Short Post - Look to the other Blog

Good morning!

Liz and I have made a choice over the last week to transition, for this trip, away from this blog and to another that we have dedicated solely to this Fellowship trip.  The nature of the journey makes it awkward to blog on a site also containing our past vacations.

But fear not, we are in fact still posting regularly, albeit a few days behind, at www.ourfarmtotheirs.blogspot.com

Nathan

Good morning!  It's the morning of Friday the 12th, and since we are headed out to the countryside today, and will be spending the night, I figured I would do another short update before we head out.  I'm not sure if we'll have internet at the hotel tonight, so I wanted to do a short update now.

We've been here in Mongolia for a little less than a day now.  Having come from Beijing, it is like night and day in many ways.  The little we saw of Beijing (the airport, and the short trip to the hotel, and back to the airport) certainly had a Chinese feel to it, but everything was sleek, modern, new, and well maintained.  Mongolia is different to say the least. Take our hotels for example.  A fairly new Hilton in Beijing.  Very sleek, very modern, well kept, lots of staff all around, each eager to please and with a smiling face. Jump ahead a day to our hotel here in Mongolia.  It has staff, but far fewer.  They smile, but are far more reserved.  The hotel was the first ever built in Mongolia.  It was built in 1961 by the then Communist ruler of China Tsedenbal.  It was the first public building to have hot water.  His wife and by many accounts co-ruler took the lead on its design and decoration, picking many of the colors herself.  But the feel is this - find the best of what might possibly be available to a small country within the Soviet Union in 1961in terms of building materials, carpets, heating systems, etc . . . and then take reasonably good care of it for 50 years, leaving most completely unchanged.  That's this place.  Really quite interesting, and a fitting place to stay as it fits very well with the city at large.

Liz I had a short meeting with my coordinator here in Mongolia yesterday afternoon and met the translator as well.  I had two meetings at the Ministry of Agriculture, one with a a vet, and one with the Deputy Director for Strategic Policy and Planning withing the Ministry of Industry and Agriculture.  The Vet, Mr. BATSUKH Zayat, was pretty adept in English  and we had a very good conversation about some of the medical challenges facing agriculture here today.  It's been two years since their last case of Foot and Mouth Disease, and that is very encouraging for the possibility of improving exports in the next few years.  If they can improve their marketing, they would like to take advantage of the price premiums for free ranging, non feedlot based animal products that can be found in many parts of the world - virtually 100% of their animals are raised 100% on free ranging pasture their entire lives (not even any fences, never mind cages or pens).

Regrettably, that's all for now.  I have to get packed for our trip north this morning.  A goat herding family, and a grain farm await.  And a hearty breakfast so I can kick this cold!

The strategic plan for agriculture here in Mongolia for the year.
Months down the left side, days across the top, what they are pushing/promoting/implementing when.

The Plan for the Next Week or So

I've got a call with my coordinator from Eisenhower Fellowships in a few minutes, so I figured I would take a few minutes to start another blog entry before I leave.  I think we are finally almost ready to go.  We've packed our bags; made our last trips to the store (well mom is doing one last run to pick me up some Afrin); printed out our itineraries (or at least the current version of them); repacked our bags; made some final changes to our blog (including setting up one just for this trip); and gotten all the lists done for our house sitter.

Ulan Bator in
Classical Mongolian

We leave our house around 5:15 am tomorrow (the 9th) and 41 hours later, if all goes according to plan, land in Ulan Bator also known as Ulaanbaatar or locally simply as "UB".  It's perhaps the longest travel period for Liz and I, but thankfully will be broken up by a one night layover in Beijing (roughly 20 hours in the China on this first transitory visit.)  I've never been to Mongolia, nor do I personally know anyone who has.  While I'm looking forward to them all, it's the country on my list that intrigues me most, primarily because I know the least about it.  

My first day in country I have a meeting scheduled with my in country coordinator as well as two gentleman from the Ministry of Industry and Agriculture.  The next morning we leave early for a drive 350 kilometers (~220 miles) north to Selenge Aimag to tour a crop field, and to visit a herding family.  We'll be staying with the family before heading back to UB the next day.   Sunday will feature an Eisenhower Day of Fellowship celebrated with various Mongolian Eisenhower Fellows.  Monday - Wednesday features roughly 3-4 meetings a day at universities, businesses, and with government.  Thursday will be open for Liz and I too explore before we hop onto the last leg of the Trans-Siberian Railway for our trip back to Beijing. 

Typical scenery on the train from
UB to Beijing

I'll update you as we go, and hopefully take many pictures.  Please, feel free to share this blog with family, friends, or anyone you know who you think might enjoy it.  

We are soon to embark on our next adventure . . .

It is likely that many of you now know that soon (in just 10 short days) Liz and I will be embarking on a magnificent journey.  Unlike past blog entries, we aren't headed out on vacation this time.  This time we are taking advantage of an amazing opportunity that has been provided to me.

Background:
A year and a half ago Alex Dowse (Eisenhower Fellow, 1997), a good friend and former boss sent me a notice via e-mail.  The Eisenhower Fellowships Foundation was beginning its recruitment for its 2012 program.  I knew little about the organization, and the more I read the more intrigued I was.  Their mission is simple:

"Eisenhower Fellowships identifies, empowers and links outstanding leaders from around the world, helping them to achieve consequential outcomes across sectors and borders. EF provides a transformational experience leading to lifetime engagement in a global network, where dialogue and collaboration make the world more prosperous, just and peaceful."

Simple and precise - in some ways. Leaving much to the imagination in others.  How they accomplish the mission is impressive.  There are two parts to Eisenhower Fellowships as an organization (although they overlap and interrelate).  One part, the International Programs brings roughly 40 outstanding mid career professionals to the US in two groups each year.  Each fellow embarks on an  intensive, individually designed program in the Fellow's professional field, traveling throughout the United States meeting with people in industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and more.  The USA Program sends 8-10 high-achieving mid-career Americans abroad for an intensive, individually designed program in the country (or countries  of their choice.  At least one Fellow per year is selected for an Agricultural Fellowship.

After an extensive application process involving a nomination process, initial vetting, an interview, and final selection, I was informed that while I was a very strong candidate, I was ultimately not selected for the Agricultural Fellowship.  Eisenhower Fellowships had named Larkin Martin as the 2012 Agricultural Fellow (click here for her blog on her journey through Turkey and Kenya), they added however that through additional fundraising they might be able to send a second Agricultural Fellow abroad.  Less than a month later I was informed that indeed, additional resources had been secured, and a second Agricultural Fellow was possible, and that I had been chosen.

Joining the network:
I was honored and humbled to join the eight other 2012 USA Eisenhower Fellows.  Over the last 7 months I have participated in a multi-day orientation program/opening seminar in Philadelphia, joining 20 International Fellows, and the eight USA Fellows.  This included lighthearted affairs such as late night karaoke, and more serious events such as a frank, off the record panel discussion on the state of world affairs with Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns and an incredible workshop on collective intelligence with Bob Halperin (Eisenhower Fellow, 2002) who is Executive Director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.

I joined the International Fellows at the Grand Canyon for an amazing long weekend.  For them it was a chance to unwind a little, recompose, and take stock of the first half of their travels throughout the United States.  For the USA Fellows who joined them, it was a chance to learn more about what to expect from our fellowship, directly from those currently engaging in theirs.  For both groups it was a chance to build stronger bonds, and to gain valuable skills, primarily centered around leading change.

Getting ready to travel:
A key part of being an Eisenhower Fellow is realizing that the Fellowship is not a trip.  It is not the 5 week journey that we are sent on by the organization to learn what we wish to learn.  It is much more than that, it is being part of a network who chooses to lead change and bring consequential outcomes to that network.  The 5 week travel experience which, while wonderful and at least at the start seems so central to the Fellowship, is just a stepping stone, a common factor that will bind us all together and provide a foundation for our future interactions and endeavors.

But ten days before it's time to leave, it does feel imposing.  I've traveled before.  In fact I've traveled often.  If I were to list all the places I have been, I would undoubtedly leave many off.  I've not just vacationed, but I've gone off to colleges, lived with friends for entire summers working jobs in other states, and even lived on the other side of the globe for an entire year.  But I was younger then with far fewer ties.  Never before have I had to plan a 6 week experience, 6 weeks of being away from home (3 of which Liz will be with me leaving us both away from the farm, our pets, our home, and our lives) 6 weeks of living out of a suitcase, 6 weeks, 3 countries, and I estimate at least 12 cities so far.  Thankfully Eisenhower Fellowship Foundation has some amazing staff (a million thanks to Jason Riley) to help with all of this.  In fact, not only is their full time staff here in the US planning my experience with me but also someone (or in some cases a team of people) in each country I will visit.

So for now the planning, packing, repacking, lists for the house-sitter, wrapping up things at work, fretting over loose items, and all the other normal things in life continues.  Liz, I, or both of us will post again before we leave, I promise.

For now I'll leave you with a the "draft" itinerary.  It is always in flux, but for now, here's the map . . .


View here in a larger map, with dates I'll be visiting each city

Rain is a beautiful thing

It's amazing what a little fresh water can do for an ecosystem. What is supposed to be arid suddenly appears lush and almost trop
ical. Life abounds.

Each day since my arrival we've had a gentle morning rain and have been cooled off in the afternoon by showers. I'm not talking rain like back home (that seems to last for days) but quick refreshing rains that seem to last for a half hour at most.

When we first started coming to Bonaire the landscape was very different than it appears now. Sure the topography is the same, but now EVERY

THING is covered in green and is growing. Roads feel a bit narrower as plants start to compete for space. The hillsides are a bit reminiscent of Ireland (if Ireland were to have cactus that is), as what was once brown and rocky is a solid blanket of plant life. Inland, where there was sand and coral, there are succulents and even... grass. The most fascinating element of all this, there is no dirt or soil just clay and rock. Making the life that currently exists fragile and all the more beautiful.

And from all this water comes more animal life. Sure, maybe it's the time of year that we've decided to travel here or maybe it's that some of the stresses of reproduction and survival have been reduced (i.e., access to water and food) that has helped the various animal populations to flourish. I've never seen so many wild donkeys and goats on this island, and beyond that I've never had the privilege to be so close to so many of their babies. Have you ever seen the way baby goats are cared for in their pack? Or how loving and dependent upon each other, pairs of donkeys can be. I've had a front row seat, each day.

And don't get me started on the rainbows... :)

Photo Day

Well, as you may have noticed, I've been a little remiss in posting.  After my great first day of diving my ears acted up, so no more diving for now.  It's a real bummer, but better to protect them for the future.  This is 2 for 5 on having ear problems while down here, not great.

Dad is also recovering from a pretty bad cold so we have been taking it pretty easy.  We have however been driving around and taking some neat pictures however, so I figured I would post some today.  What follows are all from last night and today.  They start down near the slave huts on the south west side of the island last night, and then continue to various parts of the island, mostly the east side, today.  Enjoy.

Sunset on the southeast part of Bonaire.  It wasn't a
great one, but the sky and the water are just so huge. . .

That same sunset, just zooming way in on the colorful bit . . .

We were waiting a while for the sunset.  While we waited, I took this and the next two pictures.

This is where we were sitting for about an hour waiting for sunset.
Those little white huts were the weekday quarters of the slaves
who worked the salt flats on island.  They are bout 6' high
in the center, and about 6' wide by 8' long.  The slaves "got" to go
home after a half day of work on Saturday, but had to be back
Monday morning for work.  It was a 7 hour walk each way.

Bonaire gets a good portion of its power from these 12 windmills.
These are up on the northeast side of the island.

It is amazing, for an arid island, just how lush everything is right now.
Flowers are blooming, baby goats and iguana's abound.
While its not exactly spring, it is evident that the rainy season is here!

First time seeing these here - honey bees!  

Crested Caracara.  Cool raptor:  Its a member of the falcon family,
but builds stick nests and spends a great deal of time on the
ground -making it, according the the Peregrine Fund, the
most "terrestrial" falcon.

Very cool way that these cactus were growing.  There was
one other group nearby doing the same, but I've never
seen others like this.

And I'll close with view through the bushes on our road.  Doesn't really give the normal impression of Bonaire though - looks lush and vibrant here, not Bonaire's normal state.

Just Some Pictures for Now

Diving was awesome today.  No camera on the first dive (it was malfunctioning) but it worked on the next two.  First dive though had the frog fish.  That was really cool!

Can you see the shrimp in this picture?  He's really hard to see on account of his being translucent and all.

A little arrowhead crab.  He lives with the Anenome

This guy was like 3 feet

And this one was only about a foot.  

Yup, we saw a turtle.  anyone want to ID him for me?

It's Christmas Time in Bonaire!

Last this Blog saw Liz and I, we were in London.  Now, at the end of 2011 it finds me and my father in Bonaire.  We arrived this morning on a redeye out of Houston.  It wasn't miserable, but there isn't much fun about a 23 hour trip, door to door.

The good new is we have arrived on the lovely Island of Bonaire.  Atypically, it's a bit overcast and not as windy as normal.  It has rained twice in our first 8 hours here.  But that is also kind of a blessing really, freeing us from a feeling of guilt for the 4 hour nap we took post arriving.  Then we headed out to the new "Supermarket" on the island that everyone has been raving about.  This market really helps sum up the island for me.  It's the size of a large corner grocery back home.  If you have an IGA in your town, think that.  But for Bonaire, its the newest, best stocked, coolest thing on the island.  It was described to us with glee by someone who said, "now when we have guests, we don't have to make excuses and just eat what the market has in stock, if we want chicken and pasta, we can get chicken and pasta.  If we want beef, we know they will always have beef."  That's what I love about island life, its the small things that make you happy.

Dad and I ate at Bobby Jan's for lunch.  It's good BBQ, and only open on the weekends, so we had to get our fix now.  We then tried the local package store to get some good scotch, but alas, it was closed.  On to Lover's Ice Cream, home of some of the finest ice cream in the world for a take home quart.  While there we noticed that the electronic store next door happened to have free wi-fi, always a plus and good to know.  The house has internet, but not wireless, so with iPhones and an iPod, that's a handy thing to know.

I'll leave you for now with three more pictures.  Pardon the bluriness of the first two, they were taken at some distance with about 35X and my hand isn't the steadiest after 4 hours sleep over the last 36 hours.  While the location of the house if very quite from man made noises, it sounds like hundreds of these parrots surround us.  They are not unpleasant sounding, but they are darn loud!

The Brown-Throated, or Caribbean Parakeet

A Troupial

The view off our balcony to the south.  For those who have been here, those little white dots in the center of the top piece of land are the salt piles for the salt flats.  That's Klein Bonaire to the right.  This view is just as bold and huge to the  right of the picture, I just can't do a full panorama right now.  The view is a full 220 degrees, including the entire south of Bonaire, all of Klien Bonaire, and all the way up to the national park in the north.  On a clear day supposedly we can see Curacao.

Portobello Road, Tate Gallery and The British Museum, OH MY!

What a LONG but wonderful day! We started Saturday off with a quick jaunt to Portobello Road (insert the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks here, one of my all time favorites!). While the real Portobello Road shows no resemblance to that from the movie, it was an antiquers paradise. Small booths of trinkets were crowded throughout old buildings that line the street. But bargain hunters beware! Things were not cheap and the street was very crowded on this market day.

From the market we went to the Tate Gallery via the tube. Some planned maintenance in addition to police shutting down some of the major underground stations (due to protests) caused some delays, but our confident guide Nathan got us to our final destinations safely and efficiently :)

The Tate has a fine collection of artwork of varying types from throughout the ages. Nate participated on a guided tour of some of the works, while my dad and I walked around willy nilly, ogling those things that caught our interest. We all agree that the gallery is a worthwhile stop for art lovers.

After a few hours we were on to the British Museum. WOW! Is all I can say. The collection is extraordinary and one could easily spend a few days exploring everything from ancient Egypt to Eskimos. We took the audioguided tour which was a tad bit frustrating as it was somewhat slow and while the commentary was good the devices were not very user friendly (far too much screen tapping and clicking, number searching and waiting for our liking).

Best things we spotted at the British Museum: The Rosetta Stone, lots of incredible structures from Egypt, Caryatid from Greece, and the Lindow Man. If you haven't heard of the Lindow Man, it's a fascinating story!

To enthralled in the tele to write a post...

So last night Nate and I were too busy watching news coverage to even think about blogging. If you weren't aware, yesterday London experienced it's largest protest since the war in Iraq(2002). Approximately half a million people marched from the houses of parliament, through Trafalgar Square and on to Hyde Park to show their disagreement with the Prime Minister's plan to increase taxes and cut benefits, jobs, community supports, to help improve England's current economic state.

The protest was peaceful until a splinter group of anarchists (true anarchists) decided to use this as an opportunity to deface public sites and destroy properties of companies they believed to be evading taxes (large banks, The Ritz Hotel, Top Shop and others) in what they called "an act of civil disobedience." Riots ensued throughout the night, ending around 2am with over 200 arrests and over 100 people treated in the hospital.

The city is quickly recovering from the mess and damage done and thankfully our day today was peaceful and uneventful. I'm thankful for my friend Helen's recommendation of a hotel near Nottinghill as we continued on, life as usual :)

Changing of the Guard and Westminster Abbey

Today was chock full of ceremony, history and walking. We started off with a quick bite to eat at our favorite cafe (cappuccino and a bacon and avocado sandwich? yes please) and then took to the underground to get to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.

Note to readers: if you plan on seeing the changing of the guards, be sure to arrive at the palace early. We got there by 10:30 for an 11:30 changing, and were greeted by thousands of people who had been there for a while. But undetered, we climbed Queen Victoria's monument (across the street from the palace) and took our place in the crowd. The ceremony lasted for a quite a while and had several different moving elements throughout (groups of guards moving in and out of the courtyard, the military marching band, the horse guards). We left the monument a bit early to head to Wellington Barracks so we could position ourselves for the return of the Coldstream Guards and marching band. I'm going to try to post a brief video of the band on my facebook page later on.

After the procession we hiked over toward Westminster Abbey and stopped for a pint and a bite to eat at the Westminster Arms (which is where I learned that the British enjoy putting butter on their sandwiches... not my favorite, but the beer was good and everyone else loved their meals). Cozy spot, friendly staff and great proximity to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the House of Parliament.

When our bellies were full we crossed the street to the abbey and began our tour. Did you know that there are over 3000 people buried (starting with 17 monarchs whom I shall not name, Geoffrey Chaucer, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickins, Robert Browing, Alferd Lord Tennyson, Thomas Harding, Rudyard Kipling, George Frederick Handel, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, a bunch of prime ministers, the unknown warrior, and on and on and on) in the church and cloisters, and over 600 monuments within the buildings? The abbey has been the coronation church of England since 1066 and the church that is present now was established in 1245 by King Henry III. The architecture of Henry's church is striking, with my favorite section being the Lady Chapel.

Nate's commentary: Westminster Abbey? It hasn't been an abbey for over 500 years! People should get around to calling it by its "new" name (given in 1560 by Queen Elizabeth I) The Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster. Geez