AUW Symposium

Here are a few pictures from the AUW symposium, "Imagining Another Future for Asia: Ideas and Pathways for Change" held in Dhaka January 19-22, 2011.

There were beautiful posters of our students and inspirational quotes all around the venue!

 Ngoc, one of my Vietnamese students from white group (my 2nd class last semester), and I at the conference.

 

Tien, one of my Vietnamese students from orange group (my 1st group of students last semester), and I at the conference. 

 Michelle, Karin, and I all dressed up for the first day of the conference -- Cherie Blair (AUW Chancellor) and Sheikh Hasina (Bangladesh's Prime Minister) both gave remarks to open the symposium. When the day had finished we all bused to the Parliament building where we were received for a lovely dinner reception and guided tour of the parliament building. Due to high security throughout the day (meaning no handbags, cameras, cellphones, etc. allowed), I only have a few pictures of us in our saris at the end of the day in our hotel.

My new sari from India :)

Back at AUW

So much to blog about, so little time....Kristen and I arrived back from our Nepal/India vacation the morning of the 9th, the day classes were supposed to start but thank goodness they were postponed - we are just now starting our classes (last week was our first week for the academic seminars!). Since arriving back in Bangladesh it's been a whirlwind of illnesses (thank you Dhaka for my food poisoning!), 80+ esteemed visitors at AUW, and a campus-wide symposium in Dhaka. Now my time is consumed with planning a semester-long course for 2 classes and finding my feet as the adviser for several clubs that need a serious action plan! Thank goodness for many wonderful connections at the symposium! Oh! and Saraswati Puja is right around the corner (Feb 8 and 9) and Claudio, an international photographer who has generously donated 8 SLR cameras to the photography club, is at AUW to run photography workshops with the girls and document the festival - I can't wait!!

India

So much to write about, so little time....I'm back from winter break and had a wonderful 3-week vacation in Nepal and India! Life has been pretty busy and hectic since returning. I spent the first couple of days home in Bangladesh sick (thanks to food poisoning). Then, 80+ esteemed board members and visitors, including Cherie Blaire - AUW's newly appointed Chancellor, visited AUW to observe classes, meet students, and see the site of the new campus - designed by Moshe Safdie. Following these events at the AUW campus, the entire campus (400+students, faculty, staff and families, and visitors) stormed Bangladesh's public transportation as we made our way to Dhaka for the AUW Symposium, "Imagining Another Future for Asia: Ideas and Pathways for Change." In the interest of time (lesson plans are calling my name!), check out Jess' blog for more on the conference!

I realize that was a very skeleton update but I'm teaching two semester long courses this semester, TAing, and advising three clubs....and sometimes sleeping.... I haven't even had a chance to look through all of my vacation photos but I thought I'd post a few that I have looked through. Of course when you go to India the first thing everybody wants to know is, "Did you see the Taj Mahal?" So here are a few pictures from the TAJ!