Hey,
Hope you are having a good time there and things are going well with you.
Anna May, the former president of the Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT), was in Bangkok on her way to Switzerland last week. After church, Saya Aye Min (who used to work at MIT), Anna May and I went to a book store. We bought several books. I got a collection of some short stories by Chekhov.
I am reading Chekhov and O'Henry now. I am learning how to write short stories from their books. I want to write short stories (at least for the time being), only giving subtle messages about lives in Burma in my blog. I will have to ask David on suggestions for writing tips (he has a sense of humor when he writes.)
I don't want to write about Burma directly anymore. Writing about Burma is so depressing that I feel burned out. Since September after the failed attempt by the monks and 88 generation students (a few of them, such as Ko Htay Kywe, who I became acquainted with over my years in Burma are now in prison) , I have felt burned out when writing about Burma. I have decided to switch my writing styles because direct writing about Burma seems so depressing.
Regarding my studies, my thesis is going fine without many problems. I am thinking about extending it to finish by the end of Summer instead of in April (for visa purposes at the research center I am working for). I met somebody from the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) who can speak Wa and Burmese. So Wa dictionary is online now --- thanks to him (he is a lecturer of Burmese at SOAS) They all impressed me. So I am wanting to learn more languages from Burma such as Lisu, and Shan. My friend is Lisu, so I am trying to learn it from her. I have forgotten a lot of Karen words that I learned over the years while living at the seminary. I will have to refresh my memories if the opportunity arises :)
In general, my social life in Bangkok is wonderful. I like the convenience here --- 24 hour electricity with the supply of gas from Burma and a reliable Internet connection with minor censorship, which I can easily bypass if I want to. I have to meet a lot of migrant workers even though I can't help them much with my limited Thai language skills. I am having a wonderful relationship with my Lisu friend, whose picture I sent you a while back ago.
Recently, I am wanting to try to get my Ph.D back in the U.S. I wanted to discuss with Adam to get his insights and opinions. What do you think of that idea? Is that just crazy? :)
I want to work on Burmese word segmentation. Segmentation is an important issue for Southeast Asian languages such as Burmese, Thai, Khmer and Lao. In English, we have spaces between words. So it's trivial to recognize word boundaries. It's not that simple in Southeast Asian languages, Burmese, for example. We don't have a definitive rule on how to put space between words. My boss (a former lecturer from UC Berkeley) told me that it is a Ph.D topic.
He hinted me to go to AIT (where I am now for my Master's) so I can work with him while doing my Ph.D. But I don't feel like going here even though I enjoy working with him and learning a lot from him.
I am wanting to do it in the U.S because that will be a break for me from these depressing Burmese issues and it has better Ph.D programs than the rest of the world (at least for what I want to do). I looked at Hong Kong because OSI has scholarships for Ph.D programs there. I even looked at some schools in the UK and Canada. But I don't like any of those schools. US schools seem to have a stronger research oriented program compared to other countries.
In the US, I will be able to focus on my studies for a few years. My topic is on Burmese language anyways. So I will be contributing to the cause of Burma.
The challenge for me is to find a professor (in any country I want to do Ph.D) with an expertise in computational linguistics with some interest in Southeast Asian languages such as Burmese or Thai. My boss is a perfect fit. But he doesn't have a Ph.D so he can't be in my dissertation committee. If he can't be in my thesis committee, I don't want to do it in Bangkok.
After my Ph.D, I can come back to Asia and I am sure I am marketable in any Asian countries in case Burma is still doomed (the sense I am getting from reading the Irrawaddy). Aung Zaw, the editor, yesterday wrote that Gambari's mission is dead in the water. Then again, the only predictable thing about Burma is its unpredictability. I need to have a backup plan, though, in case things don't work out the way I want to in Burma just like the September revolution.
Well, my letter is getting very long :) Just catching up with you what's going on here :) Please say hi to my buddies there!
Take care and with love,
LM
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