Working in Hanoi

It's been a great first week. Sieglinde missed the class photo at the People's Police Academy, with Ho Chi Minh looking down upon us. Last time I was there was during the worst rain storms in 40 years. Massive flooding across the region and the plaza in front of the statue was a lake we had to wade across while carrying our shoes, with pants rolled up to our knees.

Sieglinde was mobbed by a school group yesterday out front of the training site. They all had to practices their 2 or 3 words of English. The training is going great. 32 senior instructors from across the country. Very active group, lots of old faces from past trips, lots of old stories to re-tell in front of Sieglinde.

Today is the 66th anniversary of the founding of the national police, so I was called upon to make an inspirational speach (with 4 minutes notice) and present a ceremonial boquet of flowers to the senior class representative. Big round of applause. And what does this mean in practical terms...."friendship" luncheon with far too many vodka shots!