Palagi Olympics

So what does a group of highly educated professionals (lawyers, librarians, engineers, environmentalists, researchers, information specialists, human resource directors, oh yeah and midwife) do for fun on an island in the middle of the South Pacific?






You got it! Compete!
At What? Games.
Involving what? Oh, maybe a little beer.

And what do you call it?

Palagi Olympics.

What's the harm of a little bacchanal every once in a while I say?
















Where's Markus in these photos you might ask? Oh, diving of course. Last minute invite to go out on a boat was not turned down for drunken silliness, go figure.








Prior to our opening game of Sloshball (you can refer to an earlier post for more details on this game, near and dear to my heart) teams were chosen via random pingpong ball selection. This game became very complicated to me at some point (perhaps around beer number three) as I was both playing first base and running to second at the same time. It took a couple of minutes to realize why all my teammates were yelling at me and waving there hands. Personally, I thought my run was quite good.

The next day we convened with matching uniforms (lava-lava's of course). Some were a bit more inventive than others.

























We chose our "country's" names.

And commenced to play.











Beer Relay (drink a beer, flip the cup)Our Team Won of Course!





























Rotten-Egg Toss
Interestingly many of the eggs bounced. I have no idea why.
Nate's didn't bounce off his face though.






























Astronaut Training
I was too dizzy to get any pictures

Three Legged Race
This was really fun. No pictures here either. Too busy trying to stay upright.
I think our team won but it was probably by cheating.

The NEVER ENDING BEER PONG











And lastly,
Pisupo Eating Contest (Pisupo is a general term used to discribe food that comes in a can. But it's also very specific to a nasty, high fat version of corned beef that is well loved in Samoa). It smells and tastes like what I imagine cat food to be like.


















What is very interesting in these games is the ability to challenge any win or decision simply because you want to (ah, lawyers, you got to hand it to them). The issue is not settled by reason or evidence, but by a version of roshambo (newt, roach, shoe). By the evening this concept can be problematic when combined with no food, lots of beer, and high competitive spirits. I still enjoyed myself immensely.

More photos on my flickr site.