And, we're off.
It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks. In addition to trying to keep up with normal work stuff while attending C272 class twice a week, the biggest stressor and time commitment was the Quarryland Men's Chorus concert on April 29 & 30, with quartet rehearsals on top of the chorus rehearsals. We made it past that, and my focus turned more toward preparing for the trip, but we still had a Senior Recognition event for about 7000 people to worry about. In spite of a couple of last-minute surprises and a late night, the event itself went very well. Got home around 11:40 pm Friday, and all I had to think about this weekend was packing and organizing for the trip. Barry and I even had time to enjoy breakfast at BloomingFoods, attend a craft beer festival, and go to an Indy Eleven game. It was nice spending time together before I had to leave.
The final big accomplishment for the weekend was mowing the lawn after a couple of weeks of near-record rainfall. Perhaps the rain was good practice for being in Thailand. Except there, it will be about 50 degrees warmer.
Another stressor has been my health. We still have no definitive answers to why I ended up in the ER in March, but I've had a series of follow-up appointments and tests. We learned that I have some Kidney stones and we weren't able to take care of those before leaving. We're taking a bet that nothing will happen while I'm gone, but I'm traveling with some serious pain medication just in case. As if that weren't enough, I chipped a tooth two weeks ago. Fortunately, the dentist was able to fix me up quickly. Now, since late Thursday night, I'm doing my best to fight off a cold. We advised our students to get plenty of rest during finals week so they wouldn't be run down and ill on this trip; here's hoping I can sleep this off on the plane so I'm in good shape while in-country.
Angie, Brenda, and I boarded a bus with two of our students as well as Laurie, Debbie, and their group of students traveling to Switzerland three hours ago. We picked up a few more in Zionsville and we're now on I-65 headed toward O'Hare. I'm finally feeling about ready to go, which is a good thing, since we're actually on the move. I do wish I were more up-to-speed on all of the class's online discussions. They did a great job exploring all of the topics related to Thai Business, culture, and economics - and I'm frankly feeling a bit under-informed. I'm carrying my Thai dictionary, but I didn't get the chance to learn anything beyond "hello," and I didn't practice language using the Nemo app. I signed up for Google Alerts on Thai business and politics, but I've hardly read more than an article or two. The good news is I paid attention during class, and since I've spent more than eight weeks learning something about Thailand, I'm probably more prepared than a lot of visitors. Here's hoping for the best!
Now if only I can remember ALL of the students' names...
It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks. In addition to trying to keep up with normal work stuff while attending C272 class twice a week, the biggest stressor and time commitment was the Quarryland Men's Chorus concert on April 29 & 30, with quartet rehearsals on top of the chorus rehearsals. We made it past that, and my focus turned more toward preparing for the trip, but we still had a Senior Recognition event for about 7000 people to worry about. In spite of a couple of last-minute surprises and a late night, the event itself went very well. Got home around 11:40 pm Friday, and all I had to think about this weekend was packing and organizing for the trip. Barry and I even had time to enjoy breakfast at BloomingFoods, attend a craft beer festival, and go to an Indy Eleven game. It was nice spending time together before I had to leave.
The final big accomplishment for the weekend was mowing the lawn after a couple of weeks of near-record rainfall. Perhaps the rain was good practice for being in Thailand. Except there, it will be about 50 degrees warmer.
Another stressor has been my health. We still have no definitive answers to why I ended up in the ER in March, but I've had a series of follow-up appointments and tests. We learned that I have some Kidney stones and we weren't able to take care of those before leaving. We're taking a bet that nothing will happen while I'm gone, but I'm traveling with some serious pain medication just in case. As if that weren't enough, I chipped a tooth two weeks ago. Fortunately, the dentist was able to fix me up quickly. Now, since late Thursday night, I'm doing my best to fight off a cold. We advised our students to get plenty of rest during finals week so they wouldn't be run down and ill on this trip; here's hoping I can sleep this off on the plane so I'm in good shape while in-country.
Angie, Brenda, and I boarded a bus with two of our students as well as Laurie, Debbie, and their group of students traveling to Switzerland three hours ago. We picked up a few more in Zionsville and we're now on I-65 headed toward O'Hare. I'm finally feeling about ready to go, which is a good thing, since we're actually on the move. I do wish I were more up-to-speed on all of the class's online discussions. They did a great job exploring all of the topics related to Thai Business, culture, and economics - and I'm frankly feeling a bit under-informed. I'm carrying my Thai dictionary, but I didn't get the chance to learn anything beyond "hello," and I didn't practice language using the Nemo app. I signed up for Google Alerts on Thai business and politics, but I've hardly read more than an article or two. The good news is I paid attention during class, and since I've spent more than eight weeks learning something about Thailand, I'm probably more prepared than a lot of visitors. Here's hoping for the best!
Now if only I can remember ALL of the students' names...
No comments:
Post a Comment