Flying Home Today

Said goodbye to my student trainers. They wore their T-shirts as promised, so lots of photos were taken, or as Venki says 'snaps' (I think his time in England comes out there). They fly next week to their various hometowns in India and they will start working in Kolkata after the New Year. Raj & Lawrence also came up to our training room to say goodbye to me. So sweet.

Gift Exchange with our friends from India

Yesterday our three student trainers gave my co-trainer and me gifts! They gave Donna a bottle of single malt & me a bottle of Napa Valley red wine (they know us pretty well after only 2-1/2 weeks). They also presented us with a Snickers bar, telling us it is a tradition in India to give a sweet with a present. This morning before Donna flew home to PA, we gave them our gifts which included a few little trinkets. For each of them we had T-shirts made with their name & USA '09'. Suman opened his first and was laying it out on the table. Then he saw! "It is mentioning my name!" he exclaimed. For Suman we had also found a Budweiser bottle opener because he told us how he bought some budweiser beers during to enjoy during his stay (over which Donna gave him endless teasing). Chandan likes tea and Venki (the vegan) claims to like Merlot. I thought he was going to cry at the fact that we managed to find that bottle opener for him. It was a great joke among us during this time. The promised they would wear the shirts to work on Friday & I will take their pictures.

Brand New at This!

Never thought I would actually create a blog of my own! 2010 promises to be a different year in my life, literally taking me places I never thought I would go - like Kolkata, India! I feel I am a contemplative writer and that may be the flavor you find here. I also plan to post photos along with stories - remember, I said PLAN.
So, here is my first post, late at night, so I am keeping it short.