here comes pride in the backstretch

I was in Victoria this weekend with the University of Alberta Novice Rowing Team. We bussed from Edmonton to Victoria on Friday, leaving at 4:30 a.m. (when it was SNOWING!) and arriving around 9:30 p.m. B.C. time. The bus ride wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I think I kind of got accustomed to 17-hour bus rides when I was in Guyana, where it took that amount of time to travel the 450 km through the rainforest from the area I lived to Georgetown on the coast. Unlike the Guyanese bus, this one had a DVD player, climate control, and regular stops for food and washroom breaks. The bus ride was pretty uneventful. I slept in some uncomfortable positions, watched "Remember the Titans" and "Pride and Prejudice," avoided watching "300," neglected to study for my Cree quiz, and got to know people through osmosis, which is hands-down my favorite way of getting to know people. I rode the ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay for the first time, and was roomed with some of my favorite people from the rowing team. All in all, it was a good day.

Following our 17-hour bus ride on Friday, we woke up at the hotel at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday. We bussed over to the Gorge for 7 a.m. The rest of the Edmonton Rowing Club wasn't there yet, so we waited around with our bags for a bit and discovered that one of the boats on the trailer had been smashed up beyond repair. It was a private eight, owned by the "Tall Old Guys" from the ERC. Apparently a guy in an R.V. had driven into the boat while it was still sitting on the top of the trailer. Needless to say, that caused a lot of tension amongst our clubs. We unloaded and rigged the boats, and then the boys headed out in the eight while us girls walked to "the Narrows" to watch the boats try to manoevre their way through a narrow channel under a bridge, which apparently was experiencing the most intense current since 1991. Thrilling! After we watched the boys, we walked back so we could get changed and get into the boat for our launch. We launched pretty early, but ended up being one of the last boats to go through the narrows (everyone has to row upriver 5 km to the start of the race in the harbour, and then the race itself is from the harbour back), after waiting in line on the water for about an hour. By the time we were going through the narrows, the current had become incredibly strong, and the man giving directions to the boats through a megaphone on the shore was getting pretty worked up and stressed out. However, we somehow managed to go through the narrows almost flawlessly, which was later commented on by a couple of spectators. The race itself was kind of garbagey. Early on, we were passed by the Vancouver crew, and after that, we all became really down on ourselves and catty with each other. I did not consider it a very enjoyable race. I think we came in third out of about 4 boats. After the race we de-rigged and re-loaded the boats onto the trailer, went back to the hotel to shower and change, and went for supper at Red Robin (I know... Red Robin? It was the only place we could find that could serve a group of 25 of us). At supper I was talking to this boy Taylor about my education and the reason I'm in Native Studies, and soon the whole table was listening to me talk and contributing their ideas and stuff. I liked it because:
a) it made me feel more interesting and intelligent than I usually feel, and
b) I really am passionate about this stuff, and I think other people are really interested in it too, but there's not a lot of dialogue or understanding of it going on right now.
After supper, we all pretty much just went to sleep right away. We were beat.

Victoria: Sunday
We got to sleep in on Sunday! We didn't have to be on the bus for Elk Lake until 8 a.m., which came as a huge relief to all of us. Again, we unloaded and rigged the boats, which went a lot more smoothly than the day before. The boys rowed in the morning, and we rowed in the afternoon. This race was 8 km, making it 3 km longer than any course we had raced so far this year. The day was really cold, but we were determined to do better, or at least FEEL better, than we had in our previous race. Although certainly less than perfect - we were passed by TWO boats, and we ran into one double consisting of an old couple TWICE, forcing us to completely stop rowing on one occasion - I think we had a better row because there was a better energy in the boat. After we ran into that other boat, we felt ourselves feeling pretty disheartened. Rowing etiquette and rules state that only the coxwain is allowed to speak during a race, and because we had had problems with that the day before, we had all agreed to stay silent this race. Therefore, it seemed like there was no possible way to encourage each other. BUT... there's this amazing noise that happens when a crew is rowing in synch. It's basically two "clunks," made when the oar is feathered and then squared on a stroke. A few of us recognized that by making our "clunks" really loud and kind of exaggerated, the rest of the crew would recognize the sound and fall in line with it. It worked! Pretty soon, all eight of us were in perfect time, and really motivated by the rhythym and our impressive form as a team. I'm not sure about the other girls, but it is definitely what got me through the race.

After the race, we de-rigged and loaded the boats, and watched as Claire, the coxie for the men's eight, was thrown in the water by the boys because they won their race. We bussed back to the hotel and showered, and then split off into smaller groups to find some snacks. I went with a girl named Erica to a nearby organic food store, where we bought yogurt and granola and some grapes, one of which was enormous and really pumpkin-shaped.

We went out for supper as a team to The White Spot (again... what?) and then most of us went for a walk downtown, visiting the harbour and the Legislature (which British Columbians insist on calling "Parliament"). Afterwards everyone hung out in the boys' room and drank/team cuddled, which in most circumstances I would have avoided, but for some reason I hung out there too and actually had a really fun time. I didn't drink/cuddle at all, by the way. Just hung out, which is still way out of character for me.

We were back on the bus at 5:30 the next morning for our 17-hour ride back home. I studied some Cree on the ferry and during supper at Jasper. On the bus, we watched three of my favorite movies - "Rushmore," "High Fidelity," and "Rocky Horror Picture Show" - all of which got numerous complaints. This seemed to highlight why I don't relate with most people, or at least with some of the people on the rowing team. If you don't get "Rushmore," I think it's pretty safe to say that you won't get me. We also watched "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Monsters, Inc." We were a little scared that we'd be stuck in Jasper for the night because of a big accident on the highway that had caused traffic to be stopped for over two hours, but by the time we got there, everything had been cleaned up. Whew. We got back at about 1 a.m.

I ended up having a really good time this weekend. I was kind of dreading it all last week, but I got to know some people on my team a little bit better and it turns out that I really really like them. That is good.