Fulbright Retrospective April 30

Today was my last day with the Mukdahan Campus. Kulapau arranged a lunch meeting for the entire faculty and staff. It was a wonderful surprise and so gratifying to to se everybody together one last time. 

I'm staying in Mukdahan for a couple more weeks to finish up interviews and take care of business before I leave town. The department of computer science at Khon Kaen University has hired me to teach a 9 hour workshop on the 11th and 12th! That's great news for several reasons; it validates my Fulbright project and well, it gives Anchalee and I an opportunity to build research opportunities.

The visit to campus was interesting. The Vice President of Technology took me on a tour of the Net Zero Building and the software innovation center. In retrospect, this is where my Fulbright Scholarship should have been placed. It's the right environment, there is support, community groups and corporate interest (Microsoft) in the effort being put forth here.

The Fulbright Experience has been wonderful. Some of the projects we started worked out, some did not. One thing I know for sure is that I learned a l lot about myself by having to negotiate cultural differences. The people of Mukdahan are kind, however, and after some time I began to function as a part of that community. I certainly wish I had 6 more months to spend in Isaan ... I was starting to get to a point where I cold communicate (somewhat) some things in Thai which made my integration in to the community even more real.

No matter how much effort was put into the research and executions of various projects a feeling of inadequacy permeates experience. Perhaps I could have done more, realized sooner that I needed to expand my efforts to other campuses ... given the opportunity to make a big difference I'm not sure that goal was met. My work feels more like a soup of small changes, and I'm not sure how that will add up. My only certainty is that I am not finished. There is more to do.

As for the future -- toward the end of the four months it was obvious to me that my inability to communicate fluently in Thai prevented me from having a deeper understanding of of Thai-Isaan culture. It's the one take-away regret that will serve as a reminder how important it is to continue learning to speak Thai and Isaan. I will return to Isaan and I am determined to go back with the language skills necessary to integrate with the environment. It won't hurt in the classroom either.

To summarize; the Fulbright program was amazing, well organized and adequately supported to provide everything necessary for the Scholars.