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