The end of yet another semester

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well. For those still in school, congratulations on almost being done another semester - one last push. As we come to the end of the month and of the Winter 2011 term, I think it's nice to look back on things that have been accomplished and new projects on the go.

March 2011 was an exciting month for me! First of all, I heard back from one of the scholarships that I'd applied for and found out that I have been chosen as a recipient! I am one of the proud winner of Export Development Canada's International Business scholarship for 2011, a value of $3,000! That will help me pay for a chunk of my field placement next year. I've also applied for quite a few more scholarships, and my cohort is currently brainstorming fundraising ideas that we will carry through and implement during the spring/summer semester, so stay tuned!

School has also been going very well - I only have one take-home exam and one final exam left before the end of the term, but classes are now done for me. It feels pretty good. Somehow throughout my university career I've managed to increase my average almost every semester, which is a good trend to continue I guess! I'm looking forward to the coming spring semester where I will have a much lighter course load (only 3 classes). This will give me more time to work as a first aid instructor (and I'm also looking for more part-time work). I will also be trip planning for the month of August, so exciting times are ahead!

I'll leave you here with the first (of many) new advertisements promoting tourism in Peru:

Feel free to leave me your comments and thoughts on their new branding! What do you think? Does it catch your eye? Don't forget to come back next week to see another one of their marketing posters!

Have a great week!

Sheila

Re-branding PERU

Good afternoon!

I hope you are all doing well and that you've enjoyed the first few days of spring. For those of you who are out of town, just to let you know that Waterloo (where I am currently living) has been dumped on with snow. About 2 feet of snow have fallen in the past 24 hours, whereas we had had green grass for over a week! Quite a change of scenery. I for one am not complaining though; I think that snowy white sceneries are gorgeous, I just wish the weather would make up its mind. Pick one: winter or spring/summer. Not both.

Anyways, seeing as I don't have much to report to you this week on changes in my life (school, homework, sleep, repeat), I'll be talking about the re-branding of Peru! What's that you might ask? Well a few weeks ago a friend informed me that the tourism office of Peru has recently re-branded their entire image. Below is a sample of the drastic changes that have been made. The old version is on the left, and the new version is on the right:

Quite a change, isn't it? The tourism office has even had its very own font designed that it will use in all official publications. If you want a complete look at their new website, you can follow this link: http://www.peru.travel/en/ I'm assuming that this new branding scheme will be in full effect by the time I arrive in late August or early September, but I'll report back to you on that one!

I find this re-branding quite interesting, actually. In my Marketing and Communication class we have been discussing how to make yourself stand out among the 'noise' and make yourself heard so that you can draw people in. This is especially important in international development, where non-governmental organizations and charities are constantly on the look-out for donor funding and support. I guess tourism bureaus face similar challenges, especially when large world events such as economic recessions/depressions occur. They are constantly looking for new ways to draw people in and entice them to come visit their culture, landscapes, and heritage. Here is the new publicity video to incite viewers to visit Peru (it is in Spanish, but worth watching for the pictures and music):

After watching the video I am so excited to be travelling to Peru in the near future, and can't want to discover all that is has to offer. Hopefully you'll do the same sometime soon (you can even come visit me!).

What do you think of the new branding image? Better/worse/indifferent? I'd love to hear your opinion. In the following weeks I'll be posting one of the new ads/slogans to visit Peru in each blogpost. Make sure you keep reading so you don't miss any! Have a great week!

Sheila

Sand dams

Hello!

As I mentioned last week, this post is dedicated to telling you about a new technology that I have been learning about this semester called sand dams (http://www.sanddam.org/). Sand dams are a new, up and coming technology that can be used in drought-prone regions or places where harnessing and storing water is difficult. The construction of sand dams helps in recharging aquifers (or ground water) so that wells and hand pumps in the area can extract water from the ground. Here is a picture of what a sand dam looks like:

Sand dams are dams that are built across seasonally dry river beds. The area must be appropriately selected, preferably with large boulders or rocks on either side of the river beds to serve as supports for the dam. Initially, you build a dam that is only a few feet high. When it rains, some of the water will be retained to form a reservoir. More importantly though, all of the sediment that is being carried by the rainwater will be blocked from continuing downstream from the dam. As the sediment builds up, water will continue to flow over the dam. The dam is only supposed to affect a maximum of 10% of streamflow so that communities downstream can continue to use the water for sanitary and irrigation purposes. The following year, another addition to the sand dam is made to make it a little bit higher. When the river floods again, some of the water will remain in the area, sediment will build up, and more water will flow over the dam. The idea here is to create a reservoir and give the water the chance to be absorbed into the ground to recharge the aquifer. The picture below gives you an idea of how a sand dam is built:

This morning's headlines

Hello again,

So I know that usually I publish weekly posts on Thursdays, but this morning's headlines have really made me think. Not sure how many people have heard about this in the news yet, but I'm sure it will be making the news for quite a few days to come still.

The two top stories on the CBC website this morning: Japan suffers major damage in 8.9 quake and Tsunami advisory for B.C. coast. Wow. I feel like I went to sleep last night and the world has changed!

A bit of background info: this magnitude 8.9 earthquake (measured on the Richter Scale) is the highest magnitude earthquake in Japanese history since they began measuring and recording earthquakes 140 years ago. As of 8:45 am this morning, there are already 40 dead and 39 officially missing; the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, one of the largest in the world, is under a stage of emergency because it's cooling mechanism has failed (but don't worry, no radioactivity has escaped the facility - yet); and an oil refinery is burning uncontrollably, sending up flames over 30 meters into the air. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which hit the Japanese coast shortly afterwards and has already caused devastating damage, both to human lives and infrastructure. Many other Pacific nations, including New Zealand and Australia, and all the way down the Americas from B.C. to Mexico and South America have also been put under alert. Hawaii has already had tsunami waves hit their shores, perhaps with more to come.

And so while I'm reading this, what is going on in the back of my mind? That I feel like we're hearing about more and more extreme weather events and natural disasters recently. Just yesterday there was an earthquake in China, and last month a quake in Christchurch, New Zealand devastated the region. Earthquakes aren't the only hazard, either: parts of eastern Australia were devastated by massive floods in January, and here at home in Canada the Maritimes have been placed in a state of emergency a few times this winter as furious storms came crashing through. So when I hear about these things the first thing I think is "thank goodness I live in an area which is relatively free of natural disasters" and "I'm happy that my family is safe", but then it gets me to thinking that the direction I currently want to go in academically and professionally is quite fitting. Right now, I am interested in pursuing a master's degree in Flood Risk Management (or if that fails, Hydro-Informatics and Water Management), and I don't think I could be doing this at a better time. If the change in climate continues to modify our weather patterns as significantly as it has in recent years, the need for specialists in dealing with natural disasters (preventing, planning, monitoring, and mitigating) will continue to increase. I just hope that in pursuing this career path I don't end up living too close to an area at great risk of a natural disaster. I guess only time will tell.

So that's what is going through my head on this Friday morning. May I also point out that the weather this week has been completely unpredictable. It will be pouring rain one day and then the ground is completely covered in snow the next (and round and round it goes like this). I for one am not sure whether I should wear my winter boots or my rain boots to school today. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these extreme natural disasters and weather phenomena. How has it affected you?

Have a great week everyone!
Sheila

Field placement update!

Hello!

I have great news!!! (Actually, I've known this for an entire week now, I just wanted to keep you hanging until Thursday to discover it.) Last week we had a meeting with Grainne, our field placement coordinator, to give us an update about the field placements and to review some of the terms in our contract. And now we have dates! It has been confirmed that we will be starting our in-country orientation on Monday, September 12, 2011 in Lima, Peru. We will all be returning to Pearson Airport in Toronto on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012, to then be transfered to St. Paul's University College. All of the field placement participants will be livng at St. Paul's for two weeks as we debrief from our international experiences, finish up our capstone projects, and have a banquet! (I will also be turning 23 during this time, so I guess a celebration will be in order!) It's pretty exciting to know when we will be leaving. Until now, I was feeling so-so about the field placement because I have not had much say in the planning or organization (except that I chose to go to Peru over Vietnam, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Botswana and Malawi), but that's about it. Now at least I can plan my summer accordingly, and it feels as though it's so much more real. So I'm excited.

The other exciting news I received is that Grainne has made an exception for those of us who wish to travel beforehand! Originally we were told that we must all depart from Toronto together as a group and travel to Peru on the same flight, but we were informed last week that if we wish, we can change the date of the plane ticket to fly to South America earlier. This is absolutely AMAZING, because I have a large break before the field placement starts. I am taking three required courses this summer, but they will all be over on Monday, July 25th. I have a physical check-up with the doctor on August 8th, and after that I am free as a bird until I begin my field placement! I had originally thought of going to visit Rosalie (my little sister) in France where she will be working for the summer, but I am now strongly reconsidering just taking off early and going to visit Bolivia and Argentina? Why not! I think I have convinced my best friend, Roop, to come along on the ride too! If anyone else would like to join along you are more than welcome to come!

So that's my exciting news! Next week I'll be writing about one of the most innovative, under-used technologies in the developing world that I am currently doing a group project on. So stay tuned!

Have a great week everyone!
Sheila

"Reading" week

Hello! Happy 3rd of March! (is anyone else surprised by how fast time goes by and how we've already gone through 1/6 of 2011?).

This week's post will be short, just reflecting a bit on the lovely 10 day break that I just had from February 17-27. It was nice to go home and relax, catch up on some sleep, and enjoy the outdoors by going skiing, snowshoeing, and skating on the Rideau Canal. But coming back to school and the workload is rough! I've felt more tired this week than I was before reading week, even though I've still be trying to get a good amount of sleep. I guess my body was enjoying the relaxing life and doesn't want to buckle down and work for the last 4 weeks of school?

If there is one thing that I learned while living in France last year, it's that taking the time to relax and enjoy your vacations is very important. In France, you never have more than 6 weeks of school consecutively without having 1-2 weeks off, and if you're starting out in a full-time job position you have a minimum of 5 weeks of paid vacation. Can you imagine what we could do if we had all of that free time! Well, not free necessarily, but it would give us the time to focus on other things that are important in life and really give us the time to take a break from work. I feel like so many people are constantly connected through their smartphones, laptops, etc. and never really take the time to unwind. Not that 5 weeks off will automatically do this, or that we even need 5 whole weeks to accomplish this, but I think it's important to recognize the fact that taking time to travel, see family, read a book, or go to the movies is important. Stress is a rising problem in North American society and the leading cause for many diseases and ailments, and I think that really taking the time to appreciate time off and make the most of it is a great way to fight this :)

So that's why this reading week - well, I did do a bit of reading - I tried to make the most of it. I spent a lot of time with my parents, saw friends I hadn't seen in months (some in years), and spent a lot of time outside enjoying the great Canadian outdoors.

I'd like to invite you all to do the same! One night my parents and I snowshoed 4km into Gatineau Park and stayed overnight in a chalet with no cellphone reception, no electricity, and no running water. What a nice retreat! Eating dinner by candlelight and boiling snow over the wood stove to melt water for dishes. You don't have to do something that extreme, but I'd encourage you to spend a night without any communication devices, or to take the time to write a letter to an old friend. Smell the flowers. It'll do you some good.

I hope you have a great week and I'll give you an update about my field placement next week! Stay tuned, my departure is now a mere 6 months away!

Sheila