Travel to Chatham-Kent

8/4/11

Today we traveled to Chatham-Kent, Canada, which is three hours away from Appleby College. The next round of matches for the Nation’s Cup will be played here. The reason for this is because rugby is spreading in this part of the world, and holding the even here brings more publicity for the sport. So, in a way, we are acting as ambassadors of rugby this weekend, which is very exciting.

What was not exciting was the trip here. It wasn’t bad, just not exciting, as I spent most of it in dreamland, with the occasional trip to Disney movieland or the fictional land of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Nausea” (a little light, existential reading for the trip).

Upon arriving in Chatham-Kent, we had, what was supposed to be, a light meal before dinner. They served us chicken, potatoes, steamed carrots, steamed broccoli, salad, pasta salad (two types) and bread for our light meal. For dinner, we had hors d’oeuvres. Apparently our match with Canada tomorrow has been dubbed the something-something-Kent-Cup, and we had a big ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, we were to mingle, and our mingling food consisted of sliders, shrimp, cucumbers, skewers, fruit and a few other finger food offerings.

Yes, they (and I’m not sure who “they” is) thought they could feed four rugby teams on finger foods. The servers were literally trying to sprint past hungry ruggers, who crowded around the entryway, in order to serve more hungry ruggers and attendees in the back of the room. When the mayor of Chatham-Kent asked, in the polite-host-like part of his welcome address, “Did you guys get enough to eat,” a groan resonated from the crowd, almost in unison, eerily echoing the sounds of our grumbling stomachs.

Despite the food set-back, we “got our eats on” when we returned to the hotel. Our awesome manager, took care of ordering some pasta for us, and now we are sated and nutritionally prepared to play Canada for the something-something-Kent-Cup tomorrow.