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.