May 11, 2008
One Week in Whitehorse
Once again Burma makes the headlines. The difference this time is that it is not a human induced disaster/conflict, but a natural disaster. What remains the same is the fact the West - the media and government, in particular the US, Canada and EU (and I guess Japan since they've been more assertive and involved in their foreign policy in Asia and ASEAN) - don't execute the necessary actions to truly facilitate political change. And now the public are disheartened to see aid blocked, or slowly trickling inside the country as a result political barriers erected by the military regime. The only effective humanitarian response now is relying on those aid organizations that have an establish presence inside Burma, prior to the cyclone. Perhaps it is more sustainable for donors to continually make conscious donations before and after a disaster strikes with the realization that long-term presence of aid and humanitarian work is better than a one time donation? Yeah... good luck with that one. Thats the kind of world we live in.
Anyways, onto my original topic, it has now been a week since I moved to Whitehorse. Still not quite sure what I think of this town, there's pros and cons. On my daily commutes to work, I am reminded of just exactly how small this town of 24,000 really is. This of course means not many stores and compared to Vancouver, not many restaurants either. The sad reality is, according to my colleagues, the fine dining found in Vancouver such as sushi, Korean BBQ, Indian, and seafood is something I will have to let go. However, I must say the bison burgers here are quite good...
Despite that, I think the standard of living is still better in Whitehorse than Vancouver, once you get use to the town. What I mean by that is that the stress levels are down, partly due to the reduced commuting time. I've certainly noticed that I got more time on my hands to do what I want, and less things to worry about as one hurries to get from one place to another. There's also the outdoors such as camping, fishing, kayaking, swimming, hiking and wildlife like wolves, cariboos, bears, beavers, moose and etc. A co-working told me they go camping and fishing every weekending starting May, and so really excited about doing that in 2 weeks.
As for the job, I am working for Gartner Lee, a environmental consulting firm involves with projects in mining, oil and gas, manufacturing and other energy sectors. The first week was a bit overwhelming. It was also announced a few weeks ago that the company is merging with AECOM, a US based consulting firm. AECOM is also merging with many other firms to add to its previous mergers with other international firms to form the world's largest consulting firm. I am pretty excited because this brings an international focus to the office, and AECOM International Development works on humanitarian response, governance and conflict resolution - pretty sweet. In looking at the global distribution of offices, it is present in all corners of the globe and pretty big presence in China and other parts of Asia. So who knows where I may be in a couple of years?