What We Know Is a Drop, What We Don’t Know Is an Ocean
“Be ready for Aj.Bruce subject in the third year, it is extremely tougher than what you are facing right now” Ayu Sawangcharoen, a BJM alumni stated with an exhausted voice because she was working for Aj.Bruce’s assignments all night long. She told me that when I was a freshman, and I was telling her about my mountain of work. Sawangcharoen claimed you can’t be late for even a minute, you have to wear uniform, and you are not allowed to wear perfume because the professor is allergic to perfume scent.
The story of Aj.Bruce has been told from batch to batch about how suffering it is to study in this class with tons of work and loads of rules. Time flies so fast. Before I realized it, I was already a Junior year student. It’s my turn to study Article Writing with a professor who I have heard an abundance of tales from, whether my seniors or my peers in the other section, Bruce Avasadanond. I could frankly say that I didn’t want to study this subject at all after hearing all the hearsays about the professor.
During the pandemic that BJM students have to study online, I personally prefer to study on-campus classes since the teaching performances of most professors are better in on-site classes. However, I was glad I had online classes for Article Writing, which means I didn’t have to prepare myself as much as my friends or my seniors used to do for on-campus classes. “I was required to wear a face mask for the whole time of the class, everytime I needed to sip water, I had to ask for permission to go to sip water outside of the class, and I had to put a nametag on my desk like a kid” said Manutsanun Mudnuch, a BJM student. I didn’t have to wear a face mask for the whole time of the class as my friends did, which could be irritating for our skin.
On the first day of Article Writing class, I woke up earlier than usual to wash my face to freshen myself up because this class required all students to turn on the camera. Most lecturers try to finish their classes within two hours since they understand that students cannot concentrate for a long period of time on screens. But for Article Writing, most classes took a full three hours as written in the schedule.
From time to time, Aj.Bruce would randomly ask a student to answer a question, which I’d never know when it would be my turn. Thus, I tried to keep myself awake all the time. I needed to make a cup of tea or coffee for myself to stop my eyelids from falling since it was a morning class, and I’m not a morning person.
I thought I have been through various cultures and experiences since I was an exchange student in the completely other side of the world, Colombia. I learned a new culture and language. I had chances to meet exchange friends from around the world. It made me feel that I have seen and known the world better than an abundance of people. What made me change my mind was when Aj.Bruce introduced himself.
“Knowledge is endless to learn” is what popped in my head after hearing what Aj.Bruce studied and has been studying. I myself as a trilingual, vocabularies in my head frequently messed up. Hence, I’m still wondering how Aj.Bruce has studied more than ten languages? How does his brain function?
At the end of the first class, not surprising, there were several assignments given to us. Moreover, all students were randomly grouped up to do a group project including four separated parts of article, video, podcast, and webinar. What we had to do was to find a unique angle between Thailand and another ASEAN country to portray. My group came up with the topic, The Art of Sak Yant in Thailand and Cambodia.
A number of researches have been done. I had to find new sources myself too rather than researching for existing sources. I needed to contact various strangers to interview, which is a new skill I learned in this class. I sent messages to a number of people online. Some responded while some did not. I contacted people with different occupations because there are distinct essential parts in the article. Thai and Cambodian students, Law experts, Dermatologists, Sak Yant master. All were approached.
Most Thai people including me only acknowledge that Sak Yant is popular among a niche group of people not only in Thailand or neighbouring countries, but also foreign countries. A Hollywood star, Angelina Jolie, flew to Thailand to get the Five Rows Yantra tattoo with Aj. Noo, a famous Sak Yant Master.
Actually, there are more in-depths than the art and design of tattoos as fashion tattoos. Each particular pattern of Yantra has unique meanings and magical powers behind its design. There are particular rules and rites required before and after getting Yantra tattoos. I discovered a lot of new knowledge from this work. To see what me and my group have discovered and analyzed click here!
After more than a month of working, the last session, webinar, arrived. My group did the webinar on Clubhouse, which is an audio-only social media platform that has rapidly gained popularity. Besides informing information about the Art of Sak Yant to listeners, we did a give away session for those who paid attention to our webinar and answered the questions correctly. The rewards were Line stickers related to Yantra tattoos.
I also had opportunities to join the webinars of other groups. There were diverse topics, such as gender diversity versus religion rules, school bullying, or supernatural beliefs.
I learned plenty of new knowledge from this class and from works of other groups. There is an exceedingly long journey for me to discover about the planet we are living on. In the end, I realize that “What I know is just a drop, what I don’t know is an ocean.”