I guess I should write something for those of you who do not know what I’m up to during the day, so that you can tell what I am doing. I haven’t had a lot of time to blog, which is a good thing because that means I’ve been busy at work… and productive, but now it’s time to talk shop for a while.
I’ve been working on three different proposals and gap filling for a fruit drying a canning action plan, another for livestock, and yet another for honey production. These are all accompanied by a matrix or what is called a logical framework analysis in order to separate the project goals, objectives and with a view to the projects completion, what structures will be in place to ensure that the stakeholders or people served by the project continue to participate in gainful income activities at the end of the project (in short sustainability).
So I’ve been thinking often since concept notes and draft proposals seem to be the name of the game for my 7 months here that, wow – the proposal writing workshop and evaluation course that I took this past winter was really well worth it! I appreciate the practicality of working in an area where you have to think of all the tools of analysis for a business to succeed, political threats, opportunities, and characteristics that will either make a project a success or failure.
Plus, I really enjoy Tatiana’s spirit and dynamic. She is really a person that I feel has a positive attitude that energizes me from day to day. The whole office in fact is a great atmosphere. Thelma deals with the accounts and has taken on a role as a secondary Portuguese instructor for me, she is very careful about correcting where I use phrases that are idiomatically incorrect that I have learned in Spanish and applying to Portuguese. There are but a few, although a huge part of the vocabulary is transferable. As second languages go, everyone says that it must be harder for Anglophones to separate the differences in vocabulary than for someone whose native language is a romance language, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian for example. But I hope to defy all of those preconceptions about foreigners as I continue to speak my own variety of Portuñol (Portuguese and Español).
I am really quite impressed with the internet connection too. Of course it varies from day to day, and when submitting the online proposal formats for the Kellogg foundation this week I had several problems, I am not sure we can blame that on the internet connection here with TVCabo .
In fact I truly am quite content with my experience so far. Of course the little things that I’ve mentioned as part of the cultural adaptation process are just that. I have days when I complain about the drivers here. Of all of places that I’ve visited, Mozambique’s minibus-taxis (chapas) are probably the worst for obeying road rules! But life is a blast and it has been fortunate to have a warm and receptive office environment to merge into.
I’ve been working on three different proposals and gap filling for a fruit drying a canning action plan, another for livestock, and yet another for honey production. These are all accompanied by a matrix or what is called a logical framework analysis in order to separate the project goals, objectives and with a view to the projects completion, what structures will be in place to ensure that the stakeholders or people served by the project continue to participate in gainful income activities at the end of the project (in short sustainability).
So I’ve been thinking often since concept notes and draft proposals seem to be the name of the game for my 7 months here that, wow – the proposal writing workshop and evaluation course that I took this past winter was really well worth it! I appreciate the practicality of working in an area where you have to think of all the tools of analysis for a business to succeed, political threats, opportunities, and characteristics that will either make a project a success or failure.
Plus, I really enjoy Tatiana’s spirit and dynamic. She is really a person that I feel has a positive attitude that energizes me from day to day. The whole office in fact is a great atmosphere. Thelma deals with the accounts and has taken on a role as a secondary Portuguese instructor for me, she is very careful about correcting where I use phrases that are idiomatically incorrect that I have learned in Spanish and applying to Portuguese. There are but a few, although a huge part of the vocabulary is transferable. As second languages go, everyone says that it must be harder for Anglophones to separate the differences in vocabulary than for someone whose native language is a romance language, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian for example. But I hope to defy all of those preconceptions about foreigners as I continue to speak my own variety of Portuñol (Portuguese and Español).
I am really quite impressed with the internet connection too. Of course it varies from day to day, and when submitting the online proposal formats for the Kellogg foundation this week I had several problems, I am not sure we can blame that on the internet connection here with TVCabo .
In fact I truly am quite content with my experience so far. Of course the little things that I’ve mentioned as part of the cultural adaptation process are just that. I have days when I complain about the drivers here. Of all of places that I’ve visited, Mozambique’s minibus-taxis (chapas) are probably the worst for obeying road rules! But life is a blast and it has been fortunate to have a warm and receptive office environment to merge into.
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