Back from the Golden Land (Myanmar)

After a weekend in Myanmar, it feels great to be back in Singapore. Everything is efficient, air-conditioned, modern, new, English-speaking and comfortable (Sorry I'm spoiled by modern technology). But that said, Myanmar was definitely an amazing experience where I learned so much about a country that is stereotypically viewed as hostile and dangerous. The people there were just incredibly nice. In contrast with most other SE Asian countries with developed tourist industries, people here want your business, but if you're not interested, they don't get all nasty. There isn't that sense of always needing to have your guard up against scammers. It will definitely be interesting to see what Myanmar would be like in a couple of years when/if the country becomes more open and develops a stronger tourism industry.

Mike Montesano, a Yale alumni with connections to people in Myanmar, introduced us to people that just made the trip 100 times better. Firstly, Aung Aung and Zar Zar (an engaged couple who studied in Singapore before), took us around for most of the time we were there and just made everything so much easier and more authentic. We even took the local bus where the usher basically yells to people on the street and at each stop herds people into the bus. The bus jerks around every 5 seconds and sometimes don't even have real seats (basically wooden boards). We even saw a bus that broke down and had to have some people get off to push the bus.

At night, Myanmar basically closes down super early. At around 11pm, most places are closed (even bars) and the streets are almost pitch dark. The only illumination on the streets come from small street stands. Apparently, its really popular for Myanmar men to sit on the streets until the wee mornings drinking tea (they just call it tea, but oftentimes its tea + milk, almost tastes like boba).

Another highlight of the trip was going to an organization called Myanmar Egress (which kind of means - way to freedom) and meeting Nay Win Maung. He is highly involved in trying to build up the Myanmar government institution economically, politically and socially, from the inside out. Although there is a lot of criticism that he is working for the government, his philosophy is very pragmatic. He desires to see democracy develop in Myanmar but wants to achieve it through pragmatic reform of the government from within rather than a complete overthrow. He is accepting of compromises in order to slow move towards a goal. Meeting with him was basically an incredible crash course in Myanmar politics that gave us an inside perspective. Definitely SUPER COOL! :D

Schwedagon Pagoda

Royal Lake (Karaweik Hall on the right)

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Taking Time off?

I don't know why, but suddenly I came to the realization that I do want to take some time off from Yale. I'm NOT going through some early-life crisis. I didn't go through anything traumatizing that made me want to leave Yale (or stay in Singapore for that matter). I guess what I really want is not exactly time off from Yale but more time to learn more about things I'm interested in, while still being able to take advantage of all the career development support that Yale has. This partially stems from how I developed my interest in energy policies and environmental issues at the beginning of this year. I haven't even begun to skim the surface of the complex issues embroiled in all of this climate change/renewable energy/sustainable practices debate. I want to spend a semester, or year studying or interning or even doing research on something relevant to my major. Even though I realize that it will still not be enough for me to fully understand anything substantial, I just want to be more knowledgeable and buy myself sometime before I have to make decisions about a career. I also realize that I could go to graduate school, but life of a graduate student doesn't seem too appealing right now. I think taking a year off is less of a commitment than graduate school, especially when I'm definitely not thinking about going into academia.

I have no idea what I would want to do but I want to explore my options. See what things I could get funded for and what opportunities are out there. I'll definitely be coming back in this fall, I have way too many obligations to flake out. But hopefully I can do this between junior and senior year. It will be quite sad to not graduate with all of my classmates, but I've heard that getting time off is actually well worth it.

Oh yeah, on a lighter note. This past Saturday we just came back from a dinner hosted at Lee Suet-Fern's house. SO COOL! She's the wife of the second son of Lee Kwan Yew (the former PM of Singapore)!!! It was such a beautiful house. Being in Singapore has been amazing. We've been able to have an audience with such high profile people that it seems slightly surreal. Their willingness to entertain us is so flattering, especially when their usual guests are definitely powerful people.
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More than half way through!

It is now basically the halfway point of my time here in Singapore. I guess it's time for some reflection. After coming here, I think what I've learned the most about is schmoozing. All these events that the Bulldogs have been invited too has only shown me how important know the right people is and what the right connections can get you. Singapore is all about giving perks to VIP members. I've always kind of been disdainful of the term "networking." Even though I realize that a large part of the value of Yale is the people we meet, I never wanted to think of my friendships in that way. All the networking events that I've been to here have been different though. Yes you do go to these events and make small talk with a lot of different people, but the purpose is to find those several that you really click with, not kiss-ass to every single person you meet. And we have been meeting extremely cool people at these events.

Due to a Yale Alum, Cary Schmelzer, who introduced us to another Cary who works at the FBI, we were able to get an audience with the Singapore Ambassador, David Adelman and the Deputy Chief of Missions, Louis Mazel, held a happy hour in our name. Ambassador Adelman spared 30 minutes of his time to talk to 6 Yale undergraduate interns in Singapore. He was down to earth, humble about his achievements and very personable. BUT he also demonstrated how knowing the right people at the right time would land you the right job. He met President Obama several years back, before the elections and because of several common interests, became friends. He helped President Obama tour around the country and gave speeches for him and after the elections was granted his first choice of coming to Singapore as the Ambassador. Granted he had an impressive resume of having his own start-up, being a partner at a major law firm and serving as former Senator of Georgia for several years, but working one's way up the Foreign Service ladder would not have landed him the job. At this meeting we were also able to see Ambassador Adelman present Mike Davis, a retiring FBI officer with his retirement credentials, which is apparently a great moment in their career. It was amazing that we could be there to witness that moment. (This Mike Davis guy was also featured in the National Geographic on his work in Istanbul)

Later that day the DCM also hosted a happy hour, inviting other Yale alums and some Embassy officers to gather at his "residence." Which was pretty amazing. He had us stand up in front and introduce ourselves, like as if we were important people. The rest of the crowd were all people who have careers in the government, or Yale alums their own amazing careers. It really was such an honor.

On another note, I think something else I've learned this summer is something about how I interact with others. It really wasn't until this summer that I've felt a strong desire to change someone around me. I feel like pushing this person to step beyond this imaginary line that she has created for herself and stop living life so carefully. At the same time, I can't justify why I am doing this because how she leads life is perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with how she makes decisions, but I am always overcome by this immense desire to just shake her and break apart these ropes that she's tied around her feet. But I also feel totally egotistical saying this. Like as if I have the right to tell anyone else how to live life. By pushing her all the time and questioning her actions, I now almost feel like I've been bullying her. But because she always responds with a smile, I never know when I'm going too far, when my words of "encouragement" turn into words simply impose my views of life onto her. Maybe I should keep my comments to myself? Plenty of people do that and many times with other people I do keep them to myself. But for some reason I just feel compelled to tell her about my dissatisfaction with what she does. After 4 weeks of such interactions, I'm kind of tired and I'm sure she is too, maybe I should just stop?
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July 4th Weekend Success!

Weekend in Vietnam and then BBQ at our apartment was a great combo.
Vietnam was amazing for the following reasons:
1. Hong
2. Hong's mom
3. Hong's uncle
4. Yale alumni
5. Banh mi (YUMMM)
6. interconnected history with US (yeah i know this is more boring, but still a big part of this trip)

So once we got out of the airport Hong has this huge 15-seater van come pick us up and bring us straight to the Cu Chi tunnels. For a group of 9, having transportation taken care of is an amazing thing, especially when the cu chi tunnels are like almost two hours away. Of course, along the way there we pick up some fresh and yummy omelette banh mi (vietnamese sandwich).

When we get there Hong tells the "Asian looking ones" to hush and pretend to be Vietnamese since its free entry for locals, haha. But once we get to the counter, this guy starts speaking to us in Vietnamese and we all stare blankly at him...total fail. Walking through the Cu Chi tunnels was a pretty cool experience though, made me feel slighly claustrophobic. It's a miracle that Eric (who is over 6 feet) got through them. To imagine running through these three feet high tunnels with guns is slightly ridiculous. They showed us this video at the beginning of the tour that was total propaganda: "The Americans came and bombed women and children, and pots and pans." Molly was definitely falling asleep during the video.

Later that day we went to the War Remnants Museum and it was the first time I've wanted to cry after a museum exhibit. I'm sure Auschwitz and other concentration camp musuems are probably worse, but for me, this was the most heart wrenching exhibit I've seen. At first walking in, all I saw was propaganda talking about American aggressors who attacked and tortured innocent Vietnamese women, children and farmers. But when I got to the exhibit about the after effects of Agent Orange, it was impossible to detach oneself and think about war purely from an abstract political standpoint. These were pictures of individuals whose lives were completely destroyed by the after effects of war. Mothers whose children were severely deformed or disabled and would need taking care of for their whole life. So 70 year old women were still bathing and washing their 50 year old sons. They displayed a letter that a girl wrote to President Obama. She was a third generation victim of the aftereffects of Agent Orange, pleading to Obama to give aid to the victims. She quotes his speeches in which he talks about his daughters, and his belief in providing children with opportunities to pursue their dreams and asks, "don't we deserve a chance too?"

Going through this museum puts our lives into perspective. How insignificant our own fears and concerns are. How we're so privileged to be going to college, to live in a rich country and have the resources to travel and spend money on frivolous things. I think for most people, seeing horrors and atrocities is a reason to refute the existence of a higher, all-good, supreme being. But I think that seeing such violence makes me think how much more we need God. A world without God would be unimaginably ugly.

After that we went to drop by at an alumni's house and I discovered in these neighborhoods there are hidden gems everywhere. By that I mean that you can walk into an alleyway or street that looks extremely dilapilated and poor, but then walk through gates to find a beautiful house, several stories high. Houses are built on an individual basis, so what you find around it doesn't necessarily signify what every house is like.

For dinner, Hong's uncle (who isn't really a relative), in addition to hiring us a driver, takes us out to eat at a seafood restaurant and gives Hong money to buy each of us a drink later. This man can barely speak English, so we couldn't even express our gratitude in any way or have much of a conversation with him. All I ended up finding out was that he owns a rubber exporting company. But his generosity is just amazing. It pays to have friends around the world.

Later we tried to take a look at the clubbing scene in Vietnam but Hong's mom, like most other moms is a protective mother hen and came to pick us up at 12 am sharp from the bar and ushered us home. Even though it was a little early, we didn't mind. We were tired and she has already been so generous. Hosting 8 of us all at the same time.

Sunday was visitng the Reunification Palace and shopping at the touristy markets, the quintiessential haggling experience. We got on at 5:30p.m. flight and got home by 10 p.m.

Right after, Monday was July 4th! BBQ at La Crystal. It got a rough start since the charcoal we got was taking forever to light. Most people just ended up snacking and drinking some beer. But it was plenty fun. We definitley had almost 50 people there throughout the night and I met quite a bit of interesting people. It's crazy to halfway across world and meet people who are just from all over. Really shows you how small technology has made the world.

I probably won't be traveling again this weekend, but it's going to be a busy week with two dinner seminars, Hong's birthday and a bunch of other things coming up!
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