The Nokero bulb at night. One GREAT feature is that it turns itself off in bright light -- so you could leave it on and hanging up, and it would go on at night when it gets dark.

We just got in three Nokero solar light bulbs today, and they are amazing.  I heard about this a few weeks ago, and contacted the company and ordered three to check out.

It is a very simple design — four small solar cells collecting energy, with a NiMH battery to store the power in, and a 5 LED “bulb”.  It looks (and feels) very rugged, and super durable.  I hung it outside today, and then turned it on this evening and it is decently bright — certainly enough to read by if you need to, or carry out other jobs at night.

This would be great on our expedition field courses — just clip it to a pack or canopy of a longtail boat during the day, and hang it up at night for light. As a study abroad program working in remote areas, these look to be a great addition to our bag of tricks.

We’re going to be stress testing it over the course of the next few months, but we can already see some great applications beyond just our own expedition field courses:

• Imagine airlifting thousands of these into places hit by a natural disaster (like Haiti) where the grid is down…
• Handing them out to IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in Burma or other war zones…
• Giving them as gifts to village host families who are away from the grid…

I’ve camped in the jungle at night, and it is REALLY dark.  Just think about how much better than trying to keep a fire burning for light one of these would be if you’re an IDP fleeing to the border?  No fire to worry about, no worries about running out of fuel, no need to buy batteries.  Getting them out there isn’t going to be easy — but it IS possible.

So we’re going to see about doing that, and maybe set up a way for folks to sponsor solar light bulbs for IDPs in Burma through ISDSI…

For more information (or to order one yourself) go to www.nokero.com.

Just a quick post about what we’re doing over the summer.  Aside from the relative peace and quiet of not having a semester going, a lot gets done over the summer! One of the reasons we’ve put off doing a summer session (although there is demand for one) is that we need the time to rest and recover, as well as get ready for the coming year.

Field Instructors Am, Pui, Tik and Toto pulling gear and getting ready to spend some long hot days cleaning and repairing gear.

Gear: Our Expedition Field Courses take a lot of gear to run smoothly — backpacks, skin diving gear (fins, masks and snorkels), tents, sleeping bags, etc.  All the gear has to be gone over, pulled for repair if necessary, cleaned, inventoried, and organized.  As anyone with even a small amount of gear knows, chaos is always lurking with a closet or box of gear — so you can imagine the chaos that develops over a couple of semesters outfitting 60 + people!

NGOs: The summer is a great time to visit new organizations we don’t yet know, go back and talk with ones we’ve worked with for years, and find out what opportunities there might be for student internships.  It is getting more difficult to place students with NGOs — lots of people in Chiang Mai want to volunteer, and some NGOs have had bad experiences with folks that don’t speak Thai or are not culturally sensitive.  We’re fortunate that we can place students with NGOs that won’t accept short term volunteers or interns, and we work hard to make sure that we’re not a burden on the organizations our students work with.

Villages: Going out to many of the villages we work with is important — both to see how our friends are doing throughout the year, but also to evaluate the program, see what they feel they would like to change for the upcoming year, and learn if there are any ways we can support them through our courses and students.

Families: Host families are, of course, a big part of learning Thai and becoming culturally competent.  So visiting old families and new ones is a big job.  We’ve got over 30 students for the fall semester, and each family needs to be visited and interviewed.  We also set up and prep our host family orientation, which is run in part by former host families. We’ve also got more families who want to host that students, so being sensitive to sort out who gets to do it this semester is an important part of the job.

Course support:  Course support involves everything from working on the library (sorting through almost 800 books), to pulling old readers out of the files and recycling them.  We also start visiting field sites, working on budgets and logistics, and getting the first block course (Foundations) sorted out and organized.

So while it is sort of quiet — it can be hectic as the summer draws to a close!  We are looking forward to the start of the fall semester, and the usual chaos that brings!

On Wednesday, we issued gear to the students for the Coastal Ecology and Culture course — masks, fins, snorkels, dry bags, PFDs (life jackets), etc. A key part of the expedition involves studies of coral reefs, sea grasses and mangroves, and sea kayaking through the marine and mangrove ecosystems. Good gear and the ability to access those environments is critical, so we make sure that the students are well equipped.

Snorkels ready for the students. Numbered (to keep track of them) and yellow (so we can spot folks in the water easily). Checking the seals, silicon mouth pieces, etc.

Fins and student uniforms. The new look at ISDSI!

Masks ready to go. We purchase new gear on a regular basis, and work with professional dive supply shops to get top end gear. It lasts longer and fits better, making field studies a lot easier.

Jack (and Riley in the background) checking the seals on their masks.

Today was gear check day at ISDSI. We don’t require students to purchase lots of books for the semester (we provide readers once they are here), but they do need to be properly equipped for the Expedition Field Courses. Before coming on the program, students are given a gear list to know what they need to bring.

Taylor's ready to go.

Why gear like this for an academic program?

A favorite piece of gear -- NRS watershoes (with a strap). Comfortable, and stay on even knee deep in mangrove mud.

The ISDSI program in Thailand is based around “Expedition Field Courses” which are intensely experiential and hands on. While EFCs start with one week at the Institute in town, the remaining three weeks are in the field—living, learning and working with villagers, tribal people, and others.

Betsy checking her gear with Pi Carrie.

The academic courses require students to live and travel in often remote and challenging environments while engaged in academically rigorous studies. Thus, the academic requirements of the program necessitate strong expedition skills. As with any expedition into difficult conditions, appropriate equipment and clothing is often critical to success.

We've got a lot of gear available if students need it -- widemouth stainless steel water bottles, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc.

The focus of our program is on the experiential study of people, the environment and development. If you are properly equipped for the expedition field courses, you will better be able to focus on your studies.

Pi Aaron fitting Jill's backpack.

We’ve found that spending time getting students (and staff) equipped well pays of in lots of ways.  If you’re sore from an ill-fitting backpack, it is even harder to sleep on a bamboo floor.  If you don’t have quick-dry clothes, for example, you might still be wet from a river crossing when trying to listen to a field seminar.

Five key pieces of gear -- sunglasses, a wiregate 'biner, a sunhat, a headlamp and quick-dry pants.

ISDSI Expedition Field Courses are not easy — the demands of academic coursework, cross-cultural living, and backcountry travel are significant.  We don’t want shoddy equipment to get in the way of a student’s learning!

Nikki ready to hit the trail (after she puts the top of the backpack on correctly...)

This fall we decided to increase our fleet of boats. We have 16+ sea kayaks (mostly singles and some doubles), as well as a couple of stand up paddleboards, a couple of sit-on-top kayaks, and nine SOAR inflatable canoes.

Backing into the gate.

We’ve decided to add some regular canoes for our Rivers course, and after looking around — without luck — for a local supplier, we contacted Mad River Canoe. They got right back to us and we worked out a great deal, including setting up the shipping from South Carolina all the way to Chiang Mai. (The specific canoe is the Explorer 16 TT.)

The container full of canoes.

The canoes got here on Saturday, and just as we got them unloaded from the container, the new students showed up and helped carry them to the office.

Nong Miriam, Ajaan Mark, and Paw Chuck starting to unload.

The container was on a 18 wheeler truck, who made an amazing U-turn in front of the office across 2+ lanes of traffic on the Superhighway before backing into our compound’s gate.

Miriam lifting and moving the canoes out of the container.

We then hopped up into the container, pulled the canoes out, and the students helped carry them back to the office.

Canoes in the front of the office.

We’re going to build a rack this week.

The Mad River Rabbit in Chiang Mai...

From the Mad River website:

The story of Mad River Canoe begins in a patch of ferns, oh so long ago, with friend Rabbit. Native American legend has it that Rabbit was a great hunter and a bit of a trickster, but most of all Rabbit was confident in his abilities. So confident in fact, that even as Lynx circles the fern, planning his attack, Rabbit is free to enjoy his pipe, secure in his abilities to avoid this mortal enemy.

Within every legend, there is truth. And the truth in the legend of Rabbit is that confidence is a powerful asset when backed up by ability.

“Confidence backed up by ability” fits well with our approach to leadership and experiential education — so we’re glad to have the rabbit in Chiang Mai!

Thanks to Patrick FitzGerald and Preston Lowery and all the other folks at Mad River and Confluence Watersports for making this happen!

A new group of students arrives at ISDSI at the end of the week.  In addition to planning meetings, confirming activities and course details, we’re pulling and cleaning gear, sorting equipment, and getting the expedition side of our courses ready.  To do expedition based experiential learning well requires a lot of gear!

Paddles for sea kayaks and canoes.

Carrie cleaning and drying PFDs.

Even more PFDs (we have a LOT of PFDs).

Masks and sea kayak pumps. Seawater wreaks havoc on gear, so we've got to clean and soak it in fresh water.

Aaron soring gear, tents, scientific testing equipment and other things.

Some (but not all) of our gear storage. It is a constant challenge to keep things sorted and organized well.

Drying tents (just before an unseasonal rain!)

We’ve been focused on sea kayaking and skin diving on our two courses in the south of Thailand, but I wonder if we should see about getting a couple of these…

Pedal powered submarine

It may sound like a crazy stunt dreamed up by an adrenalin junkie, but the plan, dubbed the “Subhuman project”, has attracted serious attention from marine biologists. That’s because the sub, when it takes to the seas later this year, could for the first time allow them to explore the upper layers of the ocean silently and unobtrusively, revealing marine life as it has never been seen before.

Go here to read his blog, and catch up on their current plans.  The novelty aside, if they can pull this off the amount of scientific data about the oceans they would gather would be significant.