I woke up to the sound of someone's alarm clock around 6:30 a.m. Knowing we had a full day of plans ahead of us, I decided to lace up my running shoes and fit an early workout in before people started waking up. I ran for about half an hour or so and then I went back to that park off of Argyle Street to do some pushups and situps. Then, I returned to the hostel, showered up, grabbed breakfast, and rushed out the door with my fellow students.
We were all wearing white t-shirts that said "Tiffin University Olympic Academic Experience." Today was the day that was planned almost a year in advance. Today was our "Day with the Olympians" program, which would give us the opportunity to work with impoverished children in London, participate in fun competitions, meet former Olympians and listen to their tales and speeches, and enjoy a high-class dinner banquet at the end of the day. It's a good thing I ran earlier, because I needed all the preparation in the world for this day.
We took the train over to Oxford Circus, where we would be for about two and a half hours before meeting up to go to the Olympic Reunion Center. This gave the guys an opportunity to purchase some dress clothes for tonight's banquet. I bought a black tie and a blue and white button-down shirt from a place called H&M, and then I bought a V-neck sweater vest (Jim Tressel style) at another place called BHS. Afterwards, I walked around Oxford Circus with Chris Wolcott and James Walton, looking at the different stores. We went inside a sick-looking place called Niketown, which featured all kinds of state-of-the-art Nike merchandise. It was awesome, but I chose to look rather than to buy. Then, we went into an ENORMOUS entertainment store called HMV. It was essentially the UK version of Best Buy. We ventured into a couple of smaller stores until we decided to grab some lunch. With little time, we went to McDonalds for some quick eats. Afterward, we headed over to the center of Oxford Circus, where we reunited with the rest of the group. However, after waiting for about half an hour, we never found Laura Jack or Leslie Greer. The whole group was about to leave, so I volunteered to stick around with someone who would know there way to the center to see if they would ever come. I received directions from Beth Clark and hung around the area for another fifteen minutes with Colleen Oakes. We were making our way toward the steps of the underground station when Laura and Leslie crossed the street. We got their attention, and Leslie said, "Great, we're exactly one minute early!" Colleen and I told her that we were actually meeting up at 12:30, not 12:45 (easy mistake to make). The four of us descended into the metro station and took the train to St. James' Park. Following the directions written in the front cover of my new Gospel book by J.D. Greear, we were able to catch up with the rest of the group just in time. How fitting for a book about the Gospel to be the object that guides us toward our destination!!!
We all stood in a line on the side of this plain-looking building. This center was actually located in the heart of a military barracks, filled with plenty of soldiers and city officials. We all signed in and received passes to enter, then we were escorted to a large room with lots of windows, couches, open space, and a TV. This would be the room where we would spend time with the children and compete in our color-war competitions. While we waited, Bonnie assigned all of us to teams and assigned captains of those teams (which were the grad students). She assigned me to the red team, which we later decided would be the "Congo." The team consisted of me, Leslie, Chris, Professor Hatlem, and Darci Santella (the captain), along with five different children. We competed against three other teams: Jamaica (black), Brazil (purple(?)), and Thailand (Blue). We looked at the list of competitions and decided where to place everyone. Leslie took the planking and pushup challenges, Darci took football bowling, Chris took the broad jump, and I was left with the limbo competition. When the children showed up, we talked to them and got to know them a little bit. We played some icebreaker games with the children in our group. We also managed to assign our five children (who were actually between the ages of 13 and 18) to the six different events. We began the competition with a simple game of clustering with a specific number of people (whatever number that Bonnie called out) until there were four people left. Finally, we were treated to a couple of rousing speeches by two former Olympians: a decathlon runner from the Caribbean and a swimmer from the Netherlands. To quote the Dutch swimmer: "My Olympic flame is still burning bright, and I will never, ever let it die."
Let the games begin!!!
We began with the plank competition. Leslie held tough for a while, but dropped out at third place. Colleen edged Frankie Lazarra for the gold. Our child, Hannika, fell just short of gold (this became a theme for us, which was bad because the only points that were counted were golds). Next was the broad jump. Chris lost the title by inches to Zack Skove. Hannika, the little trooper, decided to participate in this competition as well. Her great effort earned her the team MVP award. Next came football bowling. Darci had trouble hitting pins, but a lot of the competitors did as well. I think Derek Sanderson won. Our child, Imaani, forced a bowl-off, but fell short of gold. Then came the limbo. I failed miserably (what did you expect?) and Bonnie's daughter Katie won the title. Our child, Rosie, was EXTREMELY athletic and advanced very far. She dropped out as the game wore on, however, thereby continuing our team's streak of misfortune. Next was the one-leg stand. Phil was the first to drop, and Kevin Baron edged Laura to win gold. Our child (her name escapes me) fell short for us. The last competition was the push-up competition. Leslie wanted me to compete, and I gladly accepted. I was determined to atone for my limbo failure and win our team's first gold. However, I had stiff competition: Allie Quast (an all-american lacrosse player), Zack Skove (big dude), and Rocky Sites (bigger dude). I had managed to about 34 pushups (slowly; it was by up-down cadence) before my arms gave up and I fell to the ground. Rocky had managed to win the title. Our last child, Josiah, could not get the job done for us either. We tried to gain some points in a trivia competition afterward, but again we were unlucky. Team Brazil ended up winning the team title. We awarded Rosie with the Most Athletic award for our team and Imaani won the 100% effort award. Even though we left empty-handed, we put forth a solid effort and made a lot of younger friends in the process.
Following these competitions, we received a special visit from the Queen's Guard (i.e., the guys who wear red coats and big black hats). We crowded around and took pictures with the men. Some of the students even asked to wear the hats. It was funny seeing them try to put on these hats that did not fit them at all. After this, the children left, and it was time for us to get changed for the banquet. We all filed into the restroom and put on our spiffy attire. Later, we took a group photo in our new digs and went over the the royal mess. We placed all of our stuff in a waiting room, then filed into a fancy room with a free bar. I ordered a gin and tonic (cheers!) and later on a (very skunky) Foster's draught. Chris, whose 21st birthday was today, was almost denied getting a drink despite showing his ID. It was an odd situation, but it was resolved shortly. We were also treated to some delicious h'orderves before filing into the next room, which featured the actual dinner food. Pasta, rice, chicken, pork, salad, and dessert. Yum! We were also treated to the Olympics on TV. We saw Lochte JUST miss out on medaling in the 200 freestyle.
After dinner, a group of former Olympians appeared, giving some more speeches and hanging around to talk with us. We took pictures and mingled in a different bar close to the room where we kept our stuff. I talked to a former British Olympian who participated in the 1998, 2002, and 2006 games in Luge and another sport. He talked to me about his favorite Olympics, which was 2006 in Torino, and his least favorite, which was 2002 in Salt Lake City. He confessed to being non-theistic, and he said that a lot of people in London were not religious because they believed that society and education prosper more without it. After hearing this, I went into the room with our stuff and prayed that more people in Europe would discover Jesus Christ and proclaim Him as their Lord and Savior.
In the other bar, we hung out, drank, and watched the Olympics for a while longer. I downed a shot of Jack Daniels with some of the guys, but I was getting very tired. I decided that I wanted to head back, so I grabbed my stuff and left with Colleen and Phil, who both wanted to leave as well. I left in such a haste because I was tired and my back was hurting from all the standing we did that day. Unfortunately, that was not the best thing to do...
We were escorted out of the building by a soldier, and as we were signing off, I remembered that I had Laura's sweatshirt and clothes from earlier in my backpack. I offered to keep them in my bag for safekeeping, but I had forgotten to take them back to her.
That was not the only thing I forgot.
When we returned to the hostel via the metro, I wrote a letter (Darci wrote the letter, I told her what to write) to Laura proclaiming how sorry I was that I forgot to return her stuff (I thought I would be asleep by the time she returned). As I was looking through my backpack, however, I came to a grim realization:
My camera was missing.
I looked EVERYWHERE through my backpack and my camera case. I checked my pants pockets and I checked the floor. I checked everywhere. The camera was nowhere to be found. I was LIVID with myself. I had made a promise to my parents that I would not lose anything on this trip, but I had failed miserably. The irony is that I lost my friend's digital camera the last time I was in Europe because I had a bag stolen from me in an internet cafe in Barcelona. I prayed that the camera was safe and that someone would return it when the others came back from the center.
As the others returned, I found out that no one saw or had the camera with them. I talked to Bonnie, and she said that she would e-mail the manager of the center in the morning. All the while, I was making plans to visit Oxford University with Laura, Leslie, and Phil tomorrow. These would have to be canceled because of my new dilemma. I decided that tomorrow, I would take on the role of Sherlock Holmes and attempt to track down the lost item.
We'll see just how "elementary" this search ends up being
We were all wearing white t-shirts that said "Tiffin University Olympic Academic Experience." Today was the day that was planned almost a year in advance. Today was our "Day with the Olympians" program, which would give us the opportunity to work with impoverished children in London, participate in fun competitions, meet former Olympians and listen to their tales and speeches, and enjoy a high-class dinner banquet at the end of the day. It's a good thing I ran earlier, because I needed all the preparation in the world for this day.
We took the train over to Oxford Circus, where we would be for about two and a half hours before meeting up to go to the Olympic Reunion Center. This gave the guys an opportunity to purchase some dress clothes for tonight's banquet. I bought a black tie and a blue and white button-down shirt from a place called H&M, and then I bought a V-neck sweater vest (Jim Tressel style) at another place called BHS. Afterwards, I walked around Oxford Circus with Chris Wolcott and James Walton, looking at the different stores. We went inside a sick-looking place called Niketown, which featured all kinds of state-of-the-art Nike merchandise. It was awesome, but I chose to look rather than to buy. Then, we went into an ENORMOUS entertainment store called HMV. It was essentially the UK version of Best Buy. We ventured into a couple of smaller stores until we decided to grab some lunch. With little time, we went to McDonalds for some quick eats. Afterward, we headed over to the center of Oxford Circus, where we reunited with the rest of the group. However, after waiting for about half an hour, we never found Laura Jack or Leslie Greer. The whole group was about to leave, so I volunteered to stick around with someone who would know there way to the center to see if they would ever come. I received directions from Beth Clark and hung around the area for another fifteen minutes with Colleen Oakes. We were making our way toward the steps of the underground station when Laura and Leslie crossed the street. We got their attention, and Leslie said, "Great, we're exactly one minute early!" Colleen and I told her that we were actually meeting up at 12:30, not 12:45 (easy mistake to make). The four of us descended into the metro station and took the train to St. James' Park. Following the directions written in the front cover of my new Gospel book by J.D. Greear, we were able to catch up with the rest of the group just in time. How fitting for a book about the Gospel to be the object that guides us toward our destination!!!
We all stood in a line on the side of this plain-looking building. This center was actually located in the heart of a military barracks, filled with plenty of soldiers and city officials. We all signed in and received passes to enter, then we were escorted to a large room with lots of windows, couches, open space, and a TV. This would be the room where we would spend time with the children and compete in our color-war competitions. While we waited, Bonnie assigned all of us to teams and assigned captains of those teams (which were the grad students). She assigned me to the red team, which we later decided would be the "Congo." The team consisted of me, Leslie, Chris, Professor Hatlem, and Darci Santella (the captain), along with five different children. We competed against three other teams: Jamaica (black), Brazil (purple(?)), and Thailand (Blue). We looked at the list of competitions and decided where to place everyone. Leslie took the planking and pushup challenges, Darci took football bowling, Chris took the broad jump, and I was left with the limbo competition. When the children showed up, we talked to them and got to know them a little bit. We played some icebreaker games with the children in our group. We also managed to assign our five children (who were actually between the ages of 13 and 18) to the six different events. We began the competition with a simple game of clustering with a specific number of people (whatever number that Bonnie called out) until there were four people left. Finally, we were treated to a couple of rousing speeches by two former Olympians: a decathlon runner from the Caribbean and a swimmer from the Netherlands. To quote the Dutch swimmer: "My Olympic flame is still burning bright, and I will never, ever let it die."
Let the games begin!!!
We began with the plank competition. Leslie held tough for a while, but dropped out at third place. Colleen edged Frankie Lazarra for the gold. Our child, Hannika, fell just short of gold (this became a theme for us, which was bad because the only points that were counted were golds). Next was the broad jump. Chris lost the title by inches to Zack Skove. Hannika, the little trooper, decided to participate in this competition as well. Her great effort earned her the team MVP award. Next came football bowling. Darci had trouble hitting pins, but a lot of the competitors did as well. I think Derek Sanderson won. Our child, Imaani, forced a bowl-off, but fell short of gold. Then came the limbo. I failed miserably (what did you expect?) and Bonnie's daughter Katie won the title. Our child, Rosie, was EXTREMELY athletic and advanced very far. She dropped out as the game wore on, however, thereby continuing our team's streak of misfortune. Next was the one-leg stand. Phil was the first to drop, and Kevin Baron edged Laura to win gold. Our child (her name escapes me) fell short for us. The last competition was the push-up competition. Leslie wanted me to compete, and I gladly accepted. I was determined to atone for my limbo failure and win our team's first gold. However, I had stiff competition: Allie Quast (an all-american lacrosse player), Zack Skove (big dude), and Rocky Sites (bigger dude). I had managed to about 34 pushups (slowly; it was by up-down cadence) before my arms gave up and I fell to the ground. Rocky had managed to win the title. Our last child, Josiah, could not get the job done for us either. We tried to gain some points in a trivia competition afterward, but again we were unlucky. Team Brazil ended up winning the team title. We awarded Rosie with the Most Athletic award for our team and Imaani won the 100% effort award. Even though we left empty-handed, we put forth a solid effort and made a lot of younger friends in the process.
Following these competitions, we received a special visit from the Queen's Guard (i.e., the guys who wear red coats and big black hats). We crowded around and took pictures with the men. Some of the students even asked to wear the hats. It was funny seeing them try to put on these hats that did not fit them at all. After this, the children left, and it was time for us to get changed for the banquet. We all filed into the restroom and put on our spiffy attire. Later, we took a group photo in our new digs and went over the the royal mess. We placed all of our stuff in a waiting room, then filed into a fancy room with a free bar. I ordered a gin and tonic (cheers!) and later on a (very skunky) Foster's draught. Chris, whose 21st birthday was today, was almost denied getting a drink despite showing his ID. It was an odd situation, but it was resolved shortly. We were also treated to some delicious h'orderves before filing into the next room, which featured the actual dinner food. Pasta, rice, chicken, pork, salad, and dessert. Yum! We were also treated to the Olympics on TV. We saw Lochte JUST miss out on medaling in the 200 freestyle.
After dinner, a group of former Olympians appeared, giving some more speeches and hanging around to talk with us. We took pictures and mingled in a different bar close to the room where we kept our stuff. I talked to a former British Olympian who participated in the 1998, 2002, and 2006 games in Luge and another sport. He talked to me about his favorite Olympics, which was 2006 in Torino, and his least favorite, which was 2002 in Salt Lake City. He confessed to being non-theistic, and he said that a lot of people in London were not religious because they believed that society and education prosper more without it. After hearing this, I went into the room with our stuff and prayed that more people in Europe would discover Jesus Christ and proclaim Him as their Lord and Savior.
In the other bar, we hung out, drank, and watched the Olympics for a while longer. I downed a shot of Jack Daniels with some of the guys, but I was getting very tired. I decided that I wanted to head back, so I grabbed my stuff and left with Colleen and Phil, who both wanted to leave as well. I left in such a haste because I was tired and my back was hurting from all the standing we did that day. Unfortunately, that was not the best thing to do...
We were escorted out of the building by a soldier, and as we were signing off, I remembered that I had Laura's sweatshirt and clothes from earlier in my backpack. I offered to keep them in my bag for safekeeping, but I had forgotten to take them back to her.
That was not the only thing I forgot.
When we returned to the hostel via the metro, I wrote a letter (Darci wrote the letter, I told her what to write) to Laura proclaiming how sorry I was that I forgot to return her stuff (I thought I would be asleep by the time she returned). As I was looking through my backpack, however, I came to a grim realization:
My camera was missing.
I looked EVERYWHERE through my backpack and my camera case. I checked my pants pockets and I checked the floor. I checked everywhere. The camera was nowhere to be found. I was LIVID with myself. I had made a promise to my parents that I would not lose anything on this trip, but I had failed miserably. The irony is that I lost my friend's digital camera the last time I was in Europe because I had a bag stolen from me in an internet cafe in Barcelona. I prayed that the camera was safe and that someone would return it when the others came back from the center.
As the others returned, I found out that no one saw or had the camera with them. I talked to Bonnie, and she said that she would e-mail the manager of the center in the morning. All the while, I was making plans to visit Oxford University with Laura, Leslie, and Phil tomorrow. These would have to be canceled because of my new dilemma. I decided that tomorrow, I would take on the role of Sherlock Holmes and attempt to track down the lost item.
We'll see just how "elementary" this search ends up being
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