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).