The pride of the Danish navy docked in Hong Kong 

A Danish Vacation in China

Way back in 1982 a young Rotary exchange student from Denmark named Kristian came to Canada for a year to live in my hometown of Mission. He spent part of the time living with my parents, who having raised 4 boys of their own were considered more likely to survive another. Kristian enjoyed sports, watching TV and doing just about anything but clean his room. Not surprisingly, we got along famously.

Four years later I spent a harvest season working on his family’s farm in Jutland. My favourite activity was driving around on their John Deere tractor, plowing fields while listening to a German rock station on the radio. I also seemed to show a natural aptitude for shovelling bullshit. Periodically, Kristian’s father Peter would tell me that I was doing a good job and hand me a cold bottle of Tuborg beer. These were the times I really like farming. Kristian was doing his military service, but would often come home on weekends. I was always impressed to find that a small village like Toftlund could possess so much beer.

Kristian eventually married Stine, an intelligent, beautiful and charming lady (yes, she is one of my blog readers) from a Danish farming family. Moving as far away as possible from anything resembling a Danish farm they now live on a houseboat in Hong Kong. I’ve been meaning to visit them for a while, especially since we are on the same continent (its only a 6 hour flight). Also, as they are expecting their first child (not counting Kristian) in July I know that the time is now if I want a relaxing visit.

I am flying to Hong Kong on June 2nd and will return to Pakistan on the June 20th. I don’t anticipate spending my whole holiday lying around on a boat in Hong Kong (although you never know) and expect to travel in southern China for a week or so, visiting places such as Guilin and Yangshuo. While it will be nice to see a bit of mainland China the focus of my visit is to see Kristian and Stine and their boat (in no particular order). Kristian is meeting me at the airport on Friday night and tells me that the fridge is already stocked (with Tuborg, I wonder?) I am expecting that there will be lots of time for relaxing, sports, watching TV and not cleaning my room.

This past winter in Kashmir was unusually draw and mild. However, that didn't stop the Leepa Valley getting some snow. Some cooler temperatures would sure be a nice change now. 

The road to Leepa, photo taken after the earthquake,  

How's the Weather?

After returning from two days in Muzaffarabad this week, taking the 3 ½ hour drive up to Kashmir and flying back on the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) MI8 helicopter (which is Russian made and even comes with Russian pilots), the first thing I did upon reaching my office was hug my air-conditioner. It is actually warmer in Islamabad than Kashmir, but our office and house are better equipped to cope.

The month of May has been really hot and knowing that the monsoon season starts soon I was curious to see what kind of weather the summer would bring. I shouldn’t have looked. What I found was that while I may be currently experiencing “medium discomfort” from heat & humidity, that I will soon be elevated to several months of “high discomfort.” Sounds like fun.

Islamabad Average Conditions (temperature in celsius; rainfall in mm)

Jan - Min Temp: 2; Max temp: 16; Humidity: 44; Rainfall: 64; Discomfort level: Low

Feb - Min Temp: 6; Max temp: 19; Humidity: 46; Rainfall: 64; Discomfort level: Low

Mar - Min Temp: 10; Max temp: 24; Humidity: 37; Rainfall: 81; Discomfort level: Low

Apr - Min Temp: 15; Max temp: 31; Humidity: 26; Rainfall: 42; Discomfort level: Medium

May - Min Temp: 21; Max temp: 37; Humidity: 19; Rainfall:23; Discomfort level: Medium

June - Min Temp: 25; Max temp: 40; Humidity: 23; Rainfall: 55; Discomfort level: High

July - Min Temp: 25; Max temp: 36; Humidity: 45; Rainfall: 233; Discomfort level: High

Aug - Min Temp: 24; Max temp: 34; Humidity: 54; Rainfall: 258; Discomfort level: High

Sep - Min Temp: 21; Max temp: 34; Humidity: 44; Rainfall: 85; Discomfort level: High

Oct - Min Temp: 15; Max temp: 32; Humidity: 29; Rainfall: 21; Discomfort level: Medium

Nov - Min Temp: 9; Max temp: 28; Humidity: 26; Rainfall: 12; Discomfort level: Low

Dec - Min Temp: 3; Max temp: 20; Humidity: 39; Rainfall: 23; Discomfort level: Low

Driver Rashid with Head Guard Salim in front of our house.  

CMT Meeting

This past weekend was a busy one for us in Islamabad, as there was a Country Management Team (CMT) meeting held on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. This was attended by the Islamabad coordination members (Medical, Logistics, Finance and Head of Mission) and the five Project Coordinators. It reminded me of some of the BC Hydro department management meetings I’ve attended over the years, including the lack of excitement that people showed for my area of responsibility. Another parallel was that I got to record the meeting minutes.

In addition to the CMT there were also several other MSF Expats in town. Three of them were leaving for holidays in Sri Lanka and one was arriving to start his new assignment. In total there were 15 Expats at our Saturday night dinner, representing 9 countries [Canada (4), Britain (3), Australia (2), New Zealand, Columbia, USA, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands]. To have slightly more than 50% of our Expats at one place at the same time was pretty unusual and for some it was their first chance to meet.

It was nice to see everybody and quite a bit was accomplished. However, it was also kind of nice to see them go. The office is quiet again and now that the dust has settled I will review what action items I got tagged with. However, if any of my tasks were accidentally omitted from the minutes I can blame it on the person who recorded them.

A view of part of Fort Lahore

La Hot in Lahore

Feeling the need for a few days away from the world of MSF I decided to take an R&R (rest & relaxation) weekend in Lahore. I had heard that there was lots do in this city of over five million people. However, with the weather being so hot my staff thought I was nuts. They were correct about the heat, but the change of scenery still had its benefits.

The temperature in Lahore on Saturday reached 45 °C (113 °F). I tried to be a good tourist and visited Lahore Fort, a bit of the Old City and the Mall. I traveled between locations by motorcycle rickshaw, but after a couple of hours I was cooked. I returned to my room to enjoy the excellent air-conditioning and good movie selection on TV.

I decided to focus on making this a true R&R weekend and concentrated on sleeping-in and basically trying to do as little as possible. On Sunday my big adventure was going for lunch at McDonald’s. I stayed away from the local specialty, the McArabia, and noted that there weren’t any McHealthy menu options, which was McFine with me. They had picked a good month to introduce the McFlurry to Pakistan.

Ted and his more talented team-mates 

My Blog as a Learning Tool

The following note is further evidence that my blog-site has been accessed by people other than my parents. This is an excerpt from a recent email from my friend Ted, a teacher and hard-nosed right-winger, living in Houston, B.C.:

“In Geography 12 we study earthquakes, their causes, locations, effects on humans and the environment. While giving a lesson I was asked by a student about how people respond to such a disaster. Using a proxima projector I had your blog up on the screen in my classroom. We read how MSF responds to help people and checked out the photos, notably the recent one of the road damage and older pics of the helicopters and tent city. The students especially liked the photo of you with the Hockey News. One student in particular enjoyed the fact that you liked the Habs, as he did. Sadly, he did not know Guy Lafleur…I can't say if they are all signing up for accounting in college.”

Well, I must say that I’m flattered. As former American Vice President once said “What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.” Hopefully, this will never happen to Ted’s students, even when he uses my blog-site as a learning tool.

Speaking of Dan Quayle, in searching for a memorable quote on the internet I couldn’t believe the selection I had. I will now post a few of his classics:

- “We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.”

- “[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system.”

- “For NASA, space is still a high priority.”

- “Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.”

- “A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.”

- “We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.”

- “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change."

- “Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.”

- “I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."

- “The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Near East and the Far East from encroaching on each other."

- “People are not homeless if they're sleeping in the streets of their own hometowns."

- “Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It's the other way around. They never vote for us.”

“I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.”