Day 8: off to camp!

This morning we are off to the site to prep and get ready to start staff training tomorrow morning. Yesterday we had a day to venture out and saw much of chennai from an auto. We also walked around Anna Salai and down by Elliot's Beach where they have a carnival on Saturdays. It was beautiful down at the beach, nice breeze, cooler temperature. The sunset was gorgeous and also reminded me how strong the sun is here! We had dinner close by at Bella Ciao, our third trip there this week (still doesn't beat the record set by Tim and Sofi). Enjoy the photos!

P.S. a shout out to Flying Horse Farms for sharing their 'we go to the mountains' song. We'll be singing it at our first night campfire at Camp Rainbow!

Day 5: lessons learned

It's crazy to think tomorrow is the last day of leadership team training 2013 at Camp Rainbow. The week flew by and next week 30 staff will make their way to camp for the start of an incredible 4 weeks!
Since typing on my iPhone isn't the easiest, I have been keeping these entries short. Today's post is going to consist of 4 things I have learned in the past couple days:
1. King prawns are by no means king-sized. They must be cousins with jumbo shrimp...(photo)
2. A bottle of below-average imported wine is both hard to come by and overpriced in Chennai. I suppose that's the whole supply-demand theory in action. (Photo)
3. Despite being twice as big as the native folks here, we can fit 4 adults in one auto...costs a little less in rupees but a little more in sweat.(photo)
4. The combination of capacity and dedication is incredibly powerful as evidenced by the leadership team here at Camp Rainbow. It has been extraordinary learning from my peers here this first week and I look forward to witnessing the magic at camp over the next couple weeks!

With a full tummy and even fuller (is this a word? I didn't like the sound of even more full) heart,
Mary

Day 2: first day of LT training

Keeping it short today, with my 3 moments:
Proud- Camp Rainbow team had a camp prep to-do list on the board that they made together last week!
Funny- 3 full grown women in an auto with backpacks and supplies :)
Productive-working dinner to prep for tomorrow while eating pesto pasta prepared by our very own Sofia Rasini!

An added bonus today was stopping by Rochelle's house and seeing her family, including her two boys, Yokato and Tokito and little girl, Lovi.

Day 1 of the Great Asian Adventure

Having slept off and on throughout the 24 hours of travel, I actually had a decent nights sleep and woke up around 730 this morning. We kicked off the day with breakfast and a review of the leadership team training schedule, going over each of our roles and trying out some icebreakers. Around 1230 we headed out for lunch where we enjoyed diet water...see proof below...and different masalas with naan. In the afternoon we did some prep work for our sessions and Tim and I took much needed cat naps. At this point, my body clock should be good...we shall see! In the evening we walked down by the beach and went to an Italian spot called Bella ciao. The beach was hoppin' and there were carnival games, fireworks and lots of folks in he sand. At Bella ciao a few of us had brick oven pizza, very good and my potato pizza could give Sally's a run for its money. Already finding commonalities between new haven and chennai! It's off to bed so i'm ready for the first day of LT training, here we go Camp Rainbow 2013!!

My Hartford family

This weekend was filled with basketball games and reunions with coaches, teammates and fans from college. On Saturday I went to Hartford to watch the girls take on UVM on senior day. It was a tale of two halves with the girls dominating in the second half and winning by 20+. In the evening I got to spend some quality time with my coaches and caught everyone up with my travels as they caught me up with the season and playoff expectations. Today I carpooled to Easton MA with our former manager and friend Cedric and assistant coach Kea. My college teammate and classmate Jackie coaches at Stonehill and they had their first conference tournament game against Merrimack. Even cooler, my high school friend Jackie plays for Merrimack. It was a close game for the full 40 minutes with Merrimack winning 77-72. Fortunately for Stonehill, they have had a phenomenal season and will get an at large bid to the DII tournament! Overall, a super nice, relaxing weekend with my Bball family, who will always be a huge part of my life. Check out www.hartfordhawks.com and cheer them on during the America East tournament starting Friday at noon against Binghamton!

Love & basketball,
Mary

From Dubai Int'l

First leg of the journey complete! We have full tummies and too much time to kill in Dubai's ridiculously modern airport. On the flight over I watched Life of Pi and Searching for Sugarman. Having read Life of Pi, I think the book really lets your imagination go whereas the movie plays it out in one way-still worth it though! And Searching for Sugarman was a recommendation from a friend that was very good. Everyone should look up Rodriguez and listen to his music (70s).

Back home, the storm has calmed down. But not before Watertown took over everyone's television screens and was the site of the arrest of one of the two marathon bombing suspects. In such a global world where people and information can travel so efficiently, anything can happen anywhere! It is both a strength and weakness of the world we live in.

Facebook posts updated me on the manhunt and police chase in Boston, Flying Horse Farms' successful campfire event and sadly, the loss of one of the most delightful people and most dedicated Hartford Hawks WBB fans. Lots of emotions and the distance certainly does not make it easier. I am sending my love and prayers to everyone back home.
Hugs,
M

NOLA: round 2

About a month ago, I was in New Orleans to run a half marathon. This past weekend I was back there for the womens final four. It was a wonderful weekend reuniting with teammates and my coaches. We definitely did the 'New Orleans thing' and my body is paying for it now. But more importantly, I got to enjoy old friend's company and enjoy the food, art, and gorgeous weather; even went for a couple runs along the river. My palate experienced shrimp creole, crawfish, and of course beignets! Lucky for me, an extra ticket came my way on Sunday and I was able to attend the two semifinal games where Louisville got past cal and uconn finally got their win against notre dame-perfect timing! On Monday I went on a swamp boat tour which was so awesome; gave a good feel for the culture in many parts of Louisiana and I saw gators within arms length of my body! Many wonderful and ridiculous stories were born this paat weekend, certainly making it one to remember :) Now it's time to prep for the 6 week trip to Asia...