Yesterday was all about getting ready for the participants who are arriving and the course starting at 9 am today. I am here to do what is wanted and needed.
People were welcome to check in from 1-5 pm the day before the course started. I helped with the check in. Main concerns were getting people's names spelled correctly or which was last name and which was first name! It is kind of like what we had to deal with in Haiti!
This is our first attempt of using a system to mark the name tags with a code (sticker) and by doing that can tell whether someone is in the room or not. Not high tech but a great way to keep track of the counts. After marking all the tags yesterday, as of noon today, the system doesn't work! All great plans....
I am having fun with my Iranian friends. They are teaching me pronunciation of these Arab names. For example, the H is always pronounced so Mahmood is not Mamood like I was trying to say it. Iran is pronounced eeran.
Since I am on the welcome/greeting team they were trying to teach me Welcome in Farsi. But when time came to welcome people, I forgot what to say! Well, I have 5 more days to practice!!
Mine is the crossed out part. I was trying to write it phonetically.
The first few days here, the Iranian women just wore street clothes-no Hijab or head scarf. But when participants started to show up they put on head scarves and dressier clothes to honor the people coming to the course. In Iran, the women used to be very free to dress how they wanted. When the Shah was over thrown it became more conservative and women are required to cover themselves and wear head scarves. They are very stylish. They were willing to show me the before and after so I could share with you.
More than half the participants in the course are Iranian. Many don't speak English well enough to get the course so we have a translation team that translates simultaneously from a booth into head sets that people are wearing.
Here is inside the booth between sessions. One woman reads the slides translated into Farsi. This is difficult because the leaders are changing what's on the slides all the time. Another woman is translating simultaneously as the instructors are speaking-she has to be very bilingual!
I did my first solo shopping trip to the Super Store! I got it all right and somehow when I went to balance the receipts, I had extra money left over.
I had lunch with the Iranians who did the Wisdom@Home Course with me. They are here assisting at the course too. For those who don't know, Wisdom@Home is a live web course. While we had the course in the US, they participated from Iran. I now have a better appreciation for the hours they were willing to do.
In MN the hours of the course were 11 am to 7 pm while in Iran it was 8:30 pm to 4:30 am!!!
Yes they are a half hour off from our clock!
Lots of breakdowns (opportunities) the first day. Tomorrow is the second day and we look forward to fewer challenges!
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