Andy and the ant butts |
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As I mentioned on the previous page, Andy was the
marvelous guide we had while we spent a week in Townsville.
The students and I learned a lot from Andy. One of my
favorite stories of Andy started when we were swimming at a
water hole. The top photo on the left shows Andy (on the
left) with several of the other People to People staff. It
does not, however, show Kimi, the only female member of our
staff. Kimi and Andy had met at the beginning of the summer
and had developed into a "thing" before we arrived. On the
day in question, we had been swimming at a wonderful natural
watering hole. When done we all headed back to the bus to go
back to the hotel and clean up for our next destination.
Kimi and Andy lagged behind so that Kimi could change
clothes there (out of sight of the kids) and leave to
arrange our afternoon activities.
We arrived back at the bus and only had to wait a few
minutes for the two to get back. When they got on the bus,
Andy was laughing and Kimi was furious. She punched Andy
(playfully) and went to the back of the bus to fume. Andy
sat with Bruce, Mary, and I (the three leaders), laughing to
himself.
When asked what was so funny, Andy explained that one of
the benefits of the job was that all the meals were free. He
and Kimi had been living together for approximately four
weeks. Kimi was very worried that, because of the free food
they had been indulging in, she was getting fat. None of her
clothes fit any more.
It turns out that Andy, late at night when Kimi was asleep, had been
getting up and slowing sewing Kimi's cloths tighter and tighter, a little
bit at a time. He had also been replacing the labels in her T-shirts,
replacing barges with mediums.
For the life of him, Andy couldn't figure out why Kimi
was mad!
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The Mangrove |
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On our way to the story of the ant butts, we had an
experience that has lead me to think a great deal about how
we use technology. I often tell this story in my talks.
We were headed for a hill outside of Townsville to look
at some beaches and see if we could find some honey ants
(more about the ants in the next story). Andy, Kimi, Mary,
and I were walking along the beach with my ten kids. Kimi
was carrying a backpack with the day's water supply, 3 or 4
liters, a heavy load. She had evidently lost some bet with
Andy so she ended up being the one to carry it.
As we were walking along, Andy said to the kids, "I'll
bet you a week's worth of ice cream that Kimi can beat you
in a foot race to the Mangrove trees." If you've every
tasted Australian ice cream (99.9% fat content) you know how
attractive this bet was. All the kids took Andy up on the
bet. Andy lined them up, said "Ready, Set, and Go!" and they
were off.
Kimi started jogging down the beach at a very slow pace.
It was obvious to me that the kids were way ahead of Kimi
and she would never catch up. I said as much to Andy. He
turned, smiled at me and said, "Want to bet?"
I said "Sure!" Andy then asked me if any of the kids knew
what a Mangrove was! I looked down the beach just in time to
see Kimi turn into the Mangrove stand, which was only about
20 yards away, as my kids went merrily running down the
beach. They finally realized that they didn't know where
they were going and turned to come back.
Andy and Kimi enjoyed every day we bought them ice cream.
I learned from Andy a very practical example of Stephen
Covey's "Begin with the end in mind."
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Ant Butts |
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OK, you've been wondering about the ant butts. After
racing towards the Mangroves, we headed up the hill. We were
going to see the sights, study the geology of the island,
and learn how to do orienteering. Andy also mentioned that
we might find some honey ants. I'm not quite sure of the
biology and chemistry of this, but these particular ants'
rear ends carry a flavored nectar. If you "bite their butts
off," as Andy put it, "it taste like lemon."
So off we went to the top of the hill. The top photo
shows the actual "top of the hill" where there is a
wonderful lookout. The middle photo shows the wonderful view
of the beach on the other side of the island. (Andy forgot
to tell us it was a nude beach - fortunately none of the
kids brought binoculars.) The bottom photo shows Andy, Mel,
and one of the students from Oregon whose name I can't
remember practicing orienteering. It was a great learning
experience.
Oh yeah! We also found the ants! If you hold them real
carefully (to avoid their pinchers), and nip their little
butts off, they're quite tasty! |
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