I was pleased at how well the graduation ceremony worked today, all the way through, despite the fact that the food didn’t agree with me, unfortunately. At any rate, I thought it would be worthwhile to give a bit of a story of how the day went, at least before I had to deal with some unpleasant stomach problems. It was, all in all, a pretty smooth operation, if invariably late.

This morning at 8:30AM sharp, as students were struggling to get ready, the truck came with the driver and Aj. Leon. The first load was a little less than expected because it wasn’t waiting around, and then I got ready, made sure the lights and fans were off, and went with the second run at 9:30AM. I had never been to the Empress Hotel before, but it’s a nice setup, and a friendly hotel, and the room that we used, the Petcharat Room, was a good one full of wood, long and slender, with the food at the back.

The ceremony started about half an hour late. This was not unexpected, largely due to people not being timely about getting in, guests being late. The invocation was brief but the commencement address was fairly long, and mostly in Thai, except for some short English translation. After that came awards, some of which were listed on the program, and some of which were surprises. The awards went well and everyone was very polite and happy and enjoyed the certificates and other gifts, so all of that was nice to see.

The speeches were a definite high point. Two of the students even added to their speeches [1] to make them better than they were the first time I heard them, and I was definitely impressed by their delivery. It was well done, even though a step was added about bowing to the picture of the king and queen on the stage before the speech [2]. After that the giving of the certificates came smoothly and with a lot of applause.

After that was done, it was about 12:30PM–it had taken the hour I expected it to, and then we got down to eating. Considering how much, and how much of a variety, that I ate, I’m not sure what it is that bothered my stomach, as it could have been several things, unfortunately. At any rate, the conversation was lovely, about several hundred pictures were taken, and a good time was had by all. Many of my fellow teachers and the students took a lot of pictures, so those of you who are Facebook friends of mine could see some new pictures of me. It was a fairly formal vent–suit and jacket, with lapel pins and flowers on our lapels, with graduates in robes. That happens to be just the way I prefer it.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/graduation-speeches/

[2] Personally, it made me a little bit uncomfortable to see, as I view bowing to pictures or rulers to be idolatrous, personally.