mafozone

I opened a Youtube account...

2010-09-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

...where I'm posting my guitar video... hopefully on a regular basis.

Follow me at www.youtube.com/user/mafosongschannel

watch, post a comment, subscribe, do whatever you want!

cheers,

ivan

2009 Review: About Asia, girlfriend, swiss cheese fondue, oldtimers and guitars

2010-01-20T23:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Friend from (almost) everywhere on this planet,

I am coming back to you after quite a long time to give you a little update about my personal life during the last 15 months. Well, I am still having a very good time with the job I started in November 2008, dealing with air pollution, air quality control and stuff like that. Also, last year I was able to invite Lee Keang, my long time Cambodian girlfriend, for a three months stay here in southern Switzerland during the summertime. I say I was able because now I know how difficult is it to invite someone form a country outside the Shengen area who doesn’t have a few ten thousand dollars in his/her bank account. So, being someone who likes difficult tasks I decided to invite her again, another three months, but this time during the winter. Hopefully she will come on time to experience snowy weather (and I won’t have to discuss too much with immigration police to get the bloody Shengen Visa).

On 1. January I came back from a 5 weeks holiday in South East Asia (my flight took off from Bangkok on 31.12 at 23.58, so that by midnight i was flying at about 3-400 m height and I could enjoy the fireworks all over a city of nine million people. Very impressive!) Beside Cambodia and Thailand me and Lee Keang also visited Bali, where we were guest of a very good friends of mine, we met another Swiss Italian friend and… my parents, which I strategically “sent” on vacation on the same Island. In fact, it would have been too much for them if I’d asked them to follow me and Lee Keang, so I thought this would have been the best solution. And it was!

Also, I enjoyed eating real Swiss cheese fondue in the tropical heat! I know, I know… many of you will blame me for this, jejejeje! I just thought that after all of my past experiences with local foods I kinda deserved to try something like this, and actually it doesn’t make you sweat that much as one might think.

Very hungry of traveling, I decided to spend the last few days in Shenzhen, China, where also this year I was guest of my friend Angelo, who at the moment owns two Italian restaurants in this 16 million people city nearby Hong Kong, which is almost two times the size of Bangkok, looks like Manhattan, and probably most of you never heard this name before. Not really surprising if you consider that the DOMESTIC airport terminal in Shenzen is probably bigger than the new Bangkok airport, while the INTERNATIONAL terminal is for sure smaller than the one in Lugano here in southern Switzerland, population about 50’000. Mysterious China…

Wishing you guys a wonderful year 2010!

All the best,
Ivan

P.S.: almost forgot... last september I bought myself a 1973 VW Beetle 1303 S (see pics below).

I'm having lots of fun with it!!! Just to tell you one, imagine that sometimes the horn starts to blow by himself (must be some problem with electrical contacts, I'm not an expert at all) and this always happens at the wrong moment and at the wrong place... just like the beetle from the disney movie... And of course sometimes it causes me little trouble, but this is part of the game, ain't it? ;-) Cheers.

2008-2009 Photo Review

2010-01-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

January 2008 at Home in Siem Reap

With sister Carola on temple tour

New year 2007 in Tours (France)

Enjoying simple life

With crazy Francois/Francisco/Frank

Xmas 2009

Bali

Pier Poretti

Picking up the guitar

Beatles, Beatles!!!

Swiss traveling product

Family with nephew Nathan, born on November 24, my B'day!

Leaving home in Bellinzona

Trying out a new song (fully concentrated)

Milan

Paris, opssssssss...

Hometown

Calling Elvis

Girlfriend nr. 1 & 2

Crazy night behind

Traditional dances by Francesco

Fra & his sister

At work, january 2009

hometown

driving arouns Shenzhen with Angelo, 2008

Angelo and son Alessio-german-guy

Pier Poretti's art work, Siem Reap

Karaoke, Phnom Penh

Lee Keang waking up...

... after getting (very) angry the night before. (I just wanted to stay a bit longer...)

Chinese taste for luxury

Hong Kong

Street Parade 2009, Zurich

With Carola, Bern

My brother Mattia

Geneva

Mafia meeting

Tired

In Milan with our "tour guide" Ilaria

Cooking with music

"The Creep" (Radiohead)

Love me tender

Notre Dame in Paris

With a couple of kg more thanks to beer and french food, what a life!

as i said...

Postcard

Tour Eiffel

LK got angry again

step away from me

MP3 (chinese fake)

angry face nr. ??

At home in Bellinzona

Meet the snow

Smell good?

Like a rolling stone

Oh, yeah!

Joyride (Roxette) Acoustic Rock Guitar Cover

2009-05-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you goes to Ray Red who taught me how to play this one. Before this, I believed it was almost impossible to cover such a song with just an acoustic guitar. Well, I really had a lot of fun learning this version of Joyride...

Wonderwall (Oasis) Acoustic Rock Guitar Cover

2009-04-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

2009-03-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

L'appartamento è stupendo... mi sto pian piano inserendo nella vita di questa piccola città e sta arrivando la primavera...è tempo di pensare a come arredare la terrazza di casa. Vita tranquilla insomma tra lavoro e sessioni di chitarra. Uno di questi giorni provo a caricare un video di una delle mie canzoni preferite... I keep rocking.

Qualche novita…Some news

2009-02-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

Actually I wanted to write this in Italian, as I feel a bit lazy today, but my laptop as a Thai keyboard (It’s quite a long story…), has no Italian spelling, and I can’t even find the bloody accents… so some of you gonna have to forgive me…

No, this time I am not going to start with “It’s been a while since the last time…”
I am now living and working in Bellinzona, in southern Switzerland, I pretty much enjoy the new job, dealing with environmental protection, especially air pollution.

Also, I moved just last week in my new apartment! Yes, it has taken a while but it was pretty hard to find a decent one who was not too expensive. Finally, I got one right in the historical center, 5 minutes walk from work, and plenty of bars, and restaurants, and cinema, and all kind of shops and and and… even a sexy shop downstairs, just in front of the main door. Hmm, well…

It’ s really nice to live in the city… during the last three months I had to catch the bus every morning at 6.45 AM as I have been living with my parents since I left Cambodia. Means that now I can wake up at 7.30 and still get to work on time, yuppeeee!

Ivan goes to China....

2008-11-11T01:38:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

It has been a while since the last time I gave you some news, isn't it? I remember myself hanging around in Bangkok, with little on my hands to do and struggling to get a job as soon as possible with a humanitarian organization, which happened just about a few days after I sent you the last email. In fact, I have been working for an Italian NGO as a head of project, whereas I was responsible for an Iron Workshop where young disadvantaged adults are given the chance to learn a profession in order to support themselves and their families. Furthermore, around mid of March I was pre-selected by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for a position of Delegate. Once I finished my assignment with the Italian NGO – this time with mixed feeling about development and international cooperation, I have to admit – I flew back to Switzerland and had the interview with ICRC in Geneva. Well, after two weeks I got a negative response from them, without further explanation. I still can't explain to myself the reasons of this failure and I even didn't get the courage to ask for an explanation, so big was my disappointment. I thought to myself that I just had to take it as it had come and that better opportunities would come up.
The language tests evaluations having all been ranging from "very good" to "excellent", I personally tend to believe that during the interview I might have said something that the Human Resources Manager didn't like at all… probably one of those things you should never mention about relief organizations, even if you know it totally reflects the reality…

When I returned home in southern Switzerland I served 3 weeks in the army (yes, we Swiss male citizens have 3 weeks compulsory military service every year, generally until the age of max. 33). As usual I was assigned to the guard service, so I had to stand several hours per day, doing nothing but looking around, which didn't really help me to get a better feeling. Staying at my parent's home looking for a job on the web also doesn't really fits to me, so I decided to accept the invitation of my Italian friend Angelo to follow him and his wife to China, where he currently lives and runs two restaurants. Not that I had the idea to jump again in the hospitality business, but I also had nothing to loose to go there and take a look. Believe it or not, we were standing at the railway station in Zurich, headed to the airport with all our luggage when I got a phone call from someone offering me a job, a 2 years assignment at the environmental protection office of the regional government, take it or leave it. What to say, I cancelled the flight, went back home, got the job and rebooked the same flight one week later. The assignment will start on November 10. Meanwhile, after I spent 4 days in Hong Kong, I moved to Shenzhen where my friend lives.

I also plan to spend one week in Cambodia before flying home and start to work, as my passport has only one blank page left and I would be more then glad to get another Visa stuck on it. It could also be a sign that the right time has come for spending a couple of years working living in my home country.

Cheers,
Ivan

2008-03-16T03:23:00.000-07:00

Cambodian wedding in Kompong Kdei
With Phanith daughter (2005)...

... and with his son (2008). See the difference?

Art photography by Pier Poretti (the idea was mine ;-)
Ivan and his 1965 Vespa on day one
Oldtimers: Vespa and Pier Poretti's 2CV (1965)
Me, You and the Vespa
Banana Flower

Red light in Siem Reap
Sunset at Tonle Sap lake

Let's see if the bridge holds....

Rolf at Karaoke
Karaoke 2
Lee Keang in Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville
an abandoned Tuk Tuk

12.30 PM: Sebastiano shows up...what a surprise!
Tonle Sap
With Sergio, Francesco and Sunsoley
Latin Lover at work

Pier brings me some stuff before moving to Bali

On the way to our Cook's funeral...it took us several hours to find the way...
Jamming with Sebastiano
Sebastiano, Eric, KC and Myself in Concert @ Molly Malone's Pub

2008-03-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

Dear friends all around the world,

It's been ages it seems since I have sent you the last update. Well, I won't make it very long this time as I just want to inform you that I returned to Asia on the 6 February, this after spending three amazing months in Switzerland and since then I have been looking intensively for a job. It looks to me that finding a job with an humanitarian organization in Cambodia is harder than I had expected, probably due to the country has become more and more attractive for expats over the past few years, not to mention the fact that Cambodia can now be considered as a family friendly place, which again attracts an increasing number of skilled professionals with several years of experience and their respective families.

What I experienced so far is that, despite of my background experience, Tour Operators and Hotels seems to be more interested in my abilities than most of the NGOs I have been contacting since last September. Certainly, I got several times the temptation to jump again into Tourism business, but each time I was about to finalize the deal I heard that little voice inside telling me that by going this way it would not take a month to make of myself an unhappy person. A bit frustrating, isn't??? Just to give you an example, you have to figure out that I applied recently for a Position with a Tour Operator, got a positive response after 2 weeks (by this time I had already changed my mind), so I sent them an email with very unrealistic salary expectations, just in order to get rid of them and hoping that they would not contact me anymore. I just felt a little uneasy when they invited me for an interview (!) and this time I replied that I was willing to work for an NGO or similar, even as a volunteer (!) in case this would be necessary to launch my career in this field.

What to say... I have a dream… May this dream come true ;-)

All the best to you all.
Ivan

2007-09-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Dear old and new Friends,

I am coming back to some of you after having spent 6 months in East Timor on a U.N. mission which has been definitely an amazing and very formative experience for myself and allegedly for many other fellows who have shared with me the privilege to be part of the history of the world's youngest nation.

But first of all, I would like to inform you that I found my way back to Siem Reap, which I left so swiftly mid of February this year and probably because after 3 years it has become a sort of addiction. Certainly, I have been considering the option of going straight home for a while after the mission but finally I thought to myself that I should do as the Scuba divers do on their way back to the surface, i.e. a decompression break somewhere in the middle… Well, it means that I'll be back in Switzerland by end of October, and that this year I intend to spend Christmas at home (I miss this since 2001) so that I would be back in Cambodia by beginning of January 2008.

Although it might sound strange to many of you, I learned that when you do this kind of job such a long break becomes compulsory in order to maintain our mental balance and stay connected with the rest of the world. This, of course, is beyond the fact that a long holiday can be an incommensurable pleasure, and that I will try my best to enjoy my free time jejeje! (Or I'd better call it "freedom of movements", as people who are on a mission become very soon familiar with the concept of "restriction of movements"). Ok,…I can talk like this because I don't have any mouths to feed, yet.

So here is my plan… I will spend the next couple of months in Siem Reap trying to make some new connections and at the same time taking care the old ones, but most of all I'll be looking around for an interesting job opportunity in this country. Further, I'll have to join the army in Switzerland during 3 weeks in November and then I intend to travel and dedicate my time to my family and friends in Europe.

With regards to East Timor: It would have been quite difficult – and especially very time consuming – to try to express in words just only a small part of what I have experienced during the last 6 months… In addition, I believe that for my well being I'd rather make my mind busy with what I will do next instead of hanging around trying to feed the curiosity of the people…I will therefore limit my words saying that at times a volunteer arrives in a mission and feels out of place, struggling to blend in but soon finds him/herself as a part that makes the system work better. The emotional rewards then surpass all other imaginable gains, the soul begins to be fed and the result is the sacrifices we make for the benefit of others.

When you see me walking around, I walk straight and head held high for a simple reason - I am proud to have served in this mission, I am proud of who I became but most of all I am proud to have helped a nation rise. You may call me a dreamer but here is a fact - I am officially a small but important part of the Timorese History...

All I can say is a humble thank you to all for changing my life positively, having said that I raise my glass and say... Cheers,

Last but not least, I decided to make a Blog with some of my best shots on www.mafosat.blogspot.com. If interested, have a quick look, leave a message if you want and thanks to take into your consideration that this is the first time that I do this, so the layout is not exactly as it was supposed to be ;-) I'll try to improve myself for the next adventure, if any…

PS My new phone number in Cambodia +855 92 24 99 18, my skype ID is mafosat

IM

UNMIT TIMOR 2007 PART 2

2007-06-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

Looks like I am a bit more red than normal on this picture...
For my friend Gifri: yes, I am wearing the shirt of the seventies that you gave me in 1994...for special occasions only.

View from elicopter 2.
The pilots were russians, too.
I felt very safe in this cab...in the eventuality that I get stoned again...
Jamming till it hurts with the students from Arte Moris.
Crocodile is a sacred animal in East Timor. Look at the profile of these mountains and you'll know why. Dili bay, Dili.

Abandoned House, Border Liquica/Bobonaro
Opss...
Dili Downtown.
Evacuation with russian MI8 on August 9.
View from the Elicopter 1 (Dry Season)

Sometimes when the night falls and there is no electricity there is also not much to do...

Rwandese colleague socializing with locals. Considering his size I guess ...que le plus grand basketteur du Timor Leste c etait lui a la periode ou il etait la; surtout pour les jeunes poulettes.... Go for it, Yves!!
Fortunately there was a big sign warning that the road was interrupted so that I could brake on time ;-)

...and one beautiful day H.E. Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Prize and President of Timor Leste suddenly walked in the only restaurant in Liquica and invited us to join him for lunch...
Excellency, one more formal shot for the press... even though I guess it must be very ennoying for you...

Heat it up, Pedro! Thanks for the food...

When you weigh 45 Kg two beers are enough to get into the party...
United Nations means also United Sexual Orientations...

My room
Traditional cooking

What should I do next??

This and much more happens at the United Nations...

Just click to enlarge... a wonderful Desktop Theme. Gas Station near Los Palos.
Electoral Party on the beach, Areia Branca, Dili.
Timorese Lolita
Sunset near Ulmera
Don't know what to say.

Chati, my personal escort from Thailand.
Wanna take a picture with my (chinese) gun?
Street in Liquica.

Double voting

AK 47. Courtesy of Pakistani formed Police Unit.
Queuing people on election day. Just try to get through...
Tabulation Center late at night, Liquica.

For your hygiene and safety drink only bottled water.
Let's move guys!!! UNPol officers from Uganda and Senegal.
Putting the seals on the ballot box, Fatumasi.

Voting screen. Please use the nail to vote if you are not well acquainted with the pen (Thanks Pedro for the new word ;-).

Pilipinos eat only fish...
Changing a flat tire

U.N. Police station, Liquica.

Beware of other road users...

I think so...
Presidential Villa @ Patra Hotel & Resort on Complimentary, Bali. Thank you, Asian Trails!
Sounds & images from Angola, Dili.
No way that we put the fish in the car!
Come back...

Working hard before Election Day

Traditional House, Manatuto district.

Procession, Los Palos.

Beach boys and their taxi driver, Jako Island.

There are plenty of goats in East Timor...

With Luca Gansser, Swiss-Italian like myself and founder of Arte Moris. http://www.artemoris.org/

I called this " The Millenium Beach". What a privilege to come here before many others...

Sunset and building burned in 1999, Liquica.

First update from Timor Leste

2007-04-17T01:58:00.000-07:00

Dili, Sunday 25th February 2007

Dear friends all around the world,

First and foremost, a very good morning from Dili, Timor Leste!!!!!

For those of you who didn’t get any news from me during the last months (or years) I am most pleased to inform you that I temporarily left Cambodia so as to join the Integrated Mission of the United Nations in Timor Leste as Electoral District Advisor for the upcoming elections who will take place in April 2007. The length of the mission will be of 6 months by the way.

So here I am. After spending 2.5 years so far in Cambodia I resigned last Friday from my last job as Guest Relations Coordinator with the Tour Operator Asian Trails. That was quite a tough week as I had the final interview on the phone on Thursday evening, and after writing a resignation letter until late at night I handed it in on Friday for the next day. I then packed my bags on Sunday and on Monday I was already on the plane, heading first Kuala Lumpur, then Sidney, and finally Darwin where on Wednesday I catch the U.N. flight to Dili, capital city of Timor Leste.

Concerning the situation in here, apparently it is going up and down and I definitely didn’t’ flew in on a quiet day, as upon arrival at Dili int. airport we were picked up by a U.N Police convoy and had to wear helm and bulletproof jacket (SCARY!!!). Beside of that, the situation has been calm until now, although I have heard that “Entifada” (throwing of stones, especially to army/UN vehicles) is a quite common practice by the inhabitants of this country, considering that the unemployment rate reaches 50 % and most of these people are spending their time sitting at the side of the road and looking at the traffic, which by the way includes also some tanks which are constantly patrolling the roads of Dili. The biggest problem at the moments seems due to a shortage of rice which makes people pretty unhappy with the government and has led so far to some isolated incidents between army/police and gangs of local people (the security advisory is at the moment phase 2 of 5, according to the U.N. terminology).

So far, I and my colleagues are currently in the middle of the training that should ends up next Thursday with the deployment for each of us to one of the districts of the country. Due to most of my colleagues have already done this kind of mission one to up to six times (!), our group coordinator had probably some understanding for my situation and assigned me to a small district which is just about one hour outside Dili, where I am supposed to be based in a medium size city with at least telephone and internet connection. This is certainly not always the case, as yesterday we just started an intensive two day course in order for us to be able to operate properly both a VHF Radio and especially a GPS device. This was in fact my biggest worry, to be deployed in a remote mountain region, being cut off with the rest of the world during the next 6 months. Not of a minor importance for myself, is the fact that in Liquica (the city where I am supposed to go) there is apparently a beautiful beach and that the average temperature is around 25 C. It doesn’t looks so bad, though.

Moreover, I have been told that the big majority of problems faced at the moment by the authorities are related to the capital city, and that the situation in all the provinces is ongoing very stable; nonetheless, security conditions are ensured everywhere by the U.N. Police, and there are stricts procedures to be followed, which makes me feel more confident regarding the fact that this be a very positive experience for myself.

Another very good point is the cost of life in the provinces, which should be very much cheaper then in Dili and within the U.N compound. Basically, an apartment in Dili in a secure part of the city costs roughly 500 US monthly and a bottle of beer is sold here for 2.6 USD, which just makes me figure out that the hang over I got from last night wasn’t exactly cheap, although I could create a pretty good atmosphere with the guitar I brought along from Cambodia, and got so some beers offered by my new adventure fellows ;-). This is the kind of activities (play guitar while having a few numbers of beers) I really missed in Cambodia, especially since I started my experience in the tourism industry over one and a half year ago, being often too busy during weekends with sorting out all kind of problems with the clients. However, I would like to point out once again that this had been a great and very useful experience for me and that I am extremely grateful to those people who gave me the chance to do it even without previous skills in this branch. I can just state that I certainly wouldn’t be here where I am without passing through it. Thanks again!

That’s all folks. I’ll try to provide you with some more information and hopefully some exciting stories during the next weeks…

Have a great week.

Ivan

Riots in Dili on March 4th, 2007 and other stuff

2007-04-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

UNMIT TIMOR 2007

2007-03-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

At Rosa restaurant in Liquica
Jamming....
UNV colleague from Uganda

Pulling out portuguese friends who went off road
Sunset in Metagou
Partying on the beach
Portuguese fort in Maubara

Making new friends in the jungle
Another beautiful shot from Bazartete subdistrict

These images speaks for themselves

Liquica beach

Testing the VHF radio in Fahilebo

With Chief of Village in Fahilebo and Language Assistant.

Metagou's waterfall

Roads in the mountains are very challenging, especially during wet season

Voter education campaign

Someone is looking at us...

Narrow passage

Exploring the subdistricts...

Overview from the mountains

The house I rented in Liquica

Deployment to the district (Liquica)/ travel on a convoy

Myself and Toyota Landcruiser, my favourite vehicle

With my portuguese friend Katia and a Toyota Prado

... and a burned one.

I touched down in Dili during difficult times...
A burning house in Dili...

Main gate of the UN Compound a.k.a. Obrigado Barracks

Arrival at Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili

UN aircraft in Darwin on day 01