The week of 100 contacts

So far, Bangkok has not impressed me. A man with long fingernails tried to grope me in the street (I dont know which was worse: the attempted groping or the long fingernails), and there are cats everywhere. My hostel room is a windowless, airless cell just off the Khaosan Road. It is not agreeable.

To take my mind off the hideousness, I set myself some weekly McGuire goals, namely:

1. 100 contacts per day
2. Attend toastmasters at least twice
3. Do an extra hour of work on my speech every day

Seeing as Bangkok is so below par, it has been even easier to do my McGuire work because I do not feel like I am missing out on anything else. The only redeeming features of Bangkok as I see it are:

1. I am leaving on Saturday
2. There are lots of Marks and Spencers food to go shops here
3. My tour joining hotel has a swimming pool.

Enough said!

Today I went to the first of my Toastmasters meetings, at St John's University Club. When I got there, they explained that today wasnt a normal meeting as the area director was there to speak. I was slightly disappointed but I decided to stay as I felt that by watching him, I could maybe learn something.

During the break, the President came over and said they had changed the format of the meeting (because the area director was putting everyone to sleep). She asked if I would I mind doing Table Topics after all? I said yes and I was happy to get the chance to speak.

After the break, the President said, "It is time for table topics. Please welcome our guest, Hannah, to the stage!"... What was lost in translation was that she had asked me if I wanted to be the Table Topics Master and host the session. It was stressful, but I did it and it was a definite learning curve.

In future, I would prepare more and think about what I was saying (it was on a par with my speaking performance in Beijing- my aim was to speak using basic technique of pause, breathe, speak, release and I was not bothered about anything else), so next time I will formulate and visualise.

Another step forward, another Toastmasters tomorrow!