Asia Society Internship Blog

This week was technically week three, but due to a school event, we had to skip an internship session. Everest and I's coordinator Phuong was out of town, so we talked to the Business and Policy manager instead about the assignments we could start working on. The first assignment was to research the significance of tea and tea ceremonies in Asia for a future virtual program. We began researching statistics on tea consumption in Asian countries, mainly the top five that Asia Society prioritizes: China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and India. It turns out China is the world's largest tea-drinking country, taking in 1.6 billion tons per year and making up 36.85% of the world's consumption annually. Additionally, we looked at how important tea is in many Asian cultures. For example, in Vietnam tea is traditionally for the Vietnamese elders, accompanying peaceful activities such as writing poetry and enjoying nature. Recently, however, tea is making a comeback among the younger ...

Today, the Post Oak Asia Society interns returned to the center to pick up right where we left off. The first thing I noticed about the building was that it was sporting some brand new murals on the walls as we were walking in. Our supervisors Mei and Phuong greeted us warmly and began to bring us up to speed. They told us that the summer programs, especially the Young Leaders Institute camps, were a huge success all around. I was glad to hear this because Everest and I spent a good deal of time at the beginning of our internship last year organizing the lists of HISD counselors and principals to advertise these camps. We talked to them about our summer plans, and our supervisors were thrilled that Jeremy would be directing the M-Term to Singapore. Mei even jokingly asked if she could come along too which was pretty funny.  Afterward, our supervisors helped set us up in Slack and MyImpact, so we could easily sign up for volunteer events if we had the time. We are also now able to m...