Odyssey Teams Having A Wild Ride In Iowa

The Ancient Egypt team had their spontaneous problem today! No scores are posted yet but they emerged from the competition smiling, that's usually a good sign! I asked some of the Happy Valley kids for a few words on their experiences and impressions:

We've been pin trading, making friends, playing with friends, practicing for our performance and watching other performances. The opening ceremony was awesome. When it went dark and the slide show was running, there were all kinds of lights sparkling and shining around the auditorium. The lasers were really cool!
- Kate, 2nd grade, Ancient Egypt team

The Jungle Bloke team has also been busy. The crates were finally delivered to the Memorial Union hall this morning. There was a veritable traffic jam around the loading dock there as vans and trucks from all over jockeyed for space to unload. Armed with pry bars and other hand tools, we made quick work of the crate disassembly; haste was in order given the ever present threat of rain. We had a minor panic when we finished unpacking and realized that there was a major piece missing! Was is omitted from the packing list? Was it sitting at home somewhere in Lafayette? Braving the hazards digging through the dumpster, one of the parents was able to retrieve the missing bit from amongst the discarded crate debris undamaged. The Jungle Bloke team's long term performance is tomorrow morning, one of the team members has this to say:

My experience in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals has been very exciting and interesting. One of the major activities we are doing in Iowa is trading pins. We have had a chance to get cool pins from around the world and meet new people. I have spent a lot of time preparing with my team for our competition. We have been living in the dorms. So far I've had a lot of fun in Iowa.
- Casey, 5th grade, Jungle Bloke team

For most of the Odyssey of the Mind team members, last night was the first one spent living in the dorms at Iowa State University. We're on the upper floors of a building called Wallace Hall. Like a number of dorm buildings belonging to Iowa State, it was built in 1973 to house veterans returning from the Viet Nam war. It's not on or even directly adjacent to campus but a few blocks away and a few blocks further from where all of the Odyssey of the Mind activities are. Apparently this building hasn't been in use by ISU for quite some time, it was reopened to provide housing just for Odyssey of the Mind teams and families. Life here is rather Flintstonian; it'd be kind to characterize it as functional, the room and bath facilities are crude. The food provided in the cafeteria is abundant but seemingly consists of whatever can be extracted from one of those big institutional food cans and reheated. If given an opportunity to have our lodging fees returned to make other arrangements, I suspect that that would be the unanomous decision amongst the team members and their families.

Our blog posts may be limited to opportunities taken to leave the dorms to find wifi, there is no network (wired or on the air) in the building. The closest access point is in a lobby of a common area adjoining our building with the one next to it. There isn't even a working phone jack in the rooms, we arrived expecting to be able to plug-in for dial tone.

Like other dorm buildings of the era, Wallace Hall is slated for demolition. Good riddance! We'll be back with more from team members and updates on the happenings in Iowa soon, stay tuned.

odysseyofthemind   ames   iowa   viet nam   flintstones   demolition