Chicago!

Em and I have spent the last week trying to keep our feet on the ground in the windy city of Chicago! 

We came out here for a friend's wedding and decided to make it a week of exploring.

To be honest, the things we have explored the most have been restaurants! We have eaten at some yummy places over the last week and I think we have both expanded our waistlines in the process. One of our favorite shows is Top Chef Masters and we got to try two restaurants owned by contestants.

We have done lots of walking and have really appreciated how FLAT this city is compared to San Francisco.

                                       
                                           We even got to see our friend Heather Hawkeye :)

The architecture here is really interesting. There are modern skyscrapers towering over historic buildings everywhere you turn. We went on a boat tour to explore the architecture, however, it was pouring down rain so we just explored the below deck bar instead! Our numerous walks made up for it though. 

 

                                                      We even hit up the bowling alley!

We really enjoyed our time in the windy city on the shores of lake Michigan and are looking forward to the next time we see each other in November in the UK. Emma is headed back to the UK for a week and then on to South Sudan for 4-5 weeks while Amber is going back to SF to pack up the apartment, have a garage sale, move stuff to Oregon and then come back and live in a near empty apartment for 3 months!

Until next time...

Nothing is clear cut...

So, I have found myself in this situation before when I worked at the Baby Home.  Painstakingly taking time to think of and write fair, reasonable and manageable company policy, only to be faced with the day to day reality of what that means for people's lives.

Can you imagine a time in the UK, US, Canada or whichever developed place you were lucky enough to grow up in, that you would go to your boss mid-month and ask for an advance on your salary...or more than that, a loan.  Well, that is commonplace here.  It happens regularly, and depending on the size of your staff it happens daily.  It is not sustainable to have $10,000 out in small loans to your staff, it is not helpful to them as they often borrow and spend beyond their means because they have not been taught otherwise, and it means that in some cases a large amount of your expenditure budget is tied up in loans - on which you make nothing.

I have sat for hours thinking of the best way to approach this, only one loan a year, no more than twice their monthly salary, a 'loans budget' which the company/organisation has set aside for loans and the individual must apply and be awarded on merit, only given for death and funeral costs.  No matter how much time you spend on it, no matter how much you think you have developed a fair system, the reality is much harder to deal with.

Today one of my staff came to me to ask for a loan.  We have a no loan policy, it is a dangerous route to take and before you know it everyone wants a loan.  Here is his story:

Last night three men broke in to his family home where his wife and three young children were sleeping, he was away working for us out in the bush.  The beat up his wife and threatened to kill her.  They stole anything of value and all their money, a total of $35.  The door is now broken, there is no secure wall, and he is worried that because he is always away working for us, his house will now be a target and his wife and children are in danger of this happening again, or worse, being killed in a robbery.  Can I please loan him $2000 to build a wall and get a new door?

So, what do you say?  'I'm sorry, we have a no loans policy...I am quite happy for your family to be at danger and it will not weigh on my conscience should anything happen to them in the future'...

Where to even begin

Well, today I have the day off and need to start packing a bag that can be taken to the UK by Emma next week. The problem is, I am not quite sure where to start when it comes to packing things up. I know that it is all just material things and can all be replaced, but this apartment has been my home for 9 years and the thought of packing it up suitcase by suitcase over the next four months is quite a daunting thought! I think it would be easier to just do it all in one go and then be finished...alas, that would be a very expensive way to do it. So instead, every time one of us goes to the UK we take an "extra bag" full of my stuff that I want for my life in the UK. The thing is, what am I going to want for my life in the UK?!?

Our eventual plan is to return to San Francisco, so there will also be things put in storage...but what does one put in storage for an undetermined amount of time?And then there is the stuff that is part of my everyday life, but not going to come with me and not going to go into storage that I have to sell off piece by piece over the next couple months.

This will be a very cleansing process the soul I am sure, but I am not too sure I am ready to be clean yet!

I am very excited for the next chapter in our lives together and all the adventure that will come, I just wish I could open my eyes one morning and this packing thing would be complete.

So, after much persuasion I have finally been dragged into the world of blogging! I am now in South Sudan after what feels like a whir wind few days.  The company are a GIS running a workshop here in Juba for the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining's geologists.  We hope this will help us build a strong relationship with the ministry, while also training the geologists that will most likely join us in the field next month.

The day seemed to be going quite well, the workshop started at 9am and everyone had turned up by 10am - impressive to say the least in the world's newest country.  As always in African countries the participants started out very shy and reserved, paying more attention to their phone on the desk in front of them than to their teacher.  The first day finished successfully, and David - their teacher, asked them to fill out some 'what do you like and dislike about this course thus far' forms.  We anticipated some people being confused over the content, maybe hoping for more direction and one on one teacher time...here is a summary below:

'the room is too dark and needs painted'

'there was not enough tea at the coffee break'

'the food was not enough at lunch'

'we need more water to drink and maybe some soda'

So, all in all it seems like it has been a good day!  Only 5 more days to go...

I've included a photo of the view from my hotel room - which has internet!!!  Amber says I shouldn't write too much and should just post photos - but considering I was arrested in South Sudan on my first trip here over a photo, I am going to stick to some long distance shots!