Thursday, June 08, 2006
Talampaya
I’m back and ready to report on my weekend of Frisbee. I had a lot of fun on Saturday because I played well, and the team was consequently very nice to me. Then on Sunday, I had a bit of an off day, and the team wasn’t so nice. Not that they were mean, just not so friendly. I think that I have been spoiled by Chicago ultimate because most everyone I’ve played with there has been great. Now I expect all frisbee players to be super warm and inviting and welcoming and apparently its not necessarily that way. So perhaps I went in with too high of expectations, thinking everyone would treat me like I was their best friend within 10 minutes of meeting me. Luckily, there were a few of people who warmed up to me pretty quickly – especially the Canadian guy from Toronto, who didn’t seem quite as disgusted by my Americaness as the rest of the team. Also, surprisingly, the one French guy on the team was also very welcoming. But to the tournament. We won all three of our pool games on Saturday, won two of three on Sunday, and sadly lost both games on Monday and ended up 8th out of 32. Not a bad tournament, but it was not a great ending day.
Sunday night there was a great party. The theme was “Icarus’ Dream & Other Flying Elements.” I didn’t get dressed up, but some of the teams went all out. I actually ended up taking the bus to the party with a German team that were dressed as parachuters. They all had on white jumpsuits and little tarps tied to their backpacks. I looked so out of place with them – it’s probably the only time in my life that I will feel silly because I’m not wearing a white jumpsuit. I wish I had pictures to post of the cupids, and the flight attendants, and the hot air balloons, and the bees, and the penguins (yes I know penguins can’t fly, but it was a good effort). The costumes were all really great. And there was some tribal band, kind of Stomp-esque, that played at the beginning of the night, and they were really good. Plus once I got a couple of beers in me, I found that talking to my teammates was much easier. To add to my party fun, since I was on the hosting team, beer was only 1 franc or $.80. That’s a heck of a deal.
So that’s about it from the tournament. Since then, I’ve mostly been working a lot. We have a new group in at work – 34 people from 30 different countries. They should be interesting to have around.
Oh and something I forgot to mention earlier. Jawaid promised me a surprise on his last day here, which is today, so I have to confess that I’m very curious about what I’m going to get. I’m not as excited for the surprise as my roommate Eric, who thinks Jawaid is going to propose, but still rather anxious to find out what he’s got planned. I will fill ya’ll in tomorrow.
