I'm just back from a short hop to Nairobi this week. We had an event for work on Friday which I was asked to attend so I combined it with a few days based in our Nairobi office.
Didn't have much chance to enjoy the city, but I did have dinner with some friends I met here in Dar es Salaam who have since been moved to Nairobi. Amazing to share time with friends even after they've left. It's the one major occupational hazard (or personal?) that comes with choosing to work internationally, your friends are constantly on the move, just like yourself. Someone is either coming or going, and it's never certain when or whether you'll see them again.
My second night I had the chance to get together with a former roommate from Copenhagen.d.
Add that to the friends I met in the airport both on the way out of Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, and at the airport in Nairobi yesterday, and I've had a nice half week full of meetings with friends who've come and gone (or friends who've stayed in the same place, and I've come and gone.
Anyway, as a hazard of this kind of lifestyle, I was thinking, if I could do things differently than I am now, would I? I don't think so!
Here's a clip from the lecture by Jane Goodall on the topic.
Saturday 31 March 2012
Tuesday 27 March 2012
Foundations - after 3 weeks
That's right, time for another dog training update. I'm still working on that audio extravaganza from my trip to Ethiopia now two weekends ago. My audio editing powers were severely hampered this weekend with 7+ power cuts during the day on both Saturday day and Sunday day.
I also have a Jane Goodall treat for you coming up in the near future, just need to get an internet connection that doesn't block Soundcloud.
In the meantime, Shaki was super excited to play self control games yesterday and finished off with a great "dead dog".
Natasha closes this session off with a stellar hand touch that require her to jump to hit the target. We also learned that while dogs will do almost anything for a piece of cheese, using small cubes of cheese in this heat leads to sticky-cheese residue-y hands.
I'm sure if Shaki and Natasha could sing the I love Cheese song, they would.
A glimpse into our improvement in tugging. You see that some socks have been reincarnated as dog tugs. My dogs love socks, so I thought this was the perfect thing to create a motivating toy out of.
Thursday 22 March 2012
Foundations - week 2 self-control
For those of you who were hoping that this wasn't going to become a blog about me training my dogs, you'll have to put up with me for a few more weeks.
But to keep you interested, you should know that I was in Ethiopia last weekend, revisiting "home" in Dire Dawa with my awesome ex-housemate and friend Kaja. We cooked up a scheme when she was on her R&R in Tanzania about two months ago, to go back to Dire Dawa for the weekend and re-live our old weekends. It's been 1.5 years since I left Dire Dawa and longer for her. We wanted to see what's changed and what's stayed the same.
I documented (or tried to) a good deal of our weekend with my handy Zoom. Now I'm sorting through the tape and putting together a pak on our trip so stay tuned for some audio gems from our weekend to DD.
But back in Dar, the second session of our dog training course had begun and we have a new theme - self-control. This is one of the areas where we will definitely benefit. Hopefully taking the baby steps of "leaving" the treats until they've been offered will also translate into less cat chasing (poor Cicero does get a a few good runs in every day) and not "mugging" the cat food bowl (which is basically like hitting the jackpot since cat food is one of the primary food rewards I use with them.
But to keep you interested, you should know that I was in Ethiopia last weekend, revisiting "home" in Dire Dawa with my awesome ex-housemate and friend Kaja. We cooked up a scheme when she was on her R&R in Tanzania about two months ago, to go back to Dire Dawa for the weekend and re-live our old weekends. It's been 1.5 years since I left Dire Dawa and longer for her. We wanted to see what's changed and what's stayed the same.
These boys offered to pose for a photo while I was taking a picture of the sieves behind them.
But back in Dar, the second session of our dog training course had begun and we have a new theme - self-control. This is one of the areas where we will definitely benefit. Hopefully taking the baby steps of "leaving" the treats until they've been offered will also translate into less cat chasing (poor Cicero does get a a few good runs in every day) and not "mugging" the cat food bowl (which is basically like hitting the jackpot since cat food is one of the primary food rewards I use with them.
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Foundations - after week 1
So, we're one week into our Foundations class with Fanny Gott. We've been playing in short session every day - short sessions in the morning and also after work.
In case you want to see how it's going.... here it is.
In case you want to see how it's going.... here it is.
Monday 12 March 2012
From the dashboard of MM - How's your morning commute
I snapped a quick video this morning of my drive to work. We had a huge thunderstorm this morning which started around 4 am.
I woke up to a text message from my neighbour suggesting we message our gardener and tell him to stay home today, as getting across town in the rain is a nightmare. Also the the prospect of rain most of the day, there wouldn't be a lot he could do.
I pulled back the curtains in my bedroom to find that some good sized branches from the neem trees in my backyard had been knocked down. Thankful it wasn't another tree falling like last year, but I was a bit concerned about how they fell. They landed just next to the house and right beside the pots which I sowed my herb seeds in yesterday.
With this kind of rain, we all anticipate the worst on the roads. The already sketchy adherence to traffic rules goes completely out the window as it becomes each driver for herself.
Without further ado, this morning's traffic clusterfuck for your viewing pleasure. My apologies to those sensitive to the title, but there really is no other word to describe it.
And for another little snapshot of morning-rain induced traffic delights, this quick video is of a rapidly growing puddle on the main artery coming in to the city centre from the north. I'd never seen it accumulate to both lanes of traffic.
I woke up to a text message from my neighbour suggesting we message our gardener and tell him to stay home today, as getting across town in the rain is a nightmare. Also the the prospect of rain most of the day, there wouldn't be a lot he could do.
I pulled back the curtains in my bedroom to find that some good sized branches from the neem trees in my backyard had been knocked down. Thankful it wasn't another tree falling like last year, but I was a bit concerned about how they fell. They landed just next to the house and right beside the pots which I sowed my herb seeds in yesterday.
With this kind of rain, we all anticipate the worst on the roads. The already sketchy adherence to traffic rules goes completely out the window as it becomes each driver for herself.
Without further ado, this morning's traffic clusterfuck for your viewing pleasure. My apologies to those sensitive to the title, but there really is no other word to describe it.
And for another little snapshot of morning-rain induced traffic delights, this quick video is of a rapidly growing puddle on the main artery coming in to the city centre from the north. I'd never seen it accumulate to both lanes of traffic.
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Foundations
I've had this silly idea for ages now to get my girls into some agility training. It looks like loads of fun and I think the dogs would love it too. But I didn't know where to start. I actually bought a mini agility start-up set between Ethiopian and Tanzania that's just sitting in the corner of the study still in the box.
In late January I stumbled across the work of a dog trainer named Susan Garrett who does phenomenal things with dogs. She's a world champion in agility (Her. Her dogs. Who do you attribute that to?). She has the kind of dogs that make others envious and a little ashamed of our own pets' training. I got completely addicted to her blog and her youtube channel and was trying to figure out, how do I get me some of that dog training? Wouldn't you know it, she offers online training courses, but with no imminent start date for the next course, I was still searching.
That's when I found Fanny Gott, a "a professional dog trainer with a passion for clicker training and dog sports" based in Sweden. And wouldn't you know it, she was offering her "Foundations" class starting in March and enrolment was opening in a few days. And so I kept checking back and as soon as enrolment opening, I registered Natasha and me. I've been looking forward to the course starting and finally it did.
Our first lesson is called "Play with your dog". We get a lesson posted every two weeks, some focus areas and a homework assignment that involves working with your dog and filming the sessions. We then upload the clips and Fanny makes comments, gives tips, and guidance. Dog-training on the internet! Who knew!
While Natasha is my course participant, I'm also working with Shaki on the same things. You know I love my dogs and I'm going to share some of that love with you. Hopefully you'll see us progressing! I have to say, I feel a little bit silly propping my computer up on the bbq in the back yard and hitting record to film myself for an online dog training class. I figure this is just one step further in the re-spatialization of social space.
In late January I stumbled across the work of a dog trainer named Susan Garrett who does phenomenal things with dogs. She's a world champion in agility (Her. Her dogs. Who do you attribute that to?). She has the kind of dogs that make others envious and a little ashamed of our own pets' training. I got completely addicted to her blog and her youtube channel and was trying to figure out, how do I get me some of that dog training? Wouldn't you know it, she offers online training courses, but with no imminent start date for the next course, I was still searching.
That's when I found Fanny Gott, a "a professional dog trainer with a passion for clicker training and dog sports" based in Sweden. And wouldn't you know it, she was offering her "Foundations" class starting in March and enrolment was opening in a few days. And so I kept checking back and as soon as enrolment opening, I registered Natasha and me. I've been looking forward to the course starting and finally it did.
Our first lesson is called "Play with your dog". We get a lesson posted every two weeks, some focus areas and a homework assignment that involves working with your dog and filming the sessions. We then upload the clips and Fanny makes comments, gives tips, and guidance. Dog-training on the internet! Who knew!
While Natasha is my course participant, I'm also working with Shaki on the same things. You know I love my dogs and I'm going to share some of that love with you. Hopefully you'll see us progressing! I have to say, I feel a little bit silly propping my computer up on the bbq in the back yard and hitting record to film myself for an online dog training class. I figure this is just one step further in the re-spatialization of social space.
Monday 5 March 2012
Saturday 3 March 2012
Follow your heart - really
I just realized I uploaded one of the other clips with Jane Goodall.
Here is the "real" Follow your heart clip. Hope I didn't spoil it too much with the transcript earlier.
Here is the "real" Follow your heart clip. Hope I didn't spoil it too much with the transcript earlier.
My question is, what advice would you give young adults who are just starting [their careers]?
So my advice to all young people setting out is: What is your passion? Follow your heart. Where’s your passion, and where you passion lies, that’s where you’ll make the most difference.
I’ll tell you a story. I have a great friend, a Dutchman, and he’s always been very good at making money. When he got to be about 45, he had, like so many people kind of a midlife crisis, thinking I have to give all my money away. But he didn’t. He gave some of it away.
But as usually happens in that way, you give some of it away to a foundation or a charity and you keep enough to lead a good life.
So he said to me one day, I’ve got two options, I can either do, I’m good at making money and I can go on making money. But so often I think I would rather just be. I wouldn’t be making money, I’d just be.
And I said, well you know Fred, you do care about the environment and if everybody who cares about the environment who makes money, decides not to make money and just be, then how do we operate, because we need people who can continue to make money.
So the money, the money is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean today, the world would be a very, very crummy play to live.
The private sector more, and more, and more are dealing with environmental and humanitarian issues and governments are passing over more and more opportunities come out to the private sector and to NGOs.
You know, maybe you’re really good at making money and you really love to do it there’s nothing wrong. It depends how you use that money. If you hoard it – and you know you want six cars and two houses and a couple of yachts, all that kind of thing – the I would say that is not a good way to work. But if you say, well I’m really good at making money, how wonderful. I can help this and that and the other, that’s great.
So follow your heart, and where you passion lies, that’s where you’ll make the most difference.
Thursday 1 March 2012
Don't you ever get scared?
On Monday evening, I joined hundreds of other Dar residents for a screening of the new documentary about Jane Goodall's work and life, called Jane's Journey.
You might say Goodall is best known for her work tracking and researching chimpanzee's in Gombe National Reserve in Southern Tanzania. After years of living amongst the chimpanzee's a conference she attended changed her course of life. She moved from being a researcher to an activist, lobbying not only to protect and save the chimpanzee but also other nature, environmental and social causes.
I'd definitely recommend watching the documentary. It was among the 130+ feature documentaries which were entered in this year's Academy Awards and made it to top 15.
I recorded a bit of the question and answer session that took place with Goodall after the screening. It's recorded on my mobile phone, so the quality is not outstanding, but I'm excited to share some of my favourite clips with you.
You might say Goodall is best known for her work tracking and researching chimpanzee's in Gombe National Reserve in Southern Tanzania. After years of living amongst the chimpanzee's a conference she attended changed her course of life. She moved from being a researcher to an activist, lobbying not only to protect and save the chimpanzee but also other nature, environmental and social causes.
I'd definitely recommend watching the documentary. It was among the 130+ feature documentaries which were entered in this year's Academy Awards and made it to top 15.
I recorded a bit of the question and answer session that took place with Goodall after the screening. It's recorded on my mobile phone, so the quality is not outstanding, but I'm excited to share some of my favourite clips with you.
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