Talking About My Trip To India, At The Mansion

Generally, I’m not comfortable talking in front of large groups of people.  I have a hard time with so many people looking at me.

And I wasn’t so sure of myself when I sat down in the activities room at the Mansion (an assisted living facility in town) this afternoon to show the residents there some pictures and talk about my trip to India.

But I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with many of the people who live at the Mansion, so it was more like talking to a group of friends than anything.

I spent the morning selecting photos from my trip and putting them on an album in my computer.  (this actually took me three hours, not because I have so many photos, but because I’m not technically savvy and had to figure out the best way to display the photos).   I didn’t realize there’d be so many people coming to the talk, so once I got there, I decided the best way to show the pictures was to walk around with my computer.

Maybe not the most efficient way of displaying photos, but it worked.

I gave a chronological account of my trip, talking about the different foundations we visited and the work I did with girls and women with the tote bags and potholders.

I talked about the animals in India and got lots of questions about them and many other things.

Peggy wanted to know about the food.   Barb had a comment or two about some of the good-looking men in my photos.

I told them how we picked up the baby goats roaming around the village of  Bolpur.  Since they had a visit from Treasure and her baby goats just last week, I knew it was something we could share.

I ended the talk by showing them a photo of me in my sari and explaining how they’re worn.  (I wish I had thought to bring my sari.  I could have done a demonstration).

Red was there, of course.  He went from person to person giving and receiving love.   And Jon was there too, being generally supportive and taking pictures (of course).

It turned out to be a lot of fun.  I think most of the people there enjoyed it and I know I did too.