Friends Abroad Watched The Inauguration
Mary (in profile) and Sun (front and center) are intercontinental when they eat french toast.
A couple of my friends -- law school classmates -- are giving back by working for the public good in southeast Asia. They got together in Cambodia to watch the inauguration, and had their photo snapped and blown up with a half-page, above-the-fold article in the Phenom Penh Post!**
Mary is working in Chiang Mai, Thailand, experimenting in the new frontier of corporate social responsibility and setting up a new ice cream business dedicated to supporting needy children in the region. She's posting adventure updates on her blog.
Sun is working as a law clerk for the UN in Cambodia. She explains,
The United Nations Assistant to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) provides the international component to the “hybrid” court, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The tribunal was set up in 2003 jointly by the UN and the Cambodian government to prosecute senior members of the former Khmer Rouge regime. Among the crimes charged are violations of the Cambodian penal code, genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention.
[It's] a clerkship, but on the international level. doing research, writing memos, orders, decisions and stuff for the pre-trial judges. Ok, that's familiar. But throw in this hybrid tribunal and parts of the civil law system (since cambodian criminal procedure is based on the french civil system from the 1950s) and the learning curve is steep.
Sun is blogging, too. Check her out here.
Great to see that they're getting to hang out and enjoy life abroad. Now if they can just keep the damn paparazzi out of their way, they'll be set. Celebrity is nice for a minute, but believe you me, it gets old fast.
* Caption refers to a line from The Move by the Beastie Boys.
** Their friend who was interviewed by the Post was misquoted by the reporter!
What I said to journalist I liked McCain personally, but I don't like Republican Policy: 1) War in Iraq and 2) Anti-abortion. He misquoted my opinions -- anyways now I turned to support Obama.
Making Ice Cream During A Coup
A friend of mine is in Chiang Mai, Thailand to open a socially conscious ice cream shop. As there was a coup in Thailand today (timeline), I sent her a quick email to check in. Fortunately, she's fine. Says MJ:
Thanks for thinking of me. It is quite a mess, although I can't say I'm terribly surprised. Even before I left I knew that things in Thailand had the potential to get shady, but now as its happening I'm quite disappointed. It's a bizarre feeling to be effectively stranded in a country whose main international airport has been besieged. At least that's over now and they say things will be up and running in a few days, but now there's technically no government - it definitely gives one perspective on the advantages of being an American. I keep banging my head in frustration at the way "democracy" works here - the US is far from perfect, but compared to this disaster is sure looks good.
Apart from that, everything here is going well, the ice cream business is starting to take form, the weather has cooled down, and I'm quite happy in Chiang Mai. The Bar results have got me thinking of when I plan to return, but I can't say its any time soon!