I also had another engagement tonight – two actually. They coincided and were about 6000 miles apart; I made both. How: you ask? Modern technology, I say. Remember my dinner of fried eels from a little over a week ago? The father of one of the students (Claus) invited me to join him at his Rotary meeting and the main course was eels – well, he invited me once again to a meal, this time with his family at their flat. This event, from what I gather, is similar to Thanksgiving in the US, the tradition of the family meal at least. On the menu – not, not eels but roast duck. And it was fantastic. Roast duck, potatoes, gravy, a good wine and excellent conversations. Mia, the daughter and student, was an excellent hostess. Family members at the dinner were of course Claus, the father, Mia, Ulla wife/mother, and an older sister (Line) and brother/son-in-law (Henrik). I shall never forget this evening and what this family did for me this night. They welcomed me into their home, someone who is in essence a total stranger; most of the people in the room I met for the first time tonight, yet that made no difference. I was welcomed to this evening and their table as if I were an old friend. We discussed many things during the course of the evening, and the conversation was always lively.
Yet I had another engagement; recall I said two and the other was many, many miles from where I was. I had informed Claus of this and told him that I would need to be back to my flat by a certain time to make a Skype call to Kansas State University at Salina. Claus told me to bring my computer and I could sign on from there, so that is what I did. A few days previous I had received an email from one of my dear friends at KSU, and she informed me that I was being recognized for some pioneering distance education I did while still at KSU. I have not been there in almost a year now – hard to believe it has already been nearly a year, but it has been. Here I go getting nostalgic again; nevertheless, I was being recognized for a few distance ed projects I had worked on while at K-State. One in particular I partnered with another friend of mine, Jennifer Molidor (an English professor at KSU) to co-teach a similar section of Composition with another professor at Iowa State. Jennifer got recognized as well.
So anyway, when the time came I excused myself from the conversations and Skyped into K-State at Salina. Several people had gathered for this little awards assembly. I think I knew everyone in the room; I recognized faces, voices, and laughter. Once the presentations of the awards began it did not take long to get around to Jennifer and me. My certificate was held up to the camera so I could see it, and it was announced that it would be mailed to me in Oklahoma. I really do not do such things as this for recognition, but it is nice when colleagues and peers take notice and say “good job,” especially so long after I have left. That felt good to know my friends and colleagues at KSU still remembered. Thanks Wildcats.
I stayed on the Skype call as long as I could, but the video froze up and I eventually lost the signal, so I rejoined the family in conversations in the living room. We talked for some time longer about different aspects of life and culture, mainly comparing/contrasting cultures and languages (Danes/Cherokees). Soon it was approaching midnight and time to call it an evening. Claus' older daughter (Line) and son-in-law (Henrik) gave me a ride back to my flat. By the time I did make it to bed it was right at midnight; it had been a long but really good day. I truly enjoyed this day. Wado, Claus and family; I shall never forget the hospitality and kindness you all showed me this evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment