Here's what my schedule looks like for the next month:
December 26-28: Fly from Minnesota to Tokyo (I lose a day somewhere over the Pacific...)
December 28-January 6: Sightseeing in Tokyo including Hakone, the Imperial Palace, Kamakura, the Ginza shopping district, Ueno Park, the National Museum, and more, thanks to my guide and host, Jack Hathway!
January 6-7: Fly to Thailand, arrive in Chiang Mai at 1235 AM local time.
Jan 7: Orientation in Chiang Mai
Jan 8: Chiang Mai University, speaker on education
Jan 9: More education
Jan 10: Day trip to the Golden Triangle, meeting point of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar
Jan 11: Free day
Jan 12: Tribal Museum, guest speaker on tribes in Thailand
Jan 13-14: Overnight visit to one or two tribes
Jan 15: Guest speaker, visit wats (Buddhist temples) in Chiang Mai
Jan 16-17: Overnight stay at a Buddhist meditation center
Jan 18: Visit markets and agriculture sites
Jan 19: Visit industry/tourism sites
Jan 20: Visit Wat Doi Suthep, take the night train to Bangkok
Jan 21: Arrive in Bangkok, orientation
Jan 22: Tour Bangkok
Jan 23: Guest speaker, visit boys' school
Jan 24: Free day
Jan 25: Day trip to visit Ayutthaya with tour guide
Jan 26: Visit wats in Bangkok
Jan 27: Day trip tour to Kanchanaburi and River Kwai
Jan 28: Visit markets in Bangkok
Jan 29: Last day, visit tourism sites, have group dinner, go to airport (late in the evening)
Jan 29-30: Fly from Thailand to Minnesota via Seoul, South Korea, Los Angeles, and Denver, arriving in the evening.
All throughout our study abroad in Thailand, we will be analyzing the education system, Thai economics, and Buddhism. Within those general categories, we'll observe Thai behavior both on an individual level and on a general, entire population level, drawing conclusions about the impact and interplay of cultural institutions and beliefs on group and individual behavior. In short, field ethnography, or people watching! It should be great!
I'll update when I can, internet access will be somewhat common, but I expect to be pretty busy out there experiencing Thai culture and doing class work. Feel free to post comments or send me emails at pladson@stolaf.edu. I'll miss you, and I hope you have a good New Year's, and great January. I'll see you when I return, eager to swap stories!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Foreign happenings hotspot
For anyone who still reads my blog, I'm planning on using this as my go-to spot for keeping everyone updated while I am in Japan and Thailand. I'm leaving right after Christmas and will return at the end of January. After finals time here at Olaf, I'll put up my itinerary so you can follow along where I'll be day to day, even when I can't give you all the details. I'm really looking forward to this trip! Happy Holidays everyone!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Medical School Portrait
Creighton and Medical College of Wisconsin both would like a picture of me. Opinions as to which picture one is better?
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
So guess what? I CAN cook!
And here's the proof! Tonight I made Honey Chicken Kabobs, and they were tasty! The chicken was marinaded starting this morning and then grilled with red and green peppers, onion, mushrooms, and I was supposed to include pineapple but forgot so we just added it to our rice after everything else. Yum! *does a happy food dance*
Saturday, July 5, 2008
More Alaska
Here are some fun facts about Alaska:
There are 7 caribou for every Alaska citizen.
Every Alaskan citizen can use a dipnet (think of a long handled landing net) to harvest 25 salmon every year.
If you would put a map of Alaska on top of a map of the "Lower 48," it would stretch from the East Coast to West Coast.
During the summer solstice in Fairbanks the sun never sets, it just approaches the horizon, gets a little dusky, but not dark, so golfers tee off at midnight, because they can! The nickname "Land of the Midnight Sun" is quite apt.
These are harbor seals by the Aialik Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park. So cute! We took a day glacier cruise into the park and saw all kinds of wildlife, along with some incredible glaciers.
On our way to Aialik Glacier, we saw these two humpback whales, a mother with her calf! Boat captains are not allowed to maneuver the boat within 100 yards of whales. We cut the engine and drifted as the whales swam right towards the boat! This was absolutely incredible, and VERY rare. I will never forget hearing them exhale through their blowholes as they surface, witnessing their quiet and majestic swim, and standing with our mouths open as we saw their smooth dive into the waters below.
On our drive across the Kenai Peninsula from Seward to Soldotna, we passed by Tern Lake. It was such a clear, beautiful morning. We stopped by this lake, admiring the almost perfect reflection and the birds flying about and calling to each other. This was one of the most serene and gorgeous sights of the trip.
This "fence" of rods was on our halibut boat out of Homer. The mountains set against the water were beautiful. And the seas were not as rough as we had expected, which was very nice. If you look closely at the roads, you can see the large two pound weights and the oversized hooks baited with hunks of herring. The fishing grounds were 19 miles out, and the waters were 250 feet deep. The simple act of hauling up the line to check the bait was a chore, but luckily most of the time we would have a halibut on the other end! Halibut are probably among the most ugly fish on the earth, but they sure taste good!
Across the peninsula from Homer was this beautiful mountain range, including several volcanoes. We believe that this one is Mt. Redoubt. We loved seeing so many snow-capped peaks every day, especially against dense evergreens and deep blue waters.
There are 7 caribou for every Alaska citizen.
Every Alaskan citizen can use a dipnet (think of a long handled landing net) to harvest 25 salmon every year.
If you would put a map of Alaska on top of a map of the "Lower 48," it would stretch from the East Coast to West Coast.
During the summer solstice in Fairbanks the sun never sets, it just approaches the horizon, gets a little dusky, but not dark, so golfers tee off at midnight, because they can! The nickname "Land of the Midnight Sun" is quite apt.
These are harbor seals by the Aialik Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park. So cute! We took a day glacier cruise into the park and saw all kinds of wildlife, along with some incredible glaciers.
On our way to Aialik Glacier, we saw these two humpback whales, a mother with her calf! Boat captains are not allowed to maneuver the boat within 100 yards of whales. We cut the engine and drifted as the whales swam right towards the boat! This was absolutely incredible, and VERY rare. I will never forget hearing them exhale through their blowholes as they surface, witnessing their quiet and majestic swim, and standing with our mouths open as we saw their smooth dive into the waters below.
On our drive across the Kenai Peninsula from Seward to Soldotna, we passed by Tern Lake. It was such a clear, beautiful morning. We stopped by this lake, admiring the almost perfect reflection and the birds flying about and calling to each other. This was one of the most serene and gorgeous sights of the trip.
This "fence" of rods was on our halibut boat out of Homer. The mountains set against the water were beautiful. And the seas were not as rough as we had expected, which was very nice. If you look closely at the roads, you can see the large two pound weights and the oversized hooks baited with hunks of herring. The fishing grounds were 19 miles out, and the waters were 250 feet deep. The simple act of hauling up the line to check the bait was a chore, but luckily most of the time we would have a halibut on the other end! Halibut are probably among the most ugly fish on the earth, but they sure taste good!
Across the peninsula from Homer was this beautiful mountain range, including several volcanoes. We believe that this one is Mt. Redoubt. We loved seeing so many snow-capped peaks every day, especially against dense evergreens and deep blue waters.
Darkness is......dark!
My mom and I flew back to good ol' Minnesota from Anchorage on June 28th. That night, we were amazed how dark darkness was! We had forgotten how black the sky could get. In Alaska, we had gotten somewhat used to going to sleep with the sun still in the sky (think of the sun's intensity in later afternoon, that was what it was like at 10 PM!). Dad and Joyce got back on July 3rd, so now we have all of our pictures from our month-long trek. Here is the beginning of a sampling:
This is a bentwood box, crafted by an apprentice (I think that's pretty good for an apprentice!). The boxes are made from one piece of wood, the corners are made by cutting out a wedge and then steaming and bending the wood. Then the entire box is carved with the desired design which is then painted. The apprentice has spent about one month working on this box and it will go to a dentist for approximately $4,000.
Shortly after our shuttle bus crawled its way through twisty Polychrome Pass, we enjoyed this magnificent view of snow capped mountains. The mix of colors from rock and tundra were incredible! Unfortunately, the clouds were too dense for us to see Denali.
Bald eagles are everywhere in Alaska! This magnificent specimen was soaring around Sitka (the Inside Passage). It was fantastic to see such majestic creatures every day.
Another ubiquitous sight is the lupine. This beautiful blue variety lined nearly every road and cropped up in beautiful clumps in parks.
Grizzly!!! While on our shuttle bus in Denali National Park, we had to make a sudden stop because this young grizzly was in the middle of the road! We got to watch as he walked along the side of our bus, munched on grass by the roadside, and generally wasn't bothered by the pack of overjoyed wildlife paparazzi in our bus. What an awe-inspiring sight!
This is a bentwood box, crafted by an apprentice (I think that's pretty good for an apprentice!). The boxes are made from one piece of wood, the corners are made by cutting out a wedge and then steaming and bending the wood. Then the entire box is carved with the desired design which is then painted. The apprentice has spent about one month working on this box and it will go to a dentist for approximately $4,000.
Shortly after our shuttle bus crawled its way through twisty Polychrome Pass, we enjoyed this magnificent view of snow capped mountains. The mix of colors from rock and tundra were incredible! Unfortunately, the clouds were too dense for us to see Denali.
Bald eagles are everywhere in Alaska! This magnificent specimen was soaring around Sitka (the Inside Passage). It was fantastic to see such majestic creatures every day.
Another ubiquitous sight is the lupine. This beautiful blue variety lined nearly every road and cropped up in beautiful clumps in parks.
Grizzly!!! While on our shuttle bus in Denali National Park, we had to make a sudden stop because this young grizzly was in the middle of the road! We got to watch as he walked along the side of our bus, munched on grass by the roadside, and generally wasn't bothered by the pack of overjoyed wildlife paparazzi in our bus. What an awe-inspiring sight!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Wilderness, Gold Rush, and Wildlife
Bears oh my!!! On our drive from Skagway to Carmacks (Canada), we were tooling along when all of a sudden, what is that large brown furry thing in the ditch?!?!? A large brown bear munching on the grass in the ditch without a care in the world. It couldn't have been more than 25 feet away, and it didn't care that were taking a bunch of pictures. Shortly down the road (less than 80 feet) there was a black bear doing the same thing! Wow!
This is Mt. Edgecombe outside of Sitka, Alaska. We got to see this beautiful mountain as we were leaving Sitka on the fast ferry, the Fairweather. The Fairweather is a catamaran style ferry, and for a while, we had a top speed of 37.8 knots which was much faster than any of our other ferries!
Mom, Dad, and I right in front of the gorgeous Mendenhall Glacier! This was a fantastic stop, with beautiful small icebergs in the lake, a graceful waterfall, and a wonderful view of the deep blue glacial ice. Mom and I hiked to the waterfall and carried back a small piece of washed-up ice for Dad and Joyce. The ice has a beautiful dense crystal structure, which is responsible for the pure crystal-like ice and the deep blue color. And yes, it was "cool" here. :P
This is historic downtown Skagway. The building on the left, the Mascot Saloon, was restored by the Park Service, and every business downtown takes it upon themselves to have period storefronts, which gives the town a really neat feel, especially conducive to cruise ship tourists' wealth redistribution. 
Outside of Dawson City is Dredge No. 4, the largest wooden hull bucket line dredge in North America. It was used for gold mining for decades, and only 4 people were needed on board to actually operate it. This was a very efficient gold extracting machine, collecting 95% of all the gold in the gravel and bedrock it went through. Believe it or not, this machine actually floated along in its own pond as it worked!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Alaska!!!
Hello!
I haven't posted anything here in quite some time, but since we're in Alaska, I'd like to share some of our pictures!
We made a quick stop in the Pike Street Market in Seattle. This specimen is a real beauty isn't it? Just after I took this picture and stood up, one of the fishermen yanked on a rope tied to this fish's tail and completely startled me! If I had been taking the picture when he did that I would have had a heart attack! After this we went to Everett, Washington to take a tour of the Boeing factor. The next day, we got onto the ferry.
A couple hours after we got onto the ferry (about 7:30 PM Alaska time) we saw three orcas right off the bow of our ship! If you look closely at this picture, you can see the dorsal fin of one. This was a fantastic way to start our trip on the Alaska Marine Highway.
We've spent some days just travelling on the ferry. So, we entertain ourselves by playing cards, studying for the MCAT (oh joy), knitting, or gazing at the gorgeous scenery that we pass by. We've chugged past many snow covered mountains, picturesque waterfalls, and even a glacier!
This picture is a bit out of order, but this is from Bellingham where we got onto the ferry. I'm so glad I have hats and gloves, because it's been cool, very cloudy, and misty or straight out raining. But we've been having a great time!
I haven't posted anything here in quite some time, but since we're in Alaska, I'd like to share some of our pictures!
We made a quick stop in the Pike Street Market in Seattle. This specimen is a real beauty isn't it? Just after I took this picture and stood up, one of the fishermen yanked on a rope tied to this fish's tail and completely startled me! If I had been taking the picture when he did that I would have had a heart attack! After this we went to Everett, Washington to take a tour of the Boeing factor. The next day, we got onto the ferry.
A couple hours after we got onto the ferry (about 7:30 PM Alaska time) we saw three orcas right off the bow of our ship! If you look closely at this picture, you can see the dorsal fin of one. This was a fantastic way to start our trip on the Alaska Marine Highway.
We've spent some days just travelling on the ferry. So, we entertain ourselves by playing cards, studying for the MCAT (oh joy), knitting, or gazing at the gorgeous scenery that we pass by. We've chugged past many snow covered mountains, picturesque waterfalls, and even a glacier! 
This picture is a bit out of order, but this is from Bellingham where we got onto the ferry. I'm so glad I have hats and gloves, because it's been cool, very cloudy, and misty or straight out raining. But we've been having a great time!
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