Ivan goes to China....

Dear friends,

It has been a while since the last time I gave you some news, isn't it? I remember myself hanging around in Bangkok, with little on my hands to do and struggling to get a job as soon as possible with a humanitarian organization, which happened just about a few days after I sent you the last email. In fact, I have been working for an Italian NGO as a head of project, whereas I was responsible for an Iron Workshop where young disadvantaged adults are given the chance to learn a profession in order to support themselves and their families. Furthermore, around mid of March I was pre-selected by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for a position of Delegate. Once I finished my assignment with the Italian NGO – this time with mixed feeling about development and international cooperation, I have to admit – I flew back to Switzerland and had the interview with ICRC in Geneva. Well, after two weeks I got a negative response from them, without further explanation. I still can't explain to myself the reasons of this failure and I even didn't get the courage to ask for an explanation, so big was my disappointment. I thought to myself that I just had to take it as it had come and that better opportunities would come up.
The language tests evaluations having all been ranging from "very good" to "excellent", I personally tend to believe that during the interview I might have said something that the Human Resources Manager didn't like at all… probably one of those things you should never mention about relief organizations, even if you know it totally reflects the reality…

When I returned home in southern Switzerland I served 3 weeks in the army (yes, we Swiss male citizens have 3 weeks compulsory military service every year, generally until the age of max. 33). As usual I was assigned to the guard service, so I had to stand several hours per day, doing nothing but looking around, which didn't really help me to get a better feeling. Staying at my parent's home looking for a job on the web also doesn't really fits to me, so I decided to accept the invitation of my Italian friend Angelo to follow him and his wife to China, where he currently lives and runs two restaurants. Not that I had the idea to jump again in the hospitality business, but I also had nothing to loose to go there and take a look. Believe it or not, we were standing at the railway station in Zurich, headed to the airport with all our luggage when I got a phone call from someone offering me a job, a 2 years assignment at the environmental protection office of the regional government, take it or leave it. What to say, I cancelled the flight, went back home, got the job and rebooked the same flight one week later. The assignment will start on November 10. Meanwhile, after I spent 4 days in Hong Kong, I moved to Shenzhen where my friend lives.

I also plan to spend one week in Cambodia before flying home and start to work, as my passport has only one blank page left and I would be more then glad to get another Visa stuck on it. It could also be a sign that the right time has come for spending a couple of years working living in my home country.

Cheers,
Ivan

Cambodian wedding in Kompong Kdei
With Phanith daughter (2005)...

... and with his son (2008). See the difference?

Art photography by Pier Poretti (the idea was mine ;-)
Ivan and his 1965 Vespa on day one
Oldtimers: Vespa and Pier Poretti's 2CV (1965)
Me, You and the Vespa
Banana Flower

Red light in Siem Reap
Sunset at Tonle Sap lake


Let's see if the bridge holds....

Rolf at Karaoke
Karaoke 2
Lee Keang in Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville
an abandoned Tuk Tuk

12.30 PM: Sebastiano shows up...what a surprise!
Tonle Sap
With Sergio, Francesco and Sunsoley
Latin Lover at work

Pier brings me some stuff before moving to Bali

On the way to our Cook's funeral...it took us several hours to find the way...
Jamming with Sebastiano
Sebastiano, Eric, KC and Myself in Concert @ Molly Malone's Pub

Dear friends all around the world,

It's been ages it seems since I have sent you the last update. Well, I won't make it very long this time as I just want to inform you that I returned to Asia on the 6 February, this after spending three amazing months in Switzerland and since then I have been looking intensively for a job. It looks to me that finding a job with an humanitarian organization in Cambodia is harder than I had expected, probably due to the country has become more and more attractive for expats over the past few years, not to mention the fact that Cambodia can now be considered as a family friendly place, which again attracts an increasing number of skilled professionals with several years of experience and their respective families.

What I experienced so far is that, despite of my background experience, Tour Operators and Hotels seems to be more interested in my abilities than most of the NGOs I have been contacting since last September. Certainly, I got several times the temptation to jump again into Tourism business, but each time I was about to finalize the deal I heard that little voice inside telling me that by going this way it would not take a month to make of myself an unhappy person. A bit frustrating, isn't??? Just to give you an example, you have to figure out that I applied recently for a Position with a Tour Operator, got a positive response after 2 weeks (by this time I had already changed my mind), so I sent them an email with very unrealistic salary expectations, just in order to get rid of them and hoping that they would not contact me anymore. I just felt a little uneasy when they invited me for an interview (!) and this time I replied that I was willing to work for an NGO or similar, even as a volunteer (!) in case this would be necessary to launch my career in this field.

What to say... I have a dream… May this dream come true ;-)

All the best to you all.
Ivan