Today was more low key, but still really interesting. We’re staying at one of Thammasat
University training hotels. Which means that for their hotel management
program, they have two hotels that the students train at as they learn how to
run hotels. Most of the staff are students, this particular day they had
several training in the skills of room cleaning. I had forgotten something in
my room that morning and ran up to get it, and there were about 6 students in
my room all milling about. Keeping in mind that the room is really small
anyway, and they were all chatting away, with one instructing the other. My bed
is pushed up against the wall, and each morning they move the bed entirely to
be able to tuck in the sheet properly. The do such a thorough job, and they all
take off their shoes before they will walk into your room to clean it. I’m very
impressed by the rigor that they are training their students.
Since we are on campus (just the edge of it, and you
wouldn’t even really know unless you venture out through the back door), there
are all kinds of other thing that are here too. We stopped by the bakery to
check that out, this is part of the training for a different program. And the
students all where uniforms too, which I have a hard time imagining going to
undergrad wearing a uniform. We had lunch with a few professors. Dr. Kitipat
Nontapattamadul who did his doctoral work in Calgary, Canada. It was in some
sort of social science. Dr. Marid Kaewchinda who did his degree in Counseling
and Clinical Psychology at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Arunya
Tuicomepee who got the same degree from the same program. We got to talk with
them about research in Thailand and various topics of culture. Then we had a meeting with them after
lunch as well.
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| Kit, Dr. Kaewchinda, Matt, Acharn Cathy, Dr. Nontapattamadul, Dr. Tuicomepee, Kari |
Dr. Nontapattamadul did his dissertation on Loas refugees in
Canada and studied how these couples would give you different information when
interviewed alone verse together. He also discussed issues of trustworthiness
that went along with this. Dr. Kaewchinda
talked about family therapy at The Bridge (a homeless shelter in Minneapolis),
which was the topic of his dissertation. He also discussed the stigma of mental
health in Thailand and how people would rather go see a monk to get blessed
rather than see a doctor or get medication, which is a challenge to his work.
Dr. Tuicomepee has been doing a lot of research about families affected by the
tsunami in 2004. She also has done
some work with women who have been arrested for prostitution working from a
rehabilitation standpoint.
At dinner we
spoke with Dr. Poonsuk who does a lot of curriculum development at a distance
university. Basically it’s independent study and online learning, and the
university primarily reaches nontraditional students. She was telling us about
a student she has that is 82 right now (she’s been working on her degree for 12
years).
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| Kari, Dr. Poonsuk, Kit, Matt. Some of us fit into Thailand a little better than others. |
It was really interesting to talk with each of them about
their research and the challenges that they face because the research
infrastructure is so different and sometimes non-existent. Dr. Kaewchinda said
that there were only 10 psychologists and 10 psychiatrists in the whole country
(maybe an exaggeration, but probably not too far off), and how challenging that
is. It was a completely different day,
but really interesting and fun to learn from people who are pioneering the
mental health profession here in Thailand.
