More Competitions

The next day were some of the physical competitions. Some of these included knot tying, wall jump, balance beam running, downing the uniform, running through a tunnel, and then using the fire hose and pumping. I was the pumper. Trust me, it was crazy hard. 

After some lunch, we went to the fire pit for the international competition. One student from each country was on each team. Here is our USA team, each wearing a different number for the different teams that we were assigned to. Everyone on my team was a Russian speaker, but I was thrilled to see the Russian boy on my team, who spoke a little English. There were 6 different tasks to complete.

Some of the tasks we were given, were to:

1.  Cross a bridge of thin wood while attached to a wire with a harness over the river. Then run through muddy woods, cut a log, then carry a man out on a stretcher.

2.  Throw or swing a weight attached to a rope past a buoy out on the water many times.

My team - Team 2

3.  Run through the woods, put on a uniform, then use a hose from a fire truck to knock basketballs off cones.

4.  Run out to the woods, find 2 victims, administer first aid, then carry them back to where we started the task.

5.  Get in a boat, row out on the water, pick up very heavy gas tanks with hooks from bottom of the flats.

6.  Go through the woods to a smoke filled tent and find 3 victims and carry them out safely (you can’t see anything in the tent). Don't worry, the smoke was non-gaseous and safe.

Each of the teams rotated from one station to the next. We were basically running for 3 hours, and the weather that day was cold and wet. It didn’t matter though because it was so much fun.

 

After dinner, we were working on our newspaper, which we needed to do by the morning. A disco (dance) was the activity for the evening. It was terrific dancing non stop, and hearing some totally new music. We all danced with our new friends.