Food - from here and for beyond

Foods from here - Yesterday I picked up some groceries including a juice with 16 vegatables and fruits. I was a V-8 knockoff. It isn't as bad as the color suggests, but I won't buy it again. In preparation for the next Chinese holiday I bought a moon cake (I have eaten most of it so no picture). I had soup at dinner - vegetables and odds and ends of meat - perhaps more interesting that the soup is the cutlerly - I can manage reasonably well with chopsticks, but assume that I am given a fork and spoon by stall owners as a welcoming gesture of cultural awareness. (See what 2 months here does to how you interpret events.)

Foods for beyond - Yesterday was the first time I saw much evidence of the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts close to campus. I was informed by my Chinese scholar friend that it is a harvest festival - a point not made on the few web sites I visited. http://www.my-island-penang.com/Hungry-Ghost-Festival.htmlToday is the last day of the Feast of the Hungry Ghost - http://www.my-island-penang.com/Hungry-Ghost-Festival.html and http://www.malaysiasite.nl/hungryghosts.htm The feast lasts for the month of August - on visits to Georgetown throughout the month I would see fires burning. Families burn money and other paper objects a ghost needs in the afterlife. The burning joost sticks are larger than what I have seen, but the smoldering fire by the roadside is quite common. The other photo is of the area where the food offerings are left. There are people going in and out and praying - but to take a photo seemed intrustive. There was also a stage for a late night performance, but I decided not to hang around. There was also a fireworks display for Merdeka (Freedom) Day at midnight - I skipped that as well.

The Eve of Independence Day

When I first arrived I spotted one of these creatures plus a scraggly cat. I decided that this blog needed pictures of Guest House creatures. Before I could act the cat disappeared and the lizard(?) was only seen slithering into a drainage ditch. Finally this morning he/she posed nicely - so here you are.

Today I rehearsed a salon. (I have spent weeks looking at women's hair cuts - a real challenge when over 50% of the women are veiled and another large percent look like they cut their own hair.) I got a recommendation from the MPA Graduation queen for the night (an econ faculty member). I was astonished when as I sat with a head full of soap suds I got a chair massage! I plan to go back next week for cut and coloring - we'll see how it goes since they speak virtually no English, but they sure take their time.

I am almost done the sustainability article. I promised the Chinese dialect group two short articles - one on US NGOs and one on collaboration. You might ask what I was thinking. The man I am working with should be a Dean, i.e., he has a vision and lays it out so that you can't say no. Yesterday I met with my major contact and the man who will translate the survey. He heads a Chinese education group. They both understood the purpose of the survey and how it will be beneficial to Chinese dialect groups. We worked on the unit of analysis, survey population, and distribution questions. All the conversation will improve the effort markedly. I should end up with a very interesting data set. I think that the grand plan is to start with the dialect groups and then other Chinese groups.

Two meetings, two meals, both representing different Chinese cuisines. I am getting spoiled while I am getting educated.

Tomorrow is Independence Day - pretty quiet (last year was the 50th anniversary of Malaysia and I think that they blow the budget. One of the websites noted that without government $ not much interest in celebrations, but there are lots of sales. Ramadhan starts tomorrow night - more on that later.

FYI - I web-streamed Obama - it is great to be watching events like that in real time in the morning instead of staying up late. I was stunned by McCain's choice. The news here was on the PM's budget - the TV stations spent three hours broadcasting the budget presentation and the news paper spent as many pages. Taxes are being cut, infrastructure being improved, and a variety of subsidies. It is a deficit budget - which suggests that this government is more political than responsible.

Multi-cultural Relations Gig

Yesterday I was in Johore Bahru for an American embassy sponsored seminar on Multi-Cultural relations. (In a future blog I will try to include some picture and an outline of a seminar program - I am getting close to figuring out the drill.) The purpose was to present Malaysian students an alternate picture of multi-cultural relations. (There is a weak consensus that the different ethnic groups are far too isolated from one another) I thought, and still feel, that it was unfortunate that 60 plus year olds talk about relations among students with 20 year olds. Apparently as is true of many things around the world, it was dictated by logistic concerns. In the past they have had roundtables with American and Malaysian students.

The first presentation was by an American Muslim convert. He had all the charm of converts to any religion. I am not sure how his comments were rec'd by the students. The second presentation was by a UTM (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) faculty member. She encouraged the students to pursue more contacts across ethnic groups- I should have taken notes so that I could share more with you. She mentioned that people ask her if she has studied in the US - she hasn't - but I could see why they ask. Her comments showed an openness familiar to an American

The panel I was on changed its format to sitting in a circle and chatting. I was relieved, b/c I had done little preparation. I had a lot of trouble getting my mind around the topic. I started by building on two questions from an earlier session - how long changes in relationships take and housing (one young man pointed out that more integrated housing would help build friendships across the ethnic groups). On how long I pointed out how different NCSU is from what it was 30 years ago when I arrived. I also pointed out that we don't talk about intergration or assimilation but inclusion (I am not sure how well understood the remark was, but I strongly suspect that many Malaysians fear a loss of their ethnic/traditonal identity) I decided to avoid tackling the idea that many (including me) think that "tolerance" is not a good way to think about cross-cultural relations. I also mentioned that creating an inclusive environment takes a stong commitment by the university and its faculty.

Not much to add on the housing front except that I pointed out the observation was insightful, especially since in the US housing patterns and assigning students to local schools can decrease multicultural contacts.

So what were the questions? A pointed question on Palestine - I let the embassy person handle that. Questions on American's attitudes toward Muslims, sex education in the schools, students (of the opposite sex) living together on campus, what I thought of the Malaysian education system. I have found in my class and other situations that Malaysian are careful to point out when they know that you are expressing an opinion or that they are expressing an opinion The American Muslim went on a rant that he would never send a daughter to the US to study - the embassy person took him on in a heated exchange. She said that before students leave for the US she does a session on "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll."

I liked the UTM faculty members I met. They want to expose the students to more international contacts and making sure that international & Malaysian students interact. One of the vice chancellors said that she would like to arrange study abroad opportunities for US students to come to UTM. I did not pursue it then- no point in building false hopes - butI would be happy to explore it further if anyone wishes.

Election Day - A Great Victory

Anwar won! I know many thrilled Malaysians. The easiest way to start a conversation today was "Do you have any news about the election?" No matter what race/ethnic group the optimism was palpable - perhaps the way we felt when Nixon resigned. To get the flavor of the day go to http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com/2008/ See if you can access the comments - none of the mean spirit ones that I see on Politico and similar sites.

Election eve

Tomorrow on the mainland (the state of Penang consists of Penang Island and a portion on the mainland) there is an important by-election. (I was going to check spellings and details but all the websites are overloaded with traffic - so bear with me and you will get an accurate overview). In March the opposition won 5 states - the first time the gov't was challenged in over 40 years. In Penang Anwar Ibrahim's wife vacated the seat so her husband could run. Ibrahim was jailed 10 years ago on charges of sodomy and recently the same charge has been made. Public apparently does not give these charges any credibility. 10 years ago he was the favored candidate to be PM

The by-election was scheduled by the Fed'l government for Tuesday 26 August and the polls are to close at 5. Normally elections are held on weekends and the polls stay open later. Last week it was announced that the schools would close (apparently schools are the polling places). Last night it was announced that the state of Penang had declared 26 August as a public holiday and later today the university followed suit.

When I went into the office there was a lot of comment about how late the university was in making its decision and that students had been calling all day. I remarked that obviously this was a university that new faced snow storms and school closing.

There is an air of excitement - more later.

An Unexpected Challenge

On Friday shortly after I arrived in KL I sprained my ankle - I missed my footing in crossing a drainage ditch. I will spare you the uninteresting details. Being a novice at ankle/sprain problems I did not think much about my discomfort and continued with the day. I slept very badly. By morning I could scarcely stand much less move. I called the front desk to see if they could recommend someone who could look at it. I was told to call back at 7:00, because the morning staff would know what to do. Later in the morning a staff member drove me to a clinic. I decided against an x-ray ($) since the physician didn't see immediate signs of a break. I was bandaged and got something for the pain and swelling. At the hotel the staff kept mentioning that I would need an ointment for the swelling - I was a bit puzzled. But I got an ointment and it seemed to work. The whole adventure RM 40 - roughly US$12.

I was pretty lame yesterday (Saturday). Saturday night I slept really well. Today my locomotion is mostly inhibited by trying to keep the flip flop on my foot.

My seatmate on the bus (a 2nd year physics student) took one look at my foot asked if it was a sprain. (I correctly guessed that he was a veteran of sprains.) We chatted on and off. He offered to have his friend, who was taking him back to campus, drop me off at the guest house. This was one time I was really happy to be living on campus.

Perhaps you have ideas

Here is a picture from last week's graduation. At the front left in Herrly from Sabu (his major issue are illegal immigrants in Sabu). Of the five women in hijab's I teach all but the woman in the dark blue hijab. The four I teach have very different personalities and interests. In the second row to the right is Rebecca from Kuching Her English language skills are among the best in the class. Next to her is Kali. Kali has an undergraduate degree and theater - it seems like a perfect match of personality & major. The sman in the dark blue shirt is Mahis - he is quite out-going; he has focused on Malaysia's policy on the language of instruction for science and math. The other students are random graduates who I don't know.

So how can you help? Next Tuesday I am going to Johore Bahru (near Singapore) to take part in a discussion with students (early univrsity) on multi-culturalism. A US Embassy staff member asked me to give a picture of what it is like to be on a multl-cultural (US) campus. Her perception, and I have heard this often from different people in different places, is that young Malaysians tend to stick with their own ethnic group (Chinese, Malay, or Indian). They have few friendships or even contact with people from other groups. A great challenge for a society that sees itself as multi-ethnic. One of my colleagues teaches a course on multi-ethnic relations (required at the university) and she doesn't have enough non-Malays for students to interact across ethnic groups.

If you have opinions about the multi-cultural climate/experiences at a US university that you would like to share - and I will share with the group - either post a comment or send it to me at eosullivan at ncsu.edu

What I learned today

Today the seminar started off with a presentation on the construction industry and what it is doing to improve its environmental performance - bottom line a lot including being self conscious about selecting materials, reducing wastes, and recycling. Good to know that it is going on - but a bit dry for me. The next sessions were far more interesting

On flood control - Malaysia (and other urban areas) have floods because rain from heavy downpours can not flow out efficient (about 4 days a year may have over 300 mm rain). Urbanization has reduced the areas where the rain soaks into the earth. Strategies which were new to me included: deepening the river beds, replacing cement drainage ditches with gravel, incorporating grassy areas into car parks.

On corporate social responsibility: Presentation by a consultant who advises fund managers - he made a snide comment about mock checks. He said that the .00 was added to make small donations look larger. Typically the amount is a tiny portion (in the 1000s) of what a corporation made doing serious/permanent damage to the environment/community. He discussed that the evolving definition of corporate responsibility involves entire business cycle from its suppliers to how its end products were used and disposed of. He pointed out that Malaysian companies were very high on employee benefits, which he attributed to its being an Islamic nation. Not so good on environmental indicators. (The comparison to the Western corporations, and probably the people as well, was that they "care about trees and don't give a damn about people)

There was presentation on Kuching and the changes it has made to be a healthy city. I hope that I can remember the details long enough to get a comment from Mooi Lian when she returns from Australia.

The most stunning presentation was by a pediatrician. He spoke about the conditions among many groups of Orang Asli, the indigenous people. He showed pictures of severe malnutrition among the children, plus data that demonstrated government money isn't reaching many of the communities. He pointed out - no surprise - the problems with relocation centers. Two examples - why use a commode when one has all the delights of the outdoors when doing their business; and one can't eat chickens if they consider them as pets. Everyone was very touched and shocked by the presentation - the subject of many conversations. He suggested the following website to learn more/do more http://www.coac.org.my BTW he presentation reminded very much of how Vietnam treats the Hmong and the Vietnamese living along the Mekong Delta (another subject of lunchtime conversation)

So to end on a lighter note - the water conservation presenter talked about how often one should flush - I don't think that this is a topic that comes up at many academic seminars here.

Seminar on Sustainability

Today while I was sitting in a seminar I remembered Kedrick's request for food pictures. I made a mental note to myself to take a picture. Unfortunately mental notes are likely to fail - when the time came I completely forgot. A normal buffet lunch for a seminar is an insulated container of rice and a steam table line up of two or three three proteins, one or two vegetables and a dessert. For tea (around 11:00) we had mee, curry puffs, and some sweet gelatin thing (it wasn't bad - sorry that I am such a poor describer) I see similar set ups all over campus, especially on weekends; an event without food is unimaginable. Eventually I will attach a picture for readers who are interested in the day-to-day visuals. The buffet pictures will not satisfy those who want to savor and imagine the taste. For now you will have to settle for a picture of a hyacinth - outside the guest house - and a rambutan tree (a photo from Sunday's outing)

The seminar was on sustainability. It will go for 2.5 days; I am only attending a few sessions - today energy, tomorrow sustainable urban environments. The two points from this morning that seemed worth passing on are (1) solutions to the energy crisis are local first and solutions to the environmental problems are global first, (2) "it is immoral to use arid able land to grow bio-fuels instead of food." The session opened with an estimate of the conferences carbon foot print (as far as I could tell it was only based on participant travel) - to atone the campus planted 39 trees (which does not cover the whole footprint). No information on the trees and their potential contributions to the environment.

There were also random comments about a "new government" - high hopes for election session (the next round is on the Penang mainland on 26 August) and various government failures. Nothing sounded totally unfamiliar.

The last odd fact - I sat with two women. One had been trained in biology and is working on remote sensing. The other in urban planning and is working on environmental spaces. They are in the Department of Geography which is located in the School of -- HUMANITIES! They talked about the culture shock both with colleagues and students. The other departments are English, Foreign Languages, Philosophy and other things that we all associate with arts & humanities.

Exploring Penang

Yesterday Rattu and I hired a cab to explore Penang. Rattu (a student from Bhutan - the first Bhutanese ever at USM) was particularly eager to visit some Buddist temples. Our first stop was a Chinese Buddist Temple (in Rattu's word "same god, different face"). I was bemused by the carved statues outside the temple - the bench gives you a feel for the large number of whimsical characters outside the temple.

After touring the temple we waited for our cab driver. I had a great laksa - I am still recalling it with great pleasure. (I had a laksa in Singapore several years ago that was too fishy for my taste. After that I decided to stick to Kuching/Sarawak laksa. Yesterday's laksa was different from Kuching - but just as memorable).

To finish off the record for yesterday here is a picture of Rattu at a waterfall.

Today I spent a long time meeting with someone who will help me get data from Chinese dialect organizations. I will try to sort out the conversation and add some insights tomorrow.

Graduation - The Main Event

Last night I went to the MPA/MEM (Economics) graduation dinner. As has been true of many of the graduation events here it was familiar with some added fun twists. Upon arrival each person was given a small woven box with a souvenir inside (a small face cloth). After ages of milling around (traffic and possibly parking issues) the event began. The graduates walked in - some in caps & gowns and some not (any NCSU MPA readers will know that caps and gowns vs no cap and gown is a perennial issues and gets resolved exactly as at USM). After the usual remarks and recognition of the graduates (name, handshake and a photo session - diplomas are awarded at the earlier commencement ceremony) we had dinner. Dinner was a buffet and quite good - I could have embarrassed myself by over-indulging in the baked fish.

After dinner there was a "lucky draw" - the number on the box is one's lucky number. There were various wrapped items. Even though one appeared at our table it stayed wrapped - so nothing to report on the contents.

The event I was especially intrigued by was the "Selection of the King and Queen for the Night." The emcees announced the name of a "nominee" for a queen and next a king. Each was asked to do something small - runway walk/make a "monkey face." The student next to me said this was "Malaysian topic model." Included in the middle (blue/white shirt to white shirt) were four lecturers. Three were asked to sing together. The man in the white shirt was asked to sing something in Tamil. After everyone was lined up they turned around and there was a hand vote. Two lecturers were named king and queen, including the Tamil singer. Anyway it was great fun.

I have pictures of my students, which I will include in later posts. The hosts were the MPA & MEM clubs so current students and graduates attended.

Graduation - yet again

Today I wandered down to get lunch at the vegetarian stall. I think that it is staffed by a group of Buddist students. I have discovered that it is quite good and cheap. It is the "good" part that brought me there - for two days in a row I have had various their spicy, noodle conconctions.

For anyone who has endured graduation recently the parking pictures only partially capture familiar scences- the horrendous traffic and non-existent parking. The line of cars you see between the two rows of parked cars are also parked! In front of the auditorium there was the usual groupings of parents, relatives, graduates (of all ages) and cameras. I snapped a photo, which doesn't do justice to the hubbub.

The picture of the two barracks like buildings are "tandas" or toilets (obviously one for men and the other for women). (I assume that they go back to when this was a British fort - I need to remember to read up on the campus history.) Most rest rooms are less huge. Any way rest assured if you are ever on USM's campus and nature calls you won't be far from an appropriiate facility.

In a few minutes I am going to the MPA graduation. Expect my last graduation post tomorrow.

More on Graduation

Today I learned more on graduation. It extends over 4 days - one school graduates in the morning and one in the afternoon of each day. Each graduate is recognized and as s/he comes forward her/his curriculum vita is flashed on a screen. This is one cultural opportunity I am glad I can skip. I was talking to a colleague who pointed out that the dean has to go to all 8 graduations and sit on the stage - no opportunity to read, do crosswords, or even fidget.

Apparently 6000 students are graduating and given the size of the typical Malaysian family (4 or 5 children seems to be the norm) I can see why the tents with food and diversions are all over campus. The food options on the streets outside the campus would quickly disappear. The "odd" things like the teddy bear boutique are to buy graduation mementos for the graduates - I guess very few get cars.

Graduation Day

What a day today was. This a.m. I had a long meeting about the monograph I am editing/co-authoring. I got to chapter three and there were summaries from interviews, but no information on the interviews. So I got the information, which will require me filling in many gaps. The text \ is coming together. I think that it will be reasonably good (and far better than the MS I started with.)

At 12:30 I headed over to CenPRIS, the Centre for Policy Research (which was recently merged with the Centre for International Studies). They are planning to reorganizing themselves to be a clearinghouse/NGO Centre. I have been asked for my ideas (and I have some). I had a long lunch with the CenPRIS director and Dr. Fazal. He is a bit older than I am and knows everyone (including Ralph Nadar). He started out founding Consumer Action of Penang which is a major NGO. He was very helpful and gave me a list of names for my project and will establish the initial contact!

So why "Graduation Day." For two weeks tents have been going up between the library and the mosque. Today they opened. Apparently part of graduation is a market/food court. (Plus entertainment for the kids.) Parents and young people carrying caps and gowns have been arriving at the Guest House all day - giving off a familiar, festive air. Tonight I made my first stop at the food court - the standard fare but lots of it. I also got a fruit rojak and as soon as I finish this I will eat it and report on it tomorrow

I am trying to find a ride to the MPA Graduation(Friday night) - I have seen the schedule. It is far different from my previous MPA Graduations - stay posted.

Remains of the day

On Sundays I usually return to the Guest House too late to access the Internet and post an update. On Mondays I am doing all I can to get ready for class and try to organize the week.

On Saturday I was on the north end of the island and Sunday I was at the south end. On Sunday I went to dinner with relatives of Leelee (my house mate at Virginia Tech ages ago - I was there on sabbatical). We passed Malaysia's "Silicon Valley" and ended at a seaside restaurant right next to a Chinese Temple. I think that much of dinner was alive and well minutes before we ate it (a feeling that always makes me a bit queasy).

Everything was delicious as the pictures might suggest. I have also included our happy group - grand father, 4 children (one set of twins) and one very happy guest. The father was the assigned photographer. On the second picture (under the group phot0) tried to capture the whiskers etc on one of our victims - many things are served with no effort to leave you guessing what it look like in life.

I learned a bit more about school schedules. The younger children go to school from 1:30 - 6:00 (I may have the exact times a bit wrong) and the older ones from 7:00 - 12:30. Whether I have the times right or not it makes for a very busy day - especially when one has older and younger children. I heard about the children's after school activities - I forgot to ask about before school activities.

08/08/08 plus 1

Last night we went out to belatedly celebrate Peter's birthday. Peter, a Malaysian Chinese, turned 60 on Friday (08/08/08). As undoubtedly almost the entire world knows dates with a series of 8's are particularly auspicious. Peter is a business partner of Ahmad, a friend of Lena's. Ahmad hosted the celebration at an Indian restaurant. We stuffed ourselves on biryani, dal, and cheese cake (NY classic cheese cake and it tasted like one!). There was some talk of the election scheduled for 26 August; the belief was that Anwar would do quite well. As one of my colleagues said that current political situation in Malaysia can be best summed up as "may you live in interesting times."

Today I will try to finish chapter 2 of a manuscript I have been helping edit. It has been really valuable in focusing my research plans. We have a meeting tomorrow with a major NGO and I am optimistic that it will help things fall into place quite quickly.

A face from the past

In 1984 when we were at Rantau Abang on the east coast of Malaysia waiting to see if any leatherneck turtles came ashore to lay their eggs, I turned around to spot a teenager wearing a NC State tee-shirt. We chatted for a few minutes - his father taught at Duke in political science. I remembered the meeting for two reasons: one, we commented that we had seen no Americans on this (1984) trip which was different from our earlier trips, and two, one of my colleagues had reviewed a book of his. So today when I learned that a faculty member from Duke was giving a presentation I wondered if our paths would cross again. I googled him and his age and publication record fit the description.

I mentioned this apparent coincidence to a colleague here. When I walked into the seminar room he asked if the speaker was the same person. I pointed out that it was dark on the beach that night - not to mention that 24 years had passed. Anyway a quick conversation confirmed that indeed our paths had crossed again.

During the seminar staff came around handing out cups of coffee - if a NCSU colleagues is reading this - here is an opportunity to add a gentile touch to department/school meetings. I should point out that the Friday afternoon attendance seemed to as good as anywhere else; although I gather faculty get some sort of points for attending a seminar. The talk was on ways voting is structured, especially in ethnically divided societies. It reminded me why I don't consider myself a political science, but it also gave me time to ruminate on how to pull together some loose ends of a manuscript I am work on.

There is a by-election on Tuesday. I haven't quite figured out the details, but it clearly will be an interesting affair.

Shoes & no shoes

Generally people who have carpeted offices do not wear shoes in their office. A few have "no shoes signs" and then we have the familiar "don't do it" sign from across the hall.

With some people it is possible to see if they are in or out by whether there are shoes at the door. Others are more private. (I must report I tried to not wear shoes in my office, but old habits are hard to break.)

Last week I was intrigued by the gathering of shoes outside an office near mine. You have to click on the picture and make it larger to get the full effect. I don't know that I have ever seen gold men's shows before. I wasn't bold enough to wait around to see (and photograph) the owner

A New Identity

Yesterday when I took my clothes to the laundry the shop owner said "Oh, it's you - Obama." Then he decided that my ID would be "Obama." Here's the proof.

I can confidently report that the laundry shop owner and the nasi kandar (rice based meal) owner are firm Obama supporters. I don't know about the owner of the mini-mark that I patronize. But he is a big fan of my carrying my own bag and not using plastic. (I think that he likes his potential cost savings.)

Abu, at the nasi kandar stand, frequently engages me in US political discussions. He is following the ups and downs of the campaign quite closely. Of course, as soon as a customer shows up he goes back to work.

The laundry shop owner worked for a few months in a Chinese restaurant in Winston Salem. He said that the public transportation was terrible and made his stay uninteresting. The greatest benefit of the current gas/petrol prices is that public transit might eventually be made to work again. I know that I miss out on a lot not having a car here, but with the traffic and the local driving habits I am not even tempted to rent.

A Drive in the "Country"

On Sunday Lina and I headed out for a drive around the island - there were highly congested areas, kampungs, and forested areas. Batu Feringgi, where Doug and I had stayed 20 years ago. In the midst of the stalls and the daytime evidence of the night market were the normal assortment of over-sized hotels.

We stopped at the Mosque on the Sea where Lina prayed - unfortunately I was too close to get any good shots (lesson - skip trying to fit the minaret into the picture). This picture was taken from the mosque and gives a feeling what the high rise apartment buildings look like. The second picture is the housing built for people who lost their home during the tsunami. Lena said there was a lot of controversy about affordability (some issues are universal). Later we passed the shelters that were built immediately after the tsunami. They were in complete ruins - perhaps too temporary.

We saw rambutan trees, durian trees, and betel nut trees. Apologies to all - I figured I could take a camera tour another day. Along the same line I skipped the Butterfly Garden, the herb garden, and the like figuring more focused trips would be better. I did see tons of stalls all of which looked tempting. We ended the afternoon having tea in an Indian shop - everything looked very tempting - so I now have a destination alternate to Georgetown.

Saturday & Stories of Bhutan

Yesterday (Saturday) I meet with a student in my class from Bhutan. He wanted some help in organizing his thoughts in English. He used this as an opportunity to introduce me to Bhutan - a land that's goal is to product "Gross National Happiness." While the country has a way to go (23% live below poverty and an infant mortality rate of 40 per 1000 births) he suggested that its quality of life was high. He assured me several times that women have and have had for a long time equal rights - especially their ability to inherent property. So if you are eager to broaden your international adventures here is a picture to whet your appetite.

Otherwise yesterday was a quiet day. I went to the night market and picked up fruit and a few dinner time snacks. So far the latter has broadened some on my street food knowledge, but no sure fire winners yet.

Today I just finished my course notes and put them on the wiki. I plan to spend part of the day with Lina, another faculty member who is terrific to hang out with.

Too busy to write

This was a day that I have been looking forward to. This morning I met with the coordinator of Regional Centre of Expertise at USM which is working on Sustainable Development. He wanted me to help with a manuscript they have written. I have already started going over the MS. It is serving as a great introduction to Penang's NGOs and their collaborations with each others. My role, as I understand it, is to draw lessons from the discussions of the NGO cases, to tighten up the MS so that the focus on NGOs is clear, and to make a stronger case linking together strategies and outcomes. We also discussed my proposed research. I think that I made some headway on that as well. (Actually the research is probably of greatest interest to people who are eager to publish.)

This afternoon I went to Kanita the Women's Development Research Centre. They had invited the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Information. She delivered the same message as all research deans do - get published, grow your graduate program, put us on the map. She was entertaining and not like "the suits" that normally deliver the same message. One of my favorite lines was "I have been to Mecca and met with god, but I haven't been able to meet with any of the research deans." After her presentation we had makanan (food - an ever present feature of any event). I spoke with the director of the Centre and several other folks, so I am optimistic that everything is falling into place.

Lesson to all - the invitation from the Kanita was the result of a "cold call" via e-mail. I was becoming impatient waiting for others to come through. While I probably should have done this earlier I was at the point that I was better to explain what I was doing and what I needed.