Polar Bear Plunge

Starting Tuesday, our thirty students started arriving.  Luckily, the airport is about 3-5 miles away, as Jim has met every plane.  For a city of 1 million people, the airport itself is small.   (Think St. Cloud.)  By Wednesday evening - everyone had arrived safely.

Thursday morning, (Feb 2) I was up at my usual 5:00 a.m. rising time.  I look across the street at the beach, and see several swimmers in the ocean.  I'm curious.  I go to check - and sure enough, they are ours.  Apparently the night before, they had issued a "polar bear plunge" challenge for 5 a.m.  I didn't do the plunge, but I can attest that at least seven people did.  Oh - and did I mention it was raining?

Some students had never seen an ocean before.  And, unlike many Americans who start with the "usual suspects" -  the Atlantic or Pacific, they'll always be able to say that their first ocean was the Indian.  Cool!