I'll be returning to the US relatively soon, much to my dismay. I've been quite busy with work, thus the lack of updates. I apologize for that.
I continue to do stuff in Asia. I'll tell you about it later.
"Travel is only glamorous in retrospect."
-Paul Theroux
Friday, July 2, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother's Day
My freshman year my mother suggested I look into the IRSEP scholarship at the university, I didn't. My sophomore year my mother suggested I look into the IRSEP scholarship, I didn't. My junior year my mother suggested I look into the IRSEP scholarship, I did. My senior year my mother asked me what to pack, I said "light stuff because Malaysia is pretty warm."
Just one of the countless examples that illustrates that "Mom knows best."
Happy Mother's Day Mom.
ps Everyone should become a member of the Minnesota International Center
Just one of the countless examples that illustrates that "Mom knows best."
Happy Mother's Day Mom.
ps Everyone should become a member of the Minnesota International Center
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Places
I got back from the Perhentian Islands early this evening. I had a wonderful few days there swimming in crystal clear water and laying on white sandy beaches. To think a year ago I had never heard of the place.
One of the most important things I've learned here is that you can't pass judgment on a place without being there. I've been traveling alone most of the time and had been quick to assume how this place is going to be like that and etc. For example I thought Laos was going to be like North Korea. But hey! I went there and discovered a beautiful country filled with some of the kindest people I have ever met sans Pyongyang totalitarianism.
The next time someone/a book/the internet/TV tells you the French are rude or Prague is better than Vienna or all the food in India will make you sick or Alabama is full of rednecks or that there isn't much to see in Sarawak, don't take their word.
Go find out for yourself.
One of the most important things I've learned here is that you can't pass judgment on a place without being there. I've been traveling alone most of the time and had been quick to assume how this place is going to be like that and etc. For example I thought Laos was going to be like North Korea. But hey! I went there and discovered a beautiful country filled with some of the kindest people I have ever met sans Pyongyang totalitarianism.
The next time someone/a book/the internet/TV tells you the French are rude or Prague is better than Vienna or all the food in India will make you sick or Alabama is full of rednecks or that there isn't much to see in Sarawak, don't take their word.
Go find out for yourself.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Obama and Medvedev Sign New START Treaty
My mother is visiting me in Malaysia, so I don't have as much time to write about this as I'd like to as I need/should/will make hanging out with her my top priority.
If you haven't heard, President Obama and President Medvedev have signed a new START treaty which will reduce respective nuclear arsenals* by one-third. Coupled with the release on Nuclear Posture Review on Monday, this has been a fantastic week for the nonproliferation regime and human beings in general.
That's all I've got for now. I'll be going to Langkawi on Saturday morning, then down to KL on Tuesday. I'm liking blogging again, so I'll write something once I get back to Penang from KL.
Ian
ps Twins are atop the AL Central Division after three games and will stay there indefinitely.
*long range nuclear weapons. more one that later.
If you haven't heard, President Obama and President Medvedev have signed a new START treaty which will reduce respective nuclear arsenals* by one-third. Coupled with the release on Nuclear Posture Review on Monday, this has been a fantastic week for the nonproliferation regime and human beings in general.
That's all I've got for now. I'll be going to Langkawi on Saturday morning, then down to KL on Tuesday. I'm liking blogging again, so I'll write something once I get back to Penang from KL.
Ian
ps Twins are atop the AL Central Division after three games and will stay there indefinitely.
*long range nuclear weapons. more one that later.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Thoughts on the Nuclear Posture Review
For a long time I've wanted to write about foreign policy issues that have nothing to do with Malaysia, I do study Political Science as a minor after all. Well, today brought some news that I could not help writing about.
On Tuesday, President Obama released the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. The report outlines what "the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy should be."
The NYT article states:
"Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary... For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack."
I think this is a very positive step in the RIGHT direction for strengthening the international nonproliferation regime AND US national security.
I imagine that critics on the right will be quick to portray the move as "weak" and "inviting an attack on the US." I think these criticisms are made clearly by those stuck in a Cold War mindset. I was lucky enough to have been born at the end of the Cold War and thus "mutually assured destruction" is not part of my regular vocabulary. I'd argue it should be out of everyone's vocabulary and only come out of the mouths of IR scholars and appear in print in IR textbooks. MAD is obsolete. Completely.
Now let me get a bit wonky here for a moment.
I'd argue that Obama's plans for drawing down nuclear arsenals and redefining the situations when nuclear weapons would be employed is completely in sync with recent moves the military has taken in restructuring itself. In short, the military structure was designed most in part with an emphasis for conventional warfare between two opposing powers (ie US and USSR) on a battlefield etc etc. However, the conflicts that our military has been involved in lately (Afghanistan and Iraq) are unconventional. How does a conventional military fight an unconventional war (counterinsurgency being the big one)?
The military has begun to adapt itself in order to better handle unconventional conflicts. It's a measure that is being taken in response to the realities: no a war with China isn't imminent, but executing a population-centric counterinsurgency is something that is going on right now.
Obama's decisions reflect this same reality. Nuclear warfare is obsolete, thank God.
If you don't agree with my analysis, seriously consider threats to the security to the US that would call for the use of nuclear weapons in the year 2010. If you answer: Iran or North Korea, you didn't read the Times article close enough. If you answer: Al Qaeda and other terrorists, consider how a nuclear warhead would be guided to wherever the terrorists are. If you answer China, consider that our economic ties will never bring us further than arguing about Taiwan or the Dalai Lama.
Also, consider the implications this will have for the NPT, Iran, and North Korea.
Many seemed to be baffled as to why President Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize. I wasn't.
On Tuesday, President Obama released the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. The report outlines what "the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy should be."
The NYT article states:
"Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary... For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack."
I think this is a very positive step in the RIGHT direction for strengthening the international nonproliferation regime AND US national security.
I imagine that critics on the right will be quick to portray the move as "weak" and "inviting an attack on the US." I think these criticisms are made clearly by those stuck in a Cold War mindset. I was lucky enough to have been born at the end of the Cold War and thus "mutually assured destruction" is not part of my regular vocabulary. I'd argue it should be out of everyone's vocabulary and only come out of the mouths of IR scholars and appear in print in IR textbooks. MAD is obsolete. Completely.
Now let me get a bit wonky here for a moment.
I'd argue that Obama's plans for drawing down nuclear arsenals and redefining the situations when nuclear weapons would be employed is completely in sync with recent moves the military has taken in restructuring itself. In short, the military structure was designed most in part with an emphasis for conventional warfare between two opposing powers (ie US and USSR) on a battlefield etc etc. However, the conflicts that our military has been involved in lately (Afghanistan and Iraq) are unconventional. How does a conventional military fight an unconventional war (counterinsurgency being the big one)?
The military has begun to adapt itself in order to better handle unconventional conflicts. It's a measure that is being taken in response to the realities: no a war with China isn't imminent, but executing a population-centric counterinsurgency is something that is going on right now.
Obama's decisions reflect this same reality. Nuclear warfare is obsolete, thank God.
If you don't agree with my analysis, seriously consider threats to the security to the US that would call for the use of nuclear weapons in the year 2010. If you answer: Iran or North Korea, you didn't read the Times article close enough. If you answer: Al Qaeda and other terrorists, consider how a nuclear warhead would be guided to wherever the terrorists are. If you answer China, consider that our economic ties will never bring us further than arguing about Taiwan or the Dalai Lama.
Also, consider the implications this will have for the NPT, Iran, and North Korea.
Many seemed to be baffled as to why President Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize. I wasn't.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Today in Bahasa Malaysia Class
Last semester I wrote about my beginning level Bahasa Malaysia class, LKM 100. I'm taking the second level course this semester, LKM 200. While LKM 200 isn't proving to be the enlightening "it's a small world afterall" experience that LKM 100 was, I'm still enjoying it nonetheless.
Today we learned about the prefix ter-.
Ter- can be used to:
a) describe an action done without intention or accidently
b) means "the most" when added to a noun
c) to show incapability of doing something when combined with the word "tidak," which means "no"
I'm the only native English speaker in the class and I find myself being constantly called on. My teacher has mistaken my first name as "Byrne" since the usual format of a name here is Family Name First name. I've figured it's just too late in the semester to correct him without embarrassing him or myself. When he calls on people, it sounds like the name of the person he's calling on erupts out of his mouth as if it were an escape of some sort. It's not, "Ian, could you please answer question number 3?" It's "BYRNE, answer question."
So, back to ter-
My teacher wrote the following two sentences on the board and called on me to translate them into English and distinguish the usage of ter-
1. Dolah terberak di dalam kelas.
2. Dolah berak di dalam kelas.
Teacher: BYRNE, translate the sentences.
Me: What does "Dolah" mean?
Teacher: It's a name.
Me: What does "berak" mean?
Teacher: You don't know berak? Somebody say what "berak" means.
Student sitting next to me: It means to shit.
Since English is everybody else's second or third language, it's common for people just use vernacular English without quite understanding what the meaning of the word carries. We all do that though. I myself throw vittua and perkele around like it's a greeting, no thanks to my Finnish roommates.
I continued.
Me: Dolah accidentally defecated in--
Teacher (interrupting): No! To shit.
Me: Dolah accidentally shit in the classroom.
Teacher: Very good. Next sentence.
Me: Dolah shit in the classroom.
Poor Dolah.
I had no choice but to laugh through each of the "in the class." It was a riot. I must say though, it was actually somewhat liberating speaking publicly about this fictional "Dolah" accidentally and purposefully shitting in the classroom. Nobody else seemed to find it funny though as the next student translated something about someone accidentally eating some cake as I continued to chuckle.
I guess today everyone learned how grown up their American peer is.
Today we learned about the prefix ter-.
Ter- can be used to:
a) describe an action done without intention or accidently
b) means "the most" when added to a noun
c) to show incapability of doing something when combined with the word "tidak," which means "no"
I'm the only native English speaker in the class and I find myself being constantly called on. My teacher has mistaken my first name as "Byrne" since the usual format of a name here is Family Name First name. I've figured it's just too late in the semester to correct him without embarrassing him or myself. When he calls on people, it sounds like the name of the person he's calling on erupts out of his mouth as if it were an escape of some sort. It's not, "Ian, could you please answer question number 3?" It's "BYRNE, answer question."
So, back to ter-
My teacher wrote the following two sentences on the board and called on me to translate them into English and distinguish the usage of ter-
1. Dolah terberak di dalam kelas.
2. Dolah berak di dalam kelas.
Teacher: BYRNE, translate the sentences.
Me: What does "Dolah" mean?
Teacher: It's a name.
Me: What does "berak" mean?
Teacher: You don't know berak? Somebody say what "berak" means.
Student sitting next to me: It means to shit.
Since English is everybody else's second or third language, it's common for people just use vernacular English without quite understanding what the meaning of the word carries. We all do that though. I myself throw vittua and perkele around like it's a greeting, no thanks to my Finnish roommates.
I continued.
Me: Dolah accidentally defecated in--
Teacher (interrupting): No! To shit.
Me: Dolah accidentally shit in the classroom.
Teacher: Very good. Next sentence.
Me: Dolah shit in the classroom.
Poor Dolah.
I had no choice but to laugh through each of the "in the class." It was a riot. I must say though, it was actually somewhat liberating speaking publicly about this fictional "Dolah" accidentally and purposefully shitting in the classroom. Nobody else seemed to find it funny though as the next student translated something about someone accidentally eating some cake as I continued to chuckle.
I guess today everyone learned how grown up their American peer is.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Chinese New Year Travels
I had a week off for Chinese New Year from March 15-19. On the morning of the 16th I hopped on a bus and went down to Kuala Lumpur. I had slept for about two hours the previous night since I had some business back home in the US to attend to via email and Skype. I slept the whole bus ride ride down there. I was in such a deep sleep that I woke up on an empty bus around noon, looked out the window and saw the ugly structure that is Pudaraya bus station and realized I was in Kuala Lumpur. I was having some sort of dream that I was in a cooking class. I was happy to have woken up and been in KL. Although waking up on an empty bus was a bit unnerving for a moment.
I stayed in a hostel near the Masjid Jamek metro station. There was a Burger King and a McDonalds facing each other across the street so I had all I needed. My hostel was pretty nice as it seemed to be brand new. In the dorm I stayed in was this Japanese guy who said he had been living there the past two weeks. He seemed like an all right guy up until he asked where I was from. Upon hearing I was American he started gushing out all these 9/11 conspiracy theories and etc. However, he wasn't as crazy as the guy who told me that the Titanic was sunk so the Federal Reserve Bank could be created.
I spent the remainder of the day walking around KLCC. It was my third time in KL, but this time I really, really enjoyed it. KLCC is a park right beside the Petronas Twin Towers. It's a nice place to unwind amidst the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. Also, I could sit and admire the Petronas Towers for hours.
I went to the aquarium in the adjoining convention center. I like aquariums for the most part, plus it was a good excuse to get out of the KL heat. The aquarium was nice and had all sorts of crazy organisms from across the country. However, I did manage to pull off the feat of getting motion sickness on the moving walkway going through the tunnel through the tank. Something about the glass made everything terribly out of focus and I just suffered through the 90 meters that it lasted.
The next day I went to Merdeka Square. The Malaysian flag flies upon tallest flagpole in the world there. I asked this tourist couple, I think they were from Japan, if they could take a picture of me in front of the square. The husband then asked me if he could take a picture of me with his wife. I obliged, finding it to me one of the more hilarious "can I take a picture of you?" moments.
After that I went to the National Museum, which was pretty cool. It only cost RM 2 to get in and I learned a lot about the colonial era and more about the politics of Malaysia when the country first gained its independence from Britain. I also learned a lot about the Malacca Sultanate which I found to be quite interesting since I was heading there next.
All in all, KL was great.
On Thursday, I took a bus to Malacca. Malacca is a city that has Arab, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, British, and of course Malaysian roots. I hope I didn't forget anyone there... It was a trading hub back in the day and regarded as a strategic port because it was in between China and India.
Malacca was pretty hoppin' as it was jam packed with Chinese celebrating the New Year. I spent the day walking around the city checking out the old colonial buildings and watching kids set off firecrackers at every corner. I went to one museum that was the rebuilt palace of the Malacca Sultan. It was pretty cool and filled with terribly cheezy manikins reenacting this scene and that.
Some parts of Malacca were pretty tourist trappy. There were gift shops in every church, temple, restaurant, museum, you name it. There was a museum for everything as well. There was the "Malaysian Youth Art Museum" and the "Beauty Museum" and the "Kite Museum" and "The People's Museum" and etc.
I liked Malacca overall. Living in Penang for a little over eight months has made me accustomed to "Malaysian life in Penang," so seeing "Malaysian life in Malacca" was nice.
On Friday I took a bus further down to Singapore.
And that, my friends, will be another post for another time.
I stayed in a hostel near the Masjid Jamek metro station. There was a Burger King and a McDonalds facing each other across the street so I had all I needed. My hostel was pretty nice as it seemed to be brand new. In the dorm I stayed in was this Japanese guy who said he had been living there the past two weeks. He seemed like an all right guy up until he asked where I was from. Upon hearing I was American he started gushing out all these 9/11 conspiracy theories and etc. However, he wasn't as crazy as the guy who told me that the Titanic was sunk so the Federal Reserve Bank could be created.
I spent the remainder of the day walking around KLCC. It was my third time in KL, but this time I really, really enjoyed it. KLCC is a park right beside the Petronas Twin Towers. It's a nice place to unwind amidst the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. Also, I could sit and admire the Petronas Towers for hours.
I went to the aquarium in the adjoining convention center. I like aquariums for the most part, plus it was a good excuse to get out of the KL heat. The aquarium was nice and had all sorts of crazy organisms from across the country. However, I did manage to pull off the feat of getting motion sickness on the moving walkway going through the tunnel through the tank. Something about the glass made everything terribly out of focus and I just suffered through the 90 meters that it lasted.
The next day I went to Merdeka Square. The Malaysian flag flies upon tallest flagpole in the world there. I asked this tourist couple, I think they were from Japan, if they could take a picture of me in front of the square. The husband then asked me if he could take a picture of me with his wife. I obliged, finding it to me one of the more hilarious "can I take a picture of you?" moments.
After that I went to the National Museum, which was pretty cool. It only cost RM 2 to get in and I learned a lot about the colonial era and more about the politics of Malaysia when the country first gained its independence from Britain. I also learned a lot about the Malacca Sultanate which I found to be quite interesting since I was heading there next.
All in all, KL was great.
On Thursday, I took a bus to Malacca. Malacca is a city that has Arab, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, British, and of course Malaysian roots. I hope I didn't forget anyone there... It was a trading hub back in the day and regarded as a strategic port because it was in between China and India.
Malacca was pretty hoppin' as it was jam packed with Chinese celebrating the New Year. I spent the day walking around the city checking out the old colonial buildings and watching kids set off firecrackers at every corner. I went to one museum that was the rebuilt palace of the Malacca Sultan. It was pretty cool and filled with terribly cheezy manikins reenacting this scene and that.
Some parts of Malacca were pretty tourist trappy. There were gift shops in every church, temple, restaurant, museum, you name it. There was a museum for everything as well. There was the "Malaysian Youth Art Museum" and the "Beauty Museum" and the "Kite Museum" and "The People's Museum" and etc.
I liked Malacca overall. Living in Penang for a little over eight months has made me accustomed to "Malaysian life in Penang," so seeing "Malaysian life in Malacca" was nice.
On Friday I took a bus further down to Singapore.
And that, my friends, will be another post for another time.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Keep Haiti in your hearts and minds
As the initial shock has subsided following the awful tragedy in Haiti, we cannot let the plight of the Haitians to begin to rebuild and recover their lives be forgotten.
I found this blog through the Foreign Policy Association's Facebook page:
http://julieinhaiti.tumblr.com/
It gives a heart-wrenching account of what people are going through there.
An excerpt:
"There’s a man that drives every day- away from his current [metal] sheet motel to his crushed home. He sits in front of the concrete pieces, as they lay there crumbled on top of each other. Haitian dreams reduced to rubble. Below the wreckage lie his wife and 5 children. Perhaps they are still alive whimpering. Perhaps they are dead and bloated. Regardless, at this point, they are part of the wreckage and statistics that makeup this faulted land. He has no idea what else to do… where do you start with a broken heart, a broken home, a broken country and soon a forgotten disaster not exciting enough to be covered on CNN or recent enough to receive donations. For him, the start is going back to where it ended and staring at ruins till nightfall prevents it."
Traveling around Asia, I've had experiences and seen things that make me feel so fortunate to have been born into the circumstances that I was. I am constantly reminded that I cannot take anything in life for granted. Realize that if you're reading this blog, you can afford to buy a computer (a luxury item), amongst many, many other things that a lot of people cannot afford or do not have access to. Be thankful for that.
I'm off to Kuala Lumpur in three hours. Bon voyage.
Ian
I found this blog through the Foreign Policy Association's Facebook page:
http://julieinhaiti.tumblr.com/
It gives a heart-wrenching account of what people are going through there.
An excerpt:
"There’s a man that drives every day- away from his current [metal] sheet motel to his crushed home. He sits in front of the concrete pieces, as they lay there crumbled on top of each other. Haitian dreams reduced to rubble. Below the wreckage lie his wife and 5 children. Perhaps they are still alive whimpering. Perhaps they are dead and bloated. Regardless, at this point, they are part of the wreckage and statistics that makeup this faulted land. He has no idea what else to do… where do you start with a broken heart, a broken home, a broken country and soon a forgotten disaster not exciting enough to be covered on CNN or recent enough to receive donations. For him, the start is going back to where it ended and staring at ruins till nightfall prevents it."
Traveling around Asia, I've had experiences and seen things that make me feel so fortunate to have been born into the circumstances that I was. I am constantly reminded that I cannot take anything in life for granted. Realize that if you're reading this blog, you can afford to buy a computer (a luxury item), amongst many, many other things that a lot of people cannot afford or do not have access to. Be thankful for that.
I'm off to Kuala Lumpur in three hours. Bon voyage.
Ian
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Chinese New Year 恭喜发财
Sunday was the first day of the year of the Tiger. I wasn't so sure what to expect, but the Chinese sure know how to start off their year in style. It's been fireworks and firecrackers galore. All of the Chinese are taking the week off to go home and visit family and friends. The atmosphere is kind of like Hari Raya where half of everything is closed.
While I was in India I met Kaja, who is from Norway. We traveled a bit and became buds. Her friend, Linn, came to Penang so we spent yesterday walking around Georgetown seeing what the Chinese were up to. They were partying.
We went to this temple called Kek Lok Si, which is supposedly the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. It looked really cool and had lights all over it. As any Buddhist temple, it had a very calm and soothing atmosphere. I took pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. Here's some image I found on Google:
On Tuesday morning I'm heading to Kuala Lumpur for a night or two, then onto Malacca, and finally Singapore for the weekend.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
The OFFICIAL Malaysian Chinese New Year song
Chinese Lion Dance, which is really cool.
I'll try my best to post once while I'm traveling.
Ian
While I was in India I met Kaja, who is from Norway. We traveled a bit and became buds. Her friend, Linn, came to Penang so we spent yesterday walking around Georgetown seeing what the Chinese were up to. They were partying.
We went to this temple called Kek Lok Si, which is supposedly the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. It looked really cool and had lights all over it. As any Buddhist temple, it had a very calm and soothing atmosphere. I took pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. Here's some image I found on Google:
On Tuesday morning I'm heading to Kuala Lumpur for a night or two, then onto Malacca, and finally Singapore for the weekend.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
The OFFICIAL Malaysian Chinese New Year song
Chinese Lion Dance, which is really cool.
I'll try my best to post once while I'm traveling.
Ian
Friday, February 12, 2010
An article worth reading
This is a fascinating article that I think anyone from the West studying in Asia (or just anyone in general) should read. I think it would also be worthwhile for my Malaysian and other Asian peers to have a look to see how "Asia's rise" is framed back in the US, or at least in the Boston Globe.
Joshua Kurlantzick's piece Dazzled by Asia
I'm Back
I woke up this morning and felt terrible for a) waking up at 1:30 in the afternoon and b) the fact I don't blog at all and I should. I was paging through GQ and it had a blurb from Stephen King on how to avoid procrastination and remain committed to things you love doing. I, like Stephen King, love writing, but I'm also a 21 year old college student who would much rather spend time customizing a C300 on Mercedes-Benz's website or figuring out how I get invited to get a Centurion Card, as opposed to doing actual things that somewhat actually benefit my existence.
Since I last wrote my life has consisted of: spending three weeks in India, Christmas in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; New Years Eve in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; going to the awesome temple structure Angkor Watt in Siem Reap, also in Cambodia; visiting the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia; making new friends from the new group of exchange students; going to class; being sunburnt on the way to class; and continuing to enjoy my life in Malaysia.
I don't have any class next week because it is Chinese New Year, or the Lunar New Year for everybody else. I should be going to Bali or something but instead I'm just going to cruise around Malaysia. I'm reading Kerouac's On the Road right now and am tempted to go to the bus station, pick out a city name I like, and go there. However, I think I'll pass on that strategy as I wouldn't want to end up near the Thai border to Yala. I think I'll head south to KL then Malacca early next week.
Stephen King said his goal for every day is to write five pages. That's it, write five pages and be done. Well, clearly I'm not going to be writing five pages, but I will make it a goal to try and put something on here every day even if it's just a minor thought or a link.
Also, I'm renaming the blog because I realized from 12:00 AM - 1:59 AM my time, my AM is your AM, which defeats the purpose of everything.
Things I'm thinking about/interested in right now:
Trying to sell Chip my waterboiler that is in no way approved for consumer usage in the US
andd
and hell, this picture too.
Ian
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Failure
Okay. So I didn't write any worthwhile blogs, or even go to the Cameron Highlands. Sorry.
Tomorrow I leave for 22 days of cruising around South India. I'm flying into Kerala and have my first nine days mapped out. After that I have no idea where I'll be going. I don't know how I feel about the uncertainty considering every travel book I read on India states something like, "India is NOT the kind of place where you can show up and figure it out as you go." I think I'll be all right though. I keep thinking how cool it is going to be to enter a country with over 1 billion people and I won't know anyone. I like it.
I'm excited, but I'm not looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in an airport and sleeping there. I do hope however that it will top spending Christmas Eve in a dive bar in Prague (sorry Marketa).
I'll be back in Malaysia around December 20th.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
ian
Tomorrow I leave for 22 days of cruising around South India. I'm flying into Kerala and have my first nine days mapped out. After that I have no idea where I'll be going. I don't know how I feel about the uncertainty considering every travel book I read on India states something like, "India is NOT the kind of place where you can show up and figure it out as you go." I think I'll be all right though. I keep thinking how cool it is going to be to enter a country with over 1 billion people and I won't know anyone. I like it.
I'm excited, but I'm not looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in an airport and sleeping there. I do hope however that it will top spending Christmas Eve in a dive bar in Prague (sorry Marketa).
I'll be back in Malaysia around December 20th.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
ian
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sorry.
I'm sorry it's been over a month since my last entry. The semester is over and I'll be off to the Cameron Highlands for a few days while I wait for my passport to get back from the Indian Embassy. I'm off to India at the end of November. I can promise a quota of two blogs before I leave for India. The Laos entry, and then who knows what else. I'll think of something.
I guess I've got nothing better to do right now than to write something. It's about 11:40 PM here in Penang and I'm waiting for an acceptable time back home (14 hour time difference) to call my brother to wish him happy birthday. If he's the same way I was when I was 15 on Sunday morning, he'll wake up 20 minutes before kickoff for the Vikings game and then move to the TV room still in pajamas around 11:45 AM. It's his golden birthday today. He probably doesn't read my blog, but in the meantime, happy 15th birthday Ryder.
I had finals and now they're over. I've got about six weeks to do whatever I want, so I'm going Eastward to India to see what's happening over there. I don't have a plan yet, but I'll be starting down in the Southern tip near Trivandrum, working my way up the coast on buses and trains to Mumbai, then cut into the interior on my way to Agra and Delhi. Who knows what then.
Besides traveling to India I guess my plan for the next few weeks is to be fiscally responsible, finish reading Crime and Punishment (2 bucks at the school bookstore), and work on learning Arabic. I've learned a few things here and there, but with learning any new language I've been prone to making mistakes. There's a Palestinian guy who sells delicious scharwmas at this hawker place I go to. I keep getting "how're you," and "I'm fine," mixed up. So I walked up to his stall today and said enthusiastically in Arabic with an American accent, "Hello I'm fine! I'd like a scharwma." At the time he didn't respond with the normal response, but gave me a puzzled look and said "all right one scharwma." I didn't realize I had screwed up until I had finished eating and had that "damnit you're a jackass Ian" a-ha moment.
The Vikings play the Lions today. Go team.
I've got nothing else interesting to say for now.
I'll still do my three things thing even if I'm positive noone actually looks at them.
Learn something about the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan
This
and the future.
ian
I guess I've got nothing better to do right now than to write something. It's about 11:40 PM here in Penang and I'm waiting for an acceptable time back home (14 hour time difference) to call my brother to wish him happy birthday. If he's the same way I was when I was 15 on Sunday morning, he'll wake up 20 minutes before kickoff for the Vikings game and then move to the TV room still in pajamas around 11:45 AM. It's his golden birthday today. He probably doesn't read my blog, but in the meantime, happy 15th birthday Ryder.
I had finals and now they're over. I've got about six weeks to do whatever I want, so I'm going Eastward to India to see what's happening over there. I don't have a plan yet, but I'll be starting down in the Southern tip near Trivandrum, working my way up the coast on buses and trains to Mumbai, then cut into the interior on my way to Agra and Delhi. Who knows what then.
Besides traveling to India I guess my plan for the next few weeks is to be fiscally responsible, finish reading Crime and Punishment (2 bucks at the school bookstore), and work on learning Arabic. I've learned a few things here and there, but with learning any new language I've been prone to making mistakes. There's a Palestinian guy who sells delicious scharwmas at this hawker place I go to. I keep getting "how're you," and "I'm fine," mixed up. So I walked up to his stall today and said enthusiastically in Arabic with an American accent, "Hello I'm fine! I'd like a scharwma." At the time he didn't respond with the normal response, but gave me a puzzled look and said "all right one scharwma." I didn't realize I had screwed up until I had finished eating and had that "damnit you're a jackass Ian" a-ha moment.
The Vikings play the Lions today. Go team.
I've got nothing else interesting to say for now.
I'll still do my three things thing even if I'm positive noone actually looks at them.
Learn something about the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan
This
and the future.
ian
Monday, October 12, 2009
Last Day of LKM 100 Bahasa Malaysia
A few weeks back I wrote about my language course Bahasa Malaysia. Today was the last class before the final exam. The picture includes the classroom, students from China, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, along with the professor Puan Wan (in purple) from Malaysia. Not in the picture are the students from Iraq and Yemen. Also I guess the student from the US isn't shown since I'm taking the photo. Being in such a diverse classroom was a really cool, enriching experience. I look forward to taking LKM 200 next semester.
Ian
oh and three things...
BBC's Day in Pictures
Cool Hunting
ListenToYouTube
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Distracted, Twins Baseball, Negara Amerika, and Blog Addition
The Laos blog is on its way; just I suffer from lack of motivation at times. I returned from Laos with the usual enlightened feeling I have after traveling, but my energy was soon devoted to upcoming tests, my research paper on ASEAN’s relationship with Burma (Myanmar), another paper on the state of Indonesia’s economy after the fall of Suharto, the Aceh region in Indonesia, sharia law, the insurgency in the south of Thailand, teaching myself bits and pieces of Arabic, and the Minnesota Twins. Following the Twins has actually has brought some lifestyle changes as on Wednesday I woke up at 7 am to watch the game via MLB Gameday, the intensity of watching the page reload reminded me of asking girls out via AIM when I was 14, and on Thursday I woke up at 5:30 am to go to McDonalds to watch the Twins game. Chip Krachmer will be proud to know that in the 3.5 hours I sat in McDonalds I ate one sausage egg McMuffin with cheese, one sausage McMuffin with cheese, three hash browns, two ice cream cones, one cup of coffee, and one glass of orange juice. Sorry arteries, it had to end sometime. But I digress. The Laos blog will be up eventually.
I do have a shorter story though. As my intro level Bahasa Malaysia class draws to a close, we are studying Malaysian traditions and national pride. We watched a video from the Malaysian tourism department and then our professor talked about nice scuba diving places around the country. Afterwards she asked us all to write a short passage about our countries in Bahasa Malaysia. This is what I wrote:
Nama saya Ian. Saya orang Amerika. Penduduk Amerika lebih kurang 300 juta orang. Negara Amerika terbahagi 50 buah negeri. Ibu negara Amerika ialah Washington DC. Keluarga saya tinggal di Minnesota. Negara Amerika ada banyak bangsa. Negara Amerika tidak ada agama rasmi, tetapi perlembagaan milik kami jaminan kebebasan ke semua agama. Pelancong pergi ke California, New York, Florida, dan Hawaii. Burung rasmi burung helang. Saya harapan kamu melawat negara Amerika satu ketika.
Translating that with Google Translator makes for a rather hilarious text, but it gets the main points across.
The translation (via Google):
My name is Ian. I am the American people. American population of approximately 300 million people. American countries are divided 50 states. American Capital is Washington DC. My family lived in Minnesota. American countries have many of the nation. American countries have no official religion, but our constitution guarantees freedom to all religions. Tourists go to California, New York, Florida, and Hawaii. Bird official eagles. I hope you visit a country when the United States.
While I read that in front of the class, some of the Mainlanders (Chinese people) in my class took pictures of me with their cell phones. At this point it’s hard to be flattered since they take pictures of everything.
Interestingly enough some of the students in my class were surprised when my professor, translating into English line by line, said that there is no official religion in the US.
On Friday other international students and myself will be taking part in a Malaysia culture exhibition called “A Malaysian Handshake.” My role: fashion model. I’ll be sure to post a picture or two from what I’m hoping will be my big break.
A new addition to my blog: Three Things
From now on at the end of every post I’ll include three things that I think are worth taking a look at.
The inaugural Three Things:
Learn what Kerry Lugar is and what its implications are for US – Pakistan relations
How awesome Benjamin Franklin was
Autotune the News #9
I do have a shorter story though. As my intro level Bahasa Malaysia class draws to a close, we are studying Malaysian traditions and national pride. We watched a video from the Malaysian tourism department and then our professor talked about nice scuba diving places around the country. Afterwards she asked us all to write a short passage about our countries in Bahasa Malaysia. This is what I wrote:
Nama saya Ian. Saya orang Amerika. Penduduk Amerika lebih kurang 300 juta orang. Negara Amerika terbahagi 50 buah negeri. Ibu negara Amerika ialah Washington DC. Keluarga saya tinggal di Minnesota. Negara Amerika ada banyak bangsa. Negara Amerika tidak ada agama rasmi, tetapi perlembagaan milik kami jaminan kebebasan ke semua agama. Pelancong pergi ke California, New York, Florida, dan Hawaii. Burung rasmi burung helang. Saya harapan kamu melawat negara Amerika satu ketika.
Translating that with Google Translator makes for a rather hilarious text, but it gets the main points across.
The translation (via Google):
My name is Ian. I am the American people. American population of approximately 300 million people. American countries are divided 50 states. American Capital is Washington DC. My family lived in Minnesota. American countries have many of the nation. American countries have no official religion, but our constitution guarantees freedom to all religions. Tourists go to California, New York, Florida, and Hawaii. Bird official eagles. I hope you visit a country when the United States.
While I read that in front of the class, some of the Mainlanders (Chinese people) in my class took pictures of me with their cell phones. At this point it’s hard to be flattered since they take pictures of everything.
Interestingly enough some of the students in my class were surprised when my professor, translating into English line by line, said that there is no official religion in the US.
On Friday other international students and myself will be taking part in a Malaysia culture exhibition called “A Malaysian Handshake.” My role: fashion model. I’ll be sure to post a picture or two from what I’m hoping will be my big break.
A new addition to my blog: Three Things
From now on at the end of every post I’ll include three things that I think are worth taking a look at.
The inaugural Three Things:
Learn what Kerry Lugar is and what its implications are for US – Pakistan relations
How awesome Benjamin Franklin was
Autotune the News #9
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Back from Laos, working on entry
I got back to Penang on Saturday night after a 13 hour day of traveling. I've been paging through my notes and looking through my pictures I took in Laos as I write my entry for that experience. That post should be up within the next few days. Until then enjoy the picture below and reading this, this, and this.
From Foreign Policy Magazine
From Foreign Policy Magazine
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Off to Laos
Tomorrow I’ll be leaving to Kuala Lumpur en route to Vientiane, Laos. I have this next week off since this week is the celebration of Hari Raya, the ending of Ramadan. Today, Sunday, I went with my friend Yosuke and his family visiting from Japan to join my friend Qyla and her family’s celebration of Hari Raya. I am convinced you have not lived until you eat Malaysian food at a Hari Raya celebration. It was a great experience and I’ll be sure to post pictures and write about it another time.So, Laos. About three weeks ago I had no idea what I was going to do for this week break. I was paging through my Lonely Planet Book for Unimaginative Broke Students, and started reading about Laos. Granted, it is kind of lame that the book inspired me to go to Laos, but it wasn’t exactly the book that sold me.
In a city called Luang Prabang, there is a non-profit called Big Brother Mouse that publishes and distributes books throughout the country. I wanted to know more so I did some research on the Internet.
Laos is a landlocked, communist country of about 6.8 million people. Of these 6.8 million people 40%, or about 2.72 million, are under the age of 14. Compared with the US about 20% of people are under 14 and in Malaysia 31.4%. Think about this, if 40% of the US was under 14 years old, that would be around 122.8 million people. That would be the rough equivalent of the population of California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois, the five most populated states respectively, all combined.
By looking at the numbers, Laos keeps up with the US remarkably well in the percentage of children who are enrolled in primary school. 92% of American children and 86% of Laotian children are enrolled in primary school. The drop off in percentage of children in secondary school is significant. While 88% of American children are enrolled in secondary school, only 36% of Laotian children are enrolled. I think it is fair to say that Laotian children face drastically different circumstances than American children when choosing whether to continue on to secondary or not. Also, a fault in this is that I’m not sure how accessible secondary education is, but I’ll address that again in a moment.
While the thought of all those children in Laos not going to high school is a bit depressing, there are signs of hope. Since 1999 there has been a 10% increase in the amount of children who do attend secondary school up from 26%. Also, interestingly enough the literacy rate amongst children is higher than it is among adults at 63.2% and 83.9% respectively. It does seem that there is an effort to increase literacy amongst the population and what better place to start with youth. With such a significant amount of young people in the country, Laos finds itself in a precarious position if it fails to educate a more substantial amount of its youth or face essentially intellectually starving itself.
With that said, I’m going to Laos to do my part to help out literacy in Laos. Big Brother Mouse has English tutoring sessions every morning at its office in Luang Prabang. I’ll be in Luang Prabang for two nights and I’ll go and see what I can do in the morning. I’m hoping I can learn more about Big Brother Mouse’s cause and other non-profits working in poorer countries to improve literacy rates. I am really hoping it is an operation that I can recommend others to support.
Aside from that, I hope to enjoy some French cuisine, see some Buddhist temples, do some writing, relax, and enjoy Lao culture/society.
Ian
Sources:
CIA Factbook
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Indian Barbershop Experience
About a month ago I got a haircut. I really had no idea where to go so I just went to the one that was connected to my favorite restaurant. That’s how it works in Malaysia. You find your favorite restaurant and then go from there with finding things to satisfy your needs. So I cruised on over to Bali Bali, the restaurant, and went into the barbershop conveniently located next to the seafood stall. I walked in from the hot, humid Malaysian air into the frigid box that was the barbershop. There sat four guys all fidgeting with their cell phones. About two inches of black hair covered the entire surface of the floor. Makeshift paths to the barber chairs had been carved out with a broom. I said “Selamat petang,” in that enthusiastic, dumbass sounding, everyone-loves-an-experience-in-a-foreign-country kind of tone. The four, presumed, barbers all looked at one another puzzlingly. A guy in the corner shrugged, let out a sigh, and pointed to a chair across from him. So much for high scores on Snake. I had printed out a picture a picture of George Clooney sporting the haircut I desired. I showed it to the barber and he gave me one of those “yeah boss” nods. He put the barber sheet on me and went to work. He went for the razor. It was sitting on the counter in front of the mirror with piles of hair around it. He picked it up, blew on it a few times, and proceeded to dispatch swathes of my hair. Meanwhile, another customer had come in and was getting a shave next to me. The barber wasn’t using any sort of lubricant. Every once in a while the guy getting a shave would abruptly inhale through his teeth, like the sound of opening a bottle of Coke in reverse. I hadn’t shaved in a few days and was looking a little Cast Away-ey, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to get a shave here if that’s what it entailed. My barber moved onto cutting with shears, once again retrieved from the counter and given a hardly blow to cleanse it. In retrospect, if I didn’t pick up swine flu there I probably never will. At one point the barber’s cell phone rang. “ALL THE SINGLE LADIES (all the single ladies) ALL THE SINGLE LADIES (all the single ladies).” It was as if Hitler was calling the way his upper lip snarled and looked at the little caller ID window in utter disdain. He put the phone on silent and kept on cutting.
Unfortunately, I didn’t look like George Clooney after the haircut. However, I did have a strikingly similar haircut. Few words were exchanged throughout the entire process. When he was finished, he swept off my face, neck, and shoulders with a brush that even my own mother would refuse to kiss me if she saw it. It was done. I stood up reaching into my pocket for my wallet. “Eight ringgit,” he said. For reference, RM 8 is about $2.30. I tried giving him RM 13, you know, a RM 5 tip for gratitude of his services. He took the money, counted it, and then handed me back the five ringgit note. “No, no, no you keep, it’s for you,” I said. He looked at me in this Snake Pliskin kind of way that said, “What do you think this is? This is Malaysia mother#$@%er.”
I think I’m due back for a cut in two weeks or so.
ian
Unfortunately, I didn’t look like George Clooney after the haircut. However, I did have a strikingly similar haircut. Few words were exchanged throughout the entire process. When he was finished, he swept off my face, neck, and shoulders with a brush that even my own mother would refuse to kiss me if she saw it. It was done. I stood up reaching into my pocket for my wallet. “Eight ringgit,” he said. For reference, RM 8 is about $2.30. I tried giving him RM 13, you know, a RM 5 tip for gratitude of his services. He took the money, counted it, and then handed me back the five ringgit note. “No, no, no you keep, it’s for you,” I said. He looked at me in this Snake Pliskin kind of way that said, “What do you think this is? This is Malaysia mother#$@%er.”
I think I’m due back for a cut in two weeks or so.
ian
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