Values

A person who works in the Education Annex where I work as well reprimanded her son in front of me for not saying good afternoon to me when he walked past.  That's one thing I've noticed here, that, likely due to the large involvement of religion and its values in this country, there is a big emphasis on good manners and respectful behaviour.

It's somewhat refreshing and odd at the same time.  I'm used to the cold Canadian politeness where you don't greet anyone or even let on you have emotions as you wait silently for the bus in waist deep snow.  You might throw out a "you doing alright there buddy?" if the person next to you is being eaten alive by a polar bear, but otherwise you keep yer trap shut.

Quick Update

Hi pals,

Know it's been awhile since I wrote anything in here, but to tell the truth, I've lacked a little bit of the motivation to do it because, honestly, I'm tired from work.

So, the steering committee is going to meet next Tuesday and it consists mostly of people who are, are pursuing education as or are filling in for librarians.  This means I have to rewrite the brief I wrote.  Also, no word yet on whether or not their will be a powerpoint capability, so I'm trying to get up the motivation to write a new powerpoint as well.

There's going to be a postmortem of sorts for the climate change conference on Thursday.  I am looking forward to a pleasant meeting where I stay quiet pretty much.  I learn a lot in these situations, but I find that I have nothing to contribute.  The conference was a good experience for me, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to glean some important lessons from this meeting.

Got taken to the launch of SKN Math Olympiad for the public school system.  I must say... Chief Education Officer knows how to give a fiery, podium banging speech.  Also, I'd like to mention this is a country where they invoke the name of god in these sorts of things as a matter of course... as well as meaning it and believing in it.  It got a little uncomfortable, but not overmuch I suppose.  I'm used to a much more secularized and quiet version of christianity in Canada.  In the end, it doesn't bother me much, though I contributed nothing, sat there and watched.

I would have much rather been cataloguing, or better yet, finish writing my policy docs that I want done before the end of the week.

In other news, I went to Nevis, but they don't let you in Alexander Hamilton's house, which was a bummer.  It's really quite beautiful in Nevis, but I didn't get to see a lot of it because I had to go back to St. Kitts before it got too dark.  I ate a bloody good meal in a local cafe and they had TBS on the TV.  Figures.  I'll definitely go back once more while I'm here, but much earlier in the morning I think.  That way, hopefully, I will avoid all the panhandlers, who are really persistent.

Speaking of TV, I don't actually have a functioning TV down here, and I must say... I ain't missing it.  I can download the one or two shows I actually do like and I find I'm watching a lot more documentaries and podcasts.  Also, my skill in strategy games has increased.  Excellent.

I think I'll go to bloody point this weekend.  It's the site where the French and the English teamed up to wipe out the Caribs.  They say there are some cave paintings there.  I would like to see them very much.

I'll write more later.

Climate Change Conference

Hi Pals!

Wow, what a week.

So I participated as part of the Conference Secretariat for the UNESCO Conference on Climate Change and Ethics at the Marriott Hotel in St. Kitts.  SIDENOTE:  If you want to see a place that is really La-Tee-Da, I would suggest staying at the Marriott.  There is marble everywhere - it is also beach, golf, tennis and restaurant adjacent (always a nice plus).

So, I'm afraid I didn't have much time to take any pictures.  In fact.... I have two.  Just two.  I know, I know, boo you Hewy.  But wait, just wait a second... don't you think it's a much better idea to blame someone else?  Perhaps someone who does a lot of knitting?  I mean, what are they trying to hide beneath all that wool?  If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm taking a playful jab at my friend Ali.

Anyways, the pictures themselves aren't much to speak of, so here are some highlights of the conference:

1. Great spread.  I mean, absolutely delicious food.
2. I was very impressed by the ministerial round tables and the level of commitment that came with the governments involved.  The Minister from Antigua-Barbados was particularly impressive, not only for his deep and intimidating voice and large stature, but by the fact that he constantly called for action.  He was very upset about how there seemed to be research from years and years and years ago that had been done, saying the same thing and nothing had been done.  He emphatically stated he didn't want to get involved in a situation where experts and consultants just got together and talked shop.  
3. Many ministers actually echoed the minister from #2 by contributing that foreign consultants essentially sucked out about 90% of the funds and grants provided to do something about climate change for years without really providing any tangible benefits.  There was a real sense that local knowledge systems and local experts would have to be vigourously harnessed and trained in order to deliver a truly Caribbean solution.
4. There was some blame-gaming.  The Cuban delegation made the obligatory reference to Imperialist Economic Policies, poisoning the Earth etc.  The good thing is, after the first morning, the blame gaming ceased and what began in earnest was a frank and honest discussion on the issues at hand.
5. To get back to #3 a little, Dr. Jacobs (if you google him and the conference name I'm sure you'll get a good picture of what he does) was emphatic in the need to get more funding, more linkages with UNESCO and more local grad students and Ph.D Candidates because the basic knowledge is there, it's really a matter of getting the properly trained people in the right places.  He said that in the next few years he'd like to have two masters of Ph.D level practitioners on each caribbean island.  A daunting feat if you ask me, but definitely a goal to strive for.  He's an expert in Remote sensing and did a presentation on land availability, desertification (yes, islands surrounded by water in the Carib are turning into deserts), and the damage that improper infrastructure planning has done.  It was a daunting task, I'm sure, because they live right next to Haiti which as we all know is just one disaster after another.
6. I found the Cuban delegation very charming, especially the President of Cuba's Science Agency.  She was a very kindly, sweet lady who always smiled and although her English was a little imprecise, I found myself very charmed by her.  It's times like this when you just start to think, "Whoa, Kindly old Grandmother, or Communist?  Or Both?"  Cuba has actually done quite a bit to arrest some of the environmental damage to it's island, but... well, this is the Westerner in me, they've probably been able to do more because they have an authoritarian government.  When you can compel people to be environmentally minded, you get results.  If that doesn't make you uncomfortable, I don't know what will.  Fidel was highly praised in the Science Agency's presentation.  That made me a little sad, but it also made sense.  The former president of Cuba has always liked to be seen on the progressive side of history, despite his iron grip on power.
7. The delegation from the Dominican Republic was really cool, despite only having one fluent English speaker as they had a series of very impressive images images and whatnot detailing the damage that water rising and hurricanes were doing to destroy all their infrastructure.  These weather extremes are caused by, you guessed it, climate change.
8. Dr. Owen Day from CARIBSAVE showed a really awesome film that he produced and directed.  He and I spoke a little and he was very charismatic, good sense of humour.  CARIBSAVE has actually done a lot in the past few years to set up no-go areas for the fish population to replenish.  When this happens, fish get larger and live longer, thus producing greater quantities of eggs, thus producing more diverisification, thus adding to the vibrancy of the eco-system, thus reaping environmental and economic rewards.  Conservation was one of the highlights, but so was a lot of proactive public awareness education, eco-tourism and private-public partnerships.  It was, overall, a fantastic presentation.
9. What I did was I was part of the secretariat, so I spent a lot of time running around, printing copies, saving files, transferring files, setting up presentations and running the powerpoints.  I must say, the few tech snafus which occurred nearly gave me heart attacks at some points as I was scrambling to get things set up when there are 8 cabinet ministers from different nations all looking at me.  My most nervous time was when I had to amend, on a large screen in front of everyone, a draft communique that would be issued to the press in a few hours while it was still in a word doc.  I had to listen to all the points made and at time had to stroke out and write completely new paragraphs while everyone was talking.  And not everyone agreed on what could be written, so I sometimes had to erase what I just wrote because one country could not commit to this point or that point.  The most difficult point for me was that I still find it very difficult to parse through the accents and dialects of the various people here in the Islands.  I know, I know, around here I am the one with the funny way of talking, but that didn't make it any easier on me.  Let's just say, it was a difficult process and I'm glad it's over.  Everyone seemed pleased with how the draft turned out, so... yeah!  Go Captain Planet!
10. I was so flattered when Dr. David Doyle of UNESCO came up to me today and thanked me, and congratulated me, on the work I did at the conference.  I didn't think I had really done much, but I must say I was thrilled when he specifically mentioned he was pleased at how I had made amendments to the draft.  He said something about me knowing when and when not to add something and wait for something to be hashed out or to cut off debate by putting it in right away.  Little did he know that I was just trying to figure out what had been said in some cases.  However, I very gratefully and humbly accepted his praise.  It made my day.
11. On the first night of the conference, I got to go the Governor General's Residence for a reception.  It was really really cool.  I got to smooze with academics, talk to my boss's boss's boss, eat some cool food, drink a few rum's with very little coke in them (they were very rummy, I don't think the gentleman behind the bar even heard me when I said "and coke".) and there was some entertainment that consisted of some dancers, some in masquerade and others on these huge stilts with long, long, long, long pants on.  I was very impressed/had a great time.

So now that the conference is over, I got back to work at the collection.  I catalogued a lot today, and not much yesterday (I was exhausted from the previous two days activity) and Dr. Doyle came by again to give me and Mr. Maynard some instructions on what he wants to see develop vis a vis our Web Capacity.  I thought he'd want me to design a new website from scratch, so I was scrambling to get some Drupal stuff together to teach myself, but it turns out he mostly wants me to link and provide material already published on the website as it exists.  *Phew!*  Still, learning Drupal is a good idea... thinking of getting started this weekend actually on Sunday while I wait for my laundry to finish.  On Saturday, I'm going to see Alexander Hamilton's birthplace in Nevis.

Just in case you don't know, he was an American Founding Father who started the Bank of America and opposed Thomas Jefferson bitterly in his lifetime.  Fascinating guy.

Hey pals

Hi friends,

Ok, I'm breaking down on this one.  I will post photos of me being out n' about and I will describe some of my extra-curricular activities.

Right, so work stuff outta the way first and then into fun stuff.

XX - If you want to skim through, just go down to the next XX to get into the fun stuff.

Alright, so here's the deal folks, I've been cat'ing n' Class'ing my butt off at work.  I've got... well, I've got at least 1000 items (some of the same titles in series) done.  I'm tackling journal serials and monographic serials first because all I have to do is assign one number and then a volume, issue or number # after that.  Really makes me feel like I've done alot with out doing a ridiculous amount.  It sure does get repetitive though.

Ok, next big thing.  There is one more meeting of the secretariat subcommittee of the steering committee for the UNESCO climate change conference on Monday and then BAM! right into the conference on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I'm a little chuffed with myself because I got an invitation to the Governor-General's residence for Tuesday (just a little chuffed, I mean, it's not a huge thing, but I'm still pleased with it).  I'm quite honoured, even though it's just a formality.  I mean, it's my first vice-regal invitation, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can.

I've had my funding request deferred until the end of the conference on Wednesday, which means I'll finally have a sit down with my supervisor on Thursday about it.  I really hope I get the ILS I want to use.  I know that this is a developing country and all and that I have to work within the confines of their resources, but darnit, I think my recommendation is the best option on a renewable basis and will stand the test of time.  Plus, if they want to migrate onto a new system after I leave, well then the option is there because they'll still own all their data... it just means that I won't have to be in the position of creating this big thing that needs to be maintained by someone with an MLIS (very few of those on the ground here) and I won't have to spend a lot of time drafting how-to's and training documentation.

Speaking of that, I'm a little put off about how my supervisor mentioned off hand to me how he'd like to create some training docs on how to cat and class new material so that he can do it.  Now, here's the thing, yes, I get it: Librarians are expensive.  But it took me months to learn cataloguing (include a few months after Library School ended) and I had a desire and necessity to learn how to do it because it's one of the underpinning concepts of my profession.  And now suddenly I'm just supposed to write up a few documents on how to do it and let the secretarial staff get to it?  Look, I know they are smart and competent (I see how effective they are in all sorts of administrative and office matters everyday!) but I had to do a masters in information management - and I'm an intern!  I'm... just supposed to teach this stuff now?  And how are they going to do it?  I've been working off a copy of webdewey which I, personally, purchased with my own money! grr.  I don't like that.  It totally trivializes what I do, especially since I mentioned in my timeline document (which was approved by the way) that there would need to be a transition from me to a library tech/paraprofessional or a full time, local librarian.  We need someone certified in certain skill sets to take over from me in July, not just a few things typed up by me to act as a guide for the permanent staff.

I'm really going to have to make the case for that, on a continuing basis, over the next little while.

XX

Ok, so here's the deal.  I don't want to have to post every single  thing I've done (mostly it's been drinkin' and going to the beach), but here's a little bit of the deal I've been doing.

I live in a fairly nice, approx. middle class neighbourhood in Basseterre, which is the captial city here in the Federation.  I haven't really had very many problems except for children/young tweens making rude remarks and the odd drunk spouting expletives at me, I suppose in the case of holding me responsible for Christopher Columbus.  Seriously, the language was incredibly slurred, but I picked out Christopher Columbus, as well as a few f bombs and mofo bombs directed at me personally by some guy drinking on the side of the road.  It was slightly awkward, but I've only seen that particular person once more so I think it might be a limited thing.  The kids I don't mind so much.  They're effin' kids.  Kids are morons.

I've had a hard time making friends, mostly because most people seem to think I'm a tourist and I don't feel safe going out at night as there has been some violence in the city when it gets dark.  I guess you could say the same about Halifax, but I'm a Haligonian... I'm not a Kittian, so I feel more vulnerable.

The food here is very nice.  There is even chinese food (not as good as Jean's) and Indian food (BORING HISTORICAL SIDENOTE:  Most former British colonies have a professional class of Hong Kong Chinese and Indians as the British liked to export these kinds of people as stewards, cooks, butlers and majordomos. If you go to any former British Colony, chances are you will see a professional class of Asian business owners, land owners and doctors).  The local food is very nice, but I sometimes get dirty looks from the locals when I go into places that aren't frequented by people of European descent.  I have made it a policy to avoid certain parts of town, not because they are dangerous, but mostly because I want to avoid being made to feel like a piece of crap by everyone there.

I suppose it won't matter how long I live here, I'll just be an outsider.  That is why I have changed my friend finding strategy to focus on finding our where Canadians, American and/or Europeans hang out.  It might be a little pricey, but at least I'll be around people I have something vaguely in common with (if not the fact that they own lots of property down here).

With all that said however, I really really enjoy living alone.  I don't have to share the bathroom, I clean on my schedule, I don't have to worry about hogging shelf or refrigerator space, If the place is a mess I know who to blame and there is never a wait for the shower in the morning.  I don't know how it could get better than this really.

I mentioned drinking in passing recently.  It's so cheap down here to drink that I went a little overboard.  For the past week I completely eschewed alcohol of any kind in order to detox and feel better and it worked.  From now on, it's a disciplined, planned approach to enjoying myself with alcohol and I've made a deal with myself to never go beyond a personal limit of three drinks over 3 hours.

I know that sounds a little too tight assed... but seriously alcohol is VERY cheap down here and it's allure is strong.  Better I show discipline and be a little on the tough side with myself than take 50 cc of Charlie Sheen directly into my Tiger Blood stream.

I miss having someone to talk to about Canadian and American history/politics.  For some crazy reason, I thought I'd always have someone to hash it out over a beer with.

I went to and Indian restaurant on the weekend.  They were playing Rambo, the one where he goes to Afghanistan on TV.  Awesome.

Ok, how about some pictures?  Well, I tried uploading them and for some reason blogger won't take 'em.  Damnation.  Check my facebook and they'll be up there.

Best,

your pal - O