Dean Monk's Welcome Dinner

Dean Monk welcomes the Humphrey Fellows each year with a reception followed by a dinner held for faculty mentors, senior administrators, and program staff. This year, Cody Jameson, Program Manager from Institute of International Education attended during his official site visit to Penn State.

September 28th, 2011

Humphrey Fellow, Denise Neddermeyer participated in the African Studies Brown Bag;
Topic: Internationalization of Higher Education in Brazil and Government Policies Toward Building Collaboration with African Countries. At 2:30, the fellows attended the College of Education Fall Meeting held be Dean Monk. After a brief reception, the fellows were formally introduced to the college along with new staff and faculty. An event that everyone looks forward to each year.

Penn State Thai Festival, September 25, 2011

Thai Night 2011: Welcome to the Land of Smiles
by Ms. Diyaporn Wisamitanan
To understand different culture, visiting a country event might be a short cut to get a glimpse of the country. The Thai Night 2011: A Walk Through Thai Temple Fair, which was held from 6.30 – 9 pm on Sunday 25 September 2011 became huge success. 200 tickets were sold out and there were still some people who would like to join, but couldn’t get tickets.
Successfully, I sold 19 tickets for Humphrey fellows & family, coordinator, host family, my English language partner and roommates.
In this event, guests would get a chance to eat Thai recipes and iced tea with milk ( my favorite drink back home), watch traditional performances, get a small token from Thailand, learn how to make paper fish and traditional flag, and see Thai products exhibition.
All Thai students wore traditional costumes to serve food. I looked for a chance to wear my Thai outfits so this was a good time. Back home, we Thais rarely wear Thai outfits; we wear them for special events, for example, wedding days, big ceremony and performance. That’s all. I found that nowadays many countries has encountered this problem; wearing traditional costume is becoming out-of-fashion even the government has promoted civil officers to wear it in a workplace and in school.
I felt like I was in Thailand, eating Thai food, wearing Thai costumes, seeing Thai dance, working harmoniously with other Thai students.
Surprisingly, there are only about 80 students in Penn State University, fewer than Chinese, Korean, Indian, but the Thai Night proved that we Thai were as united and strong as other communities.

Talat & Jane were touched knowing that 6 Humphrey fellows joined the event so I did a paper interview why they joined and what did they feel about the event. Reading their feedbacks, I was thrilled to know that they all were curious to learn about Thai culture and they really had a good time in the event. Being Humphrey fellow from Thailand, some friends would like to know more about me. Some said they felt like they were in Thailand where people were friendly and smiley and food’s very yummy.



Vanhkham, Laos: I would like to know how the Thai Night will look like and curiously to know what are the shows that will be performed in the event. That was very fantastic event. It was very well organized and well prepared. It is showing the strong organization of Thai Student Association, event they are not more than 100 people comparing to Chinese, Korean and Indian students in Penn State. But they have done wonderful job in order to present Thai's culture and traditional.

Diana, Poland: I primarily decided to attend the Thai Night event because I consider you my friend and would like to know more about the culture of your country. This was also the main reason I volunteered to help as well as because it was a good opportunity to meet other Thai students, do something for your community and because I know I could count on you if I needed help to prepare my national event and in any other case.

Khyati, India: The event was excellent and the arrangement was good. I like the way we served on the table by Thai people. The exhibition of Thai items was also good. However during program I felt that It would be good if they include some Thai manners and disciplines instead of only traditional dance. The girls in traditional dress were looking very pretty. My daughter didn't want to come out from that event. I came to know about Thai event from you. I was excited to see Thailand. Even after belong to Asia, I have never been to Thailand. I thought this might be a good idea to get some insights about Thailand and Thai culture. So me and my husband with our little angel joined Thai night.

Tatjana, Slovenia: Because I always want to know about different cultures of the people I meet. As you are my classmate and also my roommate both are Thai I like to know more about your traditions. I was really amazed about the organization and about everything that was presented. You're really doing an excellent job in representing your country to all of us! I was very impressed

Denise, Brazil: Because I want to know more about Thai culture and also because I was invited by an enthusiastic Thai friends. The event was beyond my expectation. The girls were beautifully dressed with Thai costumes. Everyone’s very kind, smiley and attentive. The show was well-prepared. The presenter was extremely natural and charming. It was a great event for Sunday evening. Enjoyed very much.

Alex, Mexico: I WANTED TO SHARE SOME TIME WITH MY HOST FAMILY AND LEARN ABOUT SOME OF THE THAI CULTURE AS WELL. THE PROGRAM WAS INTERESTING: FOOD, DANCE AND CRAFTS. EVEN IF I HAD INFORMATION ABOUT THAILAND BECAUSE A FRIEND WAS LIVING THERE, I WANTED TO KNOW PEOPLE THAT IS ANOTHER WAY TO KNOW PART OF THE COUNTRY. THE EVENT EXCEED ALL MY EXPECTATIONS: MY HOST FAMILY WAS SUPER HAPPY! WE HAD A GREAT NIGHT OF FUN, LAUGHS, GOOD FOOD AND WE MET NICE PEOPLE.

Thanks all friends for your support. Also, special thanks to Diana, from Poland, who volunteered to help me decorate the hall and serve Thai food.

President's Tailgate 2011

The Fellows attend President Spanier's tailgate beginning at 9 AM with a special bus ride to the Penn Stater for a wonderful kickoff celebration to the football game. Because of the threat of rain, the tailgate was moved from the President residence to the Penn Stater. The fellows loved the entertainment which included Penn State's marching band and theatre group performance. President Spanier introduced the fellows to the audience. Dean Monk and his wife Pamela also attended the event with the fellows. Each year they take time to help explain the "rules of the game". After a group photo, off to the President's suite to watch the game - Penn State vs. Eastern Michigan. And more food, and more importantly sunshine!!! It was Humphrey Luck! PSU 34 Eastern Michigan 3

IESA - International Education Student Association Fall Meeting

- The Fellows are introduced to the group during the meeting. They also had a chance to network with students in CI ED as well as faculty members attending. Faculty invited fellows to attend their class as credit, audit or sit in.
David Baker is faculty head of CI ED this year.

Thoughts after attending 9/11 Effects and its Legacy on U.S. immigration Laws.

Presented by Penn State Law on September 16, 2011

Syria – Many important and deep lessons can be learned from September 11. The question is, “Who has learned the lesson?!!”
India – Great opportunity to understand different consequences take place after 9/11 especially those which changed the life of many people
Croatia – It’s great to see there are still some people who care about others!
Brazil – All we need is more education, education and education!
Poland – An important lesson not only on the subject matter of the conference enriched with the testimonies not to be forgotten, but also on how to approach a controversial and sensitive subject in an appropriate way. A very well organized event deserving broader audience and publicity.
Laos – It was a great chance to know how the U.S. government especially immigration and national security responded on their security check toward Arabs and South Asians.
Slovenia – This was one of those events that makes you think about how important it is for individuals to try to make a difference.
Sierra Leone – The world is not at peace, much has to be done to restore everlasting peace!
Thailand – If there’re more participants from the U.S., that would be great for International students to learn from them; How they felt and how 9/11 affected them.
Sri Lanka – Security a nation lies in its love towards other nations. Not in strict rules and laws.

The First Information Sharing Session(ISS)

Information Sharing Session (ISS) was held Sept. 14 at Weston Commons. Thanks to Tatjana, Khyati and Amal for preparing a meal to share. Rashid Turay and Alejandra Santoyo were the first fellows to share their experiences since arriving on September 8th at Penn State. In his unique way, Rashid told the group stories as though we were sitting in his village back in Sierra Leone. Alejandra sent many useful links for fellows to use throughout the year. She is very happy with her professional activities as well as her personal activites that include watching documentaries at the local theatre and attending drawing classes. It was a wonderful evening!

Volunteer as a "Food Runner" by Nok

I've no idea what a food runner was until yesterday morning. Umm... perhaps I may start from the beginning of the story.
4 Humphrey fellows namely Diana, One, Alex & I joined the Friday Fellowship Dinner & Program which run by the International Ministries for a couple of time, and all of us felt grateful that we shouldn't just join the free dinner & Eng. lessons which's only benefit us, but we should pay it back, not in a kind of money, but energy.
So, when Bill, the head of the org. asked for volunteers to sell food at the Beaver Stadium in the campus, we undoubtedly grab a chance to sign up!
That's why on Saturday 3 September 2011, we got up very early in the morning to meet up at 8.30 am. to walk from the west campus to the east campus. So far from the end of the corner to the other end of the corner. It took 30 mins to walk ! and anot her 15 mins to look! for our EF snack concesssion.
Oh! there are nearly 30 volunteer students signed up for this event: The Football Match between Penn State U. & Indiana U.
Bill briefed what we'd to do and assigned each responsibility. Most of us were new and never worked in a concession before.
I'd like to do an easy task like scooping popcorn, putting ice in a large-size cup & car mug, but all of Humphrey fellows ended up with being a food runner.
What's the food runner? It was the first time I heard this word in my life.
Oh! At last, after Bill's explanation (again), I realized that a cashier would take orders and informed the food runner to grap ordered food for him.
American students were assigned as cashiers since they're very good at catching words and familiar with American food vocab.
Back to the food runner, in a short time, we'd to learn how each food was called
- "C" on a box meaned chicken hamburger
- plain box meaned just hamburger. If a customer ordered cheese hamburger, we needed to put 1 piece of cheese in it.
- several types of soft drinks ( Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mtn. Dew, Fruit Punch).
- Bratwurst or Brat ( Sometimes I was confused when customers shortened it just Brat.)
- soft Preszel
- different types of candy.
The American Football started at 12.05 pm., but our work started from 10.30 am. when audience ! entered the ! stadium. It's very hectic & demanding as there're more details like:
- Customers ordered hotdog,but we run out of it. and they needed to wait while hotdog makers busily did it.
- Some customers didn't want a warm bottled water and what we left was just warm one. Bottled water's sold out very quick as the weather's very hot.
- Some'd like to pay by debit card/credit card, but we accepted just cash.
- The concession's walk way's narrow so we'd to sqeeze and sometimes we bumped into each other.
- Cheese was overflew from a machine.
Within 3 hrs., we sold almost every thing we'd and I might say it's a success as we still had fun while we work.
All volunteers were allowed to eat whatever we liked, but to me, I ate just popcorn & Pepsi. From my observation, American food come in a big quantity / amount so I was afraid that I couldn't finish them up and I'd waste food.
The motto for today: put myself into other people's shoes to learn how they ( food runners/ waiters) feel. Next time when I'm in a restaurant, I won't complain when I get food quite slow or wrong food.
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Enjoy Labor Day Holiday!
Nok

Baseball & Ice Cream

The Humphrey Fellows were invited to Spikes Baseball by the College of Education. Dean Monk and Pamela met the fellows at the game.....photos will be posted soon! Each fellow received two tickets in order to invite a guest of their choice. Among their guests were host family members, classmates, roommates, Fulbright scholars and Bill and Barb Saxton. After almost two weeks of classes, the fellow took advantage to this wonderful opportunity to attend one of America's favorite summer time sports. Fellows also enjoyed another favorite summer time activity - eating ice cream! The College of Education held a "ice cream social" to welcome new students. Held in front of Chambers Bldg - the Dean welcomed all students to the College! These events are welcomed after a rare earthquake and a hurricane!