Notes of November 2011

Notes November 21, 2011

The big news this week on the Delta is that the American International School Dhaka girls’ basketball team, led by Millicent Wood, their star sophomore point guard, won their own Dhaka Invitational tournament.  The team, playing 6 games in three days, won the championship by beating a team that had beat them the day before.   Millie outplayed their point guard all over the floor, after getting beat consistently the day before.  My Uncle Lawrence would have been proud. 

Since kids come here to get the IB diploma and parents extend their tours so their kids can stay at AISD, they should keep the core of the team together throughout Millie’s time.  The girls travel to Bombay in two weeks for the conference tournament. 

I wrote earlier about getting Millie a visa to India. We don't actually have it yet.  This has been the hardest part of the season.  First, you have to get into their website to get an appointment for beginning the process.  About half the time, the computer says it’s not a trusted site and wants to direct you away.  Once you have entered the five or so pages of information, you get to the ‘select appointment’ page only to find that there are no appointments available to choose.  So you have to do it all over again.  If you do all this at around 6:00 AM, you may get an appointment. 

Once you have an appointment, the athletic director can take the assorted papers, photos and passport (and $75) to the Indian High Commission for the visa.  Millie’s papers are there now, so we’ll see what happens.  We should know this week.

Gail is currently in Hong Kong (no visa needed for her, but a couple kids had problems) with several AISD drama students at an IB theater workshop with a number of schools.  All the kids and teachers are staying in the HK YMCA, so she’s doing a lot of supervision.  She has called daily, and seems to be having a good enough time.  Millie and I are managing, although not eating our vegetables like we should.

This weekend AISD held its annual October-Fest (apparently always held in November).  Some of our guys (and one of the ladies) brew their own beer, so the party includes a tasting contest.  The party is held on top of an apartment building near ours, so I went by bicycle rickshaw (50 Takka, less than a dollar), my first time in one of these vehicles.  They are a little carriage pulled by a guy on a bicycle, and there are thousands of them here, all brightly decorated.  They are not particularly comfortable, but I arrived safe and sound and slightly sooner than if I had walked.

In other news, we have ordered a four pieces of wicker furniture to be built.  We should have a couch, loveseat, fainting couch and ottoman by the end of the month, and our apartment will be complete then.  These we can ship home and use in the basement when we return to STL. 

We Skyped with Abby Thursday, on her birthday.  And we sent her a cake decorated with princess stuff (Millie’s idea), including a tiara that she wore at a concert she played in that night.  She gets a week for Thanksgiving, so we bought her a ticket to fly to Phoenix to see Gail’s mom. 

And we called my mom.  Most of you know she and Abby share a birthday.  She seems to be happy and content with her place in Columbia.  We sent her some things she could share at the nursing home.

This week AISD celebrates UN day with a parade of nations, dances, songs and brief speeches.  I just found out that Millie will carry a banner for China. 

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.