and I think it is time to take a refresher dive! There are also a couple of volcanoes to climb which I of course can't resist climbing sometime.
However unPC it is, I have to say that I am looking forward to the end of Ramadan. It is so crazy how hungry everyone is all the time and I feel terrible drinking my coffee in the office and going out to lunch. There are "breaking fast" parties quite frequently so everyone can break fast together. There is a set time every day when this is supposed to happen and everyone stops, listens for the call to prayer, and gets out their drinks and sucks them down. Today I was on the bus for the fast breaking and it was weird to see everyone simultaneously pull out their water bottles. Then they eat all night, sleep for a couple hours and get up at 3 in the morning to eat again before the sun comes up.
Don't forget to check out the pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
I've also linked my picasa page to Jen's so check out hers for some pictures of me drawing blood from a chicken.
We came really, really close to bringing a kitten home with us from the office today. Jen has a friend back home watching her cat that she says she will take our adopted cat when we get back home. The kittens we found were still very young, though, so despite our loneliness, we decided to leave them with their mom. Maybe after we get back from our next trip to Bali they will be old enough...so cute. I know, Mom, the last thing I need is another cat!
Love,
Stacie
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Participatory Disease Stuff
Selamat Pagi (Good morning)!
It is time to describe my job so you know what the heck I am talking about. The project I am working on is the Avian Influenza Control Programme, Indonesia, part of the FAO emergency response to the disease outbreak that began in 2003. Initially, it looked like the disease was primarily infecting backyard poultry and the project I am working on is meant to target people who own them. It is called Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) and Participatory Disease Response (PDR). The system was designed by one of my advisers at Tufts, who had previously implemented it to eradicate rinderpest (cattle plague) from the earth. Rinderpest is only the second disease to ever be eradicated, the other is smallpox. The basis for the system is that there are local animal health teams set up to do surveillance for a disease, and other teams available to respond to outbreaks once they find them. The PDS/R officers educate villagers about the disease and gather epidemiological information about the disease as they go.
For the past 18 months or so, the project has been implementing this program in Indonesia with money from various government donors, primarily USAID. Before I arrived, PDS and PDR teams were set up to cover all districts in Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and northern and southern Sumatra. There are about 8 officers per district, most of them are government employed veterinarians (dokter hewan) or para-vets with experience with agriculture and livestock. They are trained by master trainers, officers who have excelled in the field and have personalities to motivate. The goal for this year is to increase the number of master trainers at our office in Jakarta, improve training materials, provide refresher trainings for all existing officers, and train new officers in all districts not yet covered. My title is "field program facilitator (FPF)." I travel around the country to meet with PDS/R officers and government officials to see how well the program is being implemented in the field, what kinds of problems people are facing, and to try to convince the local government officials to support the program and the officers. One major change in the program is that starting next week with the first refresher trainings, all officers will be trained in both PDS and PDR so that there is less of a delay in the response. Once an officer finds the disease, he/she can immediately begin to respond so that the disease doesn't spread in the 24-48 hours (sometimes longer) it takes for the PDR officers to arrive. The original system worked well for rinderpest because it was a rare disease in big animals. There were many PDS teams looking for the disease and only a few PDR teams to respond. The problem in Indonesia is that the disease is EVERYWHERE. There is no point in having separate teams.
I made my first field visit this week. It was so much fun! But also exhausting. The PDS/R officers I met were so excited to see me because, first of all, I'm a bule (white person, previously only seen on TV), and second of all, they haven't seen anyone from the central management unit since they were trained about a year ago. They are having a lot of problems and just wanted to know we hadn't forgotten about them. I was in East Java in the districts of Situbondo, Probolinggo, and Lumajang, if you want to do a map search.
I posted more pictures on picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Email me if you have any questions or just to say hi!
My favorite thing about this country is that I can get fresh watermelon in September. I'm making my first trip to Bali soon!
Sampai jumpa (Goodbye!)
It is time to describe my job so you know what the heck I am talking about. The project I am working on is the Avian Influenza Control Programme, Indonesia, part of the FAO emergency response to the disease outbreak that began in 2003. Initially, it looked like the disease was primarily infecting backyard poultry and the project I am working on is meant to target people who own them. It is called Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) and Participatory Disease Response (PDR). The system was designed by one of my advisers at Tufts, who had previously implemented it to eradicate rinderpest (cattle plague) from the earth. Rinderpest is only the second disease to ever be eradicated, the other is smallpox. The basis for the system is that there are local animal health teams set up to do surveillance for a disease, and other teams available to respond to outbreaks once they find them. The PDS/R officers educate villagers about the disease and gather epidemiological information about the disease as they go.
For the past 18 months or so, the project has been implementing this program in Indonesia with money from various government donors, primarily USAID. Before I arrived, PDS and PDR teams were set up to cover all districts in Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and northern and southern Sumatra. There are about 8 officers per district, most of them are government employed veterinarians (dokter hewan) or para-vets with experience with agriculture and livestock. They are trained by master trainers, officers who have excelled in the field and have personalities to motivate. The goal for this year is to increase the number of master trainers at our office in Jakarta, improve training materials, provide refresher trainings for all existing officers, and train new officers in all districts not yet covered. My title is "field program facilitator (FPF)." I travel around the country to meet with PDS/R officers and government officials to see how well the program is being implemented in the field, what kinds of problems people are facing, and to try to convince the local government officials to support the program and the officers. One major change in the program is that starting next week with the first refresher trainings, all officers will be trained in both PDS and PDR so that there is less of a delay in the response. Once an officer finds the disease, he/she can immediately begin to respond so that the disease doesn't spread in the 24-48 hours (sometimes longer) it takes for the PDR officers to arrive. The original system worked well for rinderpest because it was a rare disease in big animals. There were many PDS teams looking for the disease and only a few PDR teams to respond. The problem in Indonesia is that the disease is EVERYWHERE. There is no point in having separate teams.
I made my first field visit this week. It was so much fun! But also exhausting. The PDS/R officers I met were so excited to see me because, first of all, I'm a bule (white person, previously only seen on TV), and second of all, they haven't seen anyone from the central management unit since they were trained about a year ago. They are having a lot of problems and just wanted to know we hadn't forgotten about them. I was in East Java in the districts of Situbondo, Probolinggo, and Lumajang, if you want to do a map search.
I posted more pictures on picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Email me if you have any questions or just to say hi!
My favorite thing about this country is that I can get fresh watermelon in September. I'm making my first trip to Bali soon!
Sampai jumpa (Goodbye!)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Settled in Jakarta
Hi Everyone!
Sorry it has taken me so long to get this going. My life has been progressing at what I like to think of as "Java speed." You might think it would be fast, considering the coffee connotation...but you would be wrong. Life is increeeeeedibly slow and inefficient and probably stuck in a traffic jam. Hence the incredible bird flu problem we are trying to deal with. Not an simple task.
Since I arrived in late July, I have found an apartment and not much else. You might think that should take a couple of days max but it took so long I had to leave the country to go to Singapore to get a new visa because my original one expired after 30 days. Now I have a 60 day visa so FAO has that long to get my business visa together or I might have to make another trip. Singapore is actually very, very nice so I really won't complain if I have to go. It is just kind of expensive and it makes it even more difficult to get any work done.
Some really great things have happened, too. Rob came over for about two and a half weeks so he was able to go to Jogjakarta with some of the people I am working with (Ali, Jen, Edie, and Eric...I'll introduce them later) to take an intensive language course. Jogja is a very nice town with two enormous temples, one Hindu and one Buddhist. We spent an evening at Prambanan, the Hindu temple, watching a traditional Balinese ballet. The music and the dancing were very different from anything I have seen before. There were even pyrotechnics (well, maybe they were just burning bamboo). We also spent a day at Borobudur, the Buddhist temple, which was breathtaking. We ascended to "heaven" among over 500 statues of Buddha. The carvings of Buddha becoming enlightened are detailed works of art that are about 1200 years old. I hope I get to go back there at least a couple more times during the year. There is a hotel at the temple so you can get up early and watch the sunrise from heaven.
We also had a great time in Singapore. It is a very friendly city with interesting history...and it's so incredibly clean, especially compared to Jakarta! We had a very relaxing week once the visa paperwork was filed. Unfortunately, Rob had to head home from Singapore so now I am back in Jakarta getting some work done. I will explain more about the project soon.
I posted my pictures on picasa if you want to have a look!
picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Please keep in touch!
Sorry it has taken me so long to get this going. My life has been progressing at what I like to think of as "Java speed." You might think it would be fast, considering the coffee connotation...but you would be wrong. Life is increeeeeedibly slow and inefficient and probably stuck in a traffic jam. Hence the incredible bird flu problem we are trying to deal with. Not an simple task.
Since I arrived in late July, I have found an apartment and not much else. You might think that should take a couple of days max but it took so long I had to leave the country to go to Singapore to get a new visa because my original one expired after 30 days. Now I have a 60 day visa so FAO has that long to get my business visa together or I might have to make another trip. Singapore is actually very, very nice so I really won't complain if I have to go. It is just kind of expensive and it makes it even more difficult to get any work done.
Some really great things have happened, too. Rob came over for about two and a half weeks so he was able to go to Jogjakarta with some of the people I am working with (Ali, Jen, Edie, and Eric...I'll introduce them later) to take an intensive language course. Jogja is a very nice town with two enormous temples, one Hindu and one Buddhist. We spent an evening at Prambanan, the Hindu temple, watching a traditional Balinese ballet. The music and the dancing were very different from anything I have seen before. There were even pyrotechnics (well, maybe they were just burning bamboo). We also spent a day at Borobudur, the Buddhist temple, which was breathtaking. We ascended to "heaven" among over 500 statues of Buddha. The carvings of Buddha becoming enlightened are detailed works of art that are about 1200 years old. I hope I get to go back there at least a couple more times during the year. There is a hotel at the temple so you can get up early and watch the sunrise from heaven.
We also had a great time in Singapore. It is a very friendly city with interesting history...and it's so incredibly clean, especially compared to Jakarta! We had a very relaxing week once the visa paperwork was filed. Unfortunately, Rob had to head home from Singapore so now I am back in Jakarta getting some work done. I will explain more about the project soon.
I posted my pictures on picasa if you want to have a look!
picasaweb.google.com/stacie.e.lawson
Please keep in touch!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Welcome to my bird flu blog!
Hi! Most of you might know me as Stacie but my other name is monkeypox. Don't ask why, I'm just the nerd who thinks zoonotic diseases are cool.
I am soon heading off for work in Indonesia. Bird flu in Indonesian is "flu burung." I have started this blog to keep in touch with family and friends who might be interested in what I am up to. I'm not sure how this works exactly but please stay tuned.
Since graduation, Rob and I have been travelling a lot! We went to Europe for 3 weeks to see Ashley and her boyfriend, Luke, who had been studying abroad for the semester. We went to Italy (Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terra). Then Ashley, Rob and I flew to Copenhagen to meet her host family, the Marstrands. Ashley had to head back to start summer research at Denison and Rob and I went to Valencia (America's Cup!), Paris, and London. Not too shabby.
We have also been travelling within the US. We were only in MA for six days before heading off for visits in OH and MI. We called it "Niece tour 2007" because we got to spend a lot of time with our cute nieces: Lydia Dunkle (age 3!) and Elisabeth Lawson (2o months!).
We made it back to Boston in time for the 4th and got to watch the fireworks from the 14th floor of the Westin with Mom, Dad, and Ashley. Now we are enjoying some time at home. Rob is actually working but I am spending my time on various useless activities: reading, gardening, shopping, knitting, and now, apparently, blogging.
Write back and let me know what you think!
I am soon heading off for work in Indonesia. Bird flu in Indonesian is "flu burung." I have started this blog to keep in touch with family and friends who might be interested in what I am up to. I'm not sure how this works exactly but please stay tuned.
Since graduation, Rob and I have been travelling a lot! We went to Europe for 3 weeks to see Ashley and her boyfriend, Luke, who had been studying abroad for the semester. We went to Italy (Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terra). Then Ashley, Rob and I flew to Copenhagen to meet her host family, the Marstrands. Ashley had to head back to start summer research at Denison and Rob and I went to Valencia (America's Cup!), Paris, and London. Not too shabby.
We have also been travelling within the US. We were only in MA for six days before heading off for visits in OH and MI. We called it "Niece tour 2007" because we got to spend a lot of time with our cute nieces: Lydia Dunkle (age 3!) and Elisabeth Lawson (2o months!).
We made it back to Boston in time for the 4th and got to watch the fireworks from the 14th floor of the Westin with Mom, Dad, and Ashley. Now we are enjoying some time at home. Rob is actually working but I am spending my time on various useless activities: reading, gardening, shopping, knitting, and now, apparently, blogging.
Write back and let me know what you think!
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