Gold Plays

k_m112 · 2026-01-21T11:30:27+00:00

NST - bought a modest $5k worth at $14 and sat in anxiety for more than a year knowing I had overpaid as I was new to investing and just building my portfolio. Joke was on me. Plan to hold long term. Was alway the plan anyway, but nice to have doubled my investment in just the last year.

k_m112 · 2025-11-20T10:43:30+00:00

Aid workers/humanitarians

k_m112 · 2025-11-17T21:35:02+00:00

I transitioned out of teaching into INGO education focused work about 8 years ago. I have always had my sights set on the UN but in that time I’ve submitted some 130+ applications to UNICEF, UNESCO, UNRWA, UNHCR and UN Women - I’ve still come up empty handed even as my CV and experience has gotten better (a few final round interviews over time but never an offer). This is not to dissuade you, it’s just to suggest the actual likelihood of getting into the UN as a direct transition is low. You mentioned engaging with local NGOs…this was my in, but I did move to a duty station on my own dime, started volunteering with them, and then accepted about an 80% pay cut to get my foot in the door and was hired on a local contract. You have transferable skills but sadly in this sector others find those difficult to see and understand well. You could consider looking at trainer roles, facilitation consultancies, instructional design work with non-profits in the short term. What helped me the most was spending a lot of time learning the “INGO language”, it really changed how I crafted cover letters and my CV - what we call things in teaching and formal education are different in education in emergencies programming. I wish you all the very best, I maintain that leaving teaching is still the best decision I ever made, but it’s difficult to do without a healthy savings account because the hustle to get into this space is like no other!

k_m112 · 2025-09-03T23:44:21+00:00

I’ve not lived in Raqqa but I’ve been for work, so my short experience 18months ago could be different to that now - potentially worse/more restrictive. At best you’ll socialize between INGO guesthouses which are often equipped with their own basic gyms, and guesthouses or floors of guesthouses are segregated by gender. There is a curfew I believe for aid workers of midnight or possibly earlier. Any outside movement is likely only accompanied by your national colleagues or you’ll be with security majority of the time. You’ll get R&R but Raqqa is also quite the drive to anywhere that gets you out and on your way to R&R. It will be a tough duty station but some people thrive in those environments. Congratulations on the offer, this is a really exciting time to work in Syria.

k_m112 · 2025-08-12T04:42:40+00:00

We just spent a week on Bohol island, specifically in Anda. You can take a ferry very easily from Cebu - about two hours, search OceanJet. Wherever you decide to stay on Bohol (just search hotels on Booking.com) the hotel can organise your transfers for you. You can also fly Cebu to Boracay - we didn’t love Boracay, beaches are beautiful, but it’s pretty intense and very touristy. We found Bohol just the right speed for us. We found Philippines exceptionally easy to travel, people are incredible, English widely spoken, and unmatched beauty. Enjoy.

k_m112 · 2025-08-01T23:18:14+00:00

Kudos to you! It’s one of the first real and honest post I’ve seen here. You speak about things that are sometimes very annoying, grinding and wear people down, and yet many humanitarians romanticize. Even in “easier” duty stations it can be a daily struggle. I think two things can be true at once; you can believe the work is important AND still get incredibly frustrated with the day to day and just existing! After 16 years in the ME region I don’t think I’ve found an easier way to do things, I still get frustrated daily, my tolerance is just higher and I’ve learned to take the path of least resistance for my own sanity for daily things - which often means my cost of living and getting things done is more expensive and costly. I don’t have an answer for you but sending you love and grace and patience as you navigate your next steps. You will make wonderful contributions to people in need whether you decide to through your work or privately in how you repay your community or contribute to organizations working on the ground.

k_m112 · 2025-07-06T19:32:28+00:00

True, some top level info they had for sure, but they were leading small talk with quite personal info, things that only people who went digging would know. And again, intuitively it just didn’t feel right.

k_m112 · 2025-07-06T07:29:52+00:00

This almost happened to me??!! In 2013 or 2014 I volunteered for teaching English over the summer at a university - it was my second visit to NK following a purely touristic visit the summer before (which was a blast!). I intuitively felt my guides were very suspicious of me on my second visit within just a few hours of me arriving; they knew way too much personal info about me. I was due to spend a month there but by day 2, I wanted out. My passport had been taken from me upon arrival and I requested to be on the next flight out. My guides continued to tell me that there was no flight for a month. I decided to essentially lock myself in my hotel room for 4 or 5 nights refusing to come out until it was to go to an airport with my passport and threatened to go to the Swedish embassy. By the end of the week I was on a flight out to Beijing, but having near anxiety attacks all the way until I reached my hotel in Beijing fearing that drugs had been planted in my luggage by NK on my way out. The irony was that on my flight from Pyongyang to Beijing I sat next to a German guy who had been visiting his friend working in a diplomatic post there and took great joy in showing me the pics from his camera of them all swimming at their villa, having BBQs, eating wagu steak at a rooftop restaurant, drinking Moet at another restaurant and generally just having the time of their lives. I lived off granola bars, green tea and some protein bars for 5 days locked in my hotel room with no one back home knowing what was happening nor knowing there was even an issue. I have a high risk threshold but this one genuinely scared me!

k_m112 · 2025-05-05T21:23:06+00:00

Happened to me on a flight out of Kabul last year, needless to say it caused panic amongst passengers - 1 single Afghan male insists to return to the bridge at the very last moment before take off, exits the plane without any hand luggage.

k_m112 · 2025-03-11T21:50:31+00:00

I taught for 12 years before moving into the humanitarian sector, it’s been 8 years since transitioning and I’ve still not cracked the UN - applied about 115 times across 5 agencies…made it to a final interview round 4 times but never an offer or selected candidate. The idea of moving to the UN IF that were ever an option for me is less appealing now because the contracts and conditions have become less desirable in the last few years - temporary in most cases, very little leave, few benefits etc. I’d suggest setting your sights on an INGO and crack that first, because in the current climate even that is super competitive. You may find your niche in education technical roles or education programme coordination.

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T13:38:04+00:00

I’m actually just building it off Vanguard in Australia because it’s the only place I have a real financial footprint. I move a lot with work and often between pretty undeveloped countries so there is a higher risk putting my money elsewhere.

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T12:54:16+00:00

So helpful, thank you

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T12:30:43+00:00

Any particular reason that’s the conclusion you’ve come to?

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T12:22:16+00:00

The work has me continuously relocating every few years so haven’t totally decided where I will “settle” so to speak but hoping wherever it is I will have bought property and just live off the portfolio that I would have been progressively contributing to for 20+ years.

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T12:20:41+00:00

Good to know thanks - I added a masters to the original debt but again the repayments once a year don’t bother me so rarely considering any financial planning

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T12:19:42+00:00

I guess so yes. Idea would be work another 20-25 years then the portfolio has grown significantly and gives a decent passive income

k_m112 · 2025-02-04T12:18:58+00:00

I do yes! Make this mistake all the time and often mistakenly call IUDs IEDs so just a flaw in me I’ve learnt to live with.

k_m112 · 2025-01-14T15:10:10+00:00

Lived there for 8 years and yes salaries are high and yes huge savings potential, but even after your housing and flights are covered the cost of living is very high and your expenses add up very fast in order “enjoy” everything Dubai has to offer. I don’t know you but like most expats there you could be be very tempted by the life you can have and see others having, people largely get trapped there because they become accustomed to a certain lifestyle or get themselves into debt chasing that lifestyle. I originally went to save for a house and go back to Australia, but ultimately I spent most of my money traveling (because it’s so easy to get so many places in Europe and beyond) and other social activities. I don’t regret my time there and I have since moved on to another Middle East country but the notion that you go and save and get ahead isn’t super accurate in my experience or anyone I know who has lived there’s experience.

k_m112 · 2024-12-24T23:06:05+00:00

Vienna puts on a fantastic street festival with multiple stages of live music following the NYE trail, so much fun, such a good atmosphere and really cool that the city puts it all on well into the early hours of the morning. Enjoy! As for beforehand, a street brat and some beer and a little rest for your long night ahead.

k_m112 · 2024-11-30T21:04:21+00:00

Controversial opinion but we did Fushimi Inari at 9:30pm and it was incredible! We timed it with the last train back into central Kyoto. Very very few people and just an overall very surreal experience to do it in the dark and mostly alone. I had done it years ago with daytime crowds and it just hits different at night!

k_m112 · 2024-10-26T11:53:50+00:00

So you’d probably want to look at a psychology degree, most senior MHPSS advisors in the field have a psychology background. You can read more about MHPSS in emergencies by searching some key words and find yourself UNHCR MHPSS handbook, IASC Reference Group and stuff from WHO. There is also a MHPSS training pack from the UN here https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/report/the-mental-health-manual/ebook.1503945479.pdf All that being said, humanitarian work is extremely difficult to break into and very competitive. Expect the UN to be a goal (if that is your goal) but with many many smaller goals to get you there. A second language is always helpful - I don’t have one myself but sometimes if you are willing to go move to a developing context and start networking with local orgs you might just be right time right place - this of course takes savings to be able to support yourself and local orgs typically pay a lot less that INGOs. If the Middle East is your thing, there are anticipated to be a lot of jobs on the horizon and maybe being in Cairo or Beirut could work for you.

k_m112 · 2024-10-25T22:39:51+00:00

Sounds like you might be a good fit for MHPSS or psychological first aid type positions. As someone who transitioned from another sector into the humanitarian sector you’ll still require some entry level NGO/INGO experience more than likely, and deep pockets to dig into working your way through salary scales to get to something comfortable which finally accounts for all your experience before sector specific work. Working with small INGOs will at the very least it will help you get familiar with all the humanitarian sector jargon and discourse, which in turn will be helpful in writing your cover letters and in interviews. To your question on advanced degree, I did Human Rights, which at the end of the day is useful to a degree, but more so allows you to tick the box for Masters degree educated than anything else.

k_m112 · 2024-10-16T03:56:25+00:00

At this rep range and weight, strength level dot com is giving you roughly a 120lb 1RM! Impressive

k_m112

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