Q&A + weekly workout

Last week’s workout

Mon: 30 min yoga (I rotate between theglowmethod and boholbeautiful), 15 min lower back injury prevention form Dynamic Runner

Tue: 35 min jog + 60 min lower body strength

Wed: 30 min jog.

Thur: 35 min jog + 55 min full body strength

Fri: 60 min walk (taking girls to school, going to chiropractor and go home)

Sat: 35 min on TM (AQI 170!). 60 min upper body strength in the evening (I am surprised that I enjoyed PM workout, first time!)

Sun: 5 min + 1.7 miles super easy while girls rollerblade.

Thanks for posting some questions.

Q: What do you do in a daily basis at work?

In a daily basis, I lead the preparation of analysis/reports. By lead I mean I set out the research question, design the methodology if it’s a field I know about or find the experts, gather the team, and let them do the analysis. Once it’s done, I review, comment, polish it before publication. Then it comes the communication part which involves meeting with different stakeholders, convince them why the findings are relevant for them and they should make changes to improve the life of their citizens. Some projects takes few months, others few weeks. So in a daily basis, I check progress, meet with teams/clients, learn about new research from other teams, and keep up to date with my field.

Q: My background

I was born in China and moved to Argentina when I was 9, stayed there for a year, returned to china for two years before moving back to Argentina to stay. I basically grew up in Buenos Aires, went to the US for my Ph.D in. Economics when I was 25, and started working in my current job in 2011.

Q: Do you have any siblings? Where do they live? Are you close to them? How do you stay in touch?

I am single child, like most of chinese born in the 1980s due to single child policy.
Q: How often have you moved around and where have you lived?
I was in HQ for 6 years before deciding to try field assignment in 2017 when we moved to Manila. We stayed there for 5 years and moved to Jakarta last year. Usually field assignments are 4 years long.

Q: How did you meet your husband?

We met in 1991, when I was 10 years old. He was my desk mate in 4th grade.

Q: What is your biggest insecurity?

I am pretty confident person. I am totally okay saying I don’t know without worrying about what people might think of me.

Q: What is something you regret?

In general I don’t have regrets as I consider all experiences valuable. The only regret I have is not having spent more time with my dad who passed away few years ago. I should have asked him to visit me and stay with us sooner.

Q: what all locations you guys have been in for your job, your favorite location, if there are any locations you’ve said no to, and what your ideal location would be.

DC, Manila, Jakarta. I love both Manila and Jakarta. If Jakarta is less polluted, I’d like Jakarta more. I just said no to Sydney mostly due to financial reasons. Given the age of our kids, I am being very picky with locations. First criteria is access to good international school, work comes after that. We are pretty open to new places. I’ve been living in Asia for over 6 years now. We are ready to move to another continent, either Latin America, Middle East, Central Asia, or some places in Africa. Really, there are no places that we wouldn’t go as long as there are good schools and safe.

If you have other questions, feel free to ask. I’ll do another Q&A next month.