Cross Country Pasta Dinner

For many cross country teams in the U.S., having a pasta dinner together before a meet is a tradition. Although our distance team isn't that traditional, we still like to get together once in a while. And since our first race is tomorrow, we figured a pasta dinner would do us good today.

Promptly set off with the guys to the supermarket for groceries.


There's a dirt cheap store nearby called Twin City and I suppose you could call it a ghetto supermarket. Many things are cheap there because the quality is lower.


Comparing packets of minced beef.


Andrew at the checkout counter.


On the way back to the dorms, we passed by some really wonderful buildings in Jersey City. This one is my favourite.


I know I may have mentioned this before, but there are just so many interesting buildings from the early 1900s in the ghetto part of the city. It's a shame if people simply walk by them with their noses to the floor; they miss the whole beauty of it.


This may be just a regular broken building, but the fact that it's an operating church makes it all the more noble. As you can see, the windows in the side have been broken in and the whole place simply looks battered.

For a place that needs God so badly, this looks to me like a lighthouse in the middle of a rocky island, shining tall and proud in the midst of stormy streets.


Albert was the self-designated pasta chef of the night.


Homemade garlic bread, pasta and boiled veggies for dinner.

The freshmen were kind of shy during the night, but I'm glad that they decided to come down anyway. Some of the girls' team didn't want to come (though I don't know why anybody would turn down free food) and the others were busy somewhere else, so it seemed a little quiet.

Helping themselves to the food.

The other people who lived in the apartment but weren't on the cross country team scored nosh too.

And poor Mike who got his foot broken on the FIRST day of practice came over as well, crutches and all. That's REAL dedication right there!

Needless to say, the dinner was awesome and we had a great time watching TV and sitting together.

That's cool and all, but to be honest, I've been a little bothered by the new dynamics between people on the team this year. It's a familiar feeling, when at the beginning of the year, people try to sort out who they're going to be competitive with, who they're going to be buddy buddy with and who they're going to ignore. Every year this routine plays out largely among the girls. There are two major factions and of course the freshmen are always the ones who have to choose which "side" they want to be on.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like we're unfriendly to each other. Rather, it's more like when group A hangs out and invites group B, you can expect that group B will decline the invite. And group B would usually not bother to invite group A to anything they have going on. While on the surface it's all smiles and laughter, underneath it's a rather segregated spirit.

I don't like this feeling at all. I miss those days during netball, basketball or dance when everybody, no matter your station or talent, would be fine with being around each other. There was no underlying current of tension, no fake smiles and no awkwardness among team members. I miss that, but it's something that I just have to live without.

I've been trying for three years; God knows I have. But now I just feel like you can't be friends with the whole world. However I am very satisfied with how respectfully everybody treats each other. I have not encountered malicious gossip or outright hate against my ownself from any other team member and I am grateful for that because I've seen it happen to others.

All in all, I feel a tinge of regret for not being able to make long-lasting friendships in a place where we worked so hard together almost everyday of the year- on the track. But for this experience, I am eternally grateful for the circumstances that led me here.

Participating in a sports team really does give you a different perspective and drive in life from other people.