Travels in Central Asia

Winding Down and Moving On

I missed a day, I know. Actually, only by an hour did I fail to provide an entry for 9 June. Today, you will have two entries, and I should be writing up until the time I go to the airport at 4am for the 6am flight to Moscow. Then, following an eight hour spell in the transfer terminal, the world of $6 coffees and $10 hot dogs, I will head back to New York arriving at 6pm on Saturday evening. What that means, and I have done this before, is that I will be up for some 36 hours, cat naps aside. That's the way it is when you travel across the big ponds, but for me, a small price to pay for the wonderful experiences that await us when we visit another land.

Thursday at the symposium began slowly, with a morning panel of five presenters, all speaking in Turkish, and, for the most part, on topics outside my realm. Perhaps, it was my drowsiness from the 2am wake up call when the lights came on. Panel presentations at this symposium follow a strict protocol. The moderator is king (or queen) and sits at a table. Places are designated with name plates for the presenters. When the designated time arrives, the moderator calls for each presenter to come to the table, introducing each person one by one. As in the U.S., presentations last for 15-20 minutes. Some moderators at this symposium enjoy this power position and invoke a by the minute time constraint. Others are laissez faire and appear to be an interested audience member rather than the moderator. Questions may be entertained after each presentation or following all of them. Some male moderators appeared to invoke different standards for men and women presenters, invoking the stop watch rule to the distaff side and allowing the men to extend beyond the scheduled time.

posted by Student Success @ 9:49 PM