Back from Europe

Photo: Vesna, me, Mario and Milan at IDAS

I am back from Europe this week after a Thanksgiving class break trip to Slovenia and the 5th International Debate Academy, where I was honored to once again be the director of training.

Here are some thoughts I had about the experience and this trip.

• I am feeling more and more at home in Europe and Slovenia. The language is still a mystery to me, but I know my way around and feel comfortable there. It is a very nice place, and now I can even suggest restaurants and things to do.
• It was great to be at the IDAS with so many great instructors. They all did a great job, and I really learned a lot from them. Rhydian Morgan and Neill Harvey-Smith from the UK were great additions and I enjoyed learning what they teach and especially how they teach it. Their relaxed style was interesting and engaging. Loke Wing Fatt and Sam Nelson are rapidly becoming two of the best debate trainers in the world, and the evaluations showed that. It is also great to see the two of them growing such a fine friendship, a guy from Merced, California and a guy from Singapore have found that they have so much in common.
• It was really nice to have two students and a coach from my program who were there to learn how to do British Parliamentary debate not just as sideline and an experience but who will seriously engage in it back home. I was very proud of them.
• Now that I have done a lot of European training it is great to see the people I have previously worked with do so well and grow so much. Huge props to Vesna, Mario and the FON-Belgrade posse for their showing. Filip, Maja and Anna have grown so much and gotten to good. I am excited that Filip and Maja will be doing a brief USA tour in February and that I will be hosting them in Vermont.
• Slovenian food is good and hearty, and it is hard to knock the coffee, which is awesome. They take it quite seriously.
• It was, of course, great to be with Bojana again.
• The president-elect of the country and the mayor of Ljubljana both showed up at the tournament to give short speeches. Wow. Debate in this country has got some pull.
• New plots were hatched and planned. Rhydian and Neill are open to an instructional trip to the USA co-sponsored by Cornell and St. Johns. Plans move ahead for teacher training in Singapore. Students are very interested in attending WDI here in Vermont. Filip is going to check out the Eastman School of Music with some help from Sam. Zlata is starting a debate club in Maribor. It's all good.
• European underwear doesn't really work for me. Our bags were lost on the way over and we had two days without them. I'll stick to USA utrou for now.
• My inability to watch television seems international. The hotel room had a nice flat panel set, but all I did was check the channel line up once.

There is a lot more travel in my immediate future. I go to Mexico for a few days a week from Friday, then it is on to Malaysia and then Thailand before coming back in January for the start of the spring semester. Southeast Asia is going to be very hot.

But, I also realize how much I love where I live here in Burlington, Vermont. It feels like home and it is quite homey. Sure, there is snow and the wind is blowing outside right now, but there is more to the climate of a place than the temperature. The climate here is just fine.