My Home In Londontown

As promised, here is a short tour of my neighborhood. I meant to get a picture of the Cubana, which is a Cuban restaurant right outside my house, but I forgot to take my camera to work today (I work now), and my phone that takes pictures died a couple of weeks ago. I now have one that cost me seven dollars. I work in telecommunications, but you'd never know it. So to see the Cubana, you'll have to visit.

Okay, let's get started. Here is a view looking south from my front balcony.



And this one is looking east. That's the London Eye in the background.



Now Let's go inside.

This is my room. It's cozy, but comfortable. It's on the top (fourth) floor in the very back corner, so it's relatively quiet. I live with three other people, but they're all in the process of moving out, so at this point it would be pointless to introduce you.



This is the view outside my window, looking west. As you can see, it overlooks a community center, not a road, so it's pretty quiet for London.



This is also looking outside my window, looking to the left (more north) of the last picture. The building in the center is called the Old Vic. If you've never heard of that, you're so uncultured! JK I'd never heard of it until I lived here. But apparently it's a really famous theater, and Kevin Spacey is currently its artistic director.



Okay. Shall we go for a walk?

This map will help us. I live at A. The Old Vic is number 1. We're now going to go over the river, on the Westminster Bridge.



First, we have to go under this bridge at Waterloo Station. It's number 2. I really like this picture. When I first moved to London to look for a place to stay, I stayed at a hostel called the Walrus, which has a door that comes out right here. I immediately thought the neighborhood had character. Little did I know I would be living here soon!



Now we're on Westminster Bridge. If we look behind us, we can see the other side of the London Eye (number 4), as well as the County Hall (number 3), where the London Aquarium is (there are sharks, I've checked, but I'm still too poor to have visited).



If we look straight ahead of us, we see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (numbers 5 and 6, respectively). This is Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament was the opening picture of this fine blog post. Moving on.



Going straight on, We reach Buckingham Palace, number 7. If we turn right here, and go down the "mall," we can get to Trafalgar Square, and Chinatown where there's this really great Chinese restaurant that's all you can eat for only six and a half pounds! But we don't have time for that right now. Let's keep going straight.



This is Hyde Park.



So is this. Actually, we might be in Kensington Gardens. I'm not sure. Really, it's the same park, the only difference is whether you're on the east or west of the Serpentine lake in the middle.



This is the famous Peter Pan statue, also in Hyde Park.



Let's go back home. This guy's name is Clive.



Oh, no! It's gotten dark! (Just kidding, I planned it like that).

Here are the houses of parliament (number 6) at night.



Here's a London ghost. I'm not even kidding. This is a ghost.



Here's an artistic picture of the London Eye (number 4) I did. Just when I'm about to throw away my camera, it impresses me with some newfangled ability like great night pictures.



This one's even more artistic.



Walking out onto the Waterloo Bridge, we can see the Blackfriars Bridge in the distance. This is number 9. It's a double bridge, with a bridge for cars and pedestrians, and another one for trains. The one for trains is getting refurbished, ergo all of the cranes. Near the leftermost part of the bridge, you can see St Paul's Cathedral. That's about the most breathtaking thing in London, I have to say. The crypt alone is amazing. And there's a special chapel inside dedicated to American servicemen who died defending Britain in WWII, which gives me warm fuzzies. Did you know a church dedicated to St Paul has been on that site since 600AD? It's true. And it's only burned down three times.



I work somewhere between the end of the bridge and St Pauls, at number 10 on our map. I work close enough to St Pauls, actually, that I often eat my lunch (I always pack a lunch. two turkey-roll sandwiches, grapes, and peanuts, usually) on the steps of the cathedral.

Other things in my neighborhood (on my side of the river): The Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, The National Theatre, Southwark Cathedral and Southbank. But this was a lot of work, so you'll forgive me if I draw the line here. I like where I live, and it's close enough to some parks that I can escape while the weather is good (for one more week, most likely). Most importantly, I don't have to commute on a soul-sucking subway. I used to think I hated big cities, but I decided the thing I hate is public transit.

My job is engaging and challenging (I embarrass myself at least once a day), and you get a measure of pride in producing something that people value enough to buy. If I wasn't clear before, BMI sells reports, and I've written at least one article every day since I started on the 23rd. I specialize in Latin America. I've written about telecommunications in Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Cuba, Peru, Colombia, as well as a regional piece on all of Latin America. I would send you the articles, but I'm sure that's illegal since people pay for them. I'm learning a lot about telecommunications, and I'm trying my best to be interested in it, but it's really easy to get distracted by things more up my alley. Like, for example, going off on how the IFC (part of the World Bank) is using telecommunications as part of a development strategy for Haiti. I can mention that, but my article has to be about telecoms, so I can't dwell on it. It would be a lot easier to focus, except there are a few positions at my workplace where people do get to dwell on interesting things like that. I'm trying to figure out how to express my interest in doing that sort of thing without seeming like I'm not dedicated to my assignments. I've had such patient supervisors, after all, I would hate for them to think I don't respect their industry. I'm still working that one out.

Anyways, I think this video sums it up:

New Job and Stuff

Hello! I'm finally writing from my own internets, in my own home, about a mile away from my own workplace. I now live in London. Southwark, London to be exact (it's pronounced (Sutherk, with the vocalized "th" like in "the"). It's on the South Bank of the River Thames, right in the center of the city. I live exactly behind the Waterloo Rail Station, which is the second busiest rail station in Europe, right after the Gare du Nord in Paris, where Jaron lives. So we're conquering them all, one by one.

As you can see, I've redecorated the blog. If I may direct your attention to the new header, you will see a bridge. That bridge is called "Blackfriar's Bridge," and at the end of it (on the North Bank) is my place of employment. I am what's called an Emerging Markets Analyst for a company called Business Monitor International. Basically, I evaluate the business environment of countries around the world (based on various variables like their exchange rate, inflation, regulatory regime, presence of pirates, etc.) and write reports for potential investors (mainly corporations considering doing business there) to read. My specialty is telecommunications. Not because I know anything about telecommunications, but because there is a lot of telecommunications investment in emerging markets going on right now. Supply follows demand, you know. I'm the supply in this case.

So what does this have to do with what I've been studying? Am I just selling out? Am I working for the man? No! Poor people are still like my favorite thing! And trust me, I'm not getting paid very much. Here's the thing: this is the stuff that any self-respecting economist needs to understand, so I feel like this is an extension of my education. Once economic diagnosis becomes second nature to me, then I'll reevaluate my options. But private sector experience is a valuable thing to have in your toolbox, and I actually believe that foreign investment is really important for international development. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is FIVE TIMES the volume of total official aid (like from the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development) in the world. Also, when an investment in a country is made using investor funding, there is a strong no-nonsense approach to accountability (no projects designed to create nothing but warm fuzzies for the people running them), and the cost of any project failures is spread across the investors, not piled at the feet of an indebted government. And certain industries like infrastructure and telecommunications grease the wheels of the entire economy, making everyone more productive. I'm actually excited to start working. Right now I'm being forced to wait until my visa goes through. Harumph.

I'll write again soon, perhaps, to introduce you to my neighborhood. So far it's nice. And a huge upgrade to my sleeping arrangements of the past two weeks: four hostels, a library, and a dark alley (because that's how I roll).

Peace!

Check and Check: That's a Wrap.

Well, last week I took my Economics exam on Monday, and my Econometrics exam on Friday, which is everything. All done. Above is a picture of some of us coming out of the last test. This picture is in front of the Radcliffe Camera. I've been a little late getting this post up, because I always have to depend on other people to take pictures and then give them to me, since I never take them myself. So this picture isn't great, but it's the only one I've got from that day so far. Maybe I'll replace it later. The red flowers on the lapel are meant to symbolize all the blood you've lost during finals, and are to be worn on your last test. It's a four hundred-year-old Oxford tradition. Although I have a feeling that most four-hundred year old traditions in Oxford were invented in the past twenty years. For my own future reference, the questions I answered on the economics exam were on Ricardian equivalence (macro), an extension of the Harris-Todaro model of migration (micro), and the Heckscher-Ohlin model of trade (international). For econometrics, I answered questions on the tobit estimator for truncated samples, the Heckman procedure for sample selection bias, and structural modeling. I felt pretty good about the tests (meaning: I feel like I inserted enough knowledge in there that they would feel really bad about failing me. It's quite remarkable how my criteria for success has changed so much since undergrad, isn't it?)

After the last test, everyone in the course was drunk with euphoria, and I've had the best weekend at oxford ever (the USA v Ghana game notwithstanding). I realized how incredibly lucky I am to have had this experience, particularly with the group of people I had it with. They are all so interesting and so completely different from one another (probably what you would expect from 33 people from 21 countries, if I counted correctly). We had a party on Friday night, and on Saturday Uday (a very likable go-getter from India) organized a mini-graduation for us, since our ACTUAL graduations are done by college, so everyone in the course graduates on different dates. He invited Francis Teal, our principal econometrics instructor (who helped me out quite a bit on my thesis), to be a speaker, and we met at University Park for the ceremony.



The speech was hilarious, not in the haha sort of way, but in the "oh, francis!" sort of way. In his extremely english accent, he gave a speech so full of econometrics jargon it would have been completely incomprehensible to practically anyone but our class. He also talked about how we shouldn't take our test scores too seriously, since our success and happiness will be driven by a lot more than just economics knowledge.



Also for my future reference: Front Row (l-r): Zing (Singapore), Farriah (Bangladesh), Sarah (South Africa), Francis, Rachel (England), Margot (Belgium), Giannina (Peru), Mujo (Tanzania). Second Row (l-r): Uday (India), Wei (China), Nandini (India), Fiona (Scotland), Felix (Germany), Arden (South Africa), Vanessa (France), Anselm (Germany), Garikai (South Africa). Back Row (l-r): Obrian (Zambia), Henrik (Germany), Gregan (USA), Matej (Czech Republic), Cintia (Brazil), Jens (Germany), Matt (USA), Miguel (Colombia), Alistair (Scotland), Dhruv (India), Deepa (USA), Andreas (Germany). Not pictured: Gautam (India), Pavel (Mexico), Jonathan (Trinidad), Xianrui (China), ShahBano (Pakistan).

Then we went punting together, and I am an excellent punter. I'm finally ready to impress the family when you guys come over. Many of us had a picnic on Sunday at Christ Church Meadows park, although people are starting to leave and the group is shrinking rapidly. I went punting again on Monday with just Sarah and some of her family (that's how good I am: she needed an expert to make the experience pleasant. I didn't realize it was just us until I got there, but they fed me nectarines, so it was good). Finally, yesterday, some of my Wolfson friends had dinner at Mujo's apartment, where she made some really delicious Tanzanian food which I can't remember the name of, even though I asked twice. It has an "i" in it, I think.

The River Cherwell is 14% goose droppings, and I went swimming in it both times I went punting this week, so I think that might be a contributing factor to my being sick right now. I also seem to remember a BYU professor saying that the week after finals is a very common time to get sick, since you don't take care of yourself while you're studying, but the stress and adrenaline keeps you going until after your tests. After that, you crash. That's where I am now, but I'm trying to take it easy, sipping echinacea raspberry tea, still applying for jobs, and watching the entire avatar, the last airbender series online. I hope the movie doesn't disappoint. I love that cartoon.

I will now pull a von grinner and list the things we will do at oxford:

1. See the shrunken heads at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Before lunch. Always a hit. T-Rex is on the way, for Keaton.
2. Go punting at dusk.
3. Eat a chicken satay sandwich on olive ciabatta bread at the Tuck Shop on Holywell Street. Visit my department since it's nearby
4. Visit C.S. Lewis stuff: the Lamp, Eagle and Child, Addison's Walk, and places I haven't seen before which probably exist.
   
5. Eat a kebab from my favorite kebab stand
6. See the Harry Potter stuff: Divinity School (The Infirmary), Duke Humphrey's Library (the dark art's section of Hogwart's Library), Christ Church Hall (Great Hall), Dragon School (Quidditch practice pitch), and other things that probably exist.
7. Eat some chicken wings from the Kebab Kid
8. Climb University Church tower to see the whole city. I probably should have put this higher up, since it's one of the first things to do. But I don't want to change all the numbers. You understand.
9. Meet whichever of Gregan's friends are still around
10. Play basketball/American football! Hey, it's my vacation, too!
11. See graduation and all the other stuff you're supposed to see at oxford.

Development Exam: Check!

The first of my three final exams was yesterday. In this test, we have three hours to answer three essay questions about the development modules ("electives") of our course. I answered questions on rural-urban migration, human poverty index, and industrial policy. The test went all right, although my time management was horrible and I could have done much better if I had been smarter about it. I'm going to have to learn from my mistakes, because the next test will likely be much more challenging for me.

A little advice for those of you still in school: don't think that since you've been studying really hard, you deserve a break to check out humorous videos online. Every time I tried to focus (remembering models, or papers that I could cite, etc.), you know what came to mind? That horribly catchy jingle, Dog with a Box on its Head. Don't let this happen to you!

In other news, I have a very interesting friend from Afghanistan who lives at Wolfson College. She is the first ever Afghan woman to come to Oxford, and BBC Persia did a story on her a long time ago (during Michealmas Term-November, or thereabouts). I was talking to her about the Taliban and the war and what have you a few days ago, and I asked her what ever happened to that report. So she sent me the link.

This link is important to you, because I'm in it! Back then, I didn't know Shaharzad (the Afghan), but the BBC crew asked me to stick around our department building and talk to her like we were her friends. In essence, we were "room meat." I collected Uday and Mujo (two people from my course--Uday is sitting next to me on the couch, Mujo is across from me), and we actually had a really interesting conversation. Shaharzad is getting a Masters in Development Studies, so her course is taught in the Queen Elizabeth House Department of International Development (QEH). Most of my courses were taught at QEH, too, so you can see where I've been for the last year!

At 0:42, you see the outside of the QEH building. That's my department! At 1:17-1:44, you see the inside of the building, with my big BBC debut. It's all in Persian, so you can brush up on your language skills if you like.

Thesis: check!

The building above is Examination Schools, the testing center for Oxford where we take exams and hand in our theses. I handed in my masters thesis (on labor income distribution in Nicaragua as it relates to exposure to global trade) on Thursday, a whole day before it was actually due. I had read through it about five times, and every time I found mistakes that needed correcting, so chances are, if I had read through it again, I would have found more mistakes. But at some point, you've got to let go, you know? Putting it in it's official envelop helped in that regard, because I had to stop reading it. This is a cameraphone picture I took of said envelop:



Although it will be mostly Greek to you, here's a link to the finished product:




Mom can help you with the statistics, if you need it. JK. I don't actually expect you to read it, but I do expect you to

1) compliment me on it anyway, and
2) if you do read any of it, keep any typos or other mistakes to yourself--the thing is already turned in.

If you need some perspective on these two steps, think about what you would have done if Declan had been born with a tail. You wouldn't tell his parents that looking at him makes you uncomfortable, or that you don't approve of humans with tails. On the contrary, as a token of appreciation for all the hard work that went into making the baby in the first place, you would say it's a very lovely tail (probably the best tail you've ever seen), or you would focus on particularly impressive non-tail attributes. The gestation period of this thesis was actually only slightly shorter than nine months, and although it's only about thirty pages long, it's the product of the literally thousands of lines of computer (STATA) code that I wrote to run the tests, make the graphs and merge the data. So: validation, please!!!

I can't believe it's already June. I have three 3-hour tests (one in Core Economics, one in Econometrics, and one on Development Modules) on the 17th, the 21st, and the 25th, and then this thing's a wrap. So although I've passed my first milestone (assuming of course I got a passing grade on it), now is no time to get slothful!

For Hayden and Zade

I just thought I would post a very quick one to give the final verdict: T-Rex's have two fingers. I checked this morning at Oxford's Museum of Natural History.







So looks like it's a point for Zade. By the way, I can't thank you enough for the excuse to leave my apartment and take a break on my thesis. I realized that I didn't know if T-Rex's were two-fingered or three fingered either, and you guys gave me a mission (I know, I know, I could have just googled it. But who knows what sorts of lies are propagated on the internet by Big Paleontology to make billions more for their shareholders?). I walked right up to that T-Rex and leisurely took these pictures, without even noticing that I was the only patron at the museum. When I walked out, some glaring employees and a sign informed me that the museum was closed today. You see? Nothing stands in the way of Science!

Some old stuff, and a bit more culture

So Kryn said in his post that he didn't want me to "show him up," so I thought now would be the perfect opportunity for mediocrity! You see, I've had these rowing pictures lying around, and I meant to put them on the blog a long time ago, but I never got around to it, and that has kept me from getting on to more current news. I won't have a lot to say, so if you feel short-changed, click on this link, and let the music play in another window and pump those fists as you enjoy your visit. That should make up for my lack of dialogue. All set?

Okay, here you go:

This is the Wolfson First Boat Novices!



Our Sponsors!!!



What the inside of the boat looks like!!!!!!!!

Getting ready to race!!!!!!!!!!!

PUSHING OFF!!!!!!!!!



RACING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Putting the boat away.


Sorry that got a little intense. I've been listening to the Owl Rave as I write this, and it's easy to get overstimulated.

Also, I noticed this sign a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a good opportunity to teach you a bit more about the refined sophistication that is the English culture:



You see, a crosswalk is called a "zebra crossing," and a speed bump is called a "hump," so this is a crosswalk painted on a speed bump. Delightful!

Well, that's all for now, it's nearly night-noon (that's what they call midnight here in England. Probably). I actually have lots of other stuff going on, not the least of which was a real person (two, actually!) who came and visited me in Oxford. Devon and Joe have all the pictures, though, so I'll let them tell you how magical it was. I'll chime in where appropriate.