Crossroads Olympics

So I get stupidly excited for the Olympics and obviously we recently had the Sochi Winter Olympics. I was fortunate enough to watch a limited amount of exciting hockey but was able to catch mostly everything else, including the not so exciting curling. I think maybe the broadcasters were a little confused on the exciting sports because I saw way more curling than hockey. At Crossroads I decided that it would be fun to do a mini Olympics. I informed about 40 teens that we were going to do this Olympics activity, but I first wanted to know if any of them knew where the current Olympics were taking place. Not one teen in the room knew. This was interesting to me but I guess I can understand because South Africa does not participate in the Winter Olympics.

I told the teens that they had until a certain day to come up with a team of 4 and have a team name. They would need to make a poster for the “Opening Ceremonies” to show off their team and they would receive points for it. We ended up having 4 teams, equaling 16 participants and a number of spectators.

Our first activity was of course the “Opening Ceremonies” the teams were announced and their posters were judge by Dan (another PCV), Bennie my counterpart, and myself. One teen, Sisana, from Crossroads volunteered to help be a judge and she was very helpful. We had judge cards like they use to do in the Olympics with a score of 10, 9, or 8. That part was really funny and the teens got a kick out of it. Thanks to Dan for the great suggestion!

Our second activity was to have the teams blow up a balloon one at a time until it popped, then the next teammate would go and they would continue until all of their balloons were popped. This was exciting, very noisy, and scary!

The third activity involved each team getting an initial clue. This clue would lead them to a place within the teen centre, which would then lead them to another place. They would continue with finding clues until all 11 clues were solved. For example, one clue said “open this and you can get lost in another world,” they would find this next clue in the library. The teens really enjoyed this activity and it really got their minds working together.

The fourth activity was a basic push up contest. They were able to pick one person from their team to do the most push-ups in one minute. They were all very noisy cheering each other on.

The fifth activity was a bit challenging. They were instructed to push a roll of toilet paper across the room and back; but the catch was they had to use a plunger (new of course) without using their hands. Once they got back to their line the next person would go until everyone in their team had participated. This was hilarious, frustrating for them, and so fun to watch! It was neat to see how they were trying to figure out the best way to do it. It was really cool to watch them all encouraging each other and laughing hysterically.

The last activity was our “Closing Ceremonies.” I had made Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards and they each had a treat on them. They also received “roadies” (points used in the teen centre tuck shop” for participating.

It was a super fun activity and it was perfect for a Friday activity. It encouraged positive communication with their team, leadership, dedication to their team, and positive sportsmanship. It also made them more aware of the Winter Olympics that were happening in Sochi.

I myself have been keeping busy with athletics. With several of my friends, I participated in my first long swim in the Midmar Mile Race. This is the world’s largest open water swim. It was very hard and very choppy but I am glad I did it and finished it. I also participated in KwaZulu Natal’s most beautiful Marathon and Half Marathon in Peitermartizburg. I did the half marathon with Bennie and I was really happy about it. Then we were silly enough to do another half marathon in Richards Bay the following week.

Things are coming to an end at my site and I have one more book handover on Saturday and then all of my projects are closed up. I will write a separate blog post about the libraries next week and I am so happy with how they have turned out!

I have 11 days until I get to see my daddy and my mommy and I couldn’t be more excited. Other than being excited to see everyone I am experiencing more emotions than I thought possible to experience at one time: nervous, sad, happy, anxious, terrified, and a bunch of others that I just simply can’t explain. I look forward to the next chapter of my life and so thankful to have had such an amazing experience in this one.