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A Colorful Account of the 2005 TESOL Conference

- By Mike Dunphy -

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And it was immediately clear that this guy loved pork ribs.

When I landed, it was Tuesday afternoon. My first task was to get to the hotel. The school had booked me into the Radisson and I’d have to take a cab. I got in the taxi queue and waited. I was immediately joined by an elderly woman, who asked,

“Are you here for the conference?”

Before I could even finish saying,”yes,” she interrupted,

“Well, I’m here for a conference for teachers of English as a second language.”

She continued talking to me but I wasn’t listening. I just nodded and gave various confirmations. I let her take the first cab and waited for another one. Watching the other teachers pour out of the airport, I was confronted with the realization that I was about to spend the week with 9,000 people who love to talk!

After I checked in, I headed to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center to check it. I walked in the front door and was hit by a blast of air conditioning. I walked down a corridor bigger than my entire school and entered a large hall. It was a beehive of activity with people buzzing hither and thither. I went to the registration desk and got my name tag, schedule and complimentary tote-bag. The name tag must have been printed on some kind of hand-crafted papyrus because they told us if we lost it, it would cost $25 to reprint it. After that, there was nothing to do. I was alone and tired in Texas. I proceeded to buy a cheap bottle of wine, went back to my hotel room and drank as much as I could stomach.

Wednesday morning was wonderful. I woke up, looked at the clock, saw that it was 9:00am, pulled the blanket over my head and went back to sleep. I took a long hot shower, read the paper, and enjoyed a cup of tea before gingerly proceeding to the conference center. I arrived about 10:30am.

 

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