Wild and Wacky Weekend of Sports!

A couple of weekends ago, the teachers were all told we had to participate in the 17^th annual Maple Leaf Staff Sports Meet on a Saturday. Mandatory attendance. Sigh....

In any case, Kristen got kitted out in her lovely red oversized cotton t-shirt which was the uniform of the Senior High Teachers and was down at the field by 8:20am on Saturday. Paul, sporting the fancy shiny (but incredibly tight for XXL) adidas track pants, fluorescent yellow and blue polo shirt and white adidas hat  that the Junior High somehow had the budget for was down there by 8:00 to practice marching with his team. All the teacher marched in at the opening ceremonies- Kindergarten teachers, Foriegn National School teachers, Elementary School teachers, Middle School teachers and High school teachers. Some groups- like Paul’s mostly Chinese (except for him) contingent of Junior High Teachers- marched and sang marching tunes (in Chinese... Paul just tried not to get out of step). Others, like the High School Teachers (mostly Canadian) just walked in yawning and waving. We marched past the gallery of the track bleachers where dignataries like Sherman Jen (the owner of Maple Leaf Schools) and the superintendent and principals were sitting. After some speeches we started competing- each school staff against the others.

Dodgeball, running, high and long jump, relay races, Frisbee toss, tug of war, etc. All of these events and more were ferociously contested in the scorching heat- it was maybe 25 degrees celcius with little shade around. Even though he hadn’t signed up to compete, Paul was enlisted for the Junior High School and went on to fail miserably at long jump. However he redeemed himself by single-handedly winning the team Frisbee toss. His teammates scored zero points in the toss (out of a possible 45) but Paul scored perfect scores by accurately all five of his Frisbees into the center circle of a target 50 feet away. Which meant he won a mug and a towel, and his teammates (who also got mugs and towels) were pretty happy with him.

This is the viewing platform where the head honchoes sit. That is the owner in the middle.

Goofy outfit.... probably. Undeniable skill with a disc... definitely.

All in all, it turned out to be a pretty fun day, but not nearly as fun as the next day, when the Ultimate Frisbee tournament took place. The Ultimate club was split into two teams, and two teams from Dalian University came to play as well. Naturally some teachers were recruited to form two other teams, so a real tournament was possible. Paul coerced Kristen into playing, and they formed a crucial part of the less stacked teacher team (one team had all the P.E. teachers and had obviously played together before. It was easy to tell by the nicknames and plays they were yelling while playing J). Kristen twisted her knee pretty good when she launched herself to make a catch, but braced it up and kept playing ‘cause she’s a machine.

In the end, the team won zero games and no mugs or towels. Kristen hurt her knee. Paul came away with just a wicked field burn on his knee and an even better sunburn. Two days later he was about six shades darker, which prompted some of his students to ask him “Mr. B, why are you so black?”

Yes. Mr. B, why are you so black?