HSA Reunion, Day 1 and sports

After packing, my brother and I headed to the airport to give a ride to some long distance attendees. The drive was uneventful and after about an hour of light chatting we pulled into camp at 1:00. Most people weren't expected to arrive until around 6:30. Upon arrival I scouted out the premises and tried to blend in with all of the team leaders who had come early to set up.

While touring with a group of equivalently eager early arrivers we stumbled upon the ga-ga pit. ga-ga is a game common in Pakistan. It is a variant of dodgeball played in an octagonal court. After winning the first game, my brother who was also the leader of my team's rival. sauntered onto the court. After explaining the rules to him we played again, and I remained the champion, catching my brother out. I didn't get the chance to play any more ga-ga ball, but I was quite content with just the two games.

This turned out to be the standard, there wasn't much time for sports, but just enough to expend excess energy. During the rest of the week I played two games of volleyball and several games of ping-pong, and that was it. I was very happy with this balance, because it left so much time for deep discussions.

The rest of the day was fairly straightforward. Trying to meet people by asking them questions from the signature book (see socialization is easy, all you have to do is read). Opening ceremony (done in Mac's brilliant comedic style). And then everyone ended up singing hymns around the campfire (built by yours truly) until the rain started convincing people to go to bed around midnight.

HSA Reunion, Introduction

Last weekend I attended the HomeSchool Alumni national reunion. Although I had low expectations going into it, be the end of the week I became convinced that it is an incredibly valuable event for young Christians.

I expected to meet new people whom I would have things in common with. This was my main purpose for going. However, just this year alone I've made so many new friends in the local Christian homeschooled community that I didn't think it was necessary to branch out further, at least for a while.

I expected to sing praises to God with others who enjoy it as much as I do. Again, I can do this with my local friends anyways.

I expected some good lectures and discussions about theology and orthopraxy. But I wasn't sure that people would be able to look past their differences and see why we should discuss our disagreements.

I expected to have fun playing various sports. I already have been playing sports with two different Christian groups every week, plus Church events.

These expectations were not enough to convince me to go, in the end I went because I trusted my friend who is the leader of this organization when he told me I would probably find it worthwhile. And I'm glad I did. I plan to explain how these expectations exceeded in the following posts.