The Intern Life

Living in the Mitharsuu Center is truly a wonderful experience, as I get to spend all of my time with my friends and have everything I need at my fingertips. It’s also Leed certified, which means that it was built to be eco-friendly and use the least amount of energy possible. The only downside to this is that there is no air conditioning, and today it was a humid 102 degrees. As one might guess, I wasn’t doing much today.

This past week had a bit of change compared to the other weeks. This week, staff from different regions of EarthRights came to the Thailand location, the Mitharsuu Center. Representatives came from Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia and included lawyers, community leaders, and project managers. They had a three-day long conference to figure out ways to streamline the processes that are used when working on a case, such as building relationships with local people and collecting information. As the school staff, I didn’t really have anything to do with the conference. But as the interns, it became Annika and I’s job to be the notetakers and document all of the conversations that were being held. It definitely wasn’t my favorite thing, as I spent my days furiously typing to try and catch as much as I could. But, I got a lot of information out of it, and met a lot of really cool people in the process. At the end of the conference, a group of people from the conference went to a rooftop bar to look at the mountain view and hang out. I almost felt like a real adult who does real adult bonding outside of work.

Another really cool thing that happened to me this week was meeting the two co-founders of ERI, Katie and Ka Hsaw Wa. Katie is a environmental and human rights attourney and Ka Hsaw Wa is a Burmese activist who are also MARRIED! Isn’t that the sweetest? Anyways, they founded ERI by starting with a big lawsuit against the oil company Unocal, and since then have continued to work to protect environmental and human rights. It was an honor to meet them and I think that they will be in the area for a while (they normally live in Washington DC), so I’m really hoping to get to know them more.

Other than that, there wasn’t too much crazy things happening this week. Annika and I have just been hanging out with the students, chatting and playing dominoes. Yesterday we took a trip to the mall to check it out and had some great desserts (ice-cream filled mochi and a sweet crepe!) But we also managed to plan a spontaneous trip for next weekend! During class one day, I started thinking about how we need to plan a trip soon - but where too? Bangkok? Phuket? Because of our schedule and different field trips, we will really only have time for one big weekend trip. When talking to Hom and my friend Hoan about it, they suggested Krabi, in the south of Thailand. Annika and I looked into it, and it turns out that Krabi is where people stay when they go on day trips to the Phi Phi Islands! The Phi Phi islands are home to pristine white beaches and clear blue waters. We booked round trip flights on AirAsia ($90), rented an AirBnB ($40 for two nights each), and reserved spots for a Phi Phi Islands day trip ($50). So next Friday, Annika, Hom and I will be on our way to Krabi and I cannot be more excited!

Until then, I will be spending two days on a field trip to visit a coal-fired power plant and learn about the impacts of it on the local people. Two of the students and I will be living in a villager’s house for one night, so I am really interested in what a home-stay will look like farther away from the big city. But I have to go pack, so bye for now!