Pacific Bridges 2010 - 3 (Fall)

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PACIFICBRIDGES194 Nassau Street

Suite 212Princeton, NJ 08542Phone: [email protected]/~pia

Newsletter of Princeton in Asia Fall 2010

VOICES FROM THE FIELD: First Impressions and Words of Thanks

In our largest PiA class to date, PiA sent 16 summer interns and 150 full-year fellows to serve communities in Asia. The summer interns have returned to campus, regaling us with tales of lip-numbing curries, yak-butter power balls, and tasty dim-sums. The full-year PiA

speak for themselves — their words, as always, the most eloquent reminders of the importance of PiA’s mission of bridging cultures.

From PiA Fellows in the Field:

Hello hello, I’ve arrived in Phuket. It’s been 12 hours, and I've already 1) had awesome Pad Thai and 2) seen a scorpion the size of my hand scurry across

better than this. Thanks for ev-

for me. I'm stoked for this year!Collette Abbott,

Rajaprajanugroh School 35, Phang Nga Province, Thailand

On Sunday we played commu-

who told a friend that I was

couple of weeks – between full weekends on the pitch, daily af-

I’m sure to bronze quickly and triple the

am loath to deploy superlatives, I can say

-

for this opportunity and for your support. Maggie Dillon, Lao Rugby Federation,

Vientiane, Laos

The conference on camel preservation was

came with me, and we went out one morn-

a creek in the wee hours of the

-

-fore Jack Frost takes over these parts. I am settled in well. Also,

-sons with a hospital for time on

-

Eliot Welder, University of the Humanities, Ulaan Baatar,

Mongolia

I'm so thankful to be here. My boss is like Yoda. When I’m in-

me in a positive direction. I feel motivated to be more aware,

more critical, and more positive about en-

in advance for your trust and for the ex-

Katherine Visconti, ABS-CBN, Manila, The Philippines

(continued on page 2)

Eliot Welder with his new friend at a camel preservation conference in Ulan Baatar, Mongolia.

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VOICES FROM THE FIELD: FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND WORDS OF THANKS(continued)

-

my literature class basic literary terminolo-

of sweet sorrow and asked if anyone could

way, said “holy shhh.” “What?” “Holy shhh.” “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.” “Well, teacher, it’s a bad word.” “OHHHHHH, Holy Sh*t! Very, very

Patrick Dowd, Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

other PiAers. The city reminds me of one of the Philippines' smaller cities, like Davao or maybe Bacolod. The other fel-

came to pick me up at the air-

by so many friendly faces after

and I must say I feel incred-ibly lucky that such worldly,

Jessica Knowles, Trócaire, Dili, Timor-Leste

the city has yet to don a mask of western

-

-

Craig Spencer, Wuhan Univeristy of Technology, Wuhan, China

-er and lower than I’ve ever experienced be-

-

more than a year in the States - not only am

will forever be shaped as a little merlion.Liz Kernion, Ngee Ann Polytechnic,

Economics Teacher, Singapore

now, and I still have days when I walk out

how to be a teacher. Then there are days -

-

Rachel Knutson, Commonwealth School, Ministry of Education, Singapore

City is fantastic. I really love the city and was reluctant to even make a week-end trip to Hanoi to see a close friend. It

in HCMC. Everyone has a dynamism and

here seem limitless. My Vietnamese skills

the US-Vietnam Association headquarters, --

ter it since the war. Also, I was at dinner with a Vietnamese family last weekend

baby), and one of the mothers was berat-

Jeff Bond, Kien Giang Community College, Rach Gia, Vietnam

wouldn't be responsible for

were only meant to observe our co-teachers in action. But when

-

“You teach! I help.” So there

classroom with only a piece of chalk in my hand - not even a

TRAINING! The mantra “fake it ‘til you make it” kept repeat-

thankfully able to remember a couple ac-

Eric Huh, Kadod High School, Gujarat, India

We usually eat the food prepared for the -

report that I’ve made quite a few friends

me on the other days, when the hostel

Thus far, my most notable companions include a Shrek-esque driver with a heart


Andrew Usoro, Scott Henkelman, and Megan Schoendorf enjoy a hot plate meal in Singapore.

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VOICES FROM THE FIELD: FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND WORDS OF THANKS(continued)

included), and a set of twins who are

outsiders. Especially we Americans, who are raised on the relatively short-lived nar-

India culturally ill-equipped to deconstruct an inter-civilizational potpourri with roots

Despite both the rhetoric of today’s nation-

modernizers, even democracy has failed to synthesize a coherent Indian identity. The

-comes a mosaic for me: each pixi-

who lacks a God’s eye view.

--

one who said he’d been contacted by someone who told him that

plays “real American acoustic

Zach Hindin, Kadod High School,

Gujarat, India

From Returning Fellows:

weeks. I want to write a more substantive

-

California en route to my ultimate destina-

Penn’s Graduate School of Education, a decision that wouldn’t have been possible

Julie McWilliams, 2nd year, Vientiane College, Vientiane, Laos

Thanks to all of you for an awesome two years in Asia. It’s been a wonderful, crazy,

the houseparties afternoon in which I ran -

probably other reasons, but this is how I

thai and tuk-tuks for crumpets and Wel-

-eton mean that you won’t ever escape me.

Caroline Loevner, 2nd year, Ministry of Education, Singapore,

and Keen Media, Bangkok

-

-ible experience that is sure to stay with me

-

-

Adi Desai, University of the Humanities, Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

From Students of PiA Fellows:

Mr. Czarnecki, I'm not sure you really know how much you impacted my life this

-

your place. You'll certainly be one of the teachers that will stay in my memory for

Angela Kim, student of Alex Czarnecki, Kwangju Foreign School, Korea

very smart and friendly. He's not fat. In fact, he's tall and look very

try to explaind students about les---

vice to students when they have errors. He know about a lot of

-ery stories that he know to students when they want to know. I think

-son that I never meet before. I want to study with him every years.

Pok Visalboth, student of Adam Flynn, Royal University of

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

From a PiA Partner:

-

of her professional skills - way beyond what we could have hoped for. She is already a

--

trip to Cambodia and a couple of days in a community forestry home-stay - experienc-es that she took in stride. I know that her

Susan, Regional Community Forestry Training Center, Bangkok, Thailand

Maggie Dillon with members of the Lao National Rugby Team in Vientiane, Laos.

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Introducing PiA’s New Program Directors

me back to my Taiwanese roots with -

the PiA family in the US and in Asia—

Mariesa Mason, SoS ’08 and East

Timor ’09, Program Director for

Japan, Thailand, and Timor-Leste

or family events and unexpectedly re-

-ey, and ball hockey. I then went on to play ice hockey for Princeton and study


Tina Coll, China ’08 and

Hong Kong ’09, Program Director

for China, India, and Nepal

Whenever people ask me where I am from, I tend to say, “Asia.” I was born

and an American father, and I lived

was about 8 years old, I moved to the

to visit family then to satiate that Asia

-perience the best of all worlds: lead the

Dalian, China, for one year and then

years, I encountered people whose life

of “isms” - social, political, economic, cultural, you name it - that drive Asia

forward today. In Dalian, I had the op-portunity to debate with students from rural China about American material-ism and learn taiqi daily from a limber,

-munist days of the cultural revolution.

adventure races. Even as a third-culture kid who spent her childhood in Asia, I found my two years with PiA to be

Simply put, I am psyched to serve as

-ible life experiences and to bond with past fellows over their adventures with

we know that ATV loves the cheese), the past and present PiAers I have met

Tina feasts on durian on the streets of Singapore.

Mariesa takes a break atop Mt. Ramelau, the highest peak in East Timor.

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on the PiA Summer of Service pro-

seen back home. Then I realized how two cultures that were so completely different had common values. I remem-

customs, family love is truly universal.

-tion from Princeton was followed by a PiA fellowship in East Timor work-

year in East Timor remain vivid. I can

and feel the friendly warmth of my Timorese coworkers. The memory of

“Aunts” and “Uncles” one could only

As PiA alumni we share a pool of un-common memories. Princeton in Asia

to us day after day even when we have

side of the world, I look forward to

from how to support and mentor fellows -

Snapshot from a Second-Year Fellow

Sareeta Shah, a second-year fellow at the Naz Foundation in New Delhi, In-dia, shares what she’s learned working for an NGO that supports and cares for children living with HIV:

Naz recently held a national consultation on the care and protection of orphaned and abandoned children. There were several organizations that have care homes for children with HIV, and each gave a presentation on what they do, what they’ve

do when the kids start getting older? How to train caregivers that care (that won’t leave for better paying jobs after being trained)? How to deal with misbehavior?

I’ve been thinking about how to address these problems. From my experience at Naz, I have seen kids and caregivers and coordinators get frustrated. It’s hard to provide a HOME (not just a place to live) to so many kids at the same time. I think the concept of positive reinforcement gets thrown away, and then kids don’t really have incentive to “be good.” Another problem seems to be that kids go from being kids to suddenly being chastised for not being ready to enter the real world. Kids need to be eased into responsibility, learning about money and worth, being independent, etc. I think we have been labeling them as “chil-dren” and therefore treat them like children whether they are 6 or 16. But we get frustrated and scared when we realize they’re not ready for the real world.

I’ve been noticing things for a while but haven’t been able to come up with a solution without sounding American. I was thinking perhaps it might be possible to have some sort of camp or training for older children on leadership, responsi-bility, and how to implement a smooth-running system at a care home, or maybe even introduce them to ideas about psychology. Maybe then we could see if those kids could become leaders and role models for the younger children. I think if higher education is not in the stars for most of these children, learning how to

Sareeta and friends visit the Taj Mahal.

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Introducing PiA’s New Director of Communications

Fiona Miller, Indonesia ’09,

Director of Communications

& Media

year at Princeton, I ran into a woman

with a bunch of enormous poster pho--

children. “Hey there,” the woman said. “Do you want

don’t know,” I said. “Sell it to me.” I think those were literally my words - or if they weren’t, that’s what I

my Plan - as a comparative

in Spanish poetry who had studied abroad in Madrid, I was all set to apply for a

fellowship that fall - and I -

other one. But if some poor lady whose crafty boss had somehow tricked her into

seniors wanted to talk to me about Asia for a few min-

her this small achievement.

-lie, and her achievement that morn-

now MY crafty boss) with a map of In-donesia spread over my knees, show-

At the time, I had absolutely no idea

only that it was really far away and

It’s crazy to think about the difference between what Indonesia meant to me then and what it means to me now -

how that dot on that blob became a city

know and love dearly. In the months

literally unseeable - which, for a Princ-

But when I think about Indonesia now, I relive all the rich and colorful expe-

-cle to work, and I hear the call to prayer

-ner from my house, and I taste the spicy explosion of sambal

much as I have been theirs.

PiA staff as the new Direc-tor of Communications and Media because I want to do

PiA did for me - make Asia

in ways they could never -

est of full disclosure, I must admit that PiA’s knack for

factors in this decision.) I am unbelievably excited to

-

wait to be out in front of

down the next round of Princeton se-niors. If I’m lucky, I’ll even be able to save a few from their “plans” - which,

Fiona and her mom explore the streets of Yogyakarta by becak.

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Remembering Jack Langlois

From the New York Times, August 22, 2010:

members. Known as Jack to his many friends, he passed between the worlds of

-eton, Jack was Professor and Chairman of the History Department at Bowdoin

-

learned so much from him. He was a true

-erous, humble, and humorous. It was my

advisor and mentor. He never wanted me to

of respect for my laoshi, I always did. Prof.

Chen Ee Lee,

Palo Alto, California

-lish teacher for both of us. We remem-

us out from the classroom and sat on the

-mas carols. He added the very romantic atmosphere to the freshman little fools.

certainly was one of the best memories that we had. I still remember him play-

That was such a wonderful performance.

Fu-ching Peng & Chih-chi Chang

Los Angeles, CA

1966. He was tall and handsome, and had a sense of humor. He was the one who

Troubled Water” to us. Until today, I still

Hai-Lei Yu

Berkeley, California

-

University between 1966 and 1967. With

-ened our lives. One of the most unique ac-

-

Mei-chuan Lin Li

Syracuse, NY

I -rial donations in Jack’s name to The Pulmo-nary Education Fund, Lennox Hill Hospital, 100 East 77th Street, New York, NY 10075.

The Princeton in Asia community has lost a treasured friend and visionary with the passing of Jack Langlois. In

great success in his two quite different careers - one in Ming history and the other in business - is just unique. But above all, his humane wit and humor will be remembered by many in Princeton, New York, Maine, Hong Kong, Bei-

-ence, intellect, compassion, and humor continue to reverberate throughout all the lives that he changed. Hon-oring the ripple effect of Jack’s life and work, we have included some notes from his former students below.

The Cambridge History of China

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ALUMNI NOTES

PiA on the Job

Chrisato Fukuda

New York City, which works with Ti-betan communities in rural China to pro-mote health care, education, and rural

Nina Henning -

-tainability Associate with the US con-sumer products company SC Johnson.

-

new for Nina, she looks forward to the

the streets of Nairobi and the sounds of Swahili. Bahati nzuri from the

Nicola Fritz Adi Desai

Yam Ki Chan -

we’ve been told, employees have to buy their own business cards. Hmmm.

Kirsten Ruch -ed a new position at the Open Society

-

-

her deep excitement - not only for the

also for the free lunch OSI apparently offers every day. Public health advo-cacy plus free lunch?! We vote yes.

Michael Scharff-

Innovations for Successful Societies, housed in the Bobst Center for Peace

Felicia Sonmezfrom the National Journal Group to

where she works with the Post’s main

“The Fix.” While this means that she

-

is deemed too old or uncool” - which, obviously, never happens at PiA.

Andy Mims

the Vice Presi-dent of Gaylord Entertainment in Nashville, TN.

Bina Venkata-raman

senior science policy advisor

the founder of the Broad Insti-

Thailand. It’s a small world, after all.

Lorri Anne Carrozzahas wrapped up her work in the An-des with the Instituto del Peru, where

-

-

Democratic Institute, where she will

Middle East for the last three years, Dan Zook

-

-

He hopes this trip will help him settle

Not Too Cool for School

Daniel Lee -

to keep a promise he made to himself to return Himachal Pradesh, India with the

Caroline Carter

Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin’s Rapoport Center for Hu-


Dan Zook poses with his “dune bashing” buggy.

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ALUMNI NOTES

demonstrated interest in internation-

Greer Pritchett ---

University. Fortunately, her studies and research will keep her actively in-volved in Northeast Asia security issues.

Julia McWilliams -

University of Pennsylvania’s School of Education and South Asian Studies. She

her from law school “tooldom” - credit which we will wholeheartedly accept.

Mara Brettner --

ern fort, where she works and attends -

sota. She should be a fully licensed

-east America, Erica Pohnan

-

of Forestry and Environmental Stud-ies. She has already promised us that, “should we need to conscript alumni for nefarious PiA-related purposes over the next two years,” she will be close

Rory Truex Michael Parks

Alex Ripp --

James Smrikarov

to DC. He spent the summer back in -

he kept while he was a PiA fellow - the cat who apparently survived a fall from a 5th story window with no

Lena Minchew --

Denver’s Josef Korbel School this fall. She credits her time with PiA for set-

--

Published PiAers

Ali Smith -

From Serial Dating to Joyful Wait-ing. Ali’s book is a collection of her

book at the book launch went to sup--

nila - a home for street children that Ali volunteered with while a PiAer.

-

ship, Tony Brasunascompleted a book about his experienc-es, which will hit the stands this fall! The book, tentatively titled Double

Loss and Wonder on the Long Roads of China,

friendships, illnesses, loves, and losses of his travels in China, and culminates on the plateaus of Tibet. For more in-formation about Tony’s book, check out

Journalist, essayist, and author of the international bestseller How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World, Ted Fishmanreleased his latest book, The Aging of the World’s Population and How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Na-tion Against Nation. In Shock of Gray,

-

PiA Gets Hitched

Alisha BlechmanMark Flynn tied the knot at Alisha’s

-

donations to PiA - needless to say, Alisha and Mark rock our worlds.

Jessica Angelson

up her PiA post. Check out the pic-ture from Jess and Ross’s reception - yes, it was in Grand Central Station.


Ali Smith signs copies of her book at its launch.

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ALUMNI NOTES

PiA Rugrats

Sue Sypko Chesley and her husband welcomed Thad-deus Carver Chesley into the world

in at 8lbs 2ozs and was 19.5 inches

Robin Matross Helms and family hailed the arrival of Ian

due date. We haven’t experienced this kind of punctuality since…wait, never.

Alison Yu’92) and her husband welcomed Raina

admits, has revolutionized her exis-

tence - on the one hand, Raina has

season. It’s a trade-off, dontchaknow.

Sayako Huddleston-

rival of Tia Chieko Maria Roux on Sep-

Bran-don Hall

Emma already has a Gmail address, from which she apparently sent her own birth announcement. Kids these days…

Still Living the Dream in Asia

Xiyue Wang

the International Committee of the Red Cross as a Pashto interpreter. Between

Justine Sass left France to take up the post of Re-

trade croissants for CrAsia any day.

Emily Yasmin Norrishas recently relocated to Surabaya, Indonesia, to serve as the Public Af-

for International Development, Kisho-ri Kedlaya -

months to work on private sector de--

ships in Indonesia. In the meantime, --

Brian Cochrancandidate at the UC Berkeley School

--

-


Emma Beatrix Hall

Tia Chieko Maria Roux

Raini Xiaoping MacAllister

Newlyweds Jessica Angelson and Ross Perlin at their wedding reception.

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ALUMNI NOTES

Seoul, Hannah Bae

-pable hands of current fellow Brian No.

Ed Wu

Ursula Eagly -quently returns to Japan to perform with

-makura artist collective Root Culture.

as a PiA fellow at the Far East-ern Economic Review, Leslie Hook

based Financial Times as their Bei-

Julia Bakutis -

Communications Assistant at the

China. She is psyched to explore a new city, learn Mandarin, and eat her

Kyle Cochran --

-cently recorded two duets with famous

Huu. Who ever said PiAers didn’t

Anya Cherneff kicked off a whirlwind tour of Asia this month, where she will be travel-

has assured us we are all wanted and welcome for a Dutch vacation start-

Neither Here Nor There

Aimee Feeley -sia ’91) was proud to captain her team at the Kaleidoscope of Hope’s

-

cancer research, which was held this year on September 12th. Ai-mee walks every year in honor of her mother.

business school ap-plications, Renard Rogers

time Chinese translator to help

to the Andes, Amanda McDonald

-

--

Spanish, since every time she opens her mouth to speak to someone on the street, Chinese comes out. Oops.

Mark Dalgarnowife Grace have relocated to Vancou-

-

recently sent us a picture from their -

ances, was NOT a cowboy dance party.

to leave NYC, Katie Matlack -

and booked herself a one-way ticket to

the PiA spirit, we don’t know what is!

* * *

Our ESP is spotty at best. If you have an update, want to embarrass your classmates, or are just feeling the need to see your name in print, email Social Media Guru Fiona Miller at [email protected].

Mark and Grace on their wedding day.

Ursula Eagly with artist collective Root Culture.

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Princeton in Asia194 Nassau StreetSuite 212Princeton, NJ 08542

This is why I love having Chinese roommates.

2010-2011 PIA CALENDAR

December 1, 2010:PiA applications due

January 8-9, 15-16 & 29, 2011:Interviews held at Princeton University

February 2-9, 2011:West Coast and Midwest interviews & alumni events

April 15-17, 2011:

Princeton University

May 13-16, 2011:PiA Orientation at Princeton University

May 16, 2011:PiA Annual Dinner at Princeton University

Alex “Casey” Jones is a current PiA fellow teaching English in Yunnan, China. He is keeping a visual blog called “British Jones’ Diary.”

Pacific Bridges 2010 - 3 (Fall)

Documents

pia fellows

year fellows

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camel preservation conference

largest pia class

words of thanksin

summer interns

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