September in Bangladesh

As the days of August rolled by on the G12 Adventures blog, I was experiencing a déjà vu of one of Dr. Nick Barker's classes during the initial weeks of APLP last year. I assumed that Amir Ramin was feeling nostalgic as Generation 13 started their programme this month and decided to have a replay of his response to the silence class.

Thank you, Amir, for breaking that silence before month's end and giving us an update on your current life. Best wishes for organizing the peace week in Afghanistan successfully!

Our blog host for September is Hafizur Rahman, who graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Saitama University in Tokyo. He is currently the executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department of the Government of Bangladesh.

My Busy Life: New Opportunities, More Challenges

It is August 28 and I am putting my first, and probably last, APLPers’s blog for my month. This is something I should have done in the first week of August, if not the first day.  Two things made me extremely busy, and probably distracted, to do so.

First, I was given a new role in July with more responsibilities at work, and second I became mainly in charge of planning for the peace and unity week that was initiated by myself last year and takes place from September 20-27 every year.

My new role as deputy chief executive, and member of the peace council where until July this year I worked as political adviser suddenly put me in the middle of heavy workload of things I needed focus on.  I had to do an assessment of where things are in my institution, and come up with some recommendations. I also had to coordinate for putting a business case for countries that fund the peace and re-integration program.  Our funding cycle ends up in December this year.

I initiated the peace and unity week last year. I even took it to the executive committee of the High Peace Council to get it approved. The background for this week goes to September 20, 2011 when an apparent emissary with a peace message assassinated the previous Chair of the High Peace Council, Professor Rabbani who was also former President of the state. 

 Professor Rabbani came from the North of Afghanistan, and the current leadership of the insurgency including the suicide bomber came from the South and a different ethnic group too. The assassination could trigger serious clashes and even internal conflict.

 My purpose to come up with the idea of peace and unity week was to not only counter any inter-ethnic clashes during this week but also use it as an opportunity to bring people together to promote peace.

 Last year, I had to leave by August for Asia Pacific Leadership Program, and was not here in Kabul for the peace week.  But now, my job as deputy head of the policy, and my own interest in this week has made the planning for this week a top item in my work. Amongst several other events, an international conference will also be organized during this week.

This conference aims to bring religious scholars from different parts of the world to talk about the significance of peace in Islam. I hope that this conference will serve to further promote peace in Afghanistan, and encourage those who are fighting to join the peace process. This conference will also be my capstone project for APLP.

I want to specially thank Ahila for this great initiative to facilitate for the G12 APLPers to remain connected with each other through this blog; and sorry for not being an active member. I hope to be able to compensate in the future.

August in Afghanistan

During the month of July, Aiying updated us on what has been happening in her life in New York as well as the project on lessons learnt from post hurricane Sandy reconstruction that she is currently working on. She also shared with us a special music clip of a cover she recorded of David Tao's song. Thank you, Aiying, for hosting G12 Adventures blog during the month of July and best wishes for pursuing your musical ambitions as well.

In August, we move to Afghanistan to meet up with Amir Ramin who is busy with his new responsibilities as the deputy chief executive of his institution. With a background in political science, he is also a member of the national peace council.

A Stronger, More Resilient New York

This summer, I am taking an elective course called "Sustainability and Social Studies" which we learn how to build and keep a sustainable society and how to pass this knowledge to students (as an education department, we always focus on knowledge delivery). One of the final exams is to conduct a small project in NYC about sustainability, and it can be any topic. Some is doing water contamination, some is doing garbage recycling, and some is doing organic food. Since we, APLP east-coast trip group, experienced Hurricane Sandy last year, I can not think of any better topic than "Post-Hurricane Sandy Reconstruction" for my personal project. With this theme, I went to Rockaway, one of the places in NYC damaged most heavily during Sandy, for collecting pictures. I would like to see what effort has NYC paid during the 8 months and what kind of changes should the city bring in to compete with the vulnerability.

"A Stronger, More Resilient New York" was announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on 11th June, 2013, a comprehensive plan that contains actionable recommendation both for rebuilding the communities impacted by Sandy and increasing the resilience of infrastructure and building citywide. Community and infrastructure, these two aspects have become my one-day trip's emphasis.

Sandy arrived in NYC on 29th Oct, 2012 and it was not until 30th May, 2013 that the subway service resumed to Rockaway, 7 months after Sandy. Among all peninsulas in NYC, Rockaway is the lowest in topography, no wonder it was devastated. Let's see after 8 months, what does the infrastructure look like?

1 hour 45 mins from west Manhattan to Roackaway by trian

This community looks good, because it locates in downtown

Waterfront buildings in uptown, under construction

Closer look

Rebuilt boardwalks

under-rebuilt boardwalks

Have no idea of these houses, why are they built over the water?

East 39th 1st Ave. Manhattan (Photo taken by Yuan on Nov. 1st 2012)

Same place as above, July 26th, 2013

Photo collecting is just the first minor step of the project. Now that The SIRR (NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency) has released its 400 pages' final report on how to be stronger and resilient, I will start tougher work now >.<.

Glad to share some of my summer life here with APLPers. This is going to be my last blog. Keep in touch boys and girls!!

My first try for fun - music audition

1. Original version - David Tao “Tian Tian” (everyday)

2. Jason Chen Cover

3. My Cover - using Adobe Audition CC

My First Semi-annual Summary

Greeting from Toronto, Canada! I thought my first blog might happen in NYC or some Asian city in which place I imagined to take summer internship…there is always plan B surprises you - I am here attending a wedding and enjoying a short break during my intensive summer courses.  

At this time of last year, I was busy packing and bidding farewell to my colleagues. Yet I still have no genuine feeling that one year has passed. Switching from an office worker to a visiting scholar, now to a master student; Moving from Beijing to Honolulu, now to NYC, my 2012-2013 was definitely full of changes and challenges. I am a person used to plan everything ahead. I know most of the time plans were meaningless, but it has been my habit and part of my life. There were a lot of plans for my whole new life in NYC, and now it has been half a year passed, a good time to review it – my post-APLP life in NYC!

1.   Finish 9 credits (3 courses) in the spring semester – I did finish 9 credits which is the minimum requirement for international students with waiver obtained (generally 12 credits are minimum). With additional time, I attended lots of lectures, events and seminars in and out of school. There are always overwhelming resources in Columbia and NYC and most of them are free. Although some of the lectures were hardly understandable, it was a nice try to combine major study with variety of topics.

2.   Something more than campus life – NYC is full of museums, parks, parties etc, and new comers deserve to experience every of them. However, I expected to be a New Yorker with two identities: a full-time student as well as someone with certain social responsibility. I wanted to penetrate to “normal” life more so I registered to become a regular volunteer, taking part into community work and getting to know people out of academia. I did seven-time volunteer works in four months and expect to keep this pace in fall semester.

3.   Improve public speaking ability – I believe it is normality that people feel nervous when giving public speech, but training can help remove fear. I have joined Toastmasters (TM) since January, at first as a member, now with role as a treasurer of our club. I cannot quantify how much progress I made, I would rather recommend anyone wants to improve public speaking ability to give it a try. TM is an international NGO with thousands of clubs all over the world. I have heard some of my schoolmates who joined it years ago and could not find obvious improvement so gave it up very quickly. In our club there were many one-time guests as well. It might not work well to everybody and there is always various excuses to skip regular club meetings, but I think persistence will make difference.

4.   Internship and fellowship applications – In one word, they were all failed. This became major frustration and challenge of my entire post-APLP life. I totally applied six summer internships and two fellowships; however, none of them lasted to shortlists. My post-graduate career aspiration is to international organizations, especially in education development realm which is what I am learning. I narrowed my internship application based on this goal, so I applied organizations such as ADB, UNICEF etc. It was extremely competitive especially for positions in HQ, but even more than my imagination. Some were never replied, while some were rejected at very early stage. I guess because my previous internship and career seeking experience were quite smooth, I did felt hurt at this time. It is not the end, so no reason to be pessimistic since it does not help at all. I got positive energy from many friends and professors during retreat, and I am with confidence to resume next round applications.

5.   Exercise – Ironically, I started to go to gym since May, after finishing the whole spring semester. It is three minutes’ walk from my residency to gym and Hudson Riverside Park, but I never attempted to go there even once during study. There were no morning classes so I used to get up very late which I am trying to overcome now, and then I realized how many morning suns I have missed. One day I stepped on the scales and was astonished by my weight! I gained 2.5 kg incredibly within five months while my previous weight was kept since I was an undergraduate. The stimulus for exercise was due to increased weight, however, it has been upgraded to keep good health and life style as I found doing evening run and stretch help sleep early and get up early.

All in all, it has been a meaningful half year. I am trying to graduate next May so there is only less than one year left. I think I will make some adjustment for my next half a year and expect a fruitful 2014. 

Winter

Spring

Spring to Summer

Summer

Aiying Li from China

Thank you, Mami, for sharing your post APLP experiences through your reflective blog posts on facing the first hundred days assuming new responsibilities in your organization and your quest for defining what home means to you and finding your equilibrium. We appreciate the time you took during the month of June 2013, amidst your hectic work schedule and travels, to share your reflections.

We move next to New York where Aiying Li is currently undergoing her Masters studies in Economics and Education at the Columbia University Teachers College, NYC. With a Bachelor's degree in international finance and more than five years at Citibank, China, she is looking forward towards a new career path in the field of education.