At the course I introduced De Bono's 6 thinking hats and the participants were very enthusiastic about using them. We watched De Bono's own presentation on Youtube and several of the trainers wanted a copy of it to take home. We also practiced using them in 2 groups which was great fun.

Today was the last day of Steffen's course at the auto mechanics' workshop and the ministry invited his class, Carsten and me to dinner together with some of the people from the ministry - including Chief Sangay and the director, Sonam Rinchen. Steffen and I were picked up at 5.30 pm and brought to a hotel close to the center with the escalators. Carsten was still at the ministry working so he came by taxi. We had a very nice dinner and the director, one of the guys from Steffen's team and Steffen all gave a speech. The course was a big success and everybody was very happy about it. The trainers from the class also gave Steffen a very nice present - some Bhutanese art craft works e.g. a embroidery with the 8 lucky signs, which we have come to like very much. I took some pictures.
I sat next to the director and he talked about my next module being conducted in Bumthang - a very beautiful part of Bhutan apparently but also a day's drive from Thimphu. He was also telling me about "homestays", which are very popular when Bhutanese people go to Japan. Then they stay with a family as a member of the family and perform the same tasks as the family members. Then he suggested that I stay at his mother's house in Bumthang for a week on a homestay next time I come here. He thought it would be really interesting for me to get up in the morning and milk the cow - or sheep! And to sit around the fire at night drinking alcohol and telling stories ;-) I really couldn't figure out if he was serious or just joking. I hope for the latter!

I have had several people ask me about "mashed potatoes" here. People who have been to Denmark and want to make it themselves at home. They all think it is very delicious (even though there are no chilies in it ;-)). One of them tried to make it at home but didn't know he was to put some milk in it so it wasn't as delicious as the one he remembered. We explained how to make it properly so now we have exported mashed potatoes to Bhutan - I wonder if they'll like it better than rice? Probably not ;-) Or chilies? Definitely not!