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.