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!