My last post

Well, my last week at work. Nearly four months ago I left Honolulu, school, my nice apartment and my lovely husband to come to Bangkok and do something for myself and my Ph.d. 

On my way home, picture stolen from Antony Tam

After much time spent having 'me' time and 'me-and-my-ph.d.' time, I can definitively say it was worth it. Although that 'osmosis' process I was hoping to happen, didn't, and my research question is still elusive, I still think that this UNESCO experience was one of the most beneficial things that will happen for my future research, but did not help the immediate issue of helping me define my question. Looking back, there were definitely nights when I could have mustered up some energy and did readings or put in some hard slogging thinking.  

But first things first, Kanchanaburi. My last weekend trip of my Thailand adventure and the sight of the famous bridge on the river Kwai, where some 14000 POWs died to make the train line for the Japanese invasion of south-east Asia. I hadnt realized how many Aussie diggers died in the process and admittedly, was found myself a little upset while looking at documentation in the museum. The cemetery next to the museum was a very tranquil place, I could easily spot the Aussie graves by the logo. Although it did take some restraint not to smack Asian tourists (not being racially stereotyping- those were just the only ones I saw) who would sit by the graves and take sexy-posing selfies. Oh man, I wanted to smack them hard. 

The bridge itself was not the original (having been blown up a year after it was built), but was still quite impressive and still put to use (as we discovered when a train came along and we were right in the middle of it). We walked along the entire length of it and looking at the train tracks lost into the green jungle was quite a sight. Having some dinner on the river afterward, a motorbike ride back to our hotel felt exactly what a night ride should feel like. No city lights, relatively quite night along the river and just the right amount of wind rushing through my hair. We also spent a day hiking out to Erawan national forest, where we saw the renown and quite beautiful seven stages of waterfalls. 

My last week of work lasted only four days. And it showed, I feel like I left a substantial amount undone due to my brain being everywhere. That big English report I had hoped to finished, never did get finished. But, I am actually a little happy about this. Since the UN (and therefore UNESCO) is so poor these days, interns are the most relied on feature for work (in my opinion). Meaning that they need as many as is sustainable. In this sense, I feel that staying in touch with UNESCO staff and having as many opportunities for future contact would be very helpful. This English report, might therefore be a link to them in the future. On the Friday we had the usual tea party to celebrate the end of the work week and also for my leaving. It was quite a nice affair before my some 30 hours of traveling. 

On a final note, thank you to all who have been reading this site, I see that it is over a 1000 visitors, which blows my mind, but when I think about it, I am sure it has just been my mum checking up on me. Now that I am back in Hawai'i, life has been a little lazy, but that is not a bad thing of course. I am looking forward to an actual date tonight with my wonderful husband! Life could not be better. Mahalo and Aloha. 

Week 15/16; Crunch time has hit.

Top of the World, ma! Sky Bars are the best.....and tallest.

Well, the last two weeks have been somewhat of a work-frenzy-blur. This solo report of English education in ASEAN +6 seems to have taken over my life. The biggest hurdle seems to be one of access and then extracting both little details (how do they assess English taught) and then the big issues (how important do they think English is in the education system). Of course I shouldnt and would not expect that foreign countries publish their policies in English, that would be making a mockery of linguistic identity and snubbing their own linguistic culture. However, it is English education, I guess I have always been a little lucky with just coming across these things. Second, come on Google chrome translate, throw me a bone here, why are you always breaking down!? Why is it so hard for you to recognize Khmer yo?

Right now it feels like this will be 'the' contribution I make to UNESCO. It might not be a high demand subject, but from what I can tell, there is not much on the subject, so perhaps this could be a start for future projects. I have been working like a beast (only a slight procrastination every half hour, I swear!). And heck, if UNESCO doesn't use it (although technically every thing I am doing right now is the property of UNESCO) then I might even use it for my own research and doctorate studies.

View from Chinatown

In any case, it is nice that I can just have some time to sit at my desk and get it all out in one go. I am a little ashamed that I have been prioritizing this personal report over tasks that my supervisor needs. But I really, really dislike Lit reviews. really. (update; as of Aug 9th, no lit review needs to be done!).
Speaking of supervisor-given tasks, I am still on the learning process of 'understanding what people want from you 101'.  After a few mis-communication issues, it turns out I do not understand language any more, and need to re-do my review and assessment of country goals for post 2015, which will hopefully only take 1 day (fingers crossed). At this stage, I have some 3.5 work days left, with most of the nights taken up with last minute visits and errands. Not much time left.

Late night Jazz bars in downtown Bangkok. 

My social life has been not hectic, still active, with lots of 'me' time thrown in to the mix. Just the way I like it. Made it to the big weekend market last weekend, to visit the most lovely jewelry store ever (thank you Rachel McCarthy) and finish buying all manner of souvenirs for family (you all wanted silk scarves, yeah?) with my Greek ball of energy friend, Xenia. After our foot massage, we met another UNESCO friend, and wound up in the most random, most local-young-people hang out I've been yet. Where we listened to local young bands do awesome covers of Death Cab and their own songs in the similar style. It was pretty great. Taxi-ing it over to the center of the city, to the Jazz Bar was also a highlight as I heard Michael Jackson covered by a jazz band and it is was sublime. This weekend will be my last trip and although I do love traveling, at this stage, I am just waiting to get home in all honesty. So, this trip is more to fill in time and see something that was on my list of 'to-do' and see Erawan waterfalls and the bridge of the river Kwai.

On a side note, I seem to have met the people I connect with most at the end of my trip, and it is super frustrating. I literally shouted to said friends the other day "ahhhhh, you're awesome! Why are you leaving!, why am I leaving!? Move to where I am, I live in Hawai'i!" Super frustrating, but it has led me to ponder the nature of people in international development, and I guess people with the lifestyle that I am also attracted to. Its not really goodbye, (and FYI, I hate goodbyes, just say 'see you later' to me, if you please) if you have a mind to keep these friends, I will most definitely make a choice to keep in touch with particular people and make sure to let them know when I am in their city/country/continent. Still super sad. Xenia, Mas Dino, Radhika, Melinda, Rachel, and all the rest of you! argghhhhh!

Week 13 & 14; work work work, fun fun fun

It has been nearly two weeks since my last update, and I'm sorry, but I swear, I had a really, really good reason, but more on that later.
The week of the 15th-19th at work had a 'woah' moment that I didnt realize how monumental it was until the meeting for it was nearly half over. As mentioned prior, I have transferred to the Research and Foresight unit (the one I am still doing a literature review for...), and at the moment, UNESCO is going through the motions for what to do after the Millennium Goal deadline (2015) has passed. My task initially started with searching for various countries in the Asia Pacific's educational strategies Post 2015. I had a moment of reflection thinking it is a strange and interesting life at UNESCO where you find yourself on the North Korean website (found here), looking for what they had planned for their educational future (nothing unsurprisingly). After looking for all these strategies and goals, we had a meeting on now that we had found some, what we were going to do for these for the upcoming 'Post 2015 Educational Goals'. As we progressed through the meeting, and I was told that I and the team would create a table of goals desired from the various countries and come up with a list that UNESCO will advocate as the new goals for the era. Then I realized, shit, I am in some small measure helping to form the new educational goals for the next decade. Goals that will be published and documented by UNESCO, UNICEF, and other such NGO and international organizations, then hopefully adopted by countries and disseminated to their population. Although I have done much here , this was the first time I was doing something that would matter and be felt globally. It was a nice feeling.

My work week ended with a flight. My reason for being away from the internet for some 9 days. A flight to Phuket (only there for 12 hours mind you), then another 8 wonderful days 'island hopping' with Christina Velasco (who was herself on her first tour of Asia). Although we had 'planned' our trip, which is definitely not in the adventurer-spirit, it would have taken us twice as long to get anywhere (in low season, everything runs only a third of the time). Our first stop was Koh Phi Phi, which had a strange mix of 'bros' (and gals), families and romantic couples, and us. Of course, we had to do , we had to, yes, it is very popular and over run with people, but how could we not see 'The Beach', Maya Beach. And to tell you the truth, meh. I mean , of course, it is in the top 5 bays I have ever seen, but I guess when it has been so hyped, it was bound to fall short a little. Our private long boat for the day however, did not disappoint. Swimming by ourselves in big bays, snorkeling around, stopping to have tea in the fanciest resort on the island, I think it was nearly heaven.

Our next stop, Koh Lanta, was decisively more relaxed. Heck, we even had a day of Thai monsoon that made us stay put and read books in hammocks near the beach. We found a place that was called 'Relax Bay', and followed it to a tea, excluding one long day of long boating (the only way to get around) and snorkeling around the islands (a favorite hobby of ours), I quite literally put my feet up for at least 24 hours. AND READ A BOOK. FOR.FUN. I know, right?

Our last venue, I almost dont want to name, it was so perfect, I dont want to let anyone know of it. The first rule of .... is that no one talks about .... . Hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, large chunks of earth jutting up into the sky, it quite possibly was the nicest beach destination I have ever been, and I live in Hawaii. After a few days of meeting up with UNESCO friends, relaxing, getting some adventure (finding our own private beaches), listening to monkeys outside our bungalow, listening to nothing at all (a rarity in Thailand), getting the Thai stomach bug, (again) , it was time to go back home.
Im not sure that I will have another chance to travel in Thailand again before I leave, but if not, this was quite nearly a perfect trip.

Week 12, Head Cold and Cambodia

Well, the week started off a little poorly, with a head cold that I caught on Saturday, sending me home from work on Monday and feeling pretty crummy on Tuesday. The week was mostly dominated by this literature and researcher search for pedagogical practices across Asia Pacific (which as of today has become a literature review (I kid you not, le sigh). While I know I have spoken of this before, and it must seem like this is all I do at work (which it feels like sometimes), there are always little one hour things that come up throughout the day. They mostly are not worthy of mentioning; proof reading articles, reports, revising mission statements, planning out future tasks, and so on. I am ashamed to say that since I have been here, I have very rarely thought about my thesis and upcoming research. Oh, I have thought of it in the sense that ‘Fudge, what is my blasted question’. I have narrowed my topic to the role that English plays in sustainable development and the eradication of poverty in Asia (Economic success in the new AEC needs English needs Education, and so on). But I just can’t seem to see anything that I can define into one sentence and properly research. For all the reading I have done here, for either specifically thesis searching or work to do with UNESCO, nothing has screamed out to me as an area that needs researching. Speaking with my advisor, David last week was reassuring, as he thinks it has much promise and is an area that will have much future research opportunities. But with my time here coming to an end, life is about to get real, real soon.   

 The weekend was much more delightful and one of the best traveling experiences I have had since honeymooning on Maui. Taking Friday off from work (my first day off since I have been here), fellow interns, Radhika and Mas Dino, and myself took a 6am bus all the way to Siam Reap. After dealing with the hustlers and other sorts of Cambodia nuisances, we arrived at our little hostel and took ourselves down to the Khao San road of Cambodia, 'Pub Street'. Although we should have packed so much into our time there, we were content to just have a relaxing afternoon and hop from cafe to cafe and people watch.   Our 4.30 wakeup on Saturday was in order to see the sun rise over famous Angkor Wat. Although the sunrise was nothing special, the whole scene was more than amazing. Walking through and exploring the temple complex could have kept me occupied for at least half a day. 

However, our next stop was the temple sight I have wanted to visit since I was 15 and saw it in a National Geographic magazine. Ta Prohm. Where the trees defied convention and decided to grow on top of the temples that intruded on their jungle. This place I could have lived in for a week before decided to come back the world. Unfortunately, about 1/4 of the outside walls had fallen down, whether because tree roots had taken their revenge, or time just got to it. Although I have seen many jaw-dropping sights since I came to Asia 3 months ago, this was beyond any of them.

5ft vs 5.9ft is a big difference in Bayon

Our last sight for the day was Bayon. A giant temple that had the face of Buddha on all four sides of every pillar. A giant stone temple. It sounds so simple and unremarkable. We didn’t get to Bayon until midday, when it was at least 35 degrees out, so there was not many people wandering around and it often felt like this giant stone sitting out in the sun was all ours. Steep stairs and tiny doorways made the temple seem like a labyrinth at times, Mas Dino (who is 5 foot) had an easy time with it (see picture). After some 7 hours of wandering around the temples, we finally returned into the city and had some rest time before going out one last time to get some Khmer food (I had the opportunity to have Frog curry and crocodile pizza) and a drink or  two before our long journey home early tomorrow.

This coming week sees a lot more work that is coming up to some deadlines, and will not doubt have me staying past five. I am also preparing for a week of Southern island hopping with Christina, who has mercifully done all the booking (thank you!).

On a last note, it was my lovely husband’s 33^rd birthday. Last year we celebrated with breakfast on our balcony and golfing on the North Shore. This year, he had a large sleep in and a movie, and I a seven hour bus ride and immigration woes. Hopefully next year will be better for both of us.

Week 10 and 11; Work is getting hectic

I admit, I have been a little lax the last 2 weeks, so lets jump into it; On the 24th of June I officially moved over to the research and foresight division and had a brief meeting with the chief, GC, about what I will be doing for the rest of my time here. It is nailed down to four so far. Which might not sound like a lot, but it is, I promise.

My first task, which after confirming with my new supervisor, Ushio, that I am indeed a student and have much access to databases and what not, was a literature search for the research division. Not kidding. However, this one is massive, and even though I thought I finished it in a week, turns out I was about 30 countries short (did you know there are about 50 countries in the UNESCO Asia-Pacific?). For this task, I am looking for research on pedagogical practices in the individual Asia-Pacific states and creating a library in the UNESCO network for future use. Related, I am also asked to identify potential researchers who are well versed in the field who could be potential participants for UNESCO's post 2015 talks. Now, this doesnt sound like a big thing, but then I realized that this could be a big deal for someone. Of course I can only find someone if they show up Google Scholar and are well advertised. This of course made me quite aware of my own lack of presence in media such like Linked in, and other researcher sites. To sum up, advertising yourself is important as you can never tell when an intern will be looking for you online.

I also am still tasked with the ESP project, where for the last two weeks, I have been collocating the 5 edited country profiles that we have edited and create a concrete set of guidelines for future creation of profiles. This is mostly time consuming rather than difficult. But it is challenging in the sense that there is no getting around making concrete rules about the direction the database will go in the future. But yes, it is time consuming as well as brain-draining. However, our new staff member, Naoko will be taking over the project and will be doing most of the work (I think) from now on.

My third task is the Cambodian EPSSim as well as the Teacher Costing model; projecting future costs of teachers.To be honest, I have not had any time for this. But essentially, using the data from the Cambodia EPPSim file, there are 3 of us that are to create a formula that gives projections of how much it would cost for the Cambodian government to produce the needed amount of teachers in the future. This is the exact opposite of my other projects, if I knew exactly what to do, it would be quite short (lots of brain power, short work), however, because we are missing a few pieces of vital data from the government (they simply dont have it), it will take some time to create this formula. 

Look what I made, ma!

Lastly, I got into writing my report for the Director of UNESCO Bangkok, which if I hadnt mentioned prior, the topic is the status of Education policy in ASEAN +6. Essentially, I am giving a comparative report on curriculum, pedagogy, policy and assessment for these very different countries. I am hoping to be thorough on this and it is a little intimidating as it will be going to 'the big guy'.

So these are the 4 things I will be doing until the end of my stay I believe. I dont think I could handle any more to be honest. Although it is only four assignments, I have (as of Sunday the 7/7) have a head cold and took a day off, will be taking this Friday off for Cambodia, and then time off for island hopping with C from the 23rd-27th. And although I havent been actively counting, only have some 20 days of work left.

The last 2 weekends have not been as big as others, nice weekends exploring Bangkok. Last Saturday morning was an early start with some lovely other interns who all wanted to learn how to cook some Thai dishes. Although it was a little pricey when you think of the food costs, you were really paying for the fabulous chef/teacher who takes you through the market, then down the little alley ways to his super chic three story house/kitchen. So now, I can cook some awesome dishes for Andrew and others when I return (maybe). The afternoon was spent at Chatachuk market (again), where, thanks to lovely Rachel McCarthy, we rediscovered an awesome coffee shop and jewelry store. Since I have yet to buy any Thai memories, I know this wont be the last time at the market, and offer my services to other interns reading this to go through the maze and show you these places, lets pass the secret places on! 

Sunday was a little lazy , but productive, talking to the husband, advisor, getting some Yoga in, ending with meeting Radhika and finally getting ourselves over to the infamous Khao San Road. Wow, just wow. I had not seen any place like it in Bagnkok yet. Having recently read The Beach, (movie with leo D.), it all started on the road and was fantastic as I could envision it all happening. The shady little side street dealings, the naive tourist getting taken for 100 Baht, vendors selling cooked scorpions and snakes, and me in it all, eating Durian in the middle of the street. After walking the street and side alleys, we found a bar to people watch , and after having enough of the crazy , took ourselves home.

This Saturday passed also involved something major and off my bucket list; The grand palace, which I have far too many photos of, but wow, it was indeed Grand. I at first didnt mind too much if I didnt see it, however knowing now what I could have missed would have been crazy. Oh to live like a royal! I am throwing it out there, better than Buckingham, or perhaps we could call it the Asian Buckingham, very comparable. So, my travelling buddy, Suh Yoon and I took a water taxi up the river and spent a few hours just sitting and taking in all the sights. Nice and slow.


Next weekend, I am heading off to Cambodia with Radhika and am looking forward to getting this literature and researcher search done and in my pocket. Really, there is only so many times I can use Google Scholar. 

Week 9; Felt like a big week

Well, I moved this week, to a much nicer place that feels more like an apartment and less like a hotel room. It is also on a nicer, safer-to-walk-on-at-night street, which I am all about. So, for the same price, I am a little closer to work, have a little more room, safer building and feel better about walking home at night.

This week at work felt much more relaxed that previous weeks as their was nothing pressing due or conferences, seminars, etc. I was asked to write a reflection on last month's Policy workshop and give my perspective as an Intern and PhD student in the field. It was my first time writing anything 'journalistic' that would be consumed by the public, and was a little awkward as I was 'judging' the peers I work with. But as I reflected, there really wasn't anything but praise I could say. As an intern and student I had learned quite a bit in content and the mechanics of running a workshop hadn't I? And from what I could remember, and through evaluations, a majority of feelings from participants were extremely positive. The piece will feature in next month's EPR news letter, but you can also find it here; http://www.unescobkk.org/education/news/article/reflection-how-did-unescos-education-policy-workshop-measure-up/

 At the beginning of the week, I also tried to do something more about my recurring knee issues and went to my first acupuncture session in my lunch hour Surprisingly, it was not painful in the slightest. At best, it was uncomfortable and perhaps felt something like when you pull a muscle or get a cramp. The painful part was the 'optional' stretching session afterward. Let me give you this one piece of advice, never let anyone touch your body after needles have been sitting in it for an hour. NEVER. Anyway, at $15 a session, I am looking forward to getting it done every week to see if there is any improvement (apparently one session will never cure anything, it is a slow road).

The weekend was a little bigger, with a trip to Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand, planned. We ended up having a group of 7 all climb onto a minivan and travel 90 mins north. Luckily, the weather held out for us and it only started to pour rain on our way back to the city. As an old capital, Ayutthaya was bound to have lots of ruins, and of course there were the sights that were a little more amazing than others. The group decided that we would hire a minivan with a driver to take us to all the noteworthy sights for 4-5 hours , with some lunch on the river in between. After Wat Mahathata (giant Buddha head in a tree),  everything started to blend in, of course it was all amazing, but yes, it all started to look the same in hour five.

After the minivan ride home, we all decided that it would be a mistake to waste Saturday night, but were all a little too tired to make it out into the city, so we went somewhere a little closer (just across the road from work) to the Marriot Sky bar. Wow, super wow. Although drinks were expensive (just laid down my credit card, all adult-like), you definitely were paying for the view. Of course the downside of a roof bar in a muggy city is that it all ends when it rains. Which it does in Bangkok, often. So after $25 worth of drinks (a g &t and cocktail), we all had to run downstairs and call it a night.

Next week at work looks to be busy, with my current supervisor, Satoko officially taking maternity leave, I will be moving to the research and foresight division. Til next week!

Week 8; So much has been done....

water taxi traveling

Starting with the beginning of the week, Sunday, I decided to do some exploring where it is best if you do it solo; museums. Setting my sights on the National Museum and National Gallery, I decided that I would go way out tourist and take a water taxi along the river to get to pier next to the gallery. And wow, everyone else seems to have the same idea. Unfortunately the water taxis do not come as often as I had hopes (twice an hour) and as a result, the boat does feel more like a bus in the sense that you are standing and being jostled around, with the difference that you get the occasional spray of water. However, it was a lovely hot morning and the sights from the river made the trip.

The National Museum was by far the highlight of the day and had a little bit of everything. Joining me on my trip to the museum was about 200 Thai army cadets all in uniform. They were so super cute, like little kids in dress up, following around their commanders and listening to the tour guides. The museum turned out to be filled with ancient art and many differing Asian periods and styles and I enjoyed a morning to myself just wandering, sitting, eating pat thai with little army cadets. Luckily so, because the National Gallery, was such a let down. To give a comparison, it took me perhaps 3-4 hours to do the Museum and an hour for the Gallery, which was stretching it.
My take on Thai history from my day, is that it is not exclusively 'Thai'. If you look through pictures on facebook, you can see that there are many statues and others such relics that are from everywhere. Indonesia, Cambodia, India, you could see it all in this one museum and yes, all at one time had been found in Thailand. Although I would have liked to have seen more art-ish things, like frescos, etc, what was displayed was still impressive.

This week at work felt slow and was definitely hard to get into. A highlight was on Wednesday, when a group of us interns had to attend the safety and security debriefing at UN Bangkok Headquarters. After hearing rumors of the debriefing discussions and the amazing food at headquarters, I can say it is all true. The head of UN Thailand security, a large Jamaican woman scared the bejesus out of a lot of us by showing us photos of the past 10 years of UN (and other associated) buildings that had been blown up and of the personnel who were killed and how they died (most being "blown to pieces"). Also shown was the immediate dangers to us here in Thailand. I am 100% sure that although it is just part of the lifestyle of Thailand, I will never get onto a motorcycle taxi. Also I will never do; hold my purse by my forearm, always over the shoulder in front of you, ladies. As demonstrated by recent CCTV footage of a UN employee being mugged outside a 7-11. Although the woman was dragged along the ground for some meters, it was quite a tame mugging, and along with the fact that another intern in the APPEAL unit went through the same thing last week, the message definitely got through; don't wear your handbag on your arm.
On a lighter side of the trip; the UN building was pretty awesome and puts UNESCO to shame (along with the awesome employee canteen). Although it was not the point of the trip, it was still pretty amazing, with hidden nooks and crannies all through the courtyard, and the international vibe in the atmosphere was almost addictive. So many people from so many places discussing 'the big issues'.

On Friday, another highlight, and unexpected trip to the Quality Learning Foundation's (QLF) forum on Youth Unemployment (and therefore indirectly about development) and was great as I am hoping to do my thesis in these subjects. Although the conference was small, it was in quite an amazing venue, and I was given a translator ear piece that was connected to two translators in a little booth in the back. Listening to two voices simultaneously required even more attention than simply trying to take in the content. I even raised my hand to speak and give input (for some reason, nerve-wracking), and heard myself translated into Thai, trippy. I am glad for the experience though, the material was extremely relevant to my interest, in a general sense, but was happy to give it a contextual framework. Next week I plan on moving apartments to a little more nicer apartment and safer area, giving acupuncture a go, and looking at the old capital of Siam, Ayutthaya.

Week 6 and 7- So many conferences and Buddhas

The last 2 weeks have been pretty amazing, and fast. Eight days of conferences, wonderful temples  and some good social time. How do you know you are settling into a place? When all the old ladies at your 7am yoga class wonder where you have been for the last 3 mornings (sleeping in). Between them and realising that the local Starbucks staff and the diner I frequent know my usual order to a T, makes me feel a little less homesick.

Advocacy workshop in Downtown Bangkok

The 27th to 31st of May at work was pretty eventful as the EPR workshop on Education Policy Formulation and Monitoring kicked off. We had over 10 nationalities attend and luckily all of us interns got to sit in on the presentations and take in a bit of knowledge ourselves. The topics were at the level that I had been learning about over the last 2 years, however when we got to Monitoring, I was a little out of my depth so it was good to get the opportunity to listen to our programme specialist. We also got to engage in the role play I have previously mentioned (where we were in the role of the Minister of Finance). It was very interesting to analyse data from another perspective, and assess what indicators (such as increasing text book lifespan) would help the M.O.Finance in obtaining its objectives. The activity itself was a little difficult for those who have never encountered the model before, so I ended more in the role of teacher than facilitator. We also had a late edition to our group, the Iranian Deputy Minister of Education, who could not speak much English and was accompanied by his translator. It was by far the most interesting teacher experience I have ever had, speaking to a translator in paragraphs, waiting for her to translate, looking at his facial expressions to see if he understands, then continuing on with my explanation.
Overall, the workshop was so interesting (but sooooo dense!) but I am glad it is over. It was such a long week, being focused and engaged day after day is extremely tiring.

Tuk tuk's through the city.

The week after the EPR conference, I had forgotten that I had prior volunteered to be a note taker at another Unit's conference on advocacy of inclusive education. Sooooo, another conference. Nope, wait, Im not complaining, swear. But I am pretty sure that I looked like a zombie for a few good days. On that, note; note-taking. I guess its something that every intern has to go through, and in truth, it isn't a hard gig considering the task and the rewards (free food and conference goodies). This APPEAL conference was a regional workshop on Advocacy for Inclusive Education, where staff of regional UNESCO offices were learning about how to better promote to their governments how to include special needs, minority issues, and other such students. The conference was held downtown, which made a nice change from the office and was certainly a pretty ritzy venue. And that ended (from what I know) my experiences of being involved in the running and organizing of workshops and conferences. I now understand why there are companies devoted to organizing them. Its hard, if not time consuming and exhausting.

The large reclining Buddha of wat pho, where the temple had to be built around him.

My weekend was at a little less speed, and a little more enjoyably. Meeting my new friend, Pinchai and fellow UNESCO employee, Nuno, I had my first taste of Bangkok's world heritage sights.  After meeting downtown, the two had a plan of three temples for our day, however, my curiosity ruined the plan and we ended up just wandering around Wat Pho for most of the afternoon. Luckily Nuno had been a monk there in a few years ago, and was the perfect guide for the afternoon. Wat Pho is most famously known for the large reclining Buddha, but the complex is so large and is the home of Thai Massage. There was so many amazing scenes in this complex, I often just sat for a few minutes to take it in. It was extraordinary. Another issue which limited my enthusiasm for sight seeing was the heat. Dear lord, it was hot. and I know hot. It just seemed to suck the energy after me and severely trod all over my plans. Despite this, I still feel that Wat Pho would deserve a significant part of the day, so I was happy to leave it at that for the weekend. We finished off downtown with a walk along the river and ambling through the amulet market. So much to do in the old town and it was surprising to be in an old part of the city that was so vibrant. My tour guides were perfect and I am hoping to trick them into another tour sometime again soon!

Week 5; Crazy people working and a Buddhist holiday

Kicking off the week with a little socializing, thanks to my professor, Ron Heck, I was able to meet up with a former UH Alumni, Mee-chai, who is teaching at Bangkok University. It was nice to talk to a local who I also had a lot in common with and could joke about Dr Heck's antics. After meeting close to UNESCO, Mee-chai was nice enough to take me out of the city to one of his father's favorite restaurants on the main river that flows through the city. Unfortunately, Mee-chai will be moving to New York soon, but hopefully we can get some Muy Thai boxing in before then.

Meechai and some good Thai food 

Continuing this work week with creating materials for the upcoming Policy Formulation workshop, the week was always going to be tough due to the Buddhist holiday on Friday, taking away some very much needed time (though I wont complain about the 3 day weekend).
The week taught me many things, funnily enough, not much in the way of educational policy, rather it was some pretty good lessons in working in an office environment and working with others. Let me tell you, communication, a big thing. When I next receive an instruction to do something, I will suck every last piece of pertinent information about said task out of that person. Tell me everything you know and want, EVERYTHING NOW. Sigh, I guess these lessons are just a process of getting used to this new office environment, rather than the teacher one I am used to (where I made a majority of my own decisions). In the end, thanks to the amazing efforts of other interns, research assistants and other higher staff who stayed for a majority of the weekend, everything was ready for the weekend.

Crazy people doing their thing

In addition to creating Prezi's, powerpoints and reading materials, a few of us also readied for running the simulation model with the participants (in the role of guides/facilitators, etc). Given assigned roles, (Minister of Finance here) we will use the EPPSim (filled with real data from an annonymous country) to fiddle with and try to hit specific targets based on our roles. For instance, as Minister of Finance, I need to ensure that we dont go over the allocated budget for education, etc. Anyway, I readied my suggestions and ran the projection and I am pretty sure I would be an awesome Finance Minister, but everyone would hate me.

Koh Chang 

As mentioned prior, it was a three day weekend, where everyone and their mother seems to get out of Bangkok. Which is exactly what I did. So, with a few other lady interns who had had it for the week, we went to the second largest island in Thailand; Koh Chang.
I admit, it was pretty touristy (many hotels and huts) , however, there was much that seemed remote and under developed about it (elephants being fence-lessly housed next to the main road). A lovely Kiwi and I found a set of huts on a rocky beach in one of the most southern towns, Lonely Beach, (one of the most remote obviously) which was known for being more backpacker and hippy than touristy. After a long day of traveling, (a bus, ferry, and a truck), we finally arrived and had a late late lunch and watched a stormy sunset.  We then met up with the other gals and enjoyed more drinks and dining.
Saturday, our only full day, was spent I admit pretty lazily. After exploring the main fishing village, where the town is essentially built on a pier (hotels, shops, restaurants, the lighthouse,everything), we found the most perfect, near deserted beach you can imagine, deck chairs and bar included. As it included views of the southern islands, we were happy to swim, drink pina coladas, eat, sun and repeat.

Our perfect beach in the south, looking towards the Southern Isles.

If Saturday was relaxing, then Sunday turned to be quite the adventure in trying to get home. After a nice breakfast in White Sand beach, we needed to find a truck taxi. We had given ourselves 3 hours to make it to the ferry , cross to the mainland and make it to the 2pm bus. Once in a taxi, it ended up stopping 2 kms later, after it turned out there was a 5km line of cars that needed to get onto the ferry. After sitting around, we decided to try our luck and walk down the road through the Thai jungle. After 3kms or so of furious walking, it started to pour rain, typical Thai style. While taking shelter, we found out from a police officer, who was looking at the long line of cars, that we still had 2kms to go. We also found out that he was willing to let us hop on his motorcycle and take us both to the ferry, by-passing all the cars. Not taking away from Saturday's beach, riding on that small motorcycle on the opposite side of the road, through lush humid jungle (fresh with rain), was the highlight of the trip. We were lucky enough to just walk onto a ferry and made our bus with 30 mins to spare.

So, that was my week, it was a long one, but was definitely the most eventful I have had yet. When I returned on Sunday night, I definitely felt like I had turned a corner with my stay here, like I was a little more settled and more of a local, which of course I am not, but it felt like I was more than a bumbling tourist (seen more so after I was able to direct my taxi driver in Thai). I of course think of Andrew every day and am so proud with how hard he works and wish I could help him with little stuff, like laundry.

My First weekend away...

Weeks 3 and 4; Settling in

Celebration with beers!

Well, although I officially finished school on the 10th of May,  I felt like I have still been as busy as ever. The last 2 weeks at work have really picked up. On top of some general preparation, I am also responsible for creating the materials for a few presentations our head of EPR will be giving at the Workshop on policy formulation (spoken about in earlier posts). Asked to write on the policy cycle, finally! Ron Heck, you would be proud, I policy cycled the heck (good play, huh?) out of that presentation. I almost felt like I gave too much on the Prezi, and will have to severely edit it. So, overall, have found that all my educational policy classes have been used and drawn upon in my first 3 weeks at UNESCO, at least it feels like I know what I am talking about.

Look David (my adviser!) working hard!

Also worked on more, was the Education Policy Simulation Model workshops came to a close. We got to work with some real data that the Cambodian government has given UNESCO in order to come up with a report on current needs and future issues. Although the data set is not complete yet (will be receiving the last installment this coming week), we still got to see how we adapt the model to specific country demographics and education systems. I happily admit, learning a whole new set of formulas (e.g to asses promotion, dropout and repeating rates) is not fun. It is definitely not like the Statistics course I had just finished. Working with the excel based program means a lot of understanding and applying formulas that at this time, I cant just keep in my head. Hopefully tho, that will change over the next few weeks, as my supervisor gets ready for maternity leave and I will need to use those good ole analytic reporting skills (that I did feel that I did mastered in Stats).  

Super-hyper mall of Thailand, at least that's what I would
have named it. 

Socially, I celebrated the end of the semester (I did well ,thank you) with a mani, pedi, shopping and a beer. After one weekend of keeping it very slow going, this weekend, I decided I needed to get out of my 5 block radius and start behaving like I live in Thailand! After seeing a movie (did you know you have to stand up at the beginning of movies when they play the king's anthem?), I finally had a Thai massage. Let me ask you, when you think 'massage', don't you feel good, happy thoughts? Well, you certainly haven't had a 'Thai' massage by an old war horse of a massager who pushes her elbows between your spinal discs. It felt like an intimate hard core yoga session, yikes huh? So, I have decided that I will still shop around for a cultural massage that is my favorite. In between exploring some crazy-large malls and markets , I also visited the Jim Thompson House.

In the garden of Jim Thompson.

An American who feel in love with Thailand and started the silk trade for exporting around the world. First of all, what a wonderful place. Holy cow, that's living! Everything in the compound is at least 200 years old, buildings had been moved from various parts of the country and erected exactly as they were. Thompson loved Thailand culture so much, he kept to all religious Thai customs of creating a home. After he made his home/compound, he then started to collect some amazingly old Thai/Asian artwork. Everything from dismembered Buddhas to scrolls of historical scenes. It was such a lovely place and I highly recommend going.

This week will see all of our team's preparation come to a head when everything is due to the printers on Tuesday and I will be using the three day weekend well by going to the island of Ko Chang!
On another note, Andrew and I had the anniversary of our first year of marriage. It sucks being so far away apart on such a day, and even worse when we dont even get to talk because my husband works 17 hour days. But they say that absence make the heart grow fonder, and it appears to be true.

Two weeks In

Hello all,

Does anyone have any idea of how they do this?? 

A little more happening this week, although I don't know what I was expecting. What, just rock up to UNESCO and start out by doing high tech education data analysis? Cause boom, that's what happened y'all. Due to a workshop we are conducting at the end of the month, which sees national advisers and such coming to learn about education policy formulation, my boss, GC (North Korean, very friendly, saucy jokes) wants to pass on the knowledge of the UNESCO developed Educational Profile System Simulation Model (EPSSim) which is basically an Excel data set that has its own algorithms and categories set up inside, everything from population growth, to GDP figures to education expenditure. You plug in the numbers and then interpret the data. It was the best thing ever (dont judge) and I am sure my Statistics Professor, Ron Heck would have been super proud as I took to it like a duck to water (or feel like I did). I also started to sketch up some new designs for the ESP website and we will start looking at implementing some of the changes once we have the tech guys with us.

On the way to work in the morning.

As to outside of work, sorry guys, no entertaining stories yet. I am still in the process of finishing my school work from UH and have even dedicated my lunch times to getting the last 2 pieces of the semester done. A final statistics test on Friday the 10th marks the end of school. So I am planning on getting a 2 hr massage from a swanky massage bar (thank you groupon) and finally taking in some culture on the Saturday after!
Actually , scratch that, I have done something!, I joined a yoga studio that is on the way to work and I have an ambitious plan to go every morning before work (I know, I know)., but so far its happened three out of five. So, I think I am on a good roll.
Til next week guys,
p.s.
Shout out to my husband who has worked a 90 hour week and never complains (he might be a robot, or he would probably want me calling him a machine).

My First week in Bangkok

Hello all,

Reporting on my first day

After a fairly unremarkable and ordinary flight that saw me stay awake for over 27 hours, thank you very much jet lag and taxi driver who couldn't find my hotel, I arrived in Ekkamai, just a 20 minute walk from the UNESCO office in the area of Sukhumvit. Considered the financial district ( I think), on my way to the office the next morning, I passed a Japanese themed mall (where I found everything I had been looking for later in the week), a cinema, a large gorgeous golden temple (I followed monks to work the other morning) a hundred food carts and some nice western restaurants (air conditioning is the best!).
My first day in the office was standard, after I had finished reeling from the heat, I got to meet everyone, get my desk set up, have my bio-metrics taken , etc. After demonstrating that I was nearly tripping over from jet lag, I took off and went back to my hotel/ apartment.
My second day on the job is where things started to pick up. Since the U.S stopped paying their contribution  (22% of total funds), the UN has significantly reduced their amount of paid employees, which means that there are quite a few interns that go through the office each year, doing various research projects, big and small. So, I had my first meeting with my supervisor and colleagues that I will be helping, and we decided on the few projects that needed help and what I will be working on while I am here, the biggest which will be revamping the Education Systems Profile (found here http://www.unescobkk.org/education/resources/education-system-profiles/). The super nice thing I have found is that there is a lot of choice in projects given to interns based on their passions and education, and that it feels like a collaboration project, rather than just being 'told'. Soooo, before I knew it, I am attached to 3 or 4 projects before the week was done and better yet, they all feel like they will matter, rather than just be something that an intern did when I leave.
Friday saw an impromptu test on and education system statistics model, which we will be learning next week, as well as the weekly 'tea party', which everyone was  welcoming with wine, Mongolian vodka and Spanish ham.  I was planning to go to Kanchanaburi this weekend at the invitation of some nice other interns, however, my body would have none of it apparently and decided that it had had enough of this week, and promptly shut down on me on Friday night with some mysterious illness. Let's hope a weekend of rest and recovery will do it well. Thinking of you all, especially my hard working husband, hugs from Thailand everyone. xoxox Shan

It doesnt look like much of a room view, but the high rises at night are lovely.

Gearing up...

Officially in excited and looking forward to it mode. Got all the books and visa, now an apartment!

Starting to get excited...