Hello there!
Whether you heard about the internship through a previous intern, doomscrolled UVic and magically came across this internship, or had Robyn visit your class (like me) and provide information on the application process, you are on the Capi blog website and reading this and that is amazing.
While you’re reading this, you are probably thinking about yourself in the shoes of whoever or whatever placement you want to go to. I was where you were, trying to soak up every single ounce of guidance and information I could after sending in the application online.
While I’m writing this to you, I am sitting in my best friend’s apartment in Toronto and relearning how to be cold again (it is SO COLD). You will understand when you get back from your 6 months in country that averages 30–40-degrees then you step out of your plane home to –6.
It is odd writing to a person who was just like I was last year around this time. I wish I could transfer the memories in my brain straight to yours to explain to you in feelings how exactly this internship has changed me and hopefully will change you. Looking back on last year future intern blogs, I remember how cool it was to see people writing to me
That being said, I want to give some advice, general and specific, that hopefully will help you in your preparation and then eventually participation in your internship.
General:
Meet the previous interns:
When I first learned of the internship program, I went and met with Robyn and she gave me the contact information of one of the previous interns. I met with them and asked a billion questions, and concerns, about what it looked like to go to Thailand for 6 months. She answered all my questions and gave me a lot of guidance in regards to what i would expect. I really urge you to connect with previous interns of past years and ask them what it was like for them. Every year is different for every placement, and no experience will be the same, but it is nice to have a general sense of what to expect from a person who has done what you want to do. It also is very valuable to meet in person so that you can see on the faces of the previous interns just how much this internship has impacted them. Yes, it is an internship but it is also a life changing experience that will stay with you forever.
Have a bit of money saved up:
Money is a taboo subject but honestly i wish i knew this before. There are going to be more expenses than you think. It’s just a fact. You will get a sum from your internship and that will cover your plane tickets, your visa runs, your food, rent, extracurricular activities, and everything else you will do in country. But you also have to consider the expenses out of country. Where will you live when you get back? Will you have to pay rent while you’re gone or pay for a storage unit? You have a phone? A car? Pay for your own Wi-Fi router? You need to figure out either how to postpone that (for a fee) or pay for it while you’re gone. You need travel insurance. You need to think about every. Single. Thing. Please plan ahead and have a fall-back fund because you don’t want to be struggling for money in your placement country or enter back into Canada after you are done your internship with zero funds.
Check in on your fellow interns:
You will have a 3–4-day Pre Departure before you go to your placement country. This will be the time to make connections and make friends with your co-interns. After you leave to your country, you will have access to them through WhatsApp or messenger or even Instagram. Please please please check in on your fellow interns. You will have a group chat and people will send updates or little funny messages and that is very fun, but it is also important to talk to at least one of the other interns from another placement and see how they are feeling and doing. You will feel a sense of understanding and maybe you will even make a friend.
Not to mention when you go on your visa runs, you can bunk with them, and they can show you around their placement and it is so awesome to see what others are up to.
On my second visa run, I went to visit the interns at MSRI and the interns at PACOS trust and DAP and I will always be thankful that I chose to visit them and see the amazing work they were doing. I had so much fun in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu and I will cherish the memories I made with both sets of interns.
Now I want to give some advice specifically for the interns who will go to the placement I went to. The wonderful Karenni Social Development Centre (KSDC).
Specific.
Don’t be afraid to engage… but also allow for natural momentum:
Almost everyone who has been to KSDC will tell you that the students are shy. Everyone will also say that they value community over everything else. Do not let that scare you. When I first got to KSDC, the students dropped my bags in my room and quickly scurried away. For the next couple weeks, I would say hi and wave when I walked by and they would wave back but then walk away. Every year is different and the level of English comprehension will change from year to year and from student to student but don’t let the language barrier deter you from making connection.
Make it known that you want to be their friend. Try and talk to them while they cook dinner in the kitchen or spend time downstairs during study time early in the first few weeks to establish that you want to be talked to. Ask the students easy questions about their favourite food or animal; ask them somethng and you will see how much they slowly start to open up and want to invite you around.
They took me swimming and walking and into town and all sorts of places in my first month because they knew I would be happy to join.
That being said, don’t be too pushy. Allow for things to naturally progress. Yes, it is good for you to take the initiative, but it is also good to leave room for the students to feel comfortable enough to approach you first. Give them room to come to you after you show them you want to be their friend.
Learn something that they know about:
When I first got to KSDC, everyone was speaking a language I didn’t know and I felt a bit alone. So, during the study times, i would circulate through every student and ask them how to say certain words in Burmese or Karenni language. This then led to a routine of learning a new word every night and making simple conversation in a language that all of the students were fluent in. There was something special about being their student, and their teacher.
Now I’m not saying you must learn how to speak Burmese or Kayah or Kayen or any of the languages, I just urge you to learn how to connect with the students over something that is not English.
Rowan, my co-Intern, played football with the boys almost every day. This was something that didn’t require for anyone to look up to anyone or ask question, this was an equal sport that everyone was able to connect through.
When the students are learning from you, you are their teacher, someone to respect and to follow during the lessons. When you are doing something other than English class, like learning Burmese, or playing football, or playing guitar, you are their equal.
Try to make connections outside the classroom. You are their teacher but also their age:
I taught 32 students and each of those students were so individually interesting and engaging. Because I was their teacher, I had learned what they were like as students and what everyone’s role was in the classroom. But outside of the classroom, that’s when i made jokes and hung out in the girl’s room and played music with everyone.
I think when I started I didn’t really know where I fit because I wanted to be their teacher and fill that role but I also wanted to be their friend. The thing is you can be both. You are their age, also in school, or just finished, and you have more in common with them that you think.
I had 2 student who I was really close to, Nge Nge and Ti Moe, and they were a very important part of my internship. I will miss them deeply, but I don’t regret in the slightest becoming their friend. The memories i made with them, spending hours just talking about everything are memories that I cherish so deeply.
Learn to laugh at the hardships:
You will get sick. You will be hot and uncomfortable. You will be hungry for dairy queen at 12am with absolutely no access to any food at all (especially if you don’t know how to use a propane tank and a wok). You need to enjoy that moment. You need to laugh at the fact that you’re craving a blizzard when the power is out and you don’t even have a fan.
There were many times where me and my co-intern Rowan would laugh and connect over the 300 types of food, we would give an arm and a leg for to eat at that moment. We laughed when we forgot to buy water at the corner store. And we would laugh when the power would go out right when we shuffled the cards we were going to play.
You will be at KSDC for 6 months and if you get upset or uncomfortable at everything that goes wrong, you will not enjoy yourself. You need to find that joy and humour in the arguably unfortunate times.
Make friends with your co-intern:
You will be sent to KSDC, a place that kind of has no roof, not very much privacy, and not many places to go. You will bond with the students, make friends in town, but there is something special about doing all of that, then going up to the teachers’ lounge and speaking at a normal speaking speed to a person from Canada who understands exactly what you’re going through.
The amount of funny banter, deep conversations, and check ins we had were plenty and it really was beneficial to my time at KSDC.
I think towards the end of the internship, everyone feels so many emotions, sad and happy, and it was so good to have someone who lived in the same place as me to be there to talk to and to listen to my emotions.
By the end of my internship, I made a true friend, and I wish that upon anyone experiencing this internship. So put in the effort with your teaching and the students and the community but also put in that effort with the person who is doing this with you.
Well, that was a lot of information and I hope that something in these multiple paragraphs gives you clarity or just something to consider before you embark on this journey.
A bit of me wishes I could be in your place again and experience all the things I learned again for the first time. You are so cool for considering this internship and I wish you so much success in your placement.
If you ever need anything or want to reach out to me, at all please feel free to! Jannaelee@hotmail.com
It’s always good to have an ear to talk to before, during, and even after your internship and I’m happy to be that:)
