My first blog from New Delhi, India is coming to you hot of the presses, and I cannot emphasize “hot” enough. As I sit in my Airbnb drinking a Red Bull that would could easily pass for “cold” in most contexts but here is barely room temperature, it is 40C which is 108/”are you kidding me?!” in Fahrenheit. The sensory experiences of Delhi ebb and … Continue reading Namaste
After 25 hours of flying and transferring, I finally arrived in Bangkok, exhausting but exciting. It was Friday’s midnight. I got in a taxi and on my way to my Airbnb, hopeful for a nice rest. However, when I arrived at the Airbnb, everyone was already sleep and the host did not live in the building. The taxi driver called the host many times, but … Continue reading The summer begins in Bangkok!
Soon it is already the last month of my internship at UNESCO Beijing office. I still remember that before I start the internship, I felt that 3 months would be enough for me to get a sense of international organizations, but now I really fell in love with this office and the work I do, and it is truly hard to say goodbye. Let me … Continue reading The Climax
As it is approaching the end of the year, everyone becomes busier. There are a bunch of on-going projects that needed to be reflected on, and making plans for the future steps. In the education sector, our schedule is packed with conferences and speeches in and out of China. I escorted my supervisor, who is the education programme specialist, Robert Parua to attend two on-site … Continue reading Halfway Melody
It’s hard to believe that I’ve already worked with UNESCO Beijing for 1 month. Every day was busy but meaningful because I am learning and improving. And it’s always exciting when you got the chance to use what you have been learning. At the beginning of the third week, I finally met our program specialist of education sector–Mr. Robert Parua. He is … Continue reading Great Wall, great work!
Taking an internship in Beijing is almost like getting back home, which makes my adjustment relatively easy compared to other people who are not interning in their home countries. As I have worked in Beijing for 1 year at the same district as where UNESCO is right before I came to Penn, I am more than familiar to the area around my workplace. … Continue reading Old Place, New Start
Someone currently living in a serene island of Koh Rong Samloem in Cambodia told me that when he left his native country, never to go back, and decided to settle in a place very different than the one he came from, learning a new language and relearning new ways to live was like being a newborn again – everything is exciting but you are also quite vulnerable. My move to Cambodia for this internship was not as drastic of a change as his, but I could definitely relate to being wide-eyed excited about learning new things every day and at times feeling completely out of place. Continue reading Learning, leaving and looking back
It feels a bit weird to be submitting this “final” blog post now. While a lot of my IEDP classmates have already finished their internships and returned home or gone back to Penn for another semester, I still have two weeks left to wrap up here in Delhi. Or maybe I should say gear up, because there’s a lot to be done before I leave … Continue reading Sawaal Achchhe Hain
Eight weeks down, only four to go. I was sitting at my desk the other day thinking I had all the time in the world before the conclusion of this internship, only to look at my calendar and realize that time is quickly creeping up on me. I’m feeling the pressure at work to get several deliverables completed before my last day in between balancing … Continue reading Mountains and Memories
In my last blog post, I promised that I would give more work updates, so I’m going to try! I came into the internship expecting to develop a pilot curriculum on adolescent health. (Yay for curriculum!) But as is usually the case, we don’t end up doing what our TOR says. When I arrived, I realized that I would not be doing that. Lo and … Continue reading Settling into the Pamiri Way
The International Educational Development Program 