Tomorrow morning at the break of dawn (literally), Collin and I will head out with Chloe Bear in tow to Denver where we will catch a flight out to Philadelphia. We are on our way to stay with PJ for three weeks in Stone Harbor, NJ!
Both PJ and I have crazy busy summers planned, with me trying to finish my dissertation and him working at the Wetlands Institute. We will be living in cramped quarters for three weeks with The Baby Cat and Chloe Bear, which should be interesting and it will be good preparation for the first couple of stressful months after we arrive in Ghana. Collin will turn the big 12-years-old whilst we are in New Jersey, so we will have to think of something fun to do that day. He is really excited to see more turtles and he wants to go to New York City. I also think it will be loads of fun to see what PJ does all day at the Institute. I will have to spend much of my time writing a lot unfortunately.
Most importantly, this is a good opportunity for us to research more of the logistics, especially finding a home, regarding our upcoming move to Ghana. For example, will we be able to find a place that accommodates all of our goats and sheep? Will they be kept inside or outside? Should we opt for a thatched roof and four walls, or a tin roof and three walls (a bit more air movement, but tin roofs can be a bit on the hot side)?
Actually, and on a more serious note, we have found a good web site where we have been able to find rental houses in Accra. When we were considering a move to South Carolina, PJ and I went on a house hunt and found that we have the same interests in housing, which was really great. I think PJ has a much better knack for looking at houses than I do, however, and I am certainly glad for that. What I like most about houses in Africa is that generally they do not have carpets. I detest carpets. They get dusty and hide dirt and are breeding grounds for all things allergy! Instead, most houses have tiled floors, which are easy to keep clean and cool to walk across on hot days.
After we arrive in Ghana, we will have three weeks of paid temporary housing and meals. That should be enough time for us to find a rental house in the city. We have received some advice on where to look from the previous post-doc. We have several factors to keep in mind while we are looking:
It may seem that Ghana, as a Third World Country is cheap. In many regards this is true, but not so much if you are an expatriate living there. For example, running water and electricity are considered luxuries in many Third World Countries, and they can be quite expensive due to lacking infrastructure. Another significant factor is that in major cities, such as Accra, there are many large NGO's such as the UN, USAID, GTZ, AUSAID, and on and on ... working. Their top people make big money (well over 6 figure salaries). Postdoctoral scientists, junior research scientists, run of the mill development workers, and locals, however, do not. From an economic standpoint, this means that housing and living expenses in expat communities are often inflated beyond what is reasonable. For example, as you will see on the link above, many houses cost more than $2,000.00 per month to rent. We, on the other hand, only have $600 per month for our housing allowance.
OK, now, do not fret or sound the alarm wondering what are PJ and TJ going to do?!
Factors to consider:
As I mentioned above, we received some advice from the post-doc that I am replacing. She and her significant other moved to Accra from France in 2005 for her two-year IWMI post-doc. They lived in a couple of different neighborhoods and were able to give us feedback about where to live on our budget. They felt the most important factor was living as close as possible to IWMI. Their initial home was a bit too far away and the traffic in the city coupled with high fuel costs (in the US we are generally blessed with cheap fuel compared to the rest of the world) were problematic after a while. They eventually found a house close to IWMI. We will begin our hunt in the neighborhoods they suggested. They were able to find a place for $600.00 per month for three (they had a baby while they were living there). They liked where they lived and felt security was a non-issue. Even when they went away on weekends, they left their home unattended, which is something I would never do in Kenya!
Here are a few examples of houses in the $500 - $600 range that would suit us well we think; though, none of these places are likely to still be available when we arrive. They do give us an idea of what is available and what factors we will be considering.
$500 Range
This house is in a good location with respect to distance to services and work. It also has a large water storage tank. Remember, we may not always have access to running piped water every day, so extra water storage is critical. Also, we may only have water tank storage rather than piped water in some instances. In Kenya, even with piped water, the water generally only was available in my apartment during certain hours each day ... not around the clock, and there were several times where the water would simply stop running from the tap for a few days.
Now, this place has a special selling point for PJ ... INTERNETS! I think from the pics it is a nice little place and the neighborhood looks kinda cute.
I am especially fond of the pink color of this beauty. It will go well with PJ's and Collin's "My Little Pony" collections. Boys and their toys ... sheesh!
$600 Range
Furnished or unfurnished, that is the question. This home can be rented as furnished for $900 per month. But, given that we will have a furniture allowance ($6,000), we could consider such a place unfurnished and buy our own stuff.
$700 Range
This house is a bit pricey and we would unlikely be able to afford such a place at the start. We don't want to pour all of our money into our housing because we would prefer to have a nicer car and be able to get out and about in the country rather than spend all our money on rent. Priorities!
Speaking of cars ... that is another challenging topic that we will begin deliberating soon! Upcoming topics for our moving preparations will include: Collin's schooling, buying a car, moving pets, and what do we really need to take (besides soap).
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Four walls and a roof
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
TJ's Work in Ghana
A few people have asked me what I am doing for my post-doc with IWMI in Ghana. I don't have as much to say (yet) about my work in Ghana, other than I will be working on water storage issues (primarily for irrigation) in the Volta basin. Click the "Read More..." link to read my job description and check out the presentation I gave at IWMI headquarters in Sri Lanka as part of my interview process.
Post Doctoral Fellow - Agricultural Hydrologist
The Post Doctoral Fellow will participate in the on-going project focused on land and water use implications of changing land use and climate change. Detailed spatial characterization of land use and global climate is currently being used as the basis for spatially explicit estimates of changes in water use driven by land use change, through development of a suite of integrated geospatial layers for biological process modeling at high resolution global scale. The Post Doctoral Fellow will continue this work integrating (and generating) additional spatially explicit data sets and developing tools that will be used to explore the factors and mechanisms that affect water use through land use and climate change. This project contributes to IWMI’s emerging global research agenda, looking beyond basin and discipline boundaries at drivers of water use often not considered within the realm of water management.
Duties and responsibilities
- Providing expertise in hydrology and agricultural water management
- The Post Doctoral Fellow will work in inter-disciplinary teams in projects that will consider the impact of additional water storage on basin hydrology, the downstream and groundwater impacts of various agricultural interventions, and implications for agricultural water management under climate change scenarios.
- Project work will require extensive field work, measurements, analysis, and modeling, working in interdisciplinary teams, and with local partners, and
- Preparation of research reports, journal articles, seminar papers and other scientific manuscripts for the dissemination of research results.
- A Ph.D in Hydrology, Hydrogeology or Groundwater Hydrology, Water Resources Management or related discipline.
- Experience in agricultural water use and management.
- Experience in hydrological modeling, crop modeling and eco-hydrological analysis.
- Competence in quantitative applied research methods, and strong quantitative and analytical skills.
- Good communication and writing skills, with a good command of both oral and written English.
- Computer literacy, with spatial modeling, programming, database, and RS/ GIS skills.
- Demonstrated ability to prepare project documents and research publications. A record of relevant peer-reviewed publications is a major advantage.
- Ability to effectively establish priorities, plan, organize and monitor own work in an interdisciplinary and multiple task environment;
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
- Previous working experience in developing countries is an advantage.
Here is the presentation that I gave for my interview in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's probably not terribly meaningful to people looking at it on a computer screen without a discussion, but it may give some indication of the type of research I do.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
PJ's Projects
I will continue my terrapin research in Stone Harbor, NJ and Key West, FL, but while we are in Ghana I have plans to study the diversity, distribution, and natural history of turtles in West Africa. Tracy promises that she will strap on some waders and help catch turtles too.
Making Lists!
PJ got the first post. Damn him! He sneaked in a post whilst I was busy trying to fix the blog layout! I can see this competition thing is going to be fierce.
I am a pretty hard core list-maker so in preparation for our upcoming move, I have been generating (well organized) lists of things to take and things to do. Mostly, I am just worried that we'll forget the soap. We need at least 20 bars of soap. This may sound crazy to some of you, but after several years of research in Kenya and travel throughout Africa, I quickly discovered that there is not a decent bar of soap on the whole continent. Granted, clean water is a rarity, but the feeling of real soap makes every shower - regardless of the water source - seem like a clean shower. It's the little things in life that matter ....
Now, for your viewing pleasure, comes a fun video about public transportation in Kampala, Uganda. Enjoy! ~tj
Accra Bound
TJ and I are moving to Accra, Ghana in November. We feel compelled to share this experience with everyone who has already let us know how unlikely they are to visit us in Accra, so we will begin blogging ~5 months before we leave.
You readers will get to hear all about the preparations for moving. Over the course of the next few months we'll need to find a home, buy a car, and I'll have to catch up with TJ's admirable immunization record. I am fairly competitive and will ask for a few extra vaccinations to ensure that I have the most.
-pj
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