My learning process

This journey has given me many learnings to my personal and proffessional life which in fact I believe are linked in many ways. I can summarize these learnings in different facets - 1, the constant re-framing of theory with practice, 2, Johanna as a member in a team, 3, the personal in the proffesional, and 4, the lessons from the people I met ...
 

I arrived to Bangkok with expectations about our work and pre-conceived ideas about transformation and how does this concept related to urban development planning. However I believe we did a good job with my group by keeping our initial ideas open to our experiences in the field. This was important for me as by being open I didn't miss out the essence of the events that I experienced and the people that I met.

I learnt to balance between reality and theory through a constant interaction between both which helped me to re-frame and re-think ideas and proposals for our report. When I was in the field I made the decision to let go of my mind and engage with the realities of the places and people that we were visiting.

I truly believe that this is essential for us as planners and proffesionals involved in development as what we really are is simple students...
 

 I was overwhelmed by the amount of group work that we did. I think this was challenging for everybody considering we were groups of 10 people.  I received two important lessons this time which i want to take with me. The first is that sometimes I need to let go and trust more in the people I am working with. It might be my personality and part of the passion I feel for the work i do but sometimes i don't let go and by doing this I put a lot of pressure on myself and may hinder the participation of others on the group. The second is that I need to learn to communicate better my ideas graphically for others to understand the main points and arguments that I want to develop.
I think this point is essential when working in development and with people from other backgrounds and nationalities, as putting things on paper facilitate communication and exchange of ideas.
 

In this trip I experienced how my personal characteritics and the person I am affects my professional life. I am a student, woman, young, and from a certain class background and all these characteristics where manifested when I was in the field making me see things in a particular manner. Being concious about my biases and the way I pereceived things was essential to really engage with the realities of different groups and see things through their eyes.

I realise how easy is to make mistakes ... or ask the wrong questions to the wrong person and in the wrong time. I believe you get better with practice but this is a reflection about the importance to be councious about the people you are dealing with, and explore the dynamics between different groups before you ask questions or choose a particular exercise to do.

For example the river of life that we developed in Nomklao was interesting, however the open format of participation which this exercise entitles was not that effective in collecting the opinions of different groups such as women as community leaders with more authority ended up completing the whole exercise.

Also, is important to know the cultural protocol and dynamics and the way information is managed. Information is very important and access to it can be very sensitive. So making sure you are not 'trasspassing' other responsibilities when accessing information is important.
Being counciuos about this is also important to minimize your feelings of being an outsider and start to feel more comfortable in the new environment and with new people.

I was amazed with the people I met in Bangkok. It was inspiring to meet community leaders and hear their stories and the struggles they go through every day to warantee a better life for the people they represent. I was moved by their generosity not only because of the amount of food they gave us but because of the way they shared their experiences and knowledge with us.

I was also very moved to have met the people working at CODI and the Community Architect Network mostly young and very passionate about their work. I found them very genuine and also generous in sharing their knowledge and experiences. People I met where very smart and at the same time very humble and able to share their knowledge in a very open way. For me this experience has showed what is really a collaborative practice in the planning field. And i realised that without this we have nothing... as the exchange of knowledge is the momentum and the piece that keeps things moving. This is what I enjoyed the most...and something that i want to take with me forever.

                                                                Soomsok

Last but not least and perhaps the most important lesson i gained is to smile more!

For some reason we become serious when we talk about work as if it was very important ...Sometimes is better to laugh and smile and change our hard faces of 'proffesionals' to that of students and active agents for change.

                                                                            Thank you Sokly!!!