We asked Joseph what he wanted to do with his last day of the Easter holiday and he immediately said “golf”.  We actually haven’t played in about a year, but he was in the golf club at school last term and really enjoyed himself.  We played the nine-hole pitch-and-put through three times because he kept wanting to try to beat his score.  When we finished, he said that he wanted clubs for his birthday... looks like I need some new clubs too! 

This was my first trip to Bangalore and I was excited to compare it with Hyderabad.  My first impression was the traffic.  We asked our airport handler how long it would take us to get to the hotel and he replied “36 kilometres”.  It took us two hours!  Bangalore was much cooler than Hyderabad with highs around 96 and the feel was much more tropical.  The city was very green with trees full of monkeys and fruit bats.  Their laws were also a bit different with everyone wearing helmets on their motorcycles and last call at 11pm (the later proved a problem for the group I was traveling with).  We were there for one full day of meetings at Microsoft’s new offices before heading back to the airport at 2am for our 6am flight back to London. 

Just back from another trip to Hyderabad.  It was a bit of a whirlwind.  We landed direct from London at 4am and got to the hotel around 6am.  We beat the jetlag with a round of golf in 104 degrees at Boulder Hills right next to the Microsoft campus.  We encountered security guards on the greens, monkeys and wild dogs on the fairways, and peacocks and king cobras in the rough.  We spent two days in meetings and dinners before heading back to the airport for a flight to Bangalore. 

Greg had a quick jaunt to Copenhagen for a meeting and snapped a couple pictures from the hotel window and the car on the way to back to the airport. 

Joseph played in his first tag rugby tournament at Bishopsgate in Windsor.  He was a little nervous because he heard that they were really good and he didn’t want to lose.  We showed up just after the kids arrived and got to watch them warm up and get ready.  Bishopsgate had about twice as many boys as we did and sent out three different teams to face them.  Our boys stayed on the field and played all three teams with nothing more than a 5 minute break between each match.  We were so proud of how well they powered through.  They won the first two matched handily and drew the third.  Joseph played very well.  The defensive instincts that he displays in football came through and he was all over the ball. 

Joseph has been taking piano lessons since the beginning of the school year.  A couple of months ago, a few pieces came home marked “festival pieces.”  Joseph had been invited, along with the other children receiving lessons, to play in the Woodley Music Festival!  When we were initially told about the Festival, I assumed it was just a recital.  The children would get a chance to perform, the parents would beam with pride, maybe some juice and cookies and we would all go home.  It’s called a Festival for crying out loud!  Apparently they do things a bit differently here.  Halls are rented, adjudicators are hired . . . this is a long way from Sister Wright’s living room!  After the children play their pieces the adjudicator immediately judges and critiques them.  Winners (!!!) are declared.  While the adjudicator was kind, he was fair and didn’t mince words.  He told the children what they did well, but also pointed out their mistakes (even being so specific as to criticize a child for missing a note in his 8th measure)!  While part of me screamed that you can’t judge art, that only effort should be commended another part of me tried to understand that this was part of the process of growing and learning.  Fortunately, Joseph played both his pieces perfectly and the adjudicator marked him Highly Commended.  He said that Joseph’s playing was sophisticated and had a musical quality that was more than just notes, it made him want to sing!  He came in second!  We were so nervous for him, but he took it all in stride and was very pleased with himself when he finished.  He spent the rest of the day walking around with his silver medal in his pocket and taking it out to show anyone who would look.  To close out the day, Joseph’s class took second in the Woodley Festival Verse and Prose session.  Before you think Joseph is getting far too much culture, have a quick peak at the videos his babysitter posted of he and his friend Jaydn later that night while we were at a friend’s for dinner.

All in all the Festival was a good experience, but I hardly think it could be called a recital if no one played the Theme to Ice Castles OR Cheers!

Greg had a quick 1 day trip to Munich for some meetings and managed to snap a few pictures. 

Joseph had another tournament this weekend.  It was at our home club, so he knew quite a few of the other players.  He won two of his four singles matches as well as two of three doubles matches and placed joint 3rd.  Most impressive of all was the way he dealt with his worst loss.  He was up against the top singles player in the tournament and lost to him quite badly and after the last point the boy inadvertently hit one last serve that caught Joseph’s leg.  We could see the look in Joseph’s eye as his anger flared as he started towards the boy, but within a split second he realised what he needed to do and jogged up to the boy and shook his hand.  He has come a long way with his sportsmanship and we were very proud. 

This week we took Joseph and his friend Jadyn in to Microsoft to test a new Xbox Kinect research project.  They had to leave school a little early, so they agreed to do a write up on the day and present it to the class.  When they arrived they were given badges and asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.  They were sent into a room with recording equipment and given very little instruction.  The boys did great and had a blast once they got comfortable.  They got to go home with goodie bags, their badges, and the promise of their names in the credits once the project is released.  We really stressed that they needed to keep the subject of their testing secret and not tell people at school.  We asked his teacher the next day and she said they didn’t let anything slip.  Who would have thought an NDA would work on 6 year olds!