Thursday, March 25, 2010

Friday and Saturday, March 19 -- 20, 2010










































DISTRICT 3330 CONFERENCE -- TRANG



And so we reach the most important destination of our month-long journey – the District 3330 Conference in Trang, a resort city near the Andaman Sea. Trang is a large city with an impressive number of modern, tall buildings. The hotel where the conference is being held is one of the finest in the city and the GSE team received royal treatment, with each of us in separate double-sized rooms on the fifteenth floor, with gorgeous views of the city and the mountains beyond.




A grand dinner was served to everyone on a third-floor terrace that surrounded a large, circular swimming pool. We were introduced to an array for past and present District Governors and Club Presidents. The highlight for me, however, was being introduced to Bicchai Rattakul. Bicchai (Thais are always addressed only by their first name, regardless of how important the person might be) was not only a Past President of Rotary International, but also a former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand – a role roughly equivalent to Vice-President of The United States!




I had previously met Bicchai when he was the RI Representative to District 7570’s Conference at The Homestead. When I mentioned thia to him, this 84-year old leader, without a moment’s pause, said how much he missed Bill Skelton, that I should relay his best wishes to Peggy (Bill’s widow) and I should give his regards to Joe Ferguson – both which I shall due upon my return.


The first evening of the Conference was devoted to “Awards Night”. Although the proceedings were in Thai, I could not help by the seemingly endless number of Rotarians who stepped forward to receive their Paul Harris Fellowship awards. It was a wonderful display of support for the Rotary Foundation. The event went on until after 11:00 that evening.




The first Plennary session of the Conference started the next morning with an impressive parade of flags representing all the nations present at the Conference. Not only were the Thai and American flags carried in, but also the Japanese flag (in honor of the RI representative to the Conference), the Rotary flag and the flags of the eighteen Rotary Youth Exchange students who were present.




Bicchai made a speach to the Conference about the importance of water to the people of Thailand, and the necessity for developing systems to cleanse and protect this resource. Although in Thai, the speach was delivered so simply and eloquently, it was understandable and moving even to those of us who had no idea as to what his exact words were. I thought that this in itself was a remarkable achievement from this master orator.




Our formal presentation to the Conference, which was essentially the same presentation that we had been making to Rotary Clubs for the past three and a half weeks, went off without a hitch and we received a appreciative round of applause from the assembled Rotarians and guests.




The evening was dedicated to a "Magic Folk Program" during which, we had been told several months before, we were to present a 20 to 30 minute "American Culture Show." This was the evening that we had been facing with dread. Over our months of preparation, under the realization that there is no single "American Culture", we as a team, had decided that the best that we could do to present a panorama of American culture was to present a program that showed how music had evolved in America, from the wood flutes of Native Americans to Dixieland jazz, to the big band sound of the 1940's, to Dave Brubeck and Elvis Presley and finally to the one American song that we had been told was known and loved by all Thais, "Country Roads" to which we had written special verses appropriate to our visit.




The presentation would have covered what we thought were the requirements for the evening, but to be frank, it probably would have been quite dull.




A few hours before the "Magic Folk Program" we found out that we were not going to be the only "act" on the evening program. In fact, there were going to be some 25 presentations, lasting three to five minutes, none of which would include serious lectures. Quickly we revised our program and decided that we now sing just three songs -- "Shenandoah", "America the Beautiful" and our version of "Country Roads."




As we entered the hall were the evening's program was to be held, we immediately had our faces painted with white splotches -- a Thai custom for bringing good luck. We had a marvelous Thai buffet dinner. Bicchai came over to our table and draped a traditional Thai linen shawl around my shoulders -- a gesture that I found to be incredibly moving.




As the entertainment portion of the evening began, it became readily apparent that even our scaled down presentation was going to be too much. The acts ranged from carefully chorographed whimsical dance routines to acts that were somewhat reminiscent of "Hee Haw" -- pure silliness and joy. Quickly revising our plans again, we settled for enthusiastically singing the original John Denver version of "Country Roads". The entire audience cheered and joined us in the chorus. We could not have been a bigger success.




So much for careful preparation!



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