Still alive and kicking

More postings to come about New Zealand, and perhaps Community Ladders.

Packing

So, part of our budget travel is camping for most of the time in New Zealand. We have a micro-camper on reserve (an old station wagon with a plank in the back to sleep on) and a tent and sleep bags. Here's a pick of Jessica with our 12 nights of dehydrated food. We haven't gone freeze-dried before, but a meal for 2 for $5 on the trail seems like a pretty good option. That said, we're not going to NZ for the food ...

New Zealand Honeymoon (with Tahiti stopover)

So, it's been a long time coming ...
We bought these tickets to New Zealand with a stopover in Tahiti. A lot has happened in the meantime, with Bill leaving government work to start a Social Business, Community Ladders.
What will follow is nearly a month of travel, on a fairly tight budget.
These our our chronicles ...

Starting Community Ladders

Starting Community Ladders :-)

New election is pretty mild

It's unlike Ukraine to cease with the drama. Let's wait for the runoff ...

I don't even like Starbucks. Bitter. Except their bazillion cal. mocha frap. Mmmmm

Ukraine: Best of it's peers in democracy

Ukraine looks ugly with all its political turmoil. Indeed, Yush and Tymo fight like children, even in front of visiting dignitaries.
But for all its warts, there is some sort of political process happening. Which is more than can be said for Russia, Belarus and most central Asian countries.
Let's keep a little perspective on this and keep in mind Ukraine's peers.

Political Tourists

So, my neighborhood is crawling with 'political tourists' - people bussed in from around Ukraine to set up tents as protest against the President's (legally contested) decision to call early partlimentary elections. I lived in Ukraine before and after the Orange Revolution, but I missed the show back then. Now I'm knee-deep in civic participation and am completely underwhelmed. It would be so much more exciting if I was just reading about it on the BBC instead of looking at it out my window. I would have thought reality would be much more exciting than this, but it's not.
Ukraine is always interesting, and I love this place for it. But in this instance I would prefer media sensationalism from afar than the humdrum reality out my window.