lost by a bagel

Today was the third day (this was written two days ago) of Rocky Mountain Project Orientation. I have no internet connection so I’m typing this on my laptop in Microsoft Word. Handwriting this would be so tedious, but I do want to remember it. We had training for the first half of the day in evangelism, bible study, and conflict resolution. Such good training. I felt like my brain was a sponge trying to soak it all up. It was sorta like Winter Conference all over again. Except this will last for the next three months….If this is a sign of things to come, then… WOW.

The second half of the day we were split up into teams of six for the first annual Rocky Mountain Project Amazing Race. I was a proud member of team number four, affectionately known as the “Fantastic Fours”. We had a bit of a rocky start because I bumbled and thought we were going to the University of Calgary when we should have been headed NorthWest to Dalhousie station when the clue said “a university name”. It was fun trekking or should I say dashing across the city to all the different checkpoints.

We were in good shape at the beginning, coming in third. By the last checkpoint we were first. When we left the final checkpoint we were one subway ride ahead of everyone else, but alas there was a catch. Dinner needed to be eaten in order to win the race. Heading to the nearest Wendy’s, after we got off the C-train, we faced a lineup that seemed to last forever. We tried getting to the front of the line without any luck so we decided to boot it to the nearest Co-op to get something…anything. And the first “anything” that we grabbed was a six-pack of bagels, which we proceeded to shove into our mouths as we ran off to the finish line. We reached the finish line with the bagels still 90% undigested. The staff were adamant that we finish our “dinner” as they stood us out of the way to finish our bagels while waiting for the other teams to arrive. Some were helpful, encouraging us to chew and swallow. Others heckled good-naturely, pushing our buttons, while keeping a watchful eyes on the bagel bits that were falling on the ground….Ok so I tried to cheat. I lack good sportsmanship.

Sharing half a small nalgene bottle of water between the six of us, we chewed, gagged, and sometimes swallowed our one bagel, hoping that no one would show up, but someone did. The underdog. The last team to the first checkpoint. The second team to arrive, but the first to have had eaten their dinner. So the Fantastic Fours lost….by a bagel. I’ve hated bagels before this, and I’ve never hated them more. It’s just as bad as trying to eat saltine crackers really fast.