(no subject)
sooo... my year studying abroad (for my master's) is nearly over. in the end, i'm leaving bangkok a month early and coincidentally my new flight is for april 14th, exactly a year to the date that i left berlin to go down to start the master's program in freiburg. i like when things are round like that. ;-) i'm also very happy to have experienced this year and to have it behind me. i met a lot of amazing people, saw very different corners of the world, learned a lot about globalization (not just in theory, but also how it plays out in reality). it was very hard being away from philip for months at a time (this time nearly 3 months), but i'm glad we got through the distance. it's really tough and i think most guys (speaking from past experience) wouldn't be so trusthworthy, loyal, strong and determined. i had many weak moments, but it was really philip that carried us through.
bangkok was alright. i think in the end, i prefer buenos aires far more-- though they can't even be really compared. it was pretty tough here with the food because nearly all dishes are fried and most apartments do not come equipped with kitchens, so you're really forced to buy food on the street. i was never so into asian cuisine before coming -- though i did enjoy thai food once every 6 months or so. :-p so in general, the change in diet was just a shock for my system. salads are very uncommon here and veggies are definitely much more expensive (not to mention the lack of regulation of pesticides here), so wasn't really satisfied on that front. in mid-march i got a really really terrible stomach bacteria infection (which i'm pretty sure i got from street food) and after 6-7 days of intense pain and bowel issues, i finally had to take antibiotics... the thing is, the antibiotics killed all the good bacteria in my stomach/intestines, which left me prone to more problems. i've been eating a lot of papaya and tried to avoid fried foods, diary, and spicy foods this week and it's been helping a bit. this kind of diet gets very expensive here, so subway and vietnamese spring rolls have pretty much saved my life.
other than the stomach problems, it was really hard to enjoy my time here because the city is ridiculously chaotic, huge on consumerism (ridiculously luxurious shopping malls on every street corner that suck up all the energy/electricity and leaves homes on the outskirts of bangkok with no electricity), AND the sex industry is just sooo huge and pervasive in every aspect of society here. in bangkok it's very clear that most girls sell their bodies/services not to support themselves or feed their families, but in order to afford new iphones, cosmetics, designer heels and handbags. so walking down the street it is very common to see these ridiculously unattractive, old and obese men holding the hand of a very young, pretty and stylishly dressed thai girl. after a while it just gets really gross, and it's hard to find a bar where this shit isn't going on. the government does nothing to regulate and in the end a lot of shady shit goes down (trafficking, underage prostitution, violence and exploitation). some NGOs estimate that there are 2.8 million prostitutes in thailand, and that their main clients are actually thai men (sex tourism only accounts for a fraction of visits). a couple of weeks ago, i did a group project/presentation on buddhism and prostitution in thai society... learned a lot about both, but mostly that buddhism doesn't necessarily reinforce or foster prostitution in society, but that it promotes no sort of active moral value in trying to prevent it. for example: while buddhist teachings hold that you should not be attached to worldly things or succumb to lust and desire, some teachings encourage men to have multiple wives or sex partners, and other readings put forth the sole role of a woman as "servicing" men... so one of the things we looked at for our presentation was the gender inequality both in buddhism and in thai society.
only two days left here and there is nothing i really want to do. hopefully i'll get some inspiration soon. will spend the next year (last year of my master's program) mostly in berlin (commuting ocassionally to freiburg for conferences and stuff). have to finalize my thesis topic AND find an internship. my dream internship is with transparency international in berlin.. but i already applied to three internship positions and haven't heard back, so i'm very pessimistic. otherwise, i'll spend the summer taking german courses and researching for my thesis... and then try again for an internship in the fall. can't wait to stay put for a little bit and be with philip again!
bangkok was alright. i think in the end, i prefer buenos aires far more-- though they can't even be really compared. it was pretty tough here with the food because nearly all dishes are fried and most apartments do not come equipped with kitchens, so you're really forced to buy food on the street. i was never so into asian cuisine before coming -- though i did enjoy thai food once every 6 months or so. :-p so in general, the change in diet was just a shock for my system. salads are very uncommon here and veggies are definitely much more expensive (not to mention the lack of regulation of pesticides here), so wasn't really satisfied on that front. in mid-march i got a really really terrible stomach bacteria infection (which i'm pretty sure i got from street food) and after 6-7 days of intense pain and bowel issues, i finally had to take antibiotics... the thing is, the antibiotics killed all the good bacteria in my stomach/intestines, which left me prone to more problems. i've been eating a lot of papaya and tried to avoid fried foods, diary, and spicy foods this week and it's been helping a bit. this kind of diet gets very expensive here, so subway and vietnamese spring rolls have pretty much saved my life.
other than the stomach problems, it was really hard to enjoy my time here because the city is ridiculously chaotic, huge on consumerism (ridiculously luxurious shopping malls on every street corner that suck up all the energy/electricity and leaves homes on the outskirts of bangkok with no electricity), AND the sex industry is just sooo huge and pervasive in every aspect of society here. in bangkok it's very clear that most girls sell their bodies/services not to support themselves or feed their families, but in order to afford new iphones, cosmetics, designer heels and handbags. so walking down the street it is very common to see these ridiculously unattractive, old and obese men holding the hand of a very young, pretty and stylishly dressed thai girl. after a while it just gets really gross, and it's hard to find a bar where this shit isn't going on. the government does nothing to regulate and in the end a lot of shady shit goes down (trafficking, underage prostitution, violence and exploitation). some NGOs estimate that there are 2.8 million prostitutes in thailand, and that their main clients are actually thai men (sex tourism only accounts for a fraction of visits). a couple of weeks ago, i did a group project/presentation on buddhism and prostitution in thai society... learned a lot about both, but mostly that buddhism doesn't necessarily reinforce or foster prostitution in society, but that it promotes no sort of active moral value in trying to prevent it. for example: while buddhist teachings hold that you should not be attached to worldly things or succumb to lust and desire, some teachings encourage men to have multiple wives or sex partners, and other readings put forth the sole role of a woman as "servicing" men... so one of the things we looked at for our presentation was the gender inequality both in buddhism and in thai society.
only two days left here and there is nothing i really want to do. hopefully i'll get some inspiration soon. will spend the next year (last year of my master's program) mostly in berlin (commuting ocassionally to freiburg for conferences and stuff). have to finalize my thesis topic AND find an internship. my dream internship is with transparency international in berlin.. but i already applied to three internship positions and haven't heard back, so i'm very pessimistic. otherwise, i'll spend the summer taking german courses and researching for my thesis... and then try again for an internship in the fall. can't wait to stay put for a little bit and be with philip again!