Peach reports on the visit to Mama noodle factory

This was written by Alisa Tantivirasut, (Peach) a first year BA student.

First, I had to admit that I didn’t want to go to the factory at all because I thought it would be boring as I have been to some factories before and they were boring. However, as soon as I got there… I thought it was a very big factory. While we were walking to a meeting room, we could smell Tom Yam Kung. It was a very good smell, we thought.Anyway, as soon as we got to the meeting room, it was just a small meeting room but pleasant. We got to see a video of a history of Thai president Food Company and how to produce MAMA, biscuits and crackers. It was pretty interesting to see how they make those products. After we finished watching the video, the lecturer came out, he was very entertaining, funny and kind so I thought no, this trip wasn’t so bad as I thought and I didn’t regret coming here. We got to ask some questions and I dared my friend to ask him if we eat a lot of instant noodles, we will have cancer or not. It was really funny that she really did ask the question and the lecturer said no. So we were kind of glad to hear that.

Students at the Mama factory

After the lecture finished, the lecturer told us that he would give us packages of instant noodles and he told us to they were already in our bus on our seats so we didn’t have to carry them, so we were all excited. After that, he took us to see the methods of making instant noodles in the factory and it was very interesting and that was it, 10 minutes touring in the factory! We took a picture together and went back to our bus, and found on our seats, some packets of noodles for us to take home. After that, my friends and I went to Tesco and yea, it was fun. We did a lot of shopping and we all had a good time.

Students at Auto Alliance Thailand

Nurse Trainers say farewell to Asian U in style.

After five weeks in Asian U’s English Immersion Programme, a group of ten Nurse Instructors from Nonthaburi have just left Asian university to return to their regular jobs. They joined forces with the undergraduate students to put on an excellent and entertaining show. The show was all in English, of course.

Twelve bankers from BAAC also left the university on the same day, after ten weeks of Intensive English, tailored to their needs.

Students and staff from the university and the College at Asian U filled the auditorium to enjoy the show.

The nurses sang and acted out sketches, and then presented hearts and roses to staff and students. The undergraduates also sang and then performed sketches that they had written about some of the differences between Thai and other cultures.

The photos (thank you Qatar) show some of the acts.

Asian U in SIFE National Finals

The SIFE team

Over the past few months a team from Asian University has been setting up their own SIFE project. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a global non-profit organisation which was established in 2000. SIFE Thailand was founded in 2004 with KPMG, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, The Nation and HSBC as the main sponsors. The students learn about business management, financial responsibility, market economics and ethics.

The SIFE group with Sambandid villagers

Asian U’s project, Char-Chain Reaction, is to establish the Sambandid District, Ayuthaya as a model of organic agriculture by spreading knowledge of organic products to interested groups y permanent exhibitions. In particular they have concentrated on improving the production, packaging, marketing and use of wood vinegar, produced as an organic by-product of charcoal burning.

Asian U SIFE members in Sambandid

From 27 to 29 June the Asian U team was in Bangkok for the Thai National SIFE final competition. After the opening round, the remaining 16 teams were divided into four groups, and Asian U came first in their group. Each round of the competition had a different set of judges, all from well-known successful international and local companies. The students gave a presentation, in English, and answered questions in a professional manner. They showed samples of their wood vinegar, brand name “Awake” which has been produced and sold in Sambandid.

On the final day Far Eastern University were declared the winners (with a project to help HIV infected women and young people in Chiang Mai market their funeral flower arrangements) and they will go to New York later this year for the international finals. Asian U had beaten both the winning team and the first runner-up on the preceding day.

Pan Pan (Left) and Job

This is the first time that Asian U has participated in this competition, and the students have gained a lot from the experience. They spent a month in Ayuthaya, working with the local people, visiting local officials, schools, farmers and then teaching people about the project and how it can be sustained.

They were able to compete in a National competition and come away with heads held high.

Collecting condensate from the charcoal kiln

A typical kiln

Thanks to Ninja for the photos show which the students working in Ayuthaya and the SIFE team.

Big, X, Wen and Pan Pan become teachers