Rugby Recap

Thank goodness for point form...

Rugby
-tough competition...many players from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe even Fiji...best level of rugby I've ever been involved with.
-I had the chance to play several games with a team from Hong Kong called "Tequila Mockingbirds"...clever team name...they were great guys, we won some games and they let me keep the jersey
-well organized tournament...32 teams...big name sponsors like Gatorade...tents, chairs, coolers for each team...punctual
-we (the Baboons) lost all of our games on Saturday...but made a charge on Sunday that ended with a loss to Kowloon in the B-side final also known as the "Plate Final"

Manila
-big...crowded...lots traffic
-visible class differences...rich neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods
-armed guards...men with shotguns in front of several businesses...one even let us take pictures with the gun
-hot hot hot...it must have been somewhere in the 36-37 degree range and my peeling skin is proof of that...I decided I didn't need sunscreen the first day and that was a bad choice
-English is one of the national languages so it was nice to be able to communicate everywhere we went

Debauchery
-cheap beer...80 cents a bottle...that was a delight for me and my moderate drinking but it was trouble for many guys who don't know when to stop
-girls...by girls I mean working girls...whores, prostitutes...they were everywhere...in the bus that picked us up from the airport, in the hotel pool, in the bars we went to, at the rugby field, in the hotel restaurant...this is a main highlight for most of the participants in this rugby tournament...my teamates were all over them...confession: I did see a few topless girls, but it was swrong place wrong time situation not something I sought out...I naively thought that there was a "here" and "there"...the regular things like the hotel, the restaurants, the pool were "here" and the strip bars, whore houses, dirty shows were "there" and as long as I stayed "here" and didn't go "there" it would all work out well but that was not the case...there was no here and there, the sexual sin was everywhere. I'm a normal man and can be captivated but I have to be honest and say that the girls didn't lure me...I was heart broken inside thinking about why these girls were in this business, how they felt about themselves, if they knew any kind of real love (from God or any decent people)...I kept looking for an opportunity to talk to the girls and get to know who they were as people but I never got the nerve up to start any conversations, it seemed like they were always "working" and didn't have time for real conversations

Funny Stuff
-there's this one guy on our team who would take his shirt off everywhere we went...after a couple of drinks the shirt would go...he won the "Ron Jeremy Award" for the weekend, if you don't understand that I'm not explaining
-The Hobbit House...that was the name of a restaurant we went to where the entire staff were midgets...I couldn't believe it...blew my mind...it was so funny...hard not run into them all the time...the ceiling was even low...My friend and I took a photo holding the manager up in the air
-my fellow Saskatchewanite did the obligatory rugby streak...nothing like a 6'5" lanky white dude running around a field naked in Asia
-our tour costume...we all dressed up as Waldo from "Where's Waldo?" although the Filipinos kept calling us Santa Claus

All in all it was a good time. Played a lot of rugby and got to know my team a lot better. I'm not sure I'll go again because the extra activities are not really up my alley. The team also goes on tour to Bali and that is a girlfriends/wives/family trip so Nevada and I will probably do that next year. I just like playing rugby, it's great to be a part of a team and get a chance to get out on the field for some exercise and fun..