Hi ho, Hi ho... it's off to work I go!

My new assignment in the Dominican Republic is off to a good start. After numerous weeks of professionally vacationing and "evacu-cation" (as a fellow evacuee says), I'm finally back to work. For the Public Policy Fellowship we are tasked with working 80% at a government ministry and 20% on a personal research project. Here in DR I'm working at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the economics research department. As for my personal research - due to the transition I obviously couldn't continue with my proposal from Tunisia. So I'm looking instead to incorporate my research at the ministry with some of my interests in development - specifically the intersection of trade with inequality and poverty reduction. But of course there's more to DR than just work - I was of course a professional vacationer for a while... and those habits don't disappear. Even though the assignment is great, and life is progressing well - I still had to satisfy my curiosity that I had in fact made the right decision to bail on Tunisia. Turns out I definitely did: I heard just the other week that the Fulbright program closed.

For those of you who know me, the assignment in economics research at the ministry is pretty much an ideal placement. It's amazing that this opportunity came along even with the very short notice following the evacuation - so thanks to the folks who found the placement and made it happen. My main task for the next few months is to update a previous study on relative competitiveness of Dominican exports to the European market. So far, nothing too earth shattering to report - DR exports bananas, rum and cocoa. I will say though that I was quite surprised by the gender make-up of the department because it is exclusively females. That's great - but it does beg the question of where are the men? Any way, more to come on the work front in general in another post...

The other part of my time is for my personal research. Right now I'm planning on pursuing research on the intersection between trade and inequality; however, with the transition that's in the brainstorming phase still. Mostly what I'm doing is meeting with different folks who have been here for a wee bit longer than I (hard to beat I know) while reading articles and research to help orientate myself to the economy. It's definitely a steep learning curve, but so far so good.

Less you think life here is all work and no play... not to worry! It was great to get back to work, but we all know that is not the only thing DR has to offer. Dominicans LOVE baseball. So I went to a baseball game which was pretty standard by American standards: hot dogs, beer, the works. One strange added bonus though was the wedding that took place around the 6th or 7th inning. Now, to be fair I promised some Dominicans that I would add the caveat that they were just as surprised as I with the wedding - so perhaps not too normal, but still pretty cool to see. I've gotten out of the city to one quick beach too. Weather was a little chilly, but kept a lot of people away then.

So here's the shortie: Awesome work, learning a ton about DR, and life is never only about work. As with my blog on Tunisia... that didn't get too far, please feel free to ask me any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them from my perspective. Here's some pictures of a few highlights.... Enjoy!! 

At the baseball game: a fellow Fulbrighter and teacher in Santo Domingo

I wasn't kidding - there was a wedding at the baseball game!

Beach... need I say more?

My living room.

Co-workers at the office.

Lots of lemonade

I know everyone has heard the famous saying, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade". I think I can safely say that I've made quite a bit of lemonade these past few months. While I was not able to return to Tunisia, I had the opportunity to do see some wonderful places and great family. In the last two months I have traveled to 5 continents (4 in one week), caught up with 4 international student exchange siblings, and met their families.

First, many thanks to my awesome hosts in the Czech Republic. My sister's dad drove overnight after working a full day to come pick me up at Frankfurt because we were not too successful on finding last minute tickets to Prague. For 7 weeks my sister let me steal one of her mattresses from her bed and commandeer a small place on her floor directly in front of the closet. I had so many dumplings, great beer, and I finally got a chance to meet the extended family! I also had the time to sit down and really learn a lot about World War 2, the Communist era and the present political/economic situation. Finally, I picked up just enough Czech to get into trouble.

A few weeks into my stay outside Prague I decided I wanted to experience more of Europe. So I headed out to Budapest. Awesome city, great history, and amazing architecture. Coupled with the sights of Prague, this city really brought recent history alive for me. Seeing the ghetto where thousands of Jews were murdered, the new constructions that replaced a city that was 85% destroyed from Allies, Russia and Nazi Germany, realizing that over 600,000 of the Jews from the Holocaust came from Hungary, and then learning how the region continued in repression for years following is just not something that you can really comprehend from reading the history textbooks.

Following Budapest I briefly went to Switzerland. Zurich and Lucerne were the only places I had time for unfortunately, but I did get my mountain fix. While Budapest was a very historical type of visit, Switzerland was more about natural beauty. Rhine Falls, Lake Lucerne, etc. - beautiful scenery, and great hosts again from my Czech sister's extended family.

As time wore on, it became clearer that Tunisia was not likely going to re-open. So I decided that I had better be sure to make it to Turkey before I left the region. Thanks to my brother and his family there for letting me crash on such short notice, and showing me so much of Istanbul. Honestly, my only regret is that I hadn't gone sooner! Major empires exchanging the city, intact structures from 1,500 years ago, forts protecting the Bosporus as a major choke point for international trade routes from ancient times - it's all there!

One final stop before the professional vacation ends: a wedding in Colombia. I found out that my new placement was going to be in the Caribbean (more on that to come), and timing would work out well to attend a sister's wedding in Colombia. The youngest daughter of my mom's foreign exchange sister from the 1970s (and one of my exchange sisters) was getting married. Obviously I had not even entertained the thought of being able to attend the wedding, so I didn't have anything to wear - but thanks to my sisters for dressing me up, and showing me a great time at my first wedding in Colombia!

The last two months have been awesome and amazing in spite of not going back to Tunisia. I'm so grateful to have such a great family network from all the years of hosting foreign exchange students. They're not just people you share your home with for a year, and they're not really friends - they're your family, and I'm so lucky to have 12 of them. So thank you to all for the last 2 months - I've learned more than I could ever hope to learn about the World Wars and European relations from even the most diligent reading. To my siblings I saw - thank you for your hospitality. To those I missed... next time! :)

It was really hard to close the door on Tunisia, but an opportunity for economic research in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the Dominican Republic just sounded a little too good to pass up. With my fellowship time ticking down to 8 months remaining - I made the move.

So, so long Tunisia... until next time! (And next time I'll take pictures).

Prague - my favorite view of Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the background.

Budapest Parliament

Istanbul - The bridge from Europe to Asia

Detour

I'm certain you've heard of the violent protests that started last week across many nations. Tunisia unfortunately was part of those protests last Friday. So, Saturday evening Fulbright asked participants to leave Tunis. I quickly packed up, and headed out to Prague for the moment. Over the coming weeks, the program is going to be reassessed and possibly reopened.

So we're going to have to put the Tunisia part of the blog on hold for the moment. But as with any adventure, you never know exactly what's going to happen.

Blogging is back!

So I'm dusting off the old blogging skills, and here's the latest in my adventures abroad. My hope is that through these posts you can keep up to date and learn about Tunisia. This time around I am a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow based in Tunis. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments if you read along.

I hope that everyone who reads this can learn about Tunisia along with me. I recently discovered that my previous blog on "Learn about Mauritania" from my Peace Corps days had over 11,000 views - for only 16 posts. Now I know that my family must have read and re-read some of the posts, but probably not to that extent. I realized though that this is my opportunity to share experiences and culture with more people than I could possibly ever hope to meet. And I hope that through my experiences and interactions here we can collectively breed tolerance, peace, and perhaps a little bit of understanding.

 For the upcoming months I will be a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow at the Tunisian Ministry of Trade and Handicrafts. The fellowship is divided into a 80-20 split where the majority of time is spent working as a "special assistant" in the ministry. The remaining time is for personal academic research. Right now it appears that my broadly defined task will be to develop and design a practical guide for export procedures to the US. As for the other time, I'm still formulating exactly what I'm going to do, but will keep you posted. I would like to somehow study how economic opportunities are changing and possibly if and how they can, or would, affect the the democratic transition - but still in the brainstorming phase. Ultimately I expect that this experience (along with other service oriented projects like Peace Corps) will be more of a learning experience for me. I hope that I can take the lessons I learn here and apply them for the public good later in life.

It is an incredible honor to be selected as part of the inaugural class of the Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to experience Tunisia during such a critical transition time. Obviously the transition road is long, but persistence and optimism will hopefully not diminish in weeks to come. I certainly pretend to be no expert in the region or country. And after all, I will still be here less than one year. But still, I hope that through the chronicling of my adventure some people can get a glimpse of the beautiful complexities surrounding the Middle East and North African region, and Tunisia in particular.