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We were mistaken about the street food. It was a public holiday. So all the night stalls in the streets were closed. But on all other nights the stalls were open and we tried out the barbecued squid, pork satay, phad Thai, and Thai salad for supper. Cheap and good.

After lunch at the Thai bible seminary, we would troop out and look for brewed coffee at 40 baht (SGD $1.50). This became a daily affair as we needed the extra kick to keep awake over the afternoon periods. We got to know each other better and we discussed different matters raised or triggered by the lessons. Three guys I got to know better are Peter, Michael, and Philippe – wonderful folks with a love for the Lord and a vision for his work.

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MTh(Ed) module 4-5

The pre-campus reading comprised two books, “The Leadership Challenge” (Kouzes, James and Posner)  and “Leading Congregational Change: A practical guide for the transformation journey” (Herrington, Bonem, and Furr). We wrote 5 reflection papers on the former, and posted them online on lore.com for peer comments.

Long morning walk

Then we came together for the on campus sessions. We arrived at Bangkok Bible Seminary at 8.30am. It was a 30 minute walk with backpacks weighed down with heavy laptops.  From Bangkok Christian Guest House where most of us stayed, we trudged through narrow and interesting side streets and back lanes to the meeting place. By the time we arrived my dark blue short-sleeved cotton shirt was wet with perspiration from the exertion in humid weather. The lecturer, Dr. Pieter F. Theron, a South African, later told the class of 13 adult learners that there was no use for laptops!

Play to Learn

After a whole morning to introduce the subject, we played a simulation game that teaches change leadership in education through a board game. We were to imagine we were members of a team appointed by the superintendent of an imaginary school district and tasked to transform a few schools into continuously learning communities. How would we go about bringing about transformation? We were given in random order a string of leadership steps. Each step we decided on would draw from a limited resource of bits, and would receive feedback that determined how quickly the many game board pieces moved towards the final stage of renewal. After each school year, played over two hours, we had a debriefing, and we reflected on what we learned about leading change.

Searching for street food

Lunch was at the bible institute but looking for relatively cheap food for dinner was difficult. At Silom Complex, we could not find an air-conditioned food mall like the one available at the top floor of MBK.  Then some of us searched for cheap street food on the opposite side of Silom Road but found nothing.  So we settled for a Thai restaurant along the main road. Later a few of us went farther and walked two kilometres in search of local street food along the main road but skirting the R.A. streets of Patpong 1 and 2. Later we finally found one street hawker who occupied a whole narrow lane with a row of about 15 tables with chairs. We saw mainly local customers. The prices were half those of the restaurant. We will patronize that stall one of these nights.

There was no assignment tonight so we were relaxed. From Tuesday onwards we will have an assignment for each night. The wireless in the guest house was pathetic and I write this blog post which I can upload tomorrow using the wireless at the bible institute.  

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