Archive | December, 2011

<3 Links, quotes and comments of the week

31 Dec

A reporter takes photos on his iPad during the famine in Somalia

  • I’m a total sucker for “A year in photos”  tributes. The BBC picked 12 (including the famous White House Bin Laden Shot), the Guardian 16, and TIME has a series of tributes including “most surprising”, “best viral” and “best photos ….of photos”. Perhaps they should have also included these maps of languages used on twitter. The above image is from Reuters‘ collection, which I first saw when I read the photographer’s account of what happened when he took it. “I never know how to behave when I go to write about hungry people” he said. “He comes with an iPad, I come with a notebook. Both of us steal dignity and neither of us belong.”
  • Tyler Cowen’s TEDx talk on how your life might be more of a mess than a story rather eloquently described what I have been thinking is true for some time now. He notes “We asked some people to describe their lives. And when asked to describe their lives, what’s interesting is how few people said, ‘mess’. It’s probably the best answer; I don’t mean that in a bad way. ‘Mess’ can be liberating, ‘mess’ can be empowering, ‘mess’ can be a way of drawing upon multiple strengths. But what people wanted to say was, “My life is a (story).”
  • And in the spirit of NYE and resolutions, Penelope Trunk’s one paragraph guides to doing just about anything big – including getting a book deal, selling your company, launching a consumer product and changing careers. And I can vouch for that last one – her advice was exactly what I did.

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Accountability

28 Dec

Into the Wild

One of the interesting things about travelling a lot is that you become accountable to no one.

If you want to eat ice cream for dinner, no one cares. If you decide to stay inside for an entire weekend, go right ahead. If you decide to give money to street kids, no one will look twice.

Which is all very liberating, in an Into the Wild kind of way.

I often craved this lack of attention back in Sydney.

I wanted to know what it would be like to not have an event which I was obligated to go to on a Friday or Saturday night. What would I do? What would it be like if I could sleep in on a workday? Would I? Would I collapse into a heap without the discipline of a life surrounded by people I knew — or would I flourish in it?

And so given this, I have been watching what I have been doing in my so-called non-accountable life with interest.

Firstly, it would appear that rather than ice cream, I LOVE vegetable-only meals. I also like to grab any opportunity to go swimming. And in my free time you can find me hanging out in a café, reading and writing.

(And maybe, as I am now, enjoying a thunderstorm.)

It will come as no surprise to my former long-suffering work colleagues that I do now take the opportunity to sleep in on weekdays.

But I also usually work on weekends.

And so in essence, my two lives — during and post-accountability — are remarkably similar.

Except that in this life, I am often reminded of what is the final thought of Into the Wild: “Happiness is only real when shared.”

<3 Links, quotes and comments of the week

22 Dec

Is the world a more violent place?

From my readings this week:

  • Is the world a more violent place than is used to be? Joshua Goldstein says a big no in this piece in the Sept/Oct 2011 issue of Foreign Policy. The last decade has seen fewer war deaths than any decade in the past 100 years – despite a growing global population. And interestingly “the decline of violent behaviour has been paralleled by a decline in attitudes that tolerate or glorify violence – so we see today’s atrocities – though mild by historical standards – as signs of how our behaviour can sink, not of how high our standards have risen.” He also writes on how peace keeping has improved, why democracies don’t attack each other (but do attack non-democracies), and how China is “hands down the most peaceful great power of its time. China’s military hasn’t fired a single shot in battle in 25 years.”
  • On the music front – I recently found NPR’s tiny desk concerts. I love this one from Gabriel Kahane  – described as “rigourously crafted songs that fall somewhere between classical and pop.” Like all classical music, it’s worth persisting through the full 15 mins before judging.
  • And finally, some shameless self-promotion. Check out my guest post here on the brilliant House of Cards website. It’s on the UN’s International Year of Sustainable Energy for All in 2012 and ways you can get involved.

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Some things to get you started in a new (developing) country

20 Dec

So much of being in a new country is about getting used to the rhythm of life, the manner of doing things.

Seeing as I’ve done this 4  times this year (with two more countries due before the year is out, seriously), I thought it might be time to impart some simple wisdom I’ve managed to pick up along the way.

For your first week:

  • You will get ripped off.
  • You will have no idea where to eat.
  • You will misunderstand.
  • And you will be misunderstood.

My main piece of advice here? Enjoy being lost – I promise it won’t last.

On accessing services and buying food:

  • It is hard to find a place where you cannot access the internet, even if it is very slow.
  • In most places you can buy a local SIM card. Yes, even in India, where everyone tells you it is not possible.
  • Don’t ever, ever drink the water, until you are sure it is safe.
  • Try and pick restaurants that everyone else seems to be eating at. And try not to order food which is not local. Especially in India.

On traffic and transportation:

  • When crossing the street, have locals stand in between you and the traffic, and follow them to learn the rhythm of crossing the street. (Note that this does not really work in San Francisco — although the local being hit by traffic will give you more time to get out of the way).
  • When you are travelling somewhere for an appointment, have a backup transportation option. And for when that doesn’t work out, have a plan for what you are going to do when you are very, very late.

Ask for help:

  • If you are scared, ask women with children. They are typically used to needing help, so are mostly happy to give it. And the further you are off the beaten path, the easier this is.
  • Get locals you know (like hotel staff) to help you with other locals you don’t know — especially over the phone.  NOBODY understands Australians on the phone.

Things to always carry:

  • Mosquito repellent
  • Water
  • Something to read. This has saved me through missed buses, long meetings in foreign languages and waiting around at times when I really had no idea why I was waiting around. Actually, travelling/working in a developing country can be an awesome time to learn about something new. So this is my most important piece of advice. Well, except for:

My most important piece of advice:

  • Being told something isn’t going to work doesn’t make it true. Chris Guillebeau puts it best: “when things aren’t going your way, wait it out and see what happens. Just keep standing around looking friendly, and more often than not, all will be well.”

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<3 Links, quotes and comments of the week

14 Dec

Yep, that's Brad Pitt

  • GiveWell.org has announced their top reviewed charities in time for Christmas. These guys are very detailed (obsessive) in the way they review charities – their blog makes for interesting reading. They even keep a running list of mistakes they’ve made on their front page. Interesting GiveDirectly which gives cash grants directly to households in Kenya made their top charities list, as did a microfinance organisation. This is interesting because GiveWell had previously stated they were highly uncertain of microfinance as a concept. Pratham which my cousin’s charity partners with in India also made the list.
  • As part of my 40 year mission I’ve been thinking about how people make the decision to give to charity. Sascha Dichter posted some interesting thoughts this week: “…simply giving people information about a charity’s overhead costs makes them less likely to donate to it. This held true, remarkably, even if the information was positive and indicated and the charity was extremely efficient.” He suggests that this is because generosity and analytics are not linked – once we start thinking about HOW we’re going to spend our money – nothing is ever “good enough, impactful enough, scalable enough, anything enough”. He suggests overcoming our analytical minds by committing to donate a particular amount each year. Then we can get as analytical about how we spend that money as we like.
  • And from an expats evening in Iloilo City: “Why would you try and move a woman to Iloilo? It’s like taking coal to a coal mine” and “Coming to Iloilo is like turning into a kind of Brad Pitt -  a Brad Pitt who has $100 bills falling out of his pockets”. To put things in context, I was apparently the first female expat to ever turn up on her own. It’s certainly a colourful city!

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What are you guys thinking about the new threeish-links-to-love series? Let me know in the comments or at moniquealfris-at-gmail [dot] com.

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Finding your *this*

11 Dec

So often I hear people say something along the lines of — if it wasn’t for *this*, my job/life would be so much easier.

*This* might be the students, if the person is a teacher.

*This* might be a partner, if the person is in a relationship.

*This* might be the clients, if the person is a consultant.

*This* might be the technology, if the person is a salesman.

To which I always think, If it wasn’t for *this*, why would you even be here?

Perhaps part of finding your right job/life, is finding your right *this*.

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<3 Links, quotes and comments of the week

8 Dec

Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe

From my readings this week:

  • On what’s wrong with the twitter hashtag firstworldproblems: “Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World problems.”
  • On a writer’s unusual self-improvement journey: “My marriage was good, utterly central to my existence, yet in no other important aspect of my life was I so laissez-faire. Like most of my peers, I applied myself to school, friendship, work, health and, ad nauseam, raising my children. But in this critical area, marriage, we had all turned away.”

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On surprises

4 Dec

Tony Robbins, in this brilliant TED talk, says something along the lines of “Bullshit you like surprises. You only like the surprises that you want”.

Fair.

But that does not stop you from loving the surprises you want.

I think surprises show other people you care. (And if it’s on Psychology Central, you know it’s true).

It reminds me of this awesome quote I read on a fashion site somewhere.

True beauty is equal to creativity plus restraint.

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<3 Links, quotes and comments of the week

1 Dec

So for now, the three-reasons-to-love series is morphing into a trial three-ish-links-to-love series. From my readings and the comments this week:

  • The King Effect: Blog of an war crimes aid worker in the DRC. Her thoughts on the just held elections were featured in a recent New York Times guest post:
    • “People want to vote in a way that won’t escalate into another full scale civil war,” explained psychologist Jean-Paul Syatokaki. “Regardless of whose politics they actually support.”
  • I found Springwise recently – they share awesome unique business ideas from around the world. They recently did a profile of Simpa Networks – who allow users of their solar panels to pay for electricity service via mobile phone. If they don’t pay, then a remote monitoring system turns the power off. Just like at home.
  • Autocorrect fails. As you might expect – there are plenty of non-family friendly fails, but this one would be alright for the kids.
  • And finally, a comment on my “On asking for directions” post: “I think the key point is that we would go crazy if we didn’t have autopilot. The human brain is very good at ignoring certain information (like the fact that we can actually always see our nose)”. Good point. And thanks for making this week a “notice-your-nose” kind of week.

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