This poster met me when I came to work the other day. End Poverty: Take On What You Want To Change. It reminds me of what Emma Watson said at the UN the other day: If not me, then whom?
Author Archives: Åsa Giertz
Fall in Washington DC
Seasons shifted quickly in Washington this year, and summer as now transformed into early fall. Although summer is my favorite season, fall has its perks. Not the least as its harvest season and these weeks, there is a fantastic color cavalcade at the Dupont Circle Farmers’ Market.
I’m not the best of chefs, nor to I particularly enjoy cooking. But with seasonal vegetables, it’s easy. I just chop the veggies and tubers, and put in a pan with a little olive oil, and then eat with couscous or quinoa and a bit of goat cheese, or with a spoon of cottage cheese. (I’m not a vegetarian but I only eat meat once or a few times a week.) Even though the farmers’ market has a reputation of being expensive, my food budget is definitely down in this period!
The Economics of Land Degradation
I recently saw this 4 min video called The Value of Soils and I wanted to recommend it here. It is developed by the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative and discusses a topic that I hear of daily but I think there is less awareness of outside the small circle that I interact with professionally, namely the topic of depleting soils. Land degradation is problematic all around the world, but I think that although most people are conscious of desertification and the impacts of deforestation, few are aware of the extent of depleting soil nutrients, soil salinity, how production is expanded through the use of marginal land with limited prospects, how the unsustainable use of soils is one of the biggest contributors to climate change, and what it means for us in the future. To me, this is one of the biggest challenges to feeding 9 billion people in two decades and to eradicating poverty, and we will all be affected. So check out the video! And apologies for not being able to embedd the video – I still haven’t figured out how to do it since I moved my blog… Instead, here is a pic of the amazing terraces constructed to combat soil erosion on Rwanda’s hillsides.
More Photos Published
There are two reasons why I want to learn to take good photos: one is because I want to capture what I see when I travel so that I can keep the moment and relive the experience also when I come home. The other is that I want to tell a story with my photos so that others canb see what I see, and I am therefore very proud when my photos are picked for illustrations for public websites. Like for this website a few weeks ago, where they published a few photos of coffee, tea, and farmers, that I took in Rwanda and Malawi. Admittedly, they aren’t great but I am still very proud!
And in case anyone missed it, here is a link to a page where one of my photos were published earlier this year. I definitely have to work more on taking pictures; luckily more trips are coming up soon!
Running and How I Found My Motivation at the Frankfurt Airport
So I’ve started running. Not particularly often and not very fast, but on a regular basis nevertheless. And no-one is more surprised than I am. A few years ago, there were few things I would opt out of before putting on sneakers and go out for a run. I’ve never been particularly athletic; instead, dancing, gymnastics, and swimming have been my things. Running has always been one of my least favorite forms of exercise although I’ve recognized that it’s a very time efficient form of cardio and therefore thought that it would probably be good to do. If aiming to pick up new habits or make changes in life, it is important for find motivation, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find any reason that was good enough to motivate myself to go out running. Some people are motivated to be in shape for the beach season, but I couldn’t care less. Others train for races, but I have absolutely no desire to prove to myself (or anyone else) that I can run a certain distance on a certain time. So despite sporadic attempts, I just never found the motivation to getting into the habit of running.
However, as with so many other things in my life, it all changed during one of my trips: Some time back, I was waiting to board my flight at the Frankfurt Airport when three men dressed in suits and with hand luggage over their shoulders ran by me. They were obviously late for their flight and knowing the Frankfurt Airport (I once spent 40 min getting from one gate to another), they probably had some distance to cover. Two of them did fairly well but the third one was a little overweight and had a problem keeping up. Falling behind the others, he was red in his face and looked like he might be about to get a heart attack. And when I saw them, I realized that it could be me. While I couldn’t see myself running a 10 k race, I could definitely see myself having to run between flights through an airport the size of a smaller city while carrying heavy hand luggage. In that moment, I also realized that other likely scenarios on my travels that required at least a minimum fitness level would be climbing hills, escalators, or 10+ floors (all of this has happened at one point or another). So I finally found my motivation to start running. And every time I feel like skipping a planned run, I think of that poor man at Frankfurt Airport.
Peach Season at the Dupont Circle Farmers’ Market
No comments needed, except that peaches and nectarines are some of my favorite fruits!
My Travel Essentials in Enterprise Magazine
I basically only follow more or less professional photographers on Instagram. Or they are kind of professional travelers. Or both. By being able to follow so many talented people so easily, I’m learning a lot both about photography and about different places around the world. (One of the most fascinating Instagrammer, @drewkelly, who I follow teaches English in North Korea – super interesting to see his pictures from Pyongyang.) Because many of them have so many followers, they are often involved in competitions and arranging photo themes, etc. So when one of them announced that Enterprise Magasine (@enterpriseuk) had a competition on personal travel essentials under the tag #openroadessentials, I decided to join. I didn’t win but they did post my photo on their website with a flattering comment on why they picked it. And here is my IG pic; check my account for the caption on why these things are in my bag when I go on the road for my work.
Soon I’m off again, and there will be plenty of time on bumpy roads.
A Few More Day in South Beach
After our trip to Key West, we did another three days in Miami South Beach. This time, we had booked a hotel further down the beach, the Shore Club Hotel. More expensive and luxurious, with a topnotch gym, people lying on beds by the pool, drinking extravagant drinks and with (so called) Greek yoghurt and croissants for breakfast. I.e. the type of hotel that I so often see on lifestyle blogs, but that is without any charm or authenticity. After having travelled so much, I have gone bored of these designed hotels. They never feel genuine or local and the all look the same. It’s comfortable when I travel for work and I need the wifi to work and want to be able order room service in the middle of the night after a day full of meetings. But when I go on vacation, I much rather stay at small B&Bs, Inns, or old hotels that haven’t been renovated since the 1960s. At least for me, the point of travelling is to see new places and feel a somewhat local atmosphere. However, for anyone who likes design hotels and don’t mind paying USD 10 for bottled water (we actually got billed without even drinking it!), this would be a hotel worth staying at. But I’d recommend the Park Central Hotel before this any day! Anyway, here are some last pics from our vacation in South Beach!
Key West
After a few days of doing absolutely nothing in South Beach, we rented a car and headed down to over the Florida Keys to Key West – the most southern point of the U.S. Only about 100 miles (170 km) from Havana, Cuba, the Island did indeed have a Caribbean flare to it (although not like New Orleans). We stayed at a very charming little inn called the Southernmost Inn, where we of course ran into a Swedish family. Although Key West was touristy, it really had its own charm and I loved it! The beaches weren’t as good as in Miami but the islanders had established a unique tempo and this atmosphere of being a world apart from the mainland in a way that only exists on islands. Apart from walking around the island, eating a lot, and relaxing at the beach under an umbrella, we did a guided tour in the house that was Ernest Hemingway’s home for more than 10 years during his marriage with Pauline Marie Pfeiffer (And no, it was not the house that they used in the movie Hemingway and Gellhorn with Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen.) It was quite interesting to learn more details around Hemingway’s life – he really was lived life to its fullest but with oh so many ups and downs. And several of his children followed his path. Greatness does not guarantee a happy life!
Below are a few photos from around the island, the view from Hemingway’s home and of his study, and of real Key Lime Pie – so much better than the bleak copy we get here!
On a more superficial level, I can recommend a stop by the store Indigo on Duvall Street. It has mainly clothes and accessories (all of it handmade) and the owners (a couple originally from Lebanon) go around the world and buy things directly from independent producers and even design certain things themselves. I thought the things were gorgeous and such contrast to everything mass-produced today. It’s similar to what can be found at local markets around the world but everything is handpicked and they import from some 40 countries. I got a straw bag and a tunica for the beach. Unfortunately, they don’t have a website so shopping there requires a trip to Key West!
Holiday In South Beach Miami
After having undertaken highly ambitious holiday schedules for the past two years and gone on road trips across half the U.S., Jonas and I decided to pick a comfortable beach this year and do absolutely NOTHING! I know, very different from two years ago when we covered four national parks in five days, or last year when we probably saw every historic house managed by the Daughters of the American Revolution in the American South. This year, we decided to do none of this. Instead, we booked a room at the very nice and charming Park Central Hotel in the South Beach Art Deco District and basically just enjoyed food, drinks, and the sun.
I had heard so many different things about Miami so I had no idea what to expect, but I have to say that I loved it! Yes, at night, the Ocean Drive became a little like Las Vegas. But just like in Vegas, it was possible to avoid all that and just enjoy amazing food and a very relaxing atmosphere. The Art Deco District is the World’s largest in its kind and since I have a thing for urban architecture and planning, I loved the area around our hotel. Miami is a very international place and we learned that over 80 percent of the population has Spanish as their first language. At the same time, we also heard a lot of Italian, Eastern European languages, and Caribbean accents. Admittedly, we didn’t explore Greater Miami much but South Beach had the exact opposite atmosphere from DC – very relaxed and life indulging. Here are some pics:
Loved the Cuban food (and mojitos)! Best was Puerto Sagua but also Havanna 1957. Otherwise, the Italian restaurants held high standard, I can especially recommend Hosteria Romana on Espanola Way – their aged prosciutto and cheeses were delicious. Espanola Way was a good place in general for eating if looking to get off the Ocean Drive. The News Cafe was perfect for lunch.