![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/2015Jan2.jpg\" "\\"2015Jan2\\"")
<\/p>\nBy Carmen Tomfohrde<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Having spent nine of the past twelve years overseas, I have been abroad for most of the lives of my nieces, now ages seven and eight and a half.\u00a0 As they grow older, I realize how long I<\/em>\u2019ve been away.\u00a0 As my family gathered for Thanksgiving in the United States, I was unable to Skype them because I<\/em>\u2019d lost my voice.\u00a0 Instead, emojis and dozens of short voice clips flowed in from my nieces through my mother<\/em>\u2019s phone, and I replied by text and email (faster than typing on my phone).\u00a0 Below is an exchange from this recent conversation, in which I attempted to explain to my nieces what it is I think I<\/em>\u2019m doing as a PhD student.\u00a0 They read it as a Word document, and replied with voice clips and emojis<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m a PhD student right now.\u00a0 \u201cPhD\u201d means \u201cDoctor of Philosophy.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a hard word.\u00a0 When you say it out loud, it sounds like: fill \u2013 ah \u2013 so \u2013 fee.\u00a0 The \u201cPh\u201d comes from \u201cPhilosophy\u201d and the \u201cD\u201d comes from \u201cDoctor.\u201d\u00a0 How can I become a doctor of philosophy?\u00a0 First, wait a minute.\u00a0 What is philosophy?\u00a0 It has something to do with thinking, and about what we know: about knowledge.\u00a0 When you go see medical doctors, they tell you how to make something in your body better. \u00a0I am working with ideas and knowledge, not human bodies.\u00a0 I have a desire to make thinking and ideas about something better.\u00a0 People who get a PhD choose one kind of knowledge or focus.\u00a0 Maybe it is in music, or history, or math, or science.\u00a0 They study for a long time, become experts on their topic, and share what they are learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m in Hong Kong.\u00a0 Hong Kong is a long way away from your home in the USA.\u00a0 There\u2019s an ocean in between us, so you can\u2019t drive here.\u00a0 The ocean is really, really big, so if you would take a boat, the trip would be very slow and long.\u00a0 Instead I take an airplane to travel between Hong Kong and the USA.\u00a0 Because I\u2019m on the other side of the world, when your house is facing the sun, my home cannot see the sun. It\u2019s night time for me when it is daytime for you.<\/p>\n [ niece 1 voice clip:\u00a0 But she\u2019s not going to fall off!\u00a0 It\u2019s gravity, people! ]\u00a0<\/p>\n I was working in Hong Kong before, but now I\u2019m only a student learning how to become a \u201cDoctor of Philosophy.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m only working just a tiny little bit, to help other students.\u00a0 I\u2019m a grown-up.\u00a0 How can I STILL be a student now?\u00a0 Well, some years I have been working while I was also a student at the same time.\u00a0 I got my first part-time job when I was 16.\u00a0 Even after I became a grown-up and got a full-time job, I still also took classes at night after I finished work.<\/p>\n The stuff we learn in school gets a little bit harder each year.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing \u2013 otherwise we would get bored, and what would be the point of going to school if we already know everything?\u00a0 So second grade is a little harder than first grade.\u00a0 Going to a university is more difficult than high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now I am a PhD student.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 That means I never want to stop learning, but now I have hit a point where I want to learn something that maybe nobody else knows yet.\u00a0 How can I do that?\u00a0 I read many, many books that other people have written.\u00a0 There are so many books in the world.\u00a0 How many books do you think are in the world?\u00a0 I can\u2019t even guess.\u00a0 It seems like a bajillion.\u00a0 I am taking four years of my life to read a lot of books.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes I also travel to look at old letters and journals that have never been made into a book.\u00a0 Some of them are 200 years old!\u00a0 They are kept in special libraries, called archives, to protect them.\u00a0<\/p>\n I read a lot and think a lot and talk to other people.\u00a0 Many of these people are world experts on something.\u00a0 Maybe my research will turn into a book.\u00a0 What would be the point of this if I learn something new and important, but then keep it a secret?\u00a0<\/p>\n After I finish this part of my life, maybe I will work in a university and teach other students, and maybe I will write more books, but I will keep learning.\u00a0 I want to keep learning my whole life long.\u00a0<\/p>\n [ niece 2 voice clip:\u00a0 I read the WHOLE THING! ]<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n By Carmen Tomfohrde Having spent nine of the past twelve years overseas, I have been abroad for most of the lives of my nieces, now ages seven and eight and a half.\u00a0 As they grow older, I realize how long I\u2019ve been away.\u00a0 As my family gathered for Thanksgiving in the United States, I wasContinue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14150"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16516,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14150\/revisions\/16516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.hku.hk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Published on:\u00a0December 30, 2014 < Back<\/a> ><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"