Back at University III

Uppsala is a nice and cosy town - Miranda called that Barbie land, mainly and surprisingly not in regard to the blondes, but to the way everything seems to function - clean, routine, effective and without any major braveness in deciding to show differences and disappreciation for the society as a whole. We have already been discussing Foucault and his concept of governmentality here ;-).
I live in a student-village called Lilla Sunnersta, about 6 km south of the city centre. Bikes are definetly needed here and it is - at least still during these temperatures - a nice and easy 20 minutes ride... but I will update you on the problems concerning slight misuse of alcohol and low temperatures and the use of a bike at any given moment in future.
The student village has pretty mixed inhabitants, disregarding the overwhelming presense of german folks around. There are even cats and dogs, children and the elderly...

Back at University II

So following up on the university stuff, I am doing a masters on International Humanitarian Affairs, organised by a mainly European University Network called NOHA, and founded and supported by the EU/ECHO. The course can be studies at a few different universities all over Europe. Thanks to my facination for Scandinavia, it was an easy choice to join Uppsala Universitet.
We are a group of around 20 students from pretty much all continents - the latinos lackin though, with a good interdiciplinary background and different expriences.

Back at University

Still difficult to understand and to grasp. I am back at university, and it feels pretty odd - at least during my first days here in Uppsala. Besides a small number of elderly students, there are plenty - and really plenty - of ERASMUS students, fooling around, as there was no fooling before. It brings up heaps of memories, but as it is inherent to this process, they are in the past, i.e. one has become a few years older, made a few different experiences - and now thrown back without warning in the cold of swedish university waters. But hey, I am very exited about the beginning of the course, the apprently nice and good group and not too worried about the breaking ice into ERASMUS heated coldness!

Long Time No See

Sope, back from Sri Lanka finally. After some very mixed last two month, I was happy to quit my job and have some free time before going to University again... yes, I am very happy actually to be back in the 'ivory-tower', spending some time on actual conceptual thinking - something I have pretty much missed during the last year. I mean, doing this job in Finance/Adminstration was challenging and indeed needed some conceptual thinking on how to set-up, manage and improve our financial control and HR administration. However, conceptual thinking in the above sense refers more to general program strategies and their evaluation - something, which just did not really exist, in the sense of a dialectic process between all people involved. Shame on them!! I mean really, there is so much added value to a sensible process, not only to actually create programme strategies, but also to get the people together, and let them feel a common, shared approach on their daily work and efforts.

Back from Batticampara

So, back writing again. Much has happened during the last few weeks: Finally leaving PTK/Mullaitivu for good was pretty strange. The last weeks have been full of hard experiences, which really gave me some understanding of how this all can turn out - personally as much as politically there. Had a really nice good bye from the local staff, which kindly avoided all local presents, but decided for t-shirts and rings. Looking like a total pimp in all these rings and funky shirts (thanks Anne!) , the last evening was quite funny and relaxing with all the expats remaining there.

A culinarian voyage to Manipur

Just coming back from an evening with my collegue and her little sister - again, kind of the only people of may age in the office... and indeed, the name of the blog develops already into some kind of concept... M. and R. have been treating me with their local food from Manipur, one little state in the north-eastern corner of this huge piece of history, geopgraphy and culture. Some huge brown beans - huge like cucumbers - boiled cooked with potatos and chilly, later mashed in some sort of curry, spiced with rotton fish; dal; fried vegtables coated in a spicy flour mix; eaten with the general asian rice basis. Very tasty. But never ever tast the food yourself while cooking - its apparently a big "no do".

Their political system seems a bit out of "life of brian", where 36 differnt rebel groups are supposedly fighting each other over the delcaratory right to lead the people of Manipur into independence. Each one asks a "tax" from the people to liberate, which makes each Manipuri pay again and again. All of this is then toped up by Indian Government (Police, Military, Bureaucracy) trying to keep their share of influence and power in this region.

How does it work then?

Still having to improve on the skills of vizualisation. So, how to get some picture in there, and even which ones? Na the dead rascal here would be a good start. This was made just in front of our yard, just recently... perhaps it fell of the tree, just like other animals, beeing it monkey, snakes, squirrels, scorpions, geccos, pea-cocks or various other creatures. It is kind of dead since a long time though. No medical team to rescue him there.