The Martin's Blog

Tom – Pat left this morning taking the Airport Express van at 6am.  Helen and I went to Hatton National Bank to close our account with the Fulbright driver.  It took over an hour to close the account and then convert the rupees to dollars.  Helen worked on the Fulbright computer and then took a Tuk-Tuk home while I headed for the Ministry of Education.  In a semi-formal exchange, I passed on the FITNESSGRAM/ACTIVITYGRAM software and the five books related to the Physical Best program ($500 value) that Human Kinetics publishers had donated to the Minister. 

He seemed genuinely impressed and in turn passed the material on to his Director of Physical Education. 

Dr. Rajaratne from Peradeniya University also attended the meeting.  It appears the Director of PE may just sit on the materials – if that happens, Raj will go to the Minister and request the materials so he can start using them in Kandy.

I prepared for my presentation in the afternoon and got to the Fulbright office at 4pm to set up my computer and the projector for my “Fitness for Life” presentation.  Fulbright had light snacks and tea at 5:30 which was followed by my presentation.  I didn’t bring my power cord and about 45 minutes into the presentation the computer battery was depleted (it started fully charged!).  So, I used the flip chart for the rest of the program – I believe it went well.  There were about 30 people there and they had some good questions – even the owner of the car company where I rented my car attended!  The Fulbright director suggested that I apply for a Fulbright Specialist grant to return to Sri Lanka for 6-8 weeks to follow-up on the projects that I started – we’ll see.

After answering questions and wrapping things up, Helen, Ruki and I went to the Gallery Café for dinner.  Ruki paid for the drinks and I paid for dinner – her bill was higher than mine!