A little exercise does the body good

Today there was a local sports / exercise festival. It was going to be last weekend, but it got postponed due to rain. It was at a small park less than 10 minutes walk away. It seemed to be mostly for elementary school and middle school kids, but there were also events to participate in for older people too. When it started, everyone gathered and did simple exercises while someone counted to keep time and demonstrate what to do. From there, the kids gathered for the first event, an obstacle course with things to go under, over, and through. Almost all the of the events were simple challenges or obstacle courses that involved throwing balls into boxes and rolling tires around cones, even for the adults. And from the very beginning, there was rockin' inspirational music playing, most of which I didn't recognize but found to be satisfying to listen to, but some of which I did recognize, including instrumental versions of "Dragonstea din Tei (numa numa)", "We will rock you", and a selection of Kirby music which I was especially pleased and surprised to hear. For each challenge, the first three to finish in their group won special prizes labeled with 1, 2, or 3, depending on how they placed. Everyone else got a different prize, but all of the prizes were food items, tissue boxes, or other things you could use around the house.

Other challenges included a scavenger hunt game for the kids where they ran to turn over a board with something written on it that they would have to find. For example: socks, a man wearing glasses (I helped a kid on this one), or sometimes a really random thing like a guy in a monkey costume, who would appear unexpectedly and have to be caught and brought to the finish line. There was also a challenge with containers of flour that had hard candies buried in them which you had to blow the flower off of and then grab with your mouth before running to the finish line. The last challenge was the most serious, a relay race around the area, with each member of each team doing a lap and handing off a baton to the next person. I participated in all of the events except for the tug-o-war which they had too many people for and won a collection of handy items that I just gave to my host mom.

When all the events were over, people stayed around to see if they won anything with the lucky number ticket we received at entry. The prizes seemed to be more of the same things from the challenges and the number calling went on for probably a good half hour. Seriously they must've called close to 100 numbers. Of course mine never got called, but even at the end they had stuff left over and everyone could bring their number and get something anyway, like instant ramen or ziploc bags.

I started the day with a stiff neck and feeling like I was catching a cold, but after a bit of exercise and fresh air... I was able to add sunburns to the list. Guess you can't win 'em all.



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