This morning Misty and I were expected to be at Mercy at 7:30 am. We arrived decked out on our respective colors (mine = blue, Misty = red). Most of the staff were there, scattered throughout the grounds in clusters of colors. Since I was on the blue team I wore my blue, one-size fits all, fisherman pants that one of my students gave me, and the Mickey Mouse polo that my accounting class gave me. I also had blue painted on my face.
I was given a very hippy skirt to add to my look as well as a bracelet and a necklace. Apparently I was going to be one of the cheerleaders. I could not look at myself without laughing. I would never wear any of these clothes at home, especially not in combination.
At 8:00 am all of the colors lined up in the streets behind their banners. My team’s motto was “Beautiful People, Big Hearts.” From here we danced behind a hired drumming band throughout the streets of the slum and on the main road. Instead of having police stop traffic, the security officers from Mercy stopped traffic and directed us. We blocked off one lane of traffic the whole route.
Pretty hot, eh? The things we would never do at home...
Marching through the streets.
This is one of my students. He was obviously supporting the red team.
We arrived at the school where 4 tents were set up to shelter us from the sun. Everyone lined up for the opening ceremonies and then the games begun! I cannot remember all of the games, so I am glad I made an effort to take pictures of them all. I will post a picture and try to describe what the activity was.
This is exactly what it looks like. They had to hit the golf ball from one side of the court to the other.
I also pulled for my team’s tug-of-war team. We won three of our 4 pulls and placed second overall. Unfortunately the pull we lost was the most important one. Tug-of-war is nothing like at home. Instead they try and fit as many people on the rope as possible, on both sides of the rope. My teammates suggested we do not wear shoes as we would have better grip on the concrete, however this also meant that those who did wear shoes stepped all over our feet.
Misty, making up some time for her team.
Musical Chairs.
Some people went all out.
I was one of 4 from my team entered in the Superman Race. This involved each of us putting on a superman cape, a helmet and big underwear, running across the area and switching with our other teammate on the other side. We had to run like superman, with our hands in the air. My team was in second place until our last runner lost the cape and did not realize, so we did not qualify.
In this race people had to dress up and push the tire down to the other side, and switch again.
Finally, my team entered me and 3 others in the eating contest. This was a huge step for me considering I do not like eating in front of people, and now I would be forced to stuff my face in a very unattractive way in front of 250 people. The contest was not like one I have seen on TV, but instead all 4 teammates had to do each station at the same time. Running between the stations we had to hold hands. Our first task was to wash our hands and face. Apparently this was to prevent the powder from sticking. The next station had a plate of powder on the floor that looked like flour and we had to blow the powder away to pick up the coins underneath it with our mouth. There was one coin for each teammate. As soon as you blew the powder it all came back in your face and when it mixed with the water it began to turn yellow. I could feel I had something all over my face, but it wasn’t until I looked at my teammates that I realized how ridiculous we looked. We grabbed hands, and with the money in between our lips we ran to the next station. Here was a whole watermelon, l cut up into 4 pieces. We all ripped it apart and started eating. I can honestly say I did not even notice any of the seeds. I was the first one done (thanks to being a fast eater) but ended up helping my teammates out by eating a quarter of theirs. On to the next station. Here was a bag of something, we ripped open the bag to find chili peppers, very long green beans, cabbage, and some kind of spicy noodle with unknown seafood species in it. I let my teammates dig away at the noodles after realizing how spicy it was, and I went for the rest. On to the next station. A whole chicken! We grabbed in and ripped it apart. I noticed my teammates were polite eaters so a lot of eyes were on me as I wolfed down the chicken, only half chewing the pieces. I seriously devoured half a chicken. It was so hard to eat it fast because I did not want it to come back up. Also, the chicken had a spicy kick to it that I had to be careful of. Finally, pop! We had to pour a liter of pop into cups and drink it. My teammates picked up some time here. Last station was to light a match and light our team’s candles. We weren’t thinking here as I pulled out one match at a time and we tried to light one candle. We should have grabbed a bunch and held all the candles together but when we thought of it, it was too late. It was hard to keep them going as the wind kept blowing them out.
Picking the coin out of the powder..
Wolfing down watermelon.
I am not sure what this was but it was incrediby spicy.
Stuffing my face with chicken.
I ate that whole piece...sick.
Now this is a look that would take me places....I had no idea my face looked like this until I saw this picture. This is all from the powder.
Pop time, finally to get the spice out my mouth.
Time to light the candles.
This whole get-up...just amazing.
At the end of the afternoon each team had to dance together for 5 minutes. This is our favorite security guard.
My team!The overall winner of the day was the yellow team, followed by the pink team, then my blue team and finally Misty’s red team.
Medals..the tire is classic.
In the afternoon I did my presentation for all of the teachers and the house parents at Mercy. I focused my presentation on working with Children with Autism, first describing what Autism is and then going into more detail on how we can communicate with these children. Thankfully my translator was very good in English and also had a medical background, so he was able to explain a lot of the technical terms. Some of the teachers and house parents could really relate and I was glad to see that some of the house parents in this building were taking notes. Overall it was a good presentation. I was asked to do another one in the future, so I will look into that. Maybe next time I will focus more on ADHD behaviors. One teacher expressed that they have students who are hyper and run away and when they come back they just get punished because they do not know what else to do with them.In the evening we went back to the school for a dinner. All of the staff at Mercy were invited. We were escorted to a table at the front, where we sat with some other members of the PR staff. We had front row seats to all of the signing and the dancing throughout the evening. Everyone had a number for draws throughout the entire evening. It was nice to see practical things as prizes, such as irons, electric fans, kettles, and a TV.
The theme of the evening was a Chinese table, which means that everyone sits at round tables and are served 10 different main courses and 1 dessert. The food kept coming for 3 hours, and we were running out of room on the table. Some of the highlights were fish that was cooking over a flame on the table, as well as rice, some kind of soup and salads. By the time dessert came around I was too full to try it (especially considering I did eat half a chicken before lunch).
Nitaya and Yord were the MC’s of the evening so it made for some entertainment. At one point I heard my name mentioned, so I asked P.Nut to translate for me. Apparently she made a comment about the politeness of my eating during the eating contest…my guess is there was a hint of sarcasm there. I probably looked like an animal.
Two of our favorite staff from the Aids hospice, Yord and his friend have been telling us for months now that they sing karaoke. Well tonight they showed us what they can do…all I can say is WoW!! Misty and I were both very impressed, and think they should try out for idol. We recorded their whole performance.
We had a wonderful day, and today was one of those days where I wish my time here would never end. Everyone came together and it felt like one large family. The energy that was present all day was unlike anything I have ever seen. I said to Misty that if we had such an event in Canada it would be only a few people participating, and many people would not stay for the whole thing, cheering and yelling from the sidelines.
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