Better Photos

As a wrap up to the Thailand trip I have finally gotten some of the photos taken by the SAT staff (with a much better camera). Top Left is from the Opening Ceremonies featuring the Deputy Minister fro Sport and Tourism presenting me with my swag for the course. The assistant director for the Sport Authority of Thailand is off to the left. The shirt and tie I am wearing was a Christmas gift from my daughters, they have good taste. Below is one of the shots taken during class. I think I read somewhere that you look more authoritative if you point your finger when you talk. Small shot on the right is the group getting ready to do the "silent ordering exercise" where everyone has a number and they need to get themselves into the proper order without talking and with their eyes closed. It was pretty interesting watching them work through the task. They are the first group I have ever had complete the task without making any sound. Usually groups will settled into a clapping norm, but this group settled on a Helen Keller-esque fingerspelling into each others hands kind of thing. You can kind of see it in the other photo. It was actually a bit impressive that a group this large (42) was able to sort themselves using that style of communication. The one exception was one guy who stood in the corner with his eyes closed and wouldn't move. I finally had to go get him and put him into the spiral that had developed. I found out later from the interpreter that this particular coach was convinced that the task was impossible and that he was the only one who really knew what I was up to. That the lesson was about dealing with failure. He and I actually had a really good conversation later on in the week. He coaches Snooker, a very British form of billiards. The guy closest to the camera is from the Squash association. He was hands down the comedian of the group. He remanded me of the crazy talk show hosts you see sometimes on the blooper shows taken from international telecasts. Bottom left is the photo that better tells the story of the game woodball that I started to tell in an earlier post. Finally, the trip home seemed to be much more straight-forwarded then the flight over. The flight path did not take us up to the 10th parallel, and was much more direct to the destination of Dallas/Ft. Worth. However, the flight over the Pacific was very turbulent. It has been a while since I have been on a plane when they told the flight attendants to return to their seats and buckle up. I still so how managed to sleep much better than I had on the outbound leg. Got back into Daphne around 4:00 PM and still had time to get to mass. The Monday before Mardi Gras was a rough go trying to get some work done. Details of my time back in Noblesville are forth coming, but you can check out the play by play of the Indiana State High School Swimming Championships (at least the Guerin Catholic and Carmel highlights) at Mrs. Gerth's Blog
just below the story about the muffins (which is worth reading as well).