|
|
Jun
22
Written by:
Jeff O'Brien
6/22/2009 12:28 AM
Opening Ceremonies...
Your Team America... The town of Laragne showed up in style to welcome us for the opening ceremonies. A high energy drum troop led us through town on a "parade". The vibe was perfect for a bunch of HG pilots.
We stood for dignitaries to speak... Our attention spans are short, so most of us migrated into the reception hall before the "presentation" was over.
After feeding our faces at the reception, the sun was calling me outside. I was tired of the stale environment and finger food. Walked around the building to find the drummers going off in the square.
The latin and south americans were writhing to the heavy beat and when the drummers tried to stop, the crowd cheered for an encore.
People were migrating out of the reception hall, and when the drummers stopped again, Julia, the female Russian pilot, jumped down and started beating with her hands on one of the large drums. The south americans cheered until the rest of the troop came back for the improv session.
It was one of those moments - a throng of pilots from around the world who don't take life for granted. The collective positivity was incredibly high. There was a lack of self-consciousness, and people moved how they wanted to.
After the drumming waned, there was high fives and hugging, a complete lack of competitiveness. One of the French pilots walked by me exclaming, "amazing positive energy." Indeed.
The buzz lingered as we walked back to fix a simple dinner and talk smack on the porch over a bottle of wine.
It's howling wind here this morning, but the sun is out. We will go climbing in the mountains later. I've got a cold, and haven't been sleeping well. Jet lag is lingering. I'll be square by the time we fly. Things look windy for tomorrow.
I took a bit of video of the parade and will edit soon.
Tags:
1 comment(s) so far...
good post
I feel like I’m often looking for interesting things to read about a variety of subjects, but I manage to include your blog among my reads every day because you have interesting entries that I look forward to. Here’s hoping there’s a lot more great material coming!
By gucci shoes on
9/13/2010 5:56 PM
|
|
|