world cup in Portugal

Our plane to London was delayed for half an hour. I was so glad that I didn't decide to take the later flight. Although my two colleagues who opted for the later flight still made our connection to Lisbon (albeit just), one of them (who risked his baggage not making the connecting flight and had to sign a waiver at Hong Kong check-in) did not get his baggage until the next morning because his baggage did not make the connection. But what was most annoying about the whole saga was the fact that the rest of the team wasted an hour at Lisbon airport while he sorted out his mess (i.e. waiting for ground staff to double check that his baggage had not arrived and then filing a missing baggage report). It was precious time we (certainly I) could have spent sightseeing Lisbon! We finally made it to the hotel at 1pm and after lunch, all but one of us headed to Belem where we sampled Portuguese tarts. I only had one because I didn't really fancy them (I prefer the Hong Kong egg tarts) but a few of the boys had 4. The bill was evenly divided between us which I thought wasn't very fair but decided not to make an issue of it. We caught taxi from Caicais city centre back to our hotel, 3 per taxi. The people in my taxi and I were surprised to find that the boys who caught the taxi behind us made it back to the hotel before we did. A comparison of taxi fares confirmed that our taxi driver took us for a ride.

At pre-dinner drinks, I was greeted by the organiser of the event and the partner in charge of overseeing the tournament who were both keen to check out who I was given I will be the only female player. It was through this partner that I found out how I ended up being given the green light to go to Portugal in what was initially a men's only tournament. A partner at our office sent an e-mail to the organiser saying that I should be allowed to play despite the fact that I am a girl. The organiser discussed the matter with this partner who rang our partner and asked, "Are you sure you want this girl in your team?" to which our partner apparently responded, "Of course, she is the best player in our team!" Once I heard the chain of events, I quickly clarified that I was not the best player in our team. Unfortunately, over the next 24 hours I heard this partner repeat the story as to how I ended up being allowed to play to many a soul.

Well, as expected, we lost all of our matches on my birthday against our colleagues from around the world. Our worst score line was 15-0 at the mercy of England. Some of my team mates complained afterwards how bad sports the English were because they should have taken it easy after they were leading 10-0 but I disagree. I think the spirit of the game is to win by as big a margin as you can, not to slow down the pace so that your opponents can save face. There was a particular incident during our final game that I feel necessary to mention here. I was warming the bench at the time and one of our two best players came off the field. He kicked an empty water bottle and said, "I am never going to play for this firm again." I asked why and he said that the other best player on our team was coaching him and giving him mouthfuls about how he should be positioning himself and clearing the ball. Afterwards, when we were walking back to the hotel, he told me how the other player plays like a child because he never passes the ball. I was thinking, it's not like you pass the ball often either but decided to refrain from making the comment. An objective post incident analysis by a few team members concluded that he was childish and that he, like the other player also tends to keep the ball to himself so it's not like he is a perfect team player. I agree fully with this analysis. Despite finishing last, we still managed to win a trophy (the biggest of all trophies) for being the "special" team, whatever "special" means!

We were coached to Estoril Casino for dinner but food was served so slowly and I was so tired that I couldn't wait for dessert. Me and a few of the boys travelled by taxi back to the hotel. Over breakfast the next morning, I learnt that I and the boys in my taxi the night before were taken for a ride by our taxi driver, again, I can't believe my luck (or lack of it). I conducted a quick review of my finances and noted that one of the boys owed me 2.15 Euros in taxi fare and another boy owed me 7 Euros. The boy who owed me the taxi fare had no intention of paying it back to me in Euros. This annoyed me given I had only exchanged enough Euros for my trip while he on the other hand, did not bother to exchange a single Euro. It may be true that he earns the least out of all of us, but this is not an excuse for relying on your colleagues to see you through a whole day in a Euro denominated country and certainly not when people like me are on a tight budget in a foreign country. To make matters worst, he thought it was funny and failed to see the potential seriousness of it. I mean, my life in Portugal could depend on that 2.15 Euros. The other boy just forgot to give me back my 7 Euros before he left for his skiing trip in Switzerland. If I was his client, he wouldn't have forgotten. It just goes to show that people these days elect to have selective memories.