Still Not Growing Up

Today on campus there was an information session put on by the toy
company Hasbro, as well as a meeting for graduate students in the
Management school who wish to put on a Cultural Festival. Cultural
Festivals remind me of the good 'ol days of high school, when I have
fond memories of trying to learn how to make 20 gallons of Soup from
somebodys mother's recipe in Portugese (Or was it Italian?) My
experience has been that cultural festivals, on the whole, tend to be
more fun to put on than effective at actually promoting awareness or
transmitting real knowledge about a foreign country. Having said
that, though, when I heard that the MBA Students were going to try to
put one on, I immediately signed up. I want to be part of the mess
and fun and confusion of trying to find that one deli in the city
that knows how to butcher whole Llamas and roast them over an open
pit, and that one little shop that can create a sari for that poor
man who has to play a woman in the festive dancing.

I should have foreseen what would happen when you put one of these
meetings immediately after a toy company info session. Somebody would
inevitably bring toys, and the silliness inherent in the whole
cultural festival ordeal would grow into some ridiculous hallway
antics. Today, it resulted in 8 MBAs in full suits playing soccer in
the hallway with one of those little hairy rubber band balls. It was
especially funny when some of the girls jumped in and started playing
in high heels, and the boys began re-enacting soccer heroes of old
(well, the World Cup). I tried to participate, but I had just
returned from working out at the gym and wasn't quite up to a rousing
game of hall-soccer.

If only students would come with a real ball next week. Then the
mayhem could really get going!