year by year, month by month, we make changes in our world.
But the question is... are they good changes? or bad changes?
There is a such thing called negative externality in economics, meaning the purchases of a particular product/services will cost a negative influence to the third party, in this case, i would call our earth, the third party.
Last week, Oscar (my brother) and I went to Bangkok, Thailand for the Global Issues Network Conference representing ISB GIG (my school's global issues group). The GIN conference trip was one of my highlights of the year, that I've been looking forward for quite a while. I was eager to learn more things, and meet more people who are like me, do cares about the world. Luckily, I got the chance to go : ) thanks to my orchestra teacher-- Ms. Bulteel, who helped me to move the orchestra concert a day earlier so I can get on the only plane to Bangkok. And, there I went! With a stressful (it was a super busy week, with lots of big assignments due) but excited (travelling with Oscar and doing the things I love) mood to Bangkok.
When we landed in Bangkok it was already pretty late at night, the flight took about 5 to 6 hours, but I didn't sleep at all, which is unusual :P Any way, we checked in the hotel and got ourselves ready for tomorrow's big day --- first day of the GIN conference, and our presentation which "I" had worked on for quite a while. Thailand, I must say, is a really nice place. Especially because it's currency is similar to Taiwan, I felt fairly connect to it some how, at least better than Beijing. Or maybe because I came with a heart of relief from school work for just a short break :)
FRIST DAY OF GIN
International School of Bangkok is a really nice school! Why? Well, because people are so friendly, and the school is so huge! With lots of out door areas, and colourful walls. My favorite part of the school was the theatre, cause it was super big and you could just imagine playing the cello in there, how nice it would sound like! We got our conference bags, bottles, T- shirts, and booklets, and we got to meet some people at the GIN fair.
This year's GIN conference added a new component, which was the Global Village Groups. In my opinion, I LOVED IT! GIG is basically small groups of people from different schools, and we get together to communicate, share, reflect on what we're doing at our own school, what we learn today, and what we should do... more. The best part of the group is that I got to meet a lot of really nice people, and I learned about different perspective and what's the most important and major issues that each country or places is dealing with. For example, Education for All is one of the 20 global issues (meaning to provide education for everyone, no matter they're poor or not), many parts of the world are facing this difficult situation. However from David (one of my Global Village Group mate, from American School of Japan) shared that, this issue is actually not such major in Japan, since most people have education there. However, homeless population on the other hand, turns out to be a major problem for Japan. This is an example of a fact that I didn't know until David shared.
Afternoon was my 'big moment' since I had to do a presentation about what we did in ISBeijing. I was the leader, our presentation was based on 'Shark Fin Issue' which goes under the bioversity loses. My teammates and I had planned this for quite a while, however it was sad that most of
my original group couldn't come (Sae Ha Je, and Kelvin). However I got some help from Samantha, Melissa, and Andrea. It was quite interesting, although the process of putting up this presentation was really tiring, and stressful. I think I once again tasted the pressure of a leader, and how it is super hard to control other people, especialy that when they don't work at all! Any way, at last, I think we did ok-ish. People seems to think that this is an important issue, plus it's not that hard to 'do something about it'. (If any one wonders about the content, let me know :) We putted up the poster, and talking through; i felt pleasure of sharing what I've actually took action. It hasn't change the world yet, but I believe, it will, some future day. (the picture on the left is my team mates)My dear brother, Oscar, also joined GIG middle school :) which i am really happy about. Oscar also travel to Bangkok and did a wonderful job with his MS presentation on the Carbon Footprint. I think Oscar grew up, became much more responsible, and his public speaking became really good! He made so much friends there during the conference. His presentation is a really good one, because it is one of the most popular industry for us now. It's a GREEN industry and to some degrees, does help the reduce the out put of CO2.
An inspiratual trip, an abandant journey. I wish we can really take actions to do something for our home... our only home... the Earth : )
