This week we have Dr. Bjorn Holmberg from Sweden here as an instructor. And for the past two days we have been looking at a model of conflict analysis that we are to use for our Individual Conflict Analysis project. The model we are looking at is specifically for large scale conflict with high potential for armed conflict. The model seems to be very complex and I find I am really challenged this week as I have to apply this model to my topic of Police Response to Domestic Violence and I am having a hard time with it. I am told that it is not designed for conflict of that nature but yet I still have to use this model for the purpose of the project. So needless to say I have been hitting the books hard the last few nights and I'm thinking this next week is going to be about the same as the project is due next Wednesday, although we still have lots of other commitments in the meantime. It is certainly different being back in school again!

Sunday we all took a tour of the attractions of Bangkok, courtesy of Rotary. It was another very hot day. We first went tithe Grand Palace. It is hard to put its beauty into words, it was a truly magnificent sight; the scale and the detail in the buildings were fascinating. I took so many pictures to try and capture the beauty but the photos just don't do it justice. I will try and post a few here; however I took 440pictures on Sunday. One of the highlights of the Grand Palace was getting to see the Emerald Buddha (although it's actually made if jade) the temple was packed but worth getting a glimpse of the Buddha.

We then went to Wat Pho which is home to. The Reclining Buddha and the origins of Thai massage. The Reclining Buddha is a massive gold Buddha and impressive. When walking around this Buddha I was surprise do see that this Buddha has footprints. After Wat Pho we had lunch at the pier and had some very good coconut pancakes! We then got on a smaller boat and took a cruise of the Chao Phraya River where we got another view of the Grand Palace. We also went to another temple called Wat Arun (temple of dawn). We were able to climb this temple and get some great views; however many of us were running out of steam from the heat of the day.

Friday was my last post...it has been a very busy weekend with homework, soccer game and city tour; not to mention the heat took its toll on me.

On Saturday was a big soccer game between my university Chulalongkorn and the rivals Thammasat University. A group of us met at noon to attend...not really knowing what time the game starts...but we were advised to go early to get seats and to watch all the pre game events....well this plan may have been alright if it wasn't 40 degrees out, by the time we walked to the stadium in the crowds we were all dying in the heat, then we find out the stadium is not yet open. Our group dispersed into MBK (the giant mall) for air conditioning. We then reconvened at 4 and went to the game. The cheer leading was very different then our typical cheer leading and includes both male and female and a lot of cross dressing. Because we didn't end up there until after 4 now, the shaded seats were sold out so we got the nice hot concrete seats. I didn't last till the end of the game...although I'm told Chula won 1 to 0. Leaving the game was an interesting experience for me...the gate I came in was now locked...as was every other gate I went to in the vicinity...so now I'm facing the Thammasat side a sea of red and yellow....I'm wearing Chula pink. I am told (in broken English) that the only gate open is on the far end of the Thammasat side. So I venture off, the only pink dot in the sea of red and yellow...fighting my way through the crowd, which felt like forever as I'm getting heckled (well I think I am I really don't know what they are saying) I think it was the most I ever felt like an outsider both in nationality and the colour of my shirt. Finally I reached the gate and escaped the chaos and headed home for homework which involved several readings on conducting conflict analysis, promoting peace and security and a strategic conflict analysis of Afghanistan.

Good morning all! My plan was to go take a some photos around campus this morning as it is really quite impressive. It is a huge campus and there are free pink buses running to get around (yes pink buses) the school colour is pink as pink is the royal colour and the university was formed by one of the past kings. You find a lot of pink throughout the city too with the majority of taxis I have seen being hot pink! Anyway, my morning campus tour has to be delayed as I thought I better catch up on the blog and yesterday at the end of class we were given a huge stack of readings to have completed for Monday...so campus pics will come at a later date. I am planning on attending a university soccer game this afternoon at the national stadium. It's a huge event Chula vs Thammasat, it's rival university! Then tomorrow our class has a city toured booked. So I better get some homework done now!

This week in class was a huge learning curve and so much information to absorb but I am loving every minute of it. An interesting topic was the Global Peace Index, there is a website...www.visionof humanity.org for those interested; it maps out how each country ranks on the peace scale and happily Canada ranks in the top 10 but obviously other countries don't fair so well. We also looked at the peace process and gender issues in the peace process. Unfortunately many peace agreements around the world fail and among many reasons why they fails is a common one of not dealing with gender issues within the peace agreements. I found this interesting as I guess I have never really thought about it until now, but in order to resolve conflict those involved in the conflict need to be a part of the process and typically females have not been included despite representing half the population.

We also study the works of Elise Boulding who's major ideas are: peace as a daily process, 'peaceableness' ( a learned skill), personal & interpersonal promotion of peace, peace culture welcomes differences- recognizing them as a potential source of conflict, but also a starting point for progress.

I have also had the opportunity to discuss domestic violence issues with some of my classmates from India and Kenya, and how different or similar we are with dealing with these issues. As police we really need to be aware of how we handle DV coming from other cultures while still following our Canadian Protocols and legislation.

I wanted to share this link as well

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US&reload=3&rdm=4ppwh3jy9#/watch?v=17S084bCzPY

If it doesn't work go to YouTube and search England U20 Soccer team in Colombia

It really is a small world...I was seeking with my Professor from England about the use of sport in conflict resolution...we got talking about Colombia and he told me about the warm welcome the England soccer team received from the Colombian Police when they arrived in Colombia and told me to YouTube it...it is a great video to watch as the Colombian Police welcome the team with dance and music. He had told me that the team was a little nervous traveling to Colombia but after this welcome it set the tone and they had a great time. Now my distance connection to this story is my friend Diego, a police officer in Colombia was assigned to the England team for their duration of their time in Colombia and Diego had filled me in on working with the team and he had a great time. Anyway, watch the video if you can...this is the Colombia I have been lucky to know.

Today at break we had a plate full of this odd looking fruit...It is a plant native to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and goes by various names of wax apple, love apple, java apple, royal apple, bellfruit, Jamaican apple, water apple, mountain apple, cloud apple, wax jambu, rose apple, and bell fruit.

Here they call it Rose Apple, it was delicious...tastes similar to a pear, but juicier like a watermelon...hard to explain other than very good!

Yesterday, the majority of class was in regards to Thai history and Thai political conflict. We also watched a short video of a speech by Chimanada Adichie on the Single Story and had a great class discussion in regards to it. Here is the link...well worth watching!

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Today was our presentation day. We all made a presentation on our current work and the basis for our Individual Conflict Analysis that will be due the end of the 12 weeks. It was enlightening to learn about each Peace Fellows area of work and the conflict they are working on. Although we all come from different countries, it is amazing that some of the conflicts around the world have similar underlying issues. It was a very opening day and a day full of learning!

After it class I then ventured out on the sky train to find my first Thai massage. That alone is worth coming to Thailand for!

Sorry no pictures yet, I haven't been able to upload photos from the iPad to the blog...will have to find a computer to do that I guess??

I'm up super early today...wake up at 3, then 4 then finally at 5 I decide to stay up and see who is online...maybe the downside of having wifi in my room...cause I probably should have went back to sleep.

Today was the first official day of class...here's how it starts:

We all knew what we signed up for and look forward to it immensely but can't help but have some fears, it is going to be one amazing challenge but one I'm sure I will be glad I took.

We are still waiting for two classmates to arrive and join our class and hope and pray they can make it, but sadly it is much harder for citizens in some countries to travel. Hopefully they will make it safely here by the end of the week.

On top of our regular studies we are being offered Thai language courses in the mornings before our regular classes, I will be starting that on Monday.

The campus here is very nice. There is a new sports complex with an Olympic size pool...so on top of everything else I am going to try and swim most mornings...I'll see how that goes, but shouldn't be a problem as it is HOT here 24/7 so I'm sure I will welcome a swim. So between swimming and the humidity I'm bracing for a 3 month stretch of bad hair! Haha

Tonight after class I ventured out for a few groceries, the stores here are massive as is the city. I did manage to pick up a few things to have breakfast in my room, but somewhere on my journey I lost the fruit I bought??? I'm really not sure what happened to it...so I will try again another day!

Sorry no pictures yet...hopefully tomorrow after class I can at least get some campus pictures to post!

I met up with about 8 other peace fellows and we venture off to the MBK shopping center to get some lunch and try and get phones and school supplies. MBK is an absolutely massive shopping center! There is a whole floor alone just dedicated to cell phones and a floor is not your typical shopping center this is the size of a large city block and hundreds of small booths set up throughout...slightly overwhelming...none of us ended up getting phones and slowly the group was dwindling as people were lost in the crowds, I came back in a group of three, hopefully the rest find their way back! I did purchase a router for my Internet which has turned out to be great as I was unable to access the wifi in my room previously; I think I now have all my Internet issues worked out! The last of the peace fellows are arriving throughout the day today and we have class starting at 9 am tomorrow. Its hitting the books right away as a lot of material to cover in a short amount of time. I also found out that my presentation is now due on Friday so it will buy me some more time to get it all finalized.

I haven't yet explored too far but so far Bangkok seems to be a great city and very busy! It is very hot and humid here as well, but hey it's better than freezing back home! I will write more soon, just letting you all know I arrived safe and sound.