2020-12-31

On the last day of 2020, there are some words to be written ...

 On the last day of 2020, there are some words to be written ... 


  I still can't believe that 2020 has come to an end and going to celebrate the eve of 2021. I can't believe what's feeling now, conjuring up the nice moments that I spent on the airplane flying to Bangkok on the eve of 2020, where I celebrated it on the airplane. These memories are still fresh as they just happened now and didn't go far away from them yet. I can't believe how time is running swiftly to the degree that I don't feel the time, days, weeks, months, and years and how they go quickly. 

At this moment, I'm trying to collect as many nice moments as possible, including the stations at which I had negative experiences I went through during 2020, believing in the fact that if one doesn't learn from his/her previous mistakes in order to avoid them and make them like a learnable lesson, is like a misled person who is still not aware of the fact that the smart person doest get stung twice from the same hole, meaning that once you got hurt at certain place or context, then you're supposed to learn what was the mistake to avoid it later. However, if that mistake wasn't enough to learn from, then you'll find yourself getting hurt by the same mistake.  

2020-12-28

 The second lockdown in Germany 


https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/casual-social-contacts-can-help-combat-loneliness-and-improve-well-being-during-pandemic-psychologists-say-1.5852956?fbclid=IwAR3vualBxPTxrom1NgC2wceY09l9AlYkNUv4ehjK2Ryhf8wMLhk7Bd7tYG0


2020-09-21

 My student told me ... 

   The primary educational stage that I passed through during my childhood specifically the elementary and secondary school, shaped an abstract knowledge about my identity as an Arab Palestinian through the history of Arabic culture and science that was introduced in the curriculum. This knowledge could not be grasped not because it was introduced to me in a language that I could not understand, it was in my mother tongue Arabic though, but I could not understand the fact that how this knowledge was produced by genius Arab and Muslim scientists in different fields who lived in the Middle East long centuries ago. Therefore, looking at this history, it is found to be mainly Islamic dominated as it came into being within the Middle Eastern frontiers, which is the area that witnessed the birth of Islam in the Arab Peninsula specifically where our prophet Mohammed (PBUH) set out on his journey of calling for Islamic message to be spread out not only in the place of birth but also wherever possible in this world. Later on, in the following era, some Muslim scientists showed up mostly around Mesopotamia delineating the pillars of science as they produced a unique scientific constellation, which is proved through their theories. That educational phase showed me this scientific constellation of Arab-Muslim, including Persian scientists who generated unique science and theories in different fields; medicine, chemistry, physics, optics, space, math, gravity, etc. So the accomplishment of those prolific scientists long centuries ago became part of our identity, indicating to the illuminating era of Arab Muslim scientific achievements that characterized a specific period which called the Islamic Golden Age that traditionally dates back from the 8th to 14th century. They left to us as a legacy to cherish and build on.

I remember in history materials at the above-mentioned school texts written about those scientists, what they came up with and how narrating their biographies, but without indicating to any fact that their accomplishments have been developed later on by their ancestors within the frontiers where those genius scientists lived or outside. It, therefore, turned out to be a mere task of informing ourselves on those scientists without tangible shreds of evidence that we have tirelessly worked on developing this legacy to cope with the modern scientific movement. Indeed, the following epoch until the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century and during the modern epoch, later on, Arabs had not greatly contributed to developing science to almost nothing worth cherishing or even mentioning. Since then, the science development has been characterizing the Western scientific scene. In Europe, for instance, people had managed to overthrow the church’s hegemony that had controlled the wheel of socio-cultural development during the medieval and then set off on the journey of developing science after the European mind had been liberated from the church’s control.

Therefore, modern science, as we were instructed, was developed in the West and still being developed there to the degree humankind conceive science as European or American or Canadian, etc. ignoring the fact that Arab Muslim scientists and scholars have accomplished in this modern science as well. They had to leave their homelands seeking for better opportunities to invest in their scientific capabilities and develop the scientific movement in the West where they have found a good sanctuary. It might be not that easy matter to spread out the belief that European science is originally European, and it might be not easy to convince the general public that the sophisticated scientific infrastructure in Europe for instance, is diverse consisting of scientists from different nations have contributed to developing it, or it might be unbelievable to explain to people in Europe that Arab or Muslim scientists have made their part in this scientific modernity. 

Of course, might be not possible as long as the growth of this science is taking place within the Western frontiers or if extends out of these frontiers, it is still Western branded, not Arab or Muslim whose groups turned out to be consumers to this modern science. I do not want to dig deeper into how this modern science came into being after it had passed through long processes of circulating premises until it came out in its modern shape. But I want to highlight the fact that why Arabs or Muslims have not been contributing to science since the ascendance of the first cohort of Middle Eastern Muslim scientists during the Golden Age long centuries ago? Why have not they been building on the theories or the premises were shaped by them to generate new science copes with modernity?

Such inquiries did not over my head the first time I learned about those scientists in the curriculum or inquire about the reason why we are being instructed about the fact that science is Western while being encountered by the fact that there was indeed science created by Arabs and Muslims. I do remember at school a patriotic teacher who began the class not teaching English, but showing us how Arab nations are at the lowest rank after they had a chance to staunchly prosper and build on what our genius scientist predecessors of the ancient times left to us, and then he sort of reprimanded all of us including himself saying “we are a backward nation, when would we achieve something to make the other modern nations proud of us?! It is our science in our hands, why cannot we develop anything? Because we are a backward and ignorant nation gave in to its ignorance and backwardness, does not want to develop and do anything! When will we make a new Renaissance?” The same with the other history teacher who used to start the class by making such comments. At the time, I had not understood what was going on until I indeed realized what were those teachers talking about. Their provocative statements are still inscribed in my mind even though were said to me more than 16 years ago. I am therefore quite aware of this reality as an Arab and Muslim. 

In the last Arabic class, my student from the UK told me in Arabic “Muslims have not been contributing to science because they believe that modern science is secular so that they avoid involving in. The other reason is that colonization prevented Muslims from pursuing higher education and developing science.”

I answered in Arabic saying the first claim is complete nonsense! I cannot believe that there are still Muslims believe so; it is a mere pretext that some people pretend that secularism does not fit into Islamic values, or because it was created by Western scientists so that it violates their beliefs. That is an unacceptable argument if it is indeed still believable and an indicator of why Muslims have not been contributing to modern science. The second claim, I said, yes there is conclusive evidence that colonizers destroyed the educational infrastructure of the colonized and so as the occupiers did so to the occupied. I, however, claimed that it should not be a reason to pretend that Muslims or Arabs have not been contributing to modernity specifically in the 21st because of colonization or occupation at all!

Why? In the current era, the physical presence of colonization has vanished, Arabs have lots of capabilities to develop science, France of the UK will not come to them asking for shutting down their universities or labs, etc. and simply command them “You Arabs do not contribute to science! It is our business.” Not at all! There are many Arabs and Muslims developing science in the West who can freely do whatever possible for that purpose in their homelands too.

That opinions sort of stirring up my feeling in a way that I felt that Arabs have not immensely been doing things for science so that they are just consumers. In the office where I am doing my internship, there are many shelves on which lots of books whose titles published under mostly Western names, I did not find any book or publication was done by Arab or Muslim authors, but later on, found very few as the center cooperates with Arabic universities. That reflects that Arabs do not enrich the scientific platforms by their creativity.

This is probably the reason why people across the Western societies do not believe that Arabs have magnificent contributions to science even though many smart Arab scholars and researchers are contributing to science in their homelands or the West. I can see that people will not spend time on searching whether Arab scientists are doing great jobs for modern science in the 21st century or not, they want to see tangible things on the ground; discoveries, innovations, inspiring projects, and so on, so that they can judge differently and change the anachronistic thoughts towards Arabs or Muslims. Otherwise, if Arabs either scientists or policy-makers do not unify their efforts for developing science and enrich the libraries in all sorts of scientific fields, that dark image will keep branding us as consuming unproductive nations.  

2020-08-20


 The resort to virtual conferences due to COVID-19 

  

 Since the Covid-19 of Corona Virus crisis broke out, the World Health Organization declared that it's a global pandemic on the 11th of March, 2020. Shortly afterward, many countries have realized the growing danger of this fatal virus, as the mortality rate was still and still skyrocketing; hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. On the other hand, the economic sector has deteriorated due to the lockdown that many governments reluctantly went on. Correspondingly, the international aviation movement was disabled, and many destinations were completely shut down, leaving no chance to fly over. The number of victims is approaching 1 million worldwide, and millions of infected are struggling to survive. Some of those enormously infected people succumb to death daily as their immune systems cannot resist anymore. 

Sadly, although strenuous efforts are being exerted by many aspects around the world, either private pharmaceutical corporations or medical labs, to manufacture a reliable vaccine, nothing has been scientifically proved thus far. Therefore, what I have been observing in many affected countries is indicative that certain aspects that claim to have invented vaccine is camouflage or kind of anesthetic injections to make the grumpy masses quiet until further notice. Russia, for instance, has recently declared that some of its scientists had managed to discover an effective treatment in the labs, which was announced by President Putin, claiming that the vaccine will be available in the international market soon. Also, President Trump has shown up on several occasions claiming that U.S. scientists found the vaccine, but they need more time to verify its results and other aspects that have claimed the same. It turned out to be an arena where companies compete over a particular product to register a patent. Still, people can trust no fundamental patent to get rid of the Corona Virus.

Media coverage of the dramatic developments of the virus put people under uncertainty, as these narratives became interwoven so that people ended up being confused even not believing in the novels of those officials, who from time to time show up announcing a new radical solution for the Covid-19 crisis. There is still an unreliable source to consider whether this virus will vanish soon or not, especially nowadays there are rumors about the second wave of Corona on the way. 

This pandemic has changed all walks of life, especially the economic wheel; billions of dollars have been lost as a consequence. We can see many people got their businesses shut down and then went bankrupt; millions of people lost their jobs. In this battle, the academic field did not remain peaceful; it was also significantly affected. The campuses were shut down, classes, lectures, and seminars turned into virtual domains. Online courses are found to be the easiest way to communicate and keep the educational process running. It is an affordable method for many people; however, it turned out to be challenging for underprivileged people who do not have the financial capacities to buy internet bundles all the time. Indeed, the recent reports proved that virtual or distance education, even though it has been a helpful sanctuary that students had to resort to, widened the gap between the privileged and underprivileged students. The latter do not have the opportunity to catch up with the educational process if they do not have internet access at their homes.

Furthermore, I learned about some underprivileged students who used to come to the campus to attend the lectures and take advantage of the university's free provided Eduroam internet service. When I was in Cape Town and Bangkok, I went through that to do my second and third semesters consecutively to fulfill the Global Studies Program (GSP) requirements, an international exchange masters program provided by Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg in Germany. Therefore, it is imaginable how challenging the situation has been during the current crisis.

Virtual education included conferences; many institutions and universities turned to hold online conferences to avoid the infection, resulting in the lockdown that restricts people's movements. Participants can not travel to different countries to participate in such events anymore. I see this transformation plays crucially in saving up the expenses that could be spent on organizing international conferences even though it might be boring because participants prefer actual attendance to discuss topics face-to-face. 

I have attended many online conferences since I was in Bangkok this year. I recently attended three international conferences organized by Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies (JCRS) at Friedrich-Schiller University, where I do my internship. The first one took place on Aug 9-10th on establishing a new association called the International Association for Reconciliation Studies (IARS), which was the first round. The next round came to continue the presentations done by participants from many countries around the globe; professors, thinkers, and socio-political actors in their communities within the field of reconciliation. Most importantly, this association brought scholars from the global north and global south to develop this academic field, which I found inspiring as it touches on the idea of globalizing thoughts as our program GSP aims to. 

The second conference was on establishing the Academic Alliance for Reconciliation in the Middle East and North Africa (AARMENA) took place on Aug 11-14th, which has almost the same plan of developing reconciliation studies in cooperation with universities in the Arab World. I had the honor to attend the panel discussion at both conferences with the academic staff of JCRS and develop the new website of this center that had been done jointly with my supervisor. 

On the whole, virtual education and whatever comes under like conferences cannot be considered an obstructive tool to the educational process. Still, in contrast, it has been conducive in fulfilling the goals of this process, although at some points has widened the gap between students or learners from different social classes. I could assert that virtual education is better than nothing to fend off the implications of Covid-19. 

2020-07-12

To Jena to do my internship ... 

Who does not know the city of Friedrich-Schiller?
Who does not know the city of Carl Zeiss?

Well, I want to say honestly that I had not known Jena perfectly until I knew those great persons and the other amazing structural components in this city; the ancient architectural infrastructure that narrates a profound history that this city has passed through, industrious sites that created the legendary Carl Zeiss as one of the most known optical industry not only in Jena or Germany but also in the world over. 
Of course, the city has a lot to offer and a lot to narrate to me as I am going to stay here for three months to do my internship. Luckily, at Friedrich-Schiller University -Jena Reconciliation Center. This university was founded in 1558 and is considered one of the most prestigious universities in Germany.
Jentower - Jena/ Private
Coming from Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg to conduct this internship, I would add that I am upbeat, to begin with, new knowledge, bridging new academic friendships and understanding, and friends with the local community.
The city is quite beautiful and charming not only by its nature but also by the historical fingerprints that were created since the eve of the industrial revolution in Europe in the 18th century. Many stages this city passed through to reach this a very sophisticated era in almost all fields, especially the scientific and industrious that the Friedrich-Schiller University has contributed to significantly building this platform by generating scientists and professionals in all fields who have done their best to make Jena great again in its bright facets that I can see.
What even amazes me is the fact that how this city revived after it had passed unbearable traumas the WWII, in which it was bombed by the British and the U.S. Allied Forces, including other dynamic fluctuations occurred on the ground due to the severe political transformation that is experienced when it fell in the hands of Soviet Leadership that lasted until the giant collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s, which was the second trauma. 
This city was under a chronic recession that affected its scientific institutions like Friedrich-Schiller Uni. Therefore, scientific development relatively declined and lost much of its productivity.
Apart from that, I can imagine that this colorful experience that I can categorize into three phases as mentioned, the people finally managed to coexist with the new reality after more than four decades under the Soviet Occupation. It's imaginable the socio-cultural even psychological change that the people here went through, especially when they found themselves open to West Germany.
But, at first glance, I did not touch upon the difference, maybe being here in 2020 makes the difference blurry or unclear anymore. This can not be uncovered unless I talk to people, but I assume the current generation under this technological openness crashed this difference. 
Anyway, I am fully inspired by the city and academic, scientific, marketing, hustling-bustling components that embellished it in each corner, which I will explore. I can not wait to enjoy this experience even though we are still challenged by this pandemic Covid-19. It makes the situation precarious that it might come at anymore moment. Hopefully, the situation will be better off as I see the city right now is stable, not many infected.



2020-06-25

I did not know that there is an institute called "Arab World Institute" in Paris 

2020-05-13

Waiting until my third flight takes off ...

   After the Thai Royal Government declared emergency status at the end of March this year, almost the entire country went on lockdown. All stores, institutions, amusement parks shut down their gates, even the alcoholic beverages were banned to prevent gatherings. These precautionary measures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19. 
When we received the news, the situation kind of turned upside down; our academic tasks, deadlines, and other plans went messy. Some of my colleagues in the Global Studies Program (GSP) began to back up and leave for their homelands as soon as possible. They did not want to stay and live under curfews or any other measures in Bangkok as such measures are not existent in their countries. 
I hurriedly began to prepare myself to leave for Germany too fearing that this situation might last for a longer time than expected. Therefore, I had to run and book a new flight, which was on March 24th after the one had been booked that was supposed to take place on May 12th was also canceled. 
Shortly after that declaration, I learned that most of my colleagues left for their homelands, only three remained in Bangkok, including me. There was a strong hope that my flight that was scheduled on March 24th will take off, but two days before the actual departure, I was informed that it was canceled. At the time, most of the airway companies suspended their flights from BKK Airport to other destinations in the world over except for some companies kept operating, like Lufthansa, Qataraiways, Swiss ...etc. with very few trips even a large majority of them were also canceled.  
I felt hopeless that Thailand would open up its gates again in a short time. That feeling faded away when I received information that departure from Thailand is allowed but coming to is prohibited. The journey with constant watching out flights and calling up the airport and the offices of these airlines took me even to more frustration, as they did not give me clear answers about whether a certain flight is going to fly over or not. Even the authority at BKK airport assured me that there is no confirmation on any flight only the confirmation can be given on the flight that would take off today, "tomorrow no confirmation either, you have to wait until tomorrow, the flight after tomorrow we are unsure though, you have to wait until tomorrow." 
I found myself accepting the fact that "just leave everything as it is." But sometimes I attempted to resist this fact; there are many plans back in Germany, what the consequence of calling them off? What about my legal status in the German Federal Republic as a residency holder not allowed to overstay abroad? Shall I go back to my country Palestine? Would Israelis allow me to travel back to Germany again? But, the country there began taking serious steps for thwarting the spread of Covid-19. 
Indeed, later on, the news was received that Israel and Palestine entirely went on lockdown as the positive examination of some Corona cases were discovered in the Palestinian Bethlehem city, the first place to have gone through the infection of Corona. As a result, both sides blocked down the borders and internally shut down all institutions and stores and enforced curfews. 
Under this uncertainty, I learned either million of people around the globe going through this unpredictable situation where no choice just to subject to the preventive measures that are imposed by the governments. That was the only solution for eliminating that virus that showed the world malicious intentions of killing more people mercilessly. Therefore, the bell of danger rang indicating that a potential catastrophe is going to occur as the casualties overstepped 300 thousand in many countries, especially in Europe, including approx. 4 million confirmed cases.  
I don't know if Corona crisis can be called "Apocalypse" at this stage or not yet, but it reminded the world of the "Black Death" event that took place between 1374-1352 when the "Black Plague" hijacked the lives of almost third of the population in Europe, approximately 75 to 200 million died. I do not want to predict that outcome or the world would go through the same experience and neither want to see our charming world plagued as such.  
Day in and day out, I decided to stay for a month or more until further notice in Bangkok after renewing my visa at the immigration office. So during this period, I have learned about many stories of people, some I met with here in Bangkok, are stuck in different countries as a result, even in Thailand cannot fly back to their homelands because airports have gone on complete lockdown and how they are struggling with living in a foreign country where they had not planned to live for a while more than they had planned. Under this pandemic, they are challenged by many obstacles; they are financially challenged as their budget covers their accommodation for the scheduled period to stay in a foreign country. They consequently are in a challenging situation where they should be careful with managing their budget. I heard that some resorted to their embassies for filing their cases, but I have no idea if any has worked out. 
For me also, I began grappling with the travel agency, with which I had booked my flight tickets. It pushed me to call up their office in the USA, which was costly as I used my local number in Bangkok. After long talks, I managed to sort out the reimbursement matter for the two flight tickets on April 20th. But I have not gotten refunded up till now despite was promised by the travel agency that after two weeks, the money will be received back. It's quite understandable that these agencies are under heavy pressure sorting out enormous refund requests by clients around the world whose flights have been canceled. 
Hopefully, my next flight will take off and leave this amazing Thailand safely and healthy. This what I could say thus far ... 

2020-04-29

Airways companies must take part in the international solidarity campaign in fighting COVID-19

   After I got two flights canceled while I was in Bangkok, the airline company claimed that the danger of the widespread of Covid-19 cracked down on the flights' movement from Bangkok to other destinations in the world. But it also turned out that such suspension in the work of the airlines has been paralyzed in many airports around the globe following the announcement of the World Health Organization (WHO) that all countries must abide by the rules for preventing the spread of the virus. 
These flight companies as other companies, corporations or businesses are encountered with a new reality of losing profits even their financial assets that are blocked and allocated for encountering such crisis in order to avoid bankruptcy, have also been threatened, as many companies began to show indication of bankruptcy as a result of augmenting debts. 
This outcome of shutting down strategy that all aspects; companies, stores, malls, etc. either locally or internationally were obligatory asked to follow it aiming at thwarting down the spread of Covid-19. Consequently, those aspects are incurring huge financial losses as the purchasing and selling process is totally frozen to most of these aspects, except for the food industry or food business is still operating and so as clinics and hospitals. 
In this crisis, airlines that are still operating, which is very necessary for some to keep operating as there are still many people stuck in foreign countries are in dire need of going back to their homelands. So the aviation movement should not be completely suspended. Otherwise, people will stay stuck in foreign countries grappling with different issues like, the overstay, paying expenses for accommodation and other things for an unexpected period of time, especially students who had not expected this pandemic will force the world to shut many parts down. Therefore, their financial budgets might not afford to overstay in a foreign country. Indeed, Corona crisis turned everything upside down; people can not predict what would occur in the next few weeks, can not earn more money due to losing their jobs, can not get sponsored due to the aspects that used to finance them are not operating anymore, so on and so forth.
Therefore, in this challenging time, solidarity is very important for backing each other up and alleviating the suffering of people as much as possible that results in financial hardships. For instance, airline companies that are still operating should keep the prices of their tickets fixed. However, what I have found out based on the latest experience from Bangkok, is that airline companies exploited the dire need of people to go back to their homelands to see their beloved ones, as there are no many competitors, those companies have an absolute strategy of manipulating with the ticket prices applying what so-called Auction Off system. Of course, the earlier you book the cheaper you get rule is applicable, but these companies must realize the fact that many people have gotten their flights canceled and ended up waiting for the refund, which is very difficult to get sometimes companies have very strict refund policies that push you to wait for a long time to get and even some of them do not directly refund their customers even though the cancelation was made by the airline, they just provide a voucher to the clients to use the same ticket as a credit to fly with the same airline within a limited period of time. By this way, clients are forced to fly next time with the same airline, but those clients might not be in need of travel during the limited period, what should they do? Will they lose their money? What about those who have gotten two or three or more flights canceled and have no more money to book another flight? 
They will be stuck until the airline refund or change their flight without extra fee. That is really tricky. Moreover, the prices swiftly increase, like what happened when I suddenly found a very good offer by the Qatar Airway for 493$ from Bangko to Frankfurt, the next I headed off to purchase this ticket to find out that overnight had become 1340$. I could not purchase it, I had to postpone my travel back to Germany until I find a more affordable ticket. This was unprecedented exploitation! 
Those flight companies should take part in solidarity around the world and keep their prices stable

2020-04-14

2020-03-28

2020-03-21

2020-01-23

2020-01-04

The first week in Bangkok ... 

   The new year 2020 began with the new plan after spending almost 6 months in Cape Town my second semester at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with travel to Bangkok in Thailand to spend the third semester at Chulalongkorn University. I'm as always excited about the new academic experience including exploring the country and the surrounding society. I arrived in Bangkok on the first day of 2020, so I celebrated the eve of the new year on the flight the night before. My arrival was very smooth, there were no obstacles at the airport, I picked up my suitcase and went off to my accommodation. 
The accommodation is at a popular hostel, which is an affordable way of living that I had booked before as I didn't find a flat or dormitory. The first night was awful I couldn't sleep because of some drunk guys from Spain were disturbing. I yelled at them loudly to shut up. One of them was badly crying for a certain reason and they were calming him down. The owner came up to see what's going on. I said to him threatening, if you don't shut those deviant guys up, you must repay my money and I will check out! If I had known that there are such people at your place, I would have not come to. I hadn't expected such noise and people don't consider that there are other people around them exhausted after long flights and jet lag, they just unashamedly shout loudly in the dorm.
Fortunately, they left the next day. I continued living in and looking for an apartment. 
At first glance, I felt that the city is safe while walking in the street, nobody would come up attempting to rob you off-guard. I wasn't warned of unsafety in the city of Bangkok particularly or other areas in the country in general either unlike the case of South Africa, we had been informed on the fragile security situation which proved to us that indeed safety there is violated by outlaws. Up till the writing of this blog, I haven't had many chances to explore the city and tour around due to preoccupation with some matters, especially the matter of settling down, preparing for the new semester, and finding an apartment or dormitory to live in as I can't continue living at a hostel which is somewhat uncomfortable for a student where there are distraction and nuisance by some people coming in and going out of. It's like a micro global community where people almost from all countries come to such guesthouse to sleep over for one night or a couple of nights depending on their schedules and plans. So they resort to such popular places given to its low cost like I booked 5 nights for 1007 Baht which adds up to almost 30 euro. Such cost is considered very cheap and reasonable in comparison to paying for accommodation at a hotel. 
Tuk Tuk is one of popular transportation means

I have got to know people from some countries from the global north to the global south. I have had interesting discussions at the hostel. It is the way I usually follow wherever I go on this earth, listening to people's experiences and stories, by which I can learn new lessons that are not possible sometimes to learn from books or professors. That's why I consider people at their differentiation a school, from which I can receive good wisdom! 
Furthermore, sharing ideas is a very useful way of overcoming misconceptions and help change the way how people think towards certain cultures, religions, dogma, society, so on and so forth. This is how do I make my life's experiences colorful and embellished with different sorts of knowledge that are being built up by meeting people and interacting with them. 
The city of Bangkok has a lot to offer as it has a diverse landscape that is created by its openness to the global community at all spheres. It's a cosmopolitan city where I felt that there are many things to explore and pick up but I can't figure out where can I start. Its amazement, beauty, and fascination have got me distracted. This makes me impatient and attracted to everything around, but I should control myself and start off exploring everything step-by-step because there are many expected plans are to come, which will be set up by my amazing friends from Globalization Studies Program (GSP). 
The popular market in the city gives a strong impetus to explore everything and gives a strong reflection on the culture of the Thai people who seem to be friendly and hospitable. Therefore, pass by the peddlers in the street gives a strong indication to the Thai recipes and cuisines as clarified in some photos, like this photo where I passed by a lady selling fried scorpions and spiders that seem crispy for 150 Baht which adds up to 4 euros each. 
Street food at a popular market

Thai people and other peoples in South East Asia like China, Taiwan people are well-known for eating such insects and snakes. Eating this is something significantly unfamiliar with my culture and I can't imagine one day trying out eating such a thing. However, It's part of their culture that I should respect. This what I can write on my experience in the first week in Bangkok thus far, hopefully, the up-coming couple of months will be as amazing as I expect to add new interesting things to my memory. 

 29.02.24 a rare date