Conference in Denver, Colorado

Lawyers and judges at the conference

With some of the 112 Fulbright scholars at the conference in Denver (from France, Poland, Brazil, Tunisia, Malaysia and yang satu lagi tu tak ingat from where.All from different fields and disciplines)

At our typical lunch time on the 38th floor (we can see the whole of Denver from here)

Me and Fran (I bought his book Getting to Know Denver, siap suruh dia sign)

At the Writers Square

Part of the Rocky Mountains (Iron Flat ke hapa namanya, this in Boulder, Co)

Gelap.With 2 of 5 Fulbrighters at my dinner theatre table

The famous Broadway show Ragtime was re-staged (by a diff. group) at Boulder.

Over 100 Fulbright scholars from 57 countries were chosen to participate in the 2007 Fulbright Visiting Scholar Conference on 'The Rule of Law:A View from the American West' in Denver, Colorado from April 11- 14,2007.I got lucky to be chosen.A fellow Msian based in Texas was there too and we shared the same room on the 22nd Floor, The Grand Hyatt Denver.Best sangat! But tiring cos' our days were packed with lectures, tours, homestay and finally dinner theatre at Boulder, some 45 mins away. CIES and the IIERMRC really took care of us and I think we'd learnt so much from the 3 days and also from one another.

Since the conference was specifically on law/s (from water law to land law to tribal law, corporate wrongdoing,etc) we were exposed to all sorts of court system and the speakers were judges and lawyers and Law Professors as well as a rep from an NGO. On first night lagi an American journalist raised the issue of American occupation in Iraq! Also someone from Ukraine asked what if no one cared about laws and constitution (cos people would still be struggling with basic needs of their day to day lives) Wough..it got really heated up.It was America alright.Back home, journalist mana nak tanya soalan2 celupar macam tu? You may want to check out this online radio http://www.airamerica.com/

Then I joined a well-known writer and photographer of the history of Denver, Francis Pierson on a city tour with many others of the group (there were two groups but I chose to join Fran cos' he had written a book on Denver and I was certain I'd get a lot more info from him as a guide).Yup, I was right.We learned much from the walking tour around the city (some chosen spots)

Homestay: Zu and Mohammed of Egypt and I got paired with a very nice couple, newly married.Christina reverted to Islam in 2002 and her husband is from India (a software engineer) They took us out to an Italian restaurant (makan lagi!) and we went to pray maghrib at a mosque off Welton St not far from our hotel.We met more muslims there.They have many mosques here.Denver is so huge despite being in the middle of nowhere (asal padang pasir, surrounded by Rocky Mountains). I love Denver and Zu and I went shopping at Cherry Creek masa semayang Jumaat (we all cabut lecture..penat dok dengar pasai law..but managed to catch the last part of corporate wrongdoing by this lawyer.Best jugak)

Then we went to the Federal Court and were addressed by a few judges who explained the legal system in the US esp Colorado.There was a mock court as well.Fun gila as 12 of the batch sat as jurors.There were a judge and a few lawyers amidst us (lawyer dari Germany kata German legal system lain sikit)

Lepas tu kita dibawa ke Boulder, some 45 mins away (so kita naik coaches) to watch a play ragtime (dinner theatre).I sat with Hannah from Manchester (UK), 2 Spaniards, one chap from Serbia and another from Kyrgyz) Setengah negara ni I pun tak pernah dengar.The actors yang jadi waiters kita sebelum depa acted.Syok oh.Dapat closeup.Great talents!

I booked my flight back to Ithaca awal cos' tersilap baca prog! (I took my shuttle to the airport at 3.30 am.The whole thing habis noon.Gasaklah.I was very tired anyway...penat lecture tour 2 weeks tu belum habis)

But I made many great friends (and minds).Some friends had gone through a lot -- losing their loved ones so early..ada yang anaknya meninggal umur 17, 28 and the guy who sat next to me during ragtime...berlinang air mata cakap anak dia umur 45 hari baru meninggal.He was here.By the time he flew home, they had buried him.Kesian)

I hope no more travels lah.P-E-N-A-T and I need to finish up my writing.I have an appointment to meet my fav. scholar on Thursday: Prof Jonathan Culler.He's based at Cornell.Yang sorang fav. lagi masih bercuti in Thailand (Ben Anderson) Maybe tak sempat jumpa. :(