Learning with Tom

Making friends in Barcelona with Floyd the inflatable flamingo

Making friends in Barcelona with Floyd the inflatable flamingo

This week I tested a new hypothesis: I learned that it’s significantly easier to make friends in a foreign country when you bring a giant, inflatable pink flamingo along for the ride. You don’t even have to speak the language.

I met Floyd at the AECT conference last week in Long Beach, and we hit it right off so I asked for permission to bring my new friend to Barcelona to attend the Open Ed 2010 conference as well as Mozilla’s Drumbeat Festival. Even the airport security guards smiled a little. Several TSA agents gathered and talked quietly, looking over at Floyd from time to time. Mostly, they just couldn’t decide what to do.

I took lots of pictures. Here are some favorites of me and my favorite pink friend meeting lots of nice people in Barcelona. Floyd will be in Jacksonville, Florida next year for AECT 2011. He wanted you to know.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, I built my own battery pack from parts at Radio Shack so Floyd could go wireless. I wanted him to have the full beach experience.

One thought on “Making friends in Barcelona with Floyd the inflatable flamingo

  1. Ana Donaldson

    As Floyd’s official Mom, I’m glad to hear he is seeing the world. As the ambassador for AECT’s convention next year in Jacksonville, Fl (Nov. 8-12, 2011), our inflatable pink friend is a great way to spread the word. Thanks Tom for helping him to make new friends.

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