Cucumber Eating Champion

I am the Kobayashi of cucumbers.

And here is my story.

It all starts with our International Management teacher pushing our test up one two days. Since our class is longer on Wednesdays than Fridays, he decided to give the test Wednesday. That means studying would have to be done Tuesday night.

I decided that I did not want to study, and I wanted to go to Home Church with my brother.

After we arrived, the hosts brought out cups filled with sugar, one for everyone there. I wondered, what on earth is going on? Then came plates filled with cucumbers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and big red spicy peppers. I thought “Uh-Oh”.

We had a race to finish the sugar and since I felt sort of sick, I decided to pretend to be eating it also.

The leader then says we are having an eating contest, and every team needs a representative for each vegetable. I quickly volunteered for the only veggie I thought I liked, the carrot.

The girl next to me claimed the carrot, so I quickly volunteered for the thing that would not make me super sick, the cucumber.

When it came to my turn, I was a little apprehensive but determined to eat that thing as quickly as humanly possible. I first bit into the cucumber and it was good. Then I shoved about a third of it in my mouth and crunched it.

The other people noticed the good head start I had and started chanting, “KEVIN! KEVIN!”.

It was the most glorious moment of my life.

Just kidding. But I did win (it helps that I have about 5 years on everybody there), and the cucumber was quite delicious also.

Larry the cucumber would be proud.

Also I think our team won every vegetable. It may have helped that our team of five had 2 guys with beards and myself.

When it came time for the pepper (called aji in Ecuador), people were ready to be sick. The one kid who always wears the same sweater actually threw up after downing that pepper. Another guy’s eyes turned really red and ate crackers like crazy after he was done.

Then after that fun game, we got down to business. The hosts brought out chips and sausages to dip in ketchup.

So what did all of this mean?

The 2 minute message was about Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” The sick vegetables were symbolizing trials we face in our Christian lives, and the chips/ketchup/sausage-links were representing heaven.

That verse makes you really wonder why people live for anything other than Christ, because Paul would know have written it unless Christ was unbelievable better than anything else.

Personally I would like to use the Bible more in the Home Church, although having fun and growing relationships by eating veggies is good too. I guess since Paul wanted to be all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), this is good. I think that since the age group is younger than I, this was a good idea.

Although the next time there is a food eating contest, can I get some pie or hotdogs or pizza or Magnums?

So did skipping studying hurt me? A little, but my boss didn’t come in the next afternoon so I studied then.

Recently, my favourite Psalm has been Psalm 1. Here it is:

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Quito and Galapagos Trip

Day 1: We flew from Cuenca to Quito and had a city tour of Quito. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is rich in culture and history. We saw a lot of historical sites and cathedrals.
In the afternoon, we went to the Equator line at a place called “Mitad del Mundo” (middle of the world). We first went to the “fake one”. A few hundred years ago, some French dudes thought they found the Equator and made a sweet monument there. Problem was, they were about 200m off target, but is a big tourist spot and still considered by most “Mitad del Mundo” even though it isn’t. We had to convince our driver to drive us to the real equator after, because what’s the point of going to the fake one? At the real one we learned about the history of Ecuador and some of the cool physics of the equator; namely the direction water flushes and how an egg balances.

Day 2: We went to Otavalo, the biggest market in all of South America. When you hear “biggest in _________” you generally think gargantuan. I was expecting a market 4 blocks by 4 blocks with tons of variety.

It’s funny how expectations don’t affect the real thing at all.

When we first got there, I realized that it was only about twice the size of the market in Cuenca (it was about one square block on the 2nd biggest day of the week)…and they all had the same classic “Ecuadorian Artesian” stuff. So I perused and found some sweet stuff for gifts and also bought a hammock. I thought the hour they gave us was way too small for the biggest market in South America, until I was done shopping after 20 minutes.
The best part of Otavalo was easily the llama fur tienda that we found towards the end. I almost bought some slippers made from genuine llama fur, but the $17 starting price wasn’t even dickering down.

Then we went to Cotacachi, a town that specializes in leather. I got a nice double sided (black/brown) belt for $10.


Day 3: First Galapagos day did not go as expected. We expected to arrive at Galapagos at 12pm and have the whole rest of the day to enjoy the islands, but a flight delay pushed us back to 4pm ish….and we really didn’t see much, unless you think the Quito airport is much.

We did go to the Charles Darwin Center to see some tortoises.

Day 4: Today we went on a boat to visit a sweet island (I don’t remember which one) where we went on a nature walk and saw iguanas and a vast array of the unique birds of Galapagos (yes including the blue footed booby). Then after the sweet walk, we went snorkelling and I saw a school of Dory fishes (the blue fish from Finding Nemo, no clue what they’re called). Also a friendly sea lion came by us and we hung out for a while. The sea lion would swim 6 inches away from my face and then spin around and swim around like crazy. That was flippin’ sweet.

After that we went to a beach and snorkelled some more, seeing more fish and sharks, and also a lone flamingo. And it was sunny and the perfect temperature. Thanks God!

Day 5: Second day involved going to see some tortoises in the wild in the morning, which was sweet.

In the afternoon, we went to Tortuga Bay and hiked around seeing wildlife and then we kayaked and saw a ton of sea turtles coming up for air, blue footed boobies diving in the water, and a shark.

Although day 5 was cloudy, I think it helped us not turn to lobsters.

Our tour guide Eduardo’s grandmother was the “Ice-Cream lady” for the Galapagos islands.
We ate so many Magnum ice cream bars this day because we finally found places with variety and we had to try all of the flavours that are not in Cuenca. I had 2, and a person remaining unnamed had 4 Magnums in one day. My absolute favourite is the Blanc (white chocolate covering chocolate ice cream) and the cookies and cream flavour.

It was also interesting hearing what life was like in a beautiful place that thrived on tourism from our tour guide. Hearing about introduced species of plants and animals hurting the environment was interesting to hear.

Day 6: Last day our “activity” was seeing a crater. It took 10 minutes and then we left. It was an awesome trip…but 2 days in the one of the most beautiful places on earth? I would have liked another 5 days at least, but I am thankful for the two days we had and am thankful that Taylor paid for those two days.

LINKS TO PICS:
~QUITO~
~GALAPAGOS~