Skip to main content

Day 22: REDD+, Final Dinner

Our day began at 12pm when we drove to the School of Business and Management. We met with Heru Prasetyo who used to work for REDD+. He made a presentation about his work at REDD+. He seemed very knowledgeable about the topic of managing forestry, but he was cynical about the politics of land and forestry management.
  • The bickering between the merged Ministries of Forestry and Environment
  • Missed opportunities by the government when REDD+ was disbanded
    • Funding tied to REDD+ deliverables from the Norwegian government lost due to lack of structure in how the money would be channeled in the government of Indonesia

We left at 3pm for Artotel. When we got to the hotel, I napped for an hour. We left for Tugu Restaurant at 5.50pm. A Bali restaurant, it had all the features of Bali: huge carved figures, gamelan music, offerings in front of entrances etc. The dinner was awesome. The most remarkable parts of it included a Balinese dance. It brought back all the memories of Bali and the cha-cha dance. Second, Zack, Russell and Florencia all made us paper plates awards in recognition of our best traits. I was given the award for "Best/Worst Bus DJ". It was very sweet of them. Afterwards, Zack read a rap describing us, and the experiences we had.

Zack left midway in the dinner to catch his flight home (he had been smart enough to leave on the 20th, as opposed to the rest of us who were all leaving on the 21st). The rest of the dinner proceeded well, with a bunch of toasts, photos and selfies. I made sure to take selfies with everyone that I hadn't done before (for my blog, and for the memories).

When dinner was over, about a third of us went to the bar to drink some more and keep the party going, while the rest headed home, and to more partying on the rooftop bar of the Artotel. Later, we all headed home, and joined the rooftop party. We kept partying, as we kept Andrea company until Don arrived, after which the party ended. It was a lovely evening!

Labels:
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

They told us to wait

They said we should wait. The wazees were deliberating. They were discussing "important" issues of national security and interest. So, we walked out. We stood by the door. It was raining hard, and we strained to stand as close to the wall as possible, to avoid getting drenched. Inside, the air was exuberant. The wazees were laughing heartily as they imbibed to their fill with nyama choma and Tusker baridi . My stomach was grumbling. I looked around at my friend. She was shivering. "She's going to catch a cold if we don't get somewhere warm soon," I thought to myself. I could stay here and wait to see the wazees and tell them why we had come. Or I could save my skin and call it a day (or night). I chose the former. I motioned to Wanjiku to follow me. She seemed shocked. We had come so far, having walked in the wind and rain for two hours. She was heavy with child, and due any day now. We passed the Toyota VXs that had transported the wazees to
Post a Comment
Read more

Analyzing a carry trade proposal: Short USD, go long on bitcoin

I recently completed an assignment for an International Economics Policy class which entailed designing a carry trade. A carry trade is a financial transaction that involves borrowing (short) in a low interest currency, and lending (go long) in a high interest (yield) currency. For instance from Bloomberg 's rates for bonds, this would involve borrowing in Swiss francs (rate is -0.15 percent) and lend in New Zealand dollars (rate is 2.83 percent). All else remaining equal, the carry trade would yield a rate differential of 2.83+0.15 = 2.98 percent. Note: this is an unusual case where the interest rate we are borrowing from is negative; usually, this would involve subtracting the first interest rate from the second. For instance, borrowing in Japanese yen (0.04 percent) and lending in Kiwi dollars (at 2.83 percent) would yield 2.79 percent as profit. My carry trade in this case involves borrowing in USD at a rate of 2.33 percent, and buying bitcoins. But, what, you may ask, is the
Post a Comment
Read more

Everything is God

Nothing is too small for God Nothing is too big God is everything God is not mocked God does not mock God is Do not despise anything Do not think yourself too big for anything Do not think yourself too small for anything For you are God A true expression of what God is A child of God A part of God Therefore there's nothing to fear Whatever action you take Wherever you go Whatever you choose Whomever you choose That you have chosen And nothing else could have happened There's no other place you could have been Here you are Right here is where you are And nowhere else And yet everywhere else And therefore, nothing to fear Nothing at all
1 comment
Read more