So I know I haven't written for a while, but that is mainly because I haven't been up to too much out of the ordinary. Work, work work...weekend...work work work. However I guess it is time that I give you all another little taste of India via the virtual world.
Work
Work is going well, I've finished my policy briefing report (after a bit of chaos and confusion in which my report went from being focused on agriculture with a little bit of energy information included to being only about energy with no agriculture included...so some re-writes and re-research was required along the way). But I am happy to have that one done and off my shoulders. The second one I'm doing is one that I had a bit more say in the choosing of the topic. It is still climate change focused but I am looking at the economics of Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs - for those of you who don't know its projects that developed nations can undertake in developing nations that accomplish sustainable development...i.e. emission reductions while promoting economic development. great in theory, pretty crap in practicality). Basically this means I am looking at the structure of the program/initiative to see what incentives exist for the different actors and how the current financial structure and carbon market mechanisms create problems in the actual working of CDMs. Problems like geographical concentration of projects and financial investments, incentives for developed nations to simply "rearrange" their carbon credits through developing country projects so that they don't have to make changes domestically, the quantifying emission levels problem in developing nations (poor statistics and therefore poor modeling abilities), the incentive for developing nations to approve CDM initiatives that actually don't accomplish either economic development or emission reductions but because it brings investment money in, etc. So lots of interesting issues that CDMs face. Anyway, I won't bore you all too much, but I can say that its a much more interesting topic and gives me more critical thinking time rather than just copy and pasting of policy summaries/quotes.
House
I still am loving my house. Sara left this morning for her trip with her boyfriend, she will be back in a week or two but is only around for 2 days before flying home to Italy. Losing her from both the house and the office is going to be really hard as she was my closest friend in the house and really made both places so fun to be in. We've had a new polish boy arrive and apparently we're getting a Brazilian girl to replace Sara. Beds don't seem to be empty for long in this house...
The two Christines that are living in my room with me are both leaving shortly so we will probably get new interns in to replace them. Makes for constant adjustments and new friends on a pretty frequent basis around here. Luckily everyone that has come through has been pretty fun so hopefully that trend continues. Grete, the girl who left a week or two a go (Estonian), has also been replaced by a Belgian named Vicke, who is quite nice but quiet. We are planning a house trip to Jaipur on Wednesday as that is when Grete is returning and then when we get back from Jaipur she'll fly home to Estonia. Then there is a rafting trip in the Himalayas next weekend that I may go on but it would mean missing Dewali (basically India's christmas equivalent from what I've been told) in Delhi. I have heard mixed reviews about staying in Delhi for Dewali so I'm leaning toward the rafting trip.
House pictures:
The Kitchen:
Kitchen again
Living Room
My room
My bed is the furthest to the left
Before going out for Grete's last night:
from left to right: Sara, Corrado, Me, Grete, Alirio, Nakul
Grete's last night --> Family dinner
Ana is on the far let and Christine (German) on the far right
Other than that not much to report. We spent today at a swanky hotel in Gurgaon (suburb south of Delhi) for Chiko's birthday. For 1000 rupees you get brunch and lunch, unlimited wine and beer, and unlimited swimming in their rooftop pool. It was a really relaxing and fun day and I met some new people. Unfortunately its going to make going back to work tomorrow even harder.
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