March 8, 2011

Street Food Vendors/Unhygienic Food (Journal Entry 1)

I am inquiring into the topic street food vendors/unhygienic food with Ale and Orm. So
far, we have made our main questions that we will use to ask the interviewee. We also
have researched some information through the internet. What I learned from my research
is that foreigners think that the street food is unhygienic. They think that we should just
go eat in restaurants. But many Thai people think that the food is cheap and convenient to
eat and that we should buy them. I found that this topic is quite hard to research through
internet. My group still needs to go interview the street vendors and also some people
who have connection to our topic. My group cooperated really well but we should get
things done faster. I have been an inquirer, open minded, thinker and reflective because I
had to inquire into a lot of information. I have to be open – minded because if someone
doesn’t agree with what I think, I have to be respectful. I think and reflect back to what I
did. We should be more organized in what we are doing. My goal is that I have to make
every step successful.

This is a great reflection, Joy. I like your thinking and planning. It shows you’re right on
track. Nice job.

March 15, 2011

Street Food Vendors (Journal Entry 2)

My group (Ale, Orm and Joy) are inquiring into street food vendors. So far, we
interviewed about 5 food vendors. Today, I interviewed street food vendors. These street
vendors don’t really have their own cart. They share the chairs and plates together. It is
kind of like a market. I got more information and learned the difference between a market
kind of vendors and an individual vendor. I think that the market kinds are better than the
one on the street kind because the market kind doesn’t take up space on the sidewalks. I
learned that they get a lot of money during lunch time. I also learned that street food
vendors get a lot more money than maids. They get about 2000 baht to 6000 baht a day.
The food vendors on the street usually register to get their spot with the Bangkok
Municipal Authority (BMA). In the same day, we sent out a survey to get lots of people’s
points of view about street food vendors. My group should hurry up and plan our
presentation because there is not much time left. My group cooperates really well. We
help each other find information. Sometimes some people in the group have a really good
piece of information but they don’t share it with the rest of the group. We fix this
problem by asking everyone if they researched any information and if they did, tell them
to share it with the rest of us. Good idea! We are thinking that we might do some kind of
art presentation and maybe have some other stuff mix with it. I think that I should be
more confident when I interview people. I hope that we get a lot of useful information
and get to know other people’s perspective about street food vendors.

How can you show that you are confident when you are interviewing, Joy? Why do you
think it would be best if you were confident when talking to other people?
March 24, 2011
Street Food Vendors (Journal Entry)
This week, my group has been working on our presentation. We gathered our information
together. We also collected the survey responses. We have decided to make a visual
presentation. We will have a booth, a poster and a slide show of photos. The booth will
be like a kind of a street food vendor trolley. We might put some information on it. On
the poster we will show the process of working throughout the exhibition. We will have
some photos of the people we interviewed on it too. On the slide show it will have photos
of general street food vendors in Bangkok. We will create it in the PowerPoint program.
We will also ask the audience to ask the four main questions we have. Today, my group
and I started on the poster. We made a title and printed out some images we will put on
the poster. We kind of finished the slide show. We put all the photos we have on the
PowerPoint. My job that I have to accomplish is to bring like a food box to put food in.
We will put it on the street food vendor trolley (booth). We will also take this issue (street
food vendors) through the different lenses of the compass. This is because it will help us
understand the big picture. What I think my group will have to accomplish is finish the
poster, booth and slideshow. Also have the main information on our presentation. I am
looking forward to the exhibition.

Sounds like you have a good plan. Good luck!

April 1, 2011

After my group finished doing the exhibition presentation the last two days, I have
reflected on what we did. It gave me a very new and good experience of being able to
perform and show what I learned during the last six weeks. I thought I was going to
forget lines, look bad and many other bad things. I was really nervous but after I did it, I
felt really proud and relieved. We presented our information to Year 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,
parents and even some teachers too.

So here was what I thought about it. The first day, I was really nervous. Both of my
parents were coming. But after a few hours I felt more confident in presenting.
Sometimes I felt bored because nobody came to look at our project. When the day
finished, I felt more confident but tired. On the second day, smaller kids came. They did
not really listen to what we were saying. At the end of the day, the room seemed kind of
empty.

I think that this experience made me gain more confidence. It made me speak more
fluently because I had to remember the lines and I never knew I could speak this fluently.
It made me know what I am capable of doing. Fantastic!! Now take this experience and
add on to it each time you have the opportunity to share your thoughts and opinions. You
can be confident and speak clearly. And others do want to hear what you have to say.
Keep up the good work!
I think this experience was worthwhile having because it taught me many things I never
knew I could do. I also really liked working with my friends. Also, being able to
interview many people from in and out of NIST community was fun.

I’m glad this was such a positive experience for you, Joy. Remember what you got out of
the Exhibition and continue to push yourself to accept new challenges and try new things.
You will always gain something from them. Well done.