You and I, the last refugees

And So It Begins

Ah Bangkok, the smells of street food, the whine of tuk-tuk engines in the early morning. It's interesting how a place so different can also be so similar. The people are different, the culture is different, but the corporations, the concrete, the lights, and alas the pollution remind me of home. I have to say the smells of Bangkok are not nearly as bad as the smells of Chinatown, New York. Oh the smell of fish, their dripping fishy water on the sidewalk, how I miss thee. :-)

I started work after being in Bangkok for 12 hours which surprised most people here, but I figured I might as well make the most of it and use my weekends to explore the city. The staff is young, engaging, and thoroughly dedicated to their work, which is refreshing. The SIPA motto of wanting "to change the world" is in full force as my supervisor, Miwa, advises me she literally spends hours working for refugees. The staff is made up of a hodgepodge of Europeans, Thais, Bangladeshes, Irish, Japanese who all like to take a crack at the US as they inform me, "we'll have to watch what we say now that we have an American here."

One of the other interns, Pong, managed to get free tickets to a South African concert at the Thai Cultural Center last night. I went for half the concert due to residual jetlag that left me tired and sleepy at 9:30 PM. However, the first half was quite good with a mixture of the pennywhistle, kwela jazz, accapella, and more. You can see the complete info here:

http://www.saembbangkok.com/Diamonds&Dust%20group.html

I think that made me feel more like an expat than anything else as the audience comprised of more fair skinned individuals than I'd seen since arriving in Bangkok, granted I've only been here for 2 days. I figure it'll be fun to be the expat and put up with people's cracks against the States.

posted by Mai-Lan @ 11:07