12 April 2006

Championship Weekend

(Countdowns: Class days - 12, Days until last exam - 29, Days to leave the island - 33)

In defense of the countdowns, it's not that I particularly do not like it here; it's more that I'm not home. It definitely begins to take a toll on one's abilities when one is missing the comforts of home, e.g., a couch, your own bed, home-cooked meals, the Masters on t.v., etc. Down here, the rut of daily living is just incredible.

The good news? That all changed on Friday night. For some reason, this weekend was a hyped weekend here at SGU. Perhaps the other terms were finishing up an exam, getting ready for the next topic, or whatever, I'm not quite sure, but there was some excitement to say the least.

Let me begin on Friday (7 April) evening. An evening like any other, until the beginning of the semi-annual "SGU Dodgeball Tournament". You heard correctly, dodgeball. Not only that, but this was billed as the "Biggest Tournament of the Semester!" I'm not so sure I can attest to that, having only been here for (almost) one semester, but it was mildly impressive to say the least. After receiving all the entries (at least 2o teams), it was go time on the basketball courts.

To briefly explain, our basketball courts are almost completely surrounded by a high fence in order to prevent the loss of basketballs to the ocean area. This makes the two side-by-side courts ideal for two separate dodgeball arenas. So, two matches take place at once and the crown goes wild and there is music and barbeque and intensity to rival any other. My team ('Ketone Bodies' - a new biochemistry term about which we all recently learned) was composed exclusively of 1st termers. It turns out, this is a distinct disadvantage!

We drew the popular, and "large", Team Vetch, composed exclusively of veterinary students who are finishing their 3rd year of classes on the island. This means that they are well-versed in the ways of the dodgeball craze currently sweeping the campus. We are about to be overpowered. The good news? We were told the rules appropriately. The bad news? We were told the rules appropriately after the match was over after we complained that we didn't know the rules.

Surprisingly enough, this would come back to haunt us in the end. We had one player left (not me) and they had two. Sadly, they caught one of his throws and it was all over from there. But, it was not without controversy as it turns out the refs (there were four of them - this is serious stuff, people!) were also vet-students. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do at this point. To add insult to injury, it was single-elimination. So, after a glorious, but short, effort, we were off to the dorms and more studying. But, now that we have experienced the phenomenon, we will be back with a vengeance like no other in our 2nd term. And we will probably have better head-bands next time (the store only had plain-old red/black, and, yes, we wore them with pride).

For our second championship of the weekend, I would like to congratulate the UW for now owning both the men's and women's NCAA hockey titles. How I could have possibly missed the party in Milwaukee is beyond me, but I suppose that is some punishment for something I've done in the past.

Our third championship took place on Sunday. Although many of you are thinking, The Masters, you would be mistaken. I am referring to the 'First Annual SGU Golf Tournament'. That is correct, there is a nine-hole course on the island and it’s crazy. At least five holes cross another hole, and some holes have greens in the woods that cannot be seen from anything less than 50 yards away. It was awesome. My future roommates for next term (I'll refer to them anonymously as Andy and Jeff) and I had tee-times for 7.00am. We thought that we were in for a win when everyone else on the bus was reeling from the 80's party the previous night (which we had sadly missed).

Boy were we wrong. On the first hole, we all lost a ball. In our defense, our caddy (a member of the group hosting the fund-raiser) did not even know where to find the tee or the green. In his defense, the tees aren't marked, and the greens aren't either. So, it was a challenge just to get to the tee-box. After the first few holes, we just had him play with us and paid a couple of local kids EC$20 to carry the only bag of clubs we had to share. Some words of advice from our new caddy:
- "You didn't hit it far enough. I told you it was a different club." (When the ball landed short of the green.)
- "I told you to hit it hard enough so it will get to the hole." (When the putts fell short.)
- "You hit it into the woods." (I think you can guess this one.)
- "You are in the sand-trap." (I think you get the point.)

Anyway, it was a great time; we played nine-holes, made some money for the Clinical Research Society and got free lunch. We are more than prepared to play in this outing again next year! And if it weren't for the first hole, we would have been leading the way!

Finally, although this occurred on Tuesday, it was a championship moment. They have an annual professor auction to benefit the local hospital and some professors offer up certain dinners and trips and whatnot to raise money. Four of us got together to buy one of our professor's offers: home-cooked meal by his wife, at their house, of our choice. Last year they had t-bones with lobster bisque, salads, apple pie and ice cream. Think we're excited about this prospect at all? His wife's cooking is apparently famous at the university and this meal usually is the best seller at the annual auction, we are feeling ready at any moment to go knocking on his door.

Anyway, make sure you are eating enough zinc and vitamin B6, otherwise you will never be able to digest your amino acids properly, and this could you some serious problems.

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