Last night, I was lucky enough to attend a cocktail party thrown by the Kenan Institute Asia, a NGO working in Thailand but with roots back in North Carolina. In fact, the Kenan family have been a huge contributor to UNC Chapel Hill and even helped pay for my master's degree at NC State.
In any case, it was my first "business party" in Thailand. The invitation (to my boss, actually) said "Business Attire". I assumed that meant that my usual shirt-and-tie teaching uniform was enough, but for the first time ever in Thailand, I was underdressed. I've never seen so many men wearing jackets in sweltering Bangkok. Perhaps I should get my suit out of storage after all.
Anyway, I was afraid I would be a little bored, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I find NGO-types to be an interesting group of people. The projects I heard about relating to much-needed educational reform in Thailand were facinating. The consensus was that Thai culture makes reform difficult (long story) but everyone I talked to was still optimistic about the challenges.
