The Good, The Grad, and the Ugly: My First Day at School

I walk up six flights of stairs to get to my first graduate class. It’s a development class–the “eat your vegetables” section of graduate development study. On top of that, it’s a development theory class–the “eat your vegetables and speculate how many different ways you can get your peas onto your fork” section of graduate development study.

The room is small–smaller than any of the classrooms I inhabited as an undergrad. There is a small podium at the front of the room, and then rows beyond rows of tiny chairs with those obnoxious fold-down desks.  It reminds me of the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang – the desks stare at me uninviting, in perfect unison, and appear to go on forever. 

My professor strides in the room, takes out his projector and PowerPoint, and in a very crass British accent says, “Welcome to your first class in Graduate School.” 

Here we go…

To say the least, my first day of graduate school was a little rusty, but AWESOME. 

My class is the most diverse and unique group of people I have ever encountered in my life.  We are about 25 and represent over 20 countries from around the world: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Bhutan, Taiwan…and so many more!  The group is an incredibly accomplished bunch with backgrounds in non-profit, business marketing, city planning, military, medicine, government affairs, and more.  I have learned a ton from them already and greatly look forward to our year together.



A few students from my class out to celebrate!

My classes?  Well, we have two compulsory classes (Development Theory and Research Methods) and three electives.  Each and every one of my professors comes from a very different background (not to mention part of the world!) and they all are incredibly well-known.  One of my professors for example, was a critical part of the Red Shirt Movement here in Thailand; another has conducted research in South-east Asia for the past twelve years on important environmental issues…they are all incredibly intellectual and incredibly engaging.

My classes are as follows:

1.      Development Theory – Engaging professor but there is no subtlety in the amount of work this class will be.  Hundreds of pages of reading AND you have to write a reflection for EVERY reading assignment.  Phew!

2.      Research Methods – Thai professor who is incredibly comical.  He uses the Socratic method and already uses me as his comedic relief because I am American and he loves to poke fun at us Americans...

3.      Human Rights and Gender - AWESOME CLASS SO FAR :)  Lots of reading but it is enjoyable because I find the topic so so so fascinating :)

4.      Critical Issues in Urbanization - Professor is the most famous in his field in Thailand.  We have two field trips "in the field" somewhere outside the big city in Thailand - I cannot WAIT!

5.      Development Project Management – We each get to make up a development project and take it all the way from the initial idea to a real project...very cool :)

6.      My Thesis...yikes

I would like to mention that the one class I did not take (because we had to choose from various elective options!), was also incredibly interesting.  It focused on Environmental Issues in development and I was able to sit in on the first lecture.  On the syllabus, in a few upcoming weeks, they will discuss Buddhism and how its interpretation of nature impacts environmental policy and development work…HOW COOL IS THAT?!  Where else can you be in the world and learn about these kinds of things?!

If I had to put into words my emotions during this first day, it would be some form of a combination of:   bewilderment, nervousness, gratitude, excitement, and enlightenment.

D Day: aka Orientation

It sure is pretty!  According to the Thai Government:  Chulalongkorn University ("Chula") is the oldest university in Thailand.  Regarded as the best and most selective university in Thailand, it has nineteen faculties and institutes.  It is named after King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), and was established by his son and successor King Vajiravudh (Rama VI).

Chulalongkorn University's
logo/emblem.  Undergrads are
required to wear uniforms and
they prominently display this.

I arrived at Chula bright and early Monday morning, to orient myself with the massive campus, and meet my classmates.  Orientation started off all cute and innocent – I woke up Monday morning with my biggest concerns being “I wonder if I should bring a backpack to school or a more fashionable messenger bag?…do I go hip, tech savvy laptop, or old school notebook?”…pretty innocent and in hindsight, absolutely irrelevant concerns.

Wow did I get a slap in the face.  The Dean welcomed us to Chula, and stated how challenging this program was – explaining that it was a two year Master’s program crammed into one full calendar year (12 months), and that it would be a very challenging time for us.  Then the Program Coordinator gets up and reiterates the same message.  She gave a few statistics for us to choke on – about how much reading there is, how many term papers, how we need to present our thesis at an international Conference and defend it in front of a panel of experts, etcetera etcetera etcetera (I will be using this phrase a lot thanks to Roger’s and Hammerstein ;).  I started to get a little more uncomfortable and shifted slightly in my seat.  Then she stated that last year, less than half the class COMPLETED THE PROGRAM. 

This is an aerial view of PART of campus - it is HUGE!

We then heard from several former students (several of which did not pass/finish) who explained how it was the most difficult year of their life, they had endless homework and advised not working or even travelling while doing this program because it is just too intense.  Wait, time out, what?  NO TRAVEL.    



Here I am in Thailand, I have been here almost two weeks – I have been to the Royal Palace, I have been to the beaches in Pattaya, I have seen my dream elephants, I am having a BLAST and I felt like I had all of my Asian dreams crushed right in that Conference Room in just one morning. 

One of the MANY libraries on campus - each faculty gets
their OWN library!

The bad news and intensity kept coming – we don’t get “breaks” in between semesters, we have FIVE classes each semester not including our thesis, which they continually advised us that the thesis work is extremely burdensome.  Our Research Methods professor got up and began explaining what constitutes field research, and how much was expected for our thesis.  When they mean field research here – they don’t mean going to the local Bangkok NGOs and asking for data and reports – they mean immersing yourself in the far North in a refugee camp or far South in a post-conflict zone, working on original data and research that is self-created.  Don’t get me wrong, it sounds incredibly exciting to do all of this, but it also sounds like a lot of work, and something I have never done before.

Carrying home my binder of reading materials for ONE CLASS of over 500 pages to prepare the following day and deciding I could cross weight lifting off my to do list because the thing weighed a ton, I was a little discouraged...

Piercings and Mock-Meat: Kin Jay Vegetarian (although really it’s Vegan) Festival





Outside temple



  It's the most wonderful time of the year for Thailand's meat-averse, with the nation's Thai-Chinese population kicking off a 10-day vegan diet on Monday as part of the annual Vegetarian Festival.  The festival is celebrated on the ninth Chinese lunar month, which this year runs from September 26-October 6 for 2011. During this time, Thailand’s Chinese communities purify their bodies by cutting all meat and dairy out of their diet.

 

Ritual Vegitarianism in Phuket Island traces
its roots back to the early 1800s.
YES - those are gardening shears

Thailand however, appears to have taken this self-purification to an entirely new level.  Mah song ม้าทรง are the people who invite the spirits of gods to possess their bodies. Mah ม้า is the word for horse in Thai, and the name mah song refers to how the spirits of the gods use the bodies of these people as a vehicle, as one rides a horse. Only pure, unmarried men or women without families of their own can become mah song. At the temple they undergo a series of rituals to protect them for the duration of the festival, during which flagellation and self-mutilation is practiced.

 Cleansing Sin through pain in Phuket: The festival calls on
devotees through self-mortification to purify themselves as
they take on the sins of the community.

I had read of horrible stories regarding the Vegan Festival self-mutilation, and had seen pictures that nearly made me lose my lunch (panang curry with tofu in case you were wondering ;) – but was relieved to discover that Bangkok celebrates this holiday much different than its gory Phuket counterpart (see picture…if you dare).  However, there is much more to this annual cleanse that simply cutting out meat and dairy.  Other rules that must be followed during the festival include no sex, no alcohol, drugs or tobacco, and no strong-smelling foods like garlic.  Similarly, women who are pregnant or menstruating are seen as “unclean,” and as a result, they are forbidden from taking part in the ceremonies at temple.

Praying for my family on gold!

In temple

I witnessed one temple ceremony and partook in the traditional custom of praying for your family by writing all of their names and birthdays on a gold leaflet.  As I walked through the hundreds of stalls offering Chinese vegan food in Chinatown, I recognized a few food items (gyoza and buns) and a few I had never seen before.  I am incredibly thankful to my new-found friends who encouraged me to try EVERYTHING, even when I was a little skeptical at first.  I was amazed at the “mock meat” options and still swear that I ate pork dumplings (although I am told they were mushroom!).

Mmmmm curry.  Now come on, someone tell me that this doesn't look like meat!

 

My First International Rotary Meeting

Receiving the Rotary Club of Bangkok Flag
at my FIRST International Rotary meeting!

Thursday, 29 September, 2011 marked my first international Rotary meeting.  I visited my host Club, Rotary Bangkok, for their weekly luncheon meeting.  The speaker for this week was none other than the previous year’s Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, who just finished her final exams and was returning home.  It was wonderful to meet her and discuss what to expect (“very firm beds!” – yes, I had figured this one out J and how to better prepare myself for this adventure.

I also received my first Rotary flag.  The Rotary Club of Bangkok, is the oldest Rotary Club in Thailand, founded in 1930, District 3350.  Interestingly enough, the first club chose to speak English as oppose to Thai. 

http://www.rotaryclubofbangkok.org/

I never seemed to look at the right camera...

I included a few pictures of the friends and Rotarians that I met at the meeting.  I can tell you, much like any other Rotary meeting, they LOVE their pictures, and I felt like I was under a constant spotlight with camera flashes everywhere!

Part of my responsibility as an Ambassadorial Scholar, is to travel to various Rotary clubs in the region and give a presentation on my culture, my studies, and what I have learned from my time here.  Just a few weeks in and I am already booked for several months to come!  Not only do I get to interact with amazing Rotarians all over the world…BUT, I get to travel and see the amazing regions of this country!

With various members of Rotary Club of Bangkok
including some of my gracious hosts

I would like to thank my host Club – the Rotary Club of Bangkok, for their amazing hospitality.  The transition to Thailand has been a smooth one, but it would not have been possible without your generosity.  I would also like to give a shout out to my home Club – Foster City.  Being at a Rotary event other than one of your own felt weird - it felt as though something were missing.  I miss you all a lot and know that I think of you often!



Tourist Road Kill: Motorbikes

Family of Five out for dinner.
This is actually one of the rare times I have seen anyone wear a helmet...

Motorbikes to me in this country are unexplained phenomena.  My previous encounters with motorcycles consisted of the traditional “male under 25” with a sports bike, or the other extreme – an old dude on his classic Harley (with a matching leather jacket and long grey ponytail).  The minute I arrived in Bangkok however, it was tough to miss the overwhelming amount of motorbikes.  They zip in and out of lanes, traffic, buses and cars.  They cut off cars and pedestrians when making turns and seem to thoroughly enjoy hanging out in drivers’ blind spots.  I still to this day give my sister a hard time for wanting to date “bad boys” on motorbikes, and here I am in Thailand witnessing a totally different motorbike culture. 

This is the view from the Skytrain near my apartment:  Traffic jams in Bangkok encourage motorbikers to cut in and out of lanes and inch up as close to the front of the traffic as they can.

Family on their morning motorbike commute to school...

In Bangkok, entire families, Mom, Dad, and two kids, are all squished on ONE tiny motorbike.  I cannot believe my eyes!  Of course, none of them are wearing helmets and I explained to one of my Thai friends that in California, we call people (idiots) who don’t wear helmets “Organ donors” because they are signing themselves up for trouble.  She then lifts up her sweater and shows me a huge scar, encompassing her entire forearm.  She explained that she was in a motorbike accident two years ago and has matching scars on her upper arm, leg and thigh.  Two days earlier, in a conversation with my friend Jitt, she explained to me the reason she decided to become a nurse – she lost TWO brothers to motorbike accidents.  She said her younger brother was in an accident, broke just about every bone in his body, and bled to death right there on the highway.  She said if someone could have gotten to him or knew what to do to help him – he would have lived.  This was her motivation to put herself through nursing school. 

I am truly speechless.

I couldn't even count how many people were on this bike...
Eight I think?  No one wearing a helmet ofcourse and you can
tell from the picture - they are going FAST!

White Out

Today, I went shopping to get things for my new place.  As I meandered down aisle after aisle of colorful labels with foreign characters I noticed a few familiar labels with a slight twist:  seaweed flavored Pringles, and Trident taro flavored gum.  I was on a hunt for lotion – because the sweet-smelling lotion I brought seemed to attract flies and mosquitos and had to go.  I began exploring the gigantic aisle of lotions and came across a few familiar brands and some new ones.  I started to place the lotion in my cart, and then noticed something written on the label: “Whitening Repair Lotion.”  Wait, what?!

After doing more searching, I found that nearly all of the lotions in the store had this “UV Whitening” label on the bottle.  It turns out, here in Thailand, people bleach their skin to make it appear whiter.  These lotions contained a bleach product that worked to lighten skin gradually over time.  I thought this was ridiculous when I first saw it.  And then I realized that my strong reaction was because in the United States, people do the opposite.  We pay to sit in tanning beds and soak up artificial sunlight in the hope that we will be darker. 

We have “browning lotions” that gradually over time turn our skin darker…and here they desire the opposite!  I quickly learned after a trip up to my pool on the 26^th floor, that Thais refuse to sit in the sun – and the only people sunning by the pool were foreigners.  And the reason many Asian women bring umbrellas with them in the sun, is so they can protect themselves from getting a tan!  Certainly a change in culture! 

Thai Digs: MY NEW PLACE!!!

My Oasis

Best view I can show you of my apartment - with the bathroom, kitchen and
bedroom all off in separate sections...

I cannot tell you how long I have searched, or how many apartments I have seen…and tonight, I cannot tell you how HAPPY I am…that I have found my place.  I experienced searching for housing in New York City, and assumed if I could tackle that, I could handle anything.  Wrong.  Imagine a city eight times the size of Manhattan, with four times the amount of people, a student scholarship budget (which believe it or not, is less than my previous “I want to save the world” New York budget)…oh and a language barrier?!  It took me about three days of endless searching to realize that the budget I had given myself for housing was too small and I needed to spend more (a LOT more) than I wanted to. 

Where I "study"

I also did not plan on the fact that most other schools started back in August, so there were slim pickings left on housing because most students moved in several months ago.  It was torture however, to see these prices, and think, my apartment in New York cost nearly THREE times as much – for none of the amenities that the apartments in Bangkok have.  So while I know that you will not believe me when you see these pictures – please understand that it was a very difficult search (it took me NINE days of JUST looking!), and there was a huge gap in price range between the tiny studio on the street without security, and a giant condominium equip with a pool, gym and the works.  Enough about the search – let me tell you about what I found: my new home.

My Room!

I am living outside the center of the city on the BTS Skytrain transportation line.  For $533 a month, I have 24 hour security, doormen, a concierge, a fitness center, a pool, amazing views of the city…and a one bedroom apartment, fully furnished.  My building is less than one-year old and has a great mix of foreigners and Thais – mainly students who are studying for their Masters like me.  Don’t get me wrong – I loved my little New York shoebox, but my little studio walk-up in Manhattan is being put to shame right now.

I am posting pictures in hopes that it will give my friends and family some incentive to come visit my not-so-little slice of heaven. 

The Gym - because I'm worried all that curry is going to catch up with me!

I am going to get back to unpacking now…and watching Thai soap operas.  Until my cable is installed (I know – I have never has cable before, but for $33 a YEAR I decided to splurge J) I only have 6 channels, all in Thai.  I am actually obsessed however with these Thai soap operas.  They are far better than any American soap opera (although I will admit I never watched those…) here they have beautiful women and hunky ninja men who all of a sudden just start kung-fu fighting without warning.  Who needs to understand the language when you have that!

Infinity Pool - with a view!

The Lobby

Part of the sunny lobby - where I COULD study...if I weren't "studying" out
by the pool ;)

Living Room - before they even took the paper off the windows...
that is how new this place actually is!

Kitchen - with a porch outside attached...

Park on the 26th floor with an amazing view of the city.