Items

• 2023-06-06

  A Journey East: Exploration of Singapore & Southeast Asia

  Sitting in our small kitchen during our first full school year of teaching since the Pandemic my fiancé and I scribbled the names of places we'd like to travel to on scraps of paper and threw them into a bowl. Swriling them round and round I reached in and pulled out a piece of paper with "Singapore" scribbled on it! Elated that we'd chosen one of our dream destinations we immediently set about preparations for our jounrey - booking a cruise that embarks from Singapore and stops in Maylasia and Thailand. Our flights took us from Phoneix to Los Angeles for a brief layover and then an extensive flight to Tokyo, Japan. He stayed in Tokyo for nearly 48 hours - longest layover - and were able to catch up with my host family - I had previously visited Japan pre-pandemic in 2019 and stayed with a family there. I expected Covid regulations to be quite strict in Japan, though they were incredibly lax! Here we were, sharing drinks and a meal in a small, noisy, crowded restruant in the heart of Tokyo. Everything seemed to have reverted back to pre-pandemic rythms in my observations. These observastions would become quiote commonplace throughout the rest of our trip. Landing in Singapore, our cruise didn't set sail for 4 days, so we explored every inch of the city! Staying in the Clarke Quay distirct of Singapore, we were centrally located to many distinct and excting locations such like: Chinatown, Little India, Gardens by the Bay, Orchard Road, The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Singapore Zoo! Each location was inrecdible and unique in its own special way. The bustling streets and open air hawker markets of Chinatown and Little India buzzed with excitement as crowds of people shuffled back and forth from tables to but more food or in and out of shops and temples. The city was alive and thriving which gave both my fiancé and I so much joy! Singapore and Southeast Asia for the larger extent, had been quite extreme in their COVID lockdowns and draconian in punishment if COIVD protocal was broken. So we were overjoyed when life returned to normal in these parts of the world. One night in Chinatown, we sat down to a wonderful meal of beef, chicken, and shrimp Satay - meat on a stick - accompanied by a cold pitcher of Singapore's finest beer - Tiger. We were eating in the center of a packed night market. This night market stretched for two to three city blocks and was jammed with people enjoying anything from ice cream to chicken feet. As we enjoyed our meal, two men sat next to us and we engaged in a breif conversation. The conversation became prolonged and we eventually learned that one of the men was an Arch bishop in the Catholic Church and an Ambassador of the Vatican to Singapore! He shared many wonderful stories of his time living all over Southeast Asia and gave us some advice and sights to see as we continued our travels. Our cruise set sail and we embarked on the second leg of our adventure! Sailing the strait of Malacca, we visited cities in Malaysia such like: Kuala Lumpur, and Georgetown! We hired a private guide in Kuala Lumpur to show us around the city for a day - this was probably one of the best decisions we'd made on the trip. We got such a personal view of the city as our guide took us not only to various temples, memorials, and landmarks, but also to his favorite local stops! From Port Klang and Kuala Lumpur, we sailed to Georgetown where we climbed their famous Hill and explored the city and all of his rich colonial, Chinese, and Indian heritage. Our final destination for our cruise was Thailand, and it did not dissapoint! Taking a shore excursion, we travelled to Ao Phang Nga National Park visiting the famous James Bond Island and a floating Thai-Muslim village. After an awesome day of travel, we made our way back to the Ship and began our jounrey back to Singapore. Making it back safe and sound to the US, my fiancé and I reflected on our trip and were both incredibly grateful that all travel and experience had returned to normal following the Pandemic. The COVID-19 Pandemic and its restrictions were an after thought at these destinaitons. Not to say these countries have abandoned all sense of proticetion from the virus, rather they seem to have - like most of the world - pivoted to a stance that COVID will always exist now, and we must all collectively "deal with it" much like the Flu. With this experiance under our belts, we are both exicted to venture back out into the world and explore all it has to offer!
• 
  2022-06-18

  Coronavirus: which works better to handle a pandemic – democracy or autocracy?

  This is a news story from the South China Morning Post by Priyanka Shankar. This article is discussing the difference in responses based on forms of government. When it came to handling the pandemic, people from Asian countries where restrictions were much tougher rated a higher rate of satisfaction in government response compared to Latin America and Europe. This was taken from the Democracy Perception Index. According to researcher Fredrick DeVeaux, a leader in conducting this survey, the tight restrictions common in Asian countries are generally accepted because it gets associated with low death rates. The survey does make mention that in countries such as Iran and China, they hid data about the virus from their citizens, affecting their overall response to changes in lockdowns. However, Singapore is also authoritarian, and the prime minister has made an effort to create transparency in what is occurring, so items get hoarded less. Overall, the article claims that the mass mobilization of people and goods under authoritarian regimes fares better than democracies do at creating an effective COVID response.
• 
  2020-04-23

  The Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama Movement and the Pandemic

  Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is the world's largest Muslim organization. This article describes it's efforts to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 
  2021-07-13

  Indonesia’s Daily Cases Surpass India, Marking New Epicenter

  Indonesia surpassed India’s daily Covid-19 case numbers, marking a new Asian virus epicenter as the spread of the highly-contagious delta variant drives up infections in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The country has seen its daily case count cross 40,000 for three straight days -- including a record high of 54,517 on Wednesday -- up from less than 10,000 a month ago. Officials are concerned that the more transmissible new variant is now spreading outside of the country’s main island, Java, and could exhaust hospital workers and supplies of oxygen and medication. Indonesia’s current numbers are still far from India’s peak of 400,000 daily cases in May, and its total outbreak of 2.7 million is barely a tenth of the Asian giant’s 30.9 million. India, with a population roughly five times the size of Indonesia’s 270 million people, saw daily infections drop below 39,000 on Wednesday as its devastating outbreak wanes. The Southeast Asian country reported about 900 deaths daily on average in the past seven days -- compared to just 181 a month ago -- while India reported an average of 1,027 daily fatalities.
• 
  05/11/2021

  Olivier Duguet Oral History, 2021/05/11

  As a CEO in Southeast Asia, the interview covers topics such as travel bans, new ways to work in the office, vaccinations, and compares government decisions in Europe and certain countries in Asia.
• 
  2021-01-24

  Container Crisis

  Container Crisis Brought About By COVID The US imports 3 containers of Chinese goods whilst exporting only 1 container of goods
• 
  2021-02-04

  IMF Myanmar Response

  Questions Reporter Asked IMF Gerry Rice [ Director, Communications Department, IMF ] concerning Myanmar COVID Relief Money QUESTIONER: In terms of Myanmar, recent developments in Myanmar. It seems that quite recently, just before the coup, that the IMF had given some $350 million and dedicated it toward it. I'm wondering what are your thoughts? First of all, what are the IMF's thoughts, obviously, on the coup? But also generally, how did the IMF react when there's a change of government in this way right after they've given money? Is there any -- how can you assure that the money goes, you know, for the intended purposes? That it doesn't actually support a now more military government? That's my question for today. MR. RICE: Thank you very much for that. We are, of course, very concerned about the impact of recent events and what they could have on the people of Myanmar, and we're watching it very closely, of course, like the rest of the world. Just to remind that, of course, Myanmar faced large economic and social costs as a result of the pandemic, and the IMF resources, our support was to help the people of Myanmar to meet these urgent humanitarian needs. That was the whole purpose. Again, just to set in context, the approval of this supports was back in January by our board and followed all standard procures for this kind of emergency financing. The same as we have done for another 84 countries in this crisis, and standard safeguards in place regarding the resources, including the repayment schedule. And as I think you know, the IMF's record over 75 years on repayment and safeguarding of IMF resources is very clear. In terms of the status of our engagement, we have had no communication at this point with the new regime, and that's about as much as I have at the moment on Myanmar. QUESTIONER: So I had a question to follow up on Myanmar. I'm just wondering, on what happens [next]? Do you have to wait until whatever government emerges to reach out to the IMF to see if there's going to be even a relationship with the IMF going forward? And, you know, some people that I've spoken with are suggesting that well, this is kind of a pitfall of these rapid disbursing instruments that have been used. The money goes out very quickly all at once with no or very few conditions attached to it. Is there any thought to changing that at this stage and, you know, just wondering what next steps are on this? Is it just waiting till the smoke clears to decide how we engage? Also, the military generals that were appointed, a new central bank chief who was the same guy that ran the central bank when they were in power. Is there some concern that the central bank will lose its independence? MR. RICE: Just on your last point, of course, the independence of central banks is one of the fundamental principles that the IMF believes in and supports so, you know, just to make that very clear. On your other points, clearly the situation is unfolding. In terms of recognition of the government as in other cases, we are guided by the international community, guided by the membership in terms of recognition of the government. So again, the situation is unfolding there but that's what guides us in terms of our relationship with countries. You know, what I'd say on how the resources that we approved back in January how they are used, clearly again, as I said, these resources were for a clear purpose, the crisis, the pandemic, the helping with the humanitarian needs there. And, of course, it would be in the interest of the government and certainly the people of Myanmar that those funds are indeed used accordingly. Under the arrangement that was agreed with the previous former government, there was indeed safeguards regarding how the funds would be used as is the case with all of our emergency financing. I've talked about it here before. That included audit and, you know, transparency of how the resources are used. And again, this is true for all of the emergency financing. So while there are few conditions, as you rightly say, there are safeguard provisions and it would be our expectation that, you know, regardless of the future that these commitments would be maintained. Because those resources need to go to support the people and especially vulnerable groups. So you asked finally where we’re thinking of changing. You know, again, we've been using these emergency financing instruments in 85 countries so far. I think they have been a huge help and assistance in the crisis especially to the poorest countries, to low income countries. And I think one of the reasons that they've been so effective and we've been able to get the support so quickly is the, you know, the conditions are relatively few. However, and again I stress, the safeguards and the governance of those resources is something that we give high priority to and each one of those has a set of safeguards. Whether it's audit or publishing of procurement contracts, you know, there's a whole series of governance related provisions that we have attached to these loans. These are very important and we're confident that the resources will be well used and for the purpose that they were intended in these emergency financing loans.
• 2020-01-11

  The cause of Covid-19

  I think the cause of Covid-19 is a food item. Near Japan, they eat a lot of things that probably shouldn't be eaten, and if you don't cook it right it can have bacteria still on it. Actually, most animals haw viruses that their body they can handle that humans can't. And that is how I think the virus started, from something on an animal.
• 2020-02

  What My Life was Like in February 2020 before Covid-19

  Compared to my life back in February, my life now is exceedingly different. I was still attending in-person school at Oaks Christian, and I had no idea how drastically my life would change. For example, back in February, I was on a track team called the "Thousand Oaks Flyers". My practices for that track team would later get cancelled in March, but back then I was having the time of my life and running with one of my best friends, Olivia. I was also participating in a swim team called Class Aquatics, which practices, or used to practice, at the Oaks Christian High School pool. I did not enjoy being on the swim team, and I would later get the courage to tell my parents that I wanted to quit. Back in February, I was always busy on the weekends and weekdays, from hanging out with my best friends, to always being at a sports practice. One sign that something was wrong, or about to be wrong, is that my parents, my dad is a surgeon and my mom is a nurse, were constantly talking about some kind of virus that was growing and spreading throughout Asia and most of Europe. When I asked them about it, they said that it was a virus that originated in China and was spreading. I initially laughed it off, and thought that I had nothing to worry about, when some relatives that live in Asia shipped my family and my grandmother packs of N-95 masks, and told us all to "be safe". Shortly after that, my first Covid-19 cases were reported in the U.S. and also in California. My parents were starting to get worried, but I wasn't until some teachers at school told me that the school might have to shut down if more Covid-19, or coronavirus cases were diagnosed. Shortly after that, in March, Oaks Christian switched to an online learning school program, and my family and I went into a "quarantine lockdown". That is what my life in February, and early March, of 2020 was like, and some events that were happening in my day-to-day life, and also all around the world.
• 
  2020-10-22

  Graph Shows Huge Increase in Europe's Cases

  This graph shows the average 7 day increase in COVID-19 cases in Europe, North America, and Asia. Europe has seen a dramatic resurgence in Coronavirus cases in the past few weeks.
• 
  2020-05-29

  ‘New normal’ aims to keep economy running: Minister

  Due to the pandemic, economies around the world has been facing great difficulties. The 'New Normal' is the Indonesian government's plan in trying to keep the Indonesian economy running while still combating the pandemic by keeping the government's health precautionary measures. However, personally I disagree with the term 'New Normal' because we don't want social/physical distancing to be normal. Instead, I believe the term should be phrased as something that means transitioning back to the normal before the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-20

  ‘None of Us Have a Fear of Corona’: The Faithful at an Outbreak’s Center

  This article reports about the world's largest Islamic missionary movement with over 16,000 participants in Asia. Tablighi Jamaat is a century-old missionary movement that depends on the charity of mosques to give shelter and is one of the largest faith-based movements in the world. Because of this four day movement hundred of participants have tested positive for COVID-19. One participant states, "Whatever happens to us is God's will".
• 
  2020-03-18

  Shanghai testing #1

  A group at a time, passenger names are called, and we are taken off the plane for the first round of testing. We gave in our health forms and were asked a bunch of detailed questions about our travels and where we stayed for the past 2 weeks.