Sharan has been here about 10 days and her reports of great faculty, students and fun activities is not exaggerated. While I haven't had my elephant ride yet, Sharan has had a ride and also had a scary ride down rapids on a piece of handmade bamboo. I think I will skip that opportunity. She said there were no handles, just a piece of woven bamboo the size of a small carpet. I think if Justin, my grandson, was here to help me I would try it, but otherwise, no way! We had an invitation to the chair of the department for dinner. She lives outside of Bangkok so Paul, one of the faculty, took us in his car to her house. On the way we stopped at a tiny portion of the city that had Muslim families and stopped to see some of the silk weavers. It was very small with 3 weavers but the pieces we bought were just beautiful. On to the home of the chair. It was beautiful with a lot of gardens and dogs and koi fish. The meal was lavish with a specially cooked fish that Paul made. By the way, we were told that because Thai names are so cumbersome, most pick a nickname that they use. Smiles is a doctoral student that has helped us with our trips to the airport and his nickname is very fitting.
Sharan told the chair that I was coming and showed her a picture of the Caffarella and Daffron book. So that meant I would be presenting workshops here on program planning and instructional design. My first session was 8 hours. I could hardly walk back to the apartment afterwards, but it was just great! I enjoyed all of the interaction and after it was over, had so many photos with participants that my smile almost broke. I had a really great time and the students are just as varied and just as capable as those we have in the US. Another presentation comes up on Thursday!
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