I'm traveling internationally so, of course, I needed to find an Ultimate league around here to make my trip worth the 5000 miles. I began by asking around at UTDT (the university where our LSA takes classes), since the best bet at finding Ultimate in the states is at a university. Surprisingly, they didn't know of any university league, but the International Students Director was able to recommend Couchsurfer, a website used by international travelers so they can connect with others in their area. It started out as a website where locals offer up their couches to travelers as a free bed, and acted as a pay-it-forward routine where the locals would then go to travelers (or other) towns. It still remains a website where you can find a free couch to sleep on, but it also has evolved into a community where people from all over the world form groups in wherever city they are in (i.e. an Ultimate league in Buenos Aires that meets from 3-8pm every Sunday for Ultimate and a picnic in Palermo park!).
I RSVPd and went to the park to play an incredibly fun four and a half hours of Ultimate frisbee in the park. It was a great way to exercise and practice my Spanish with people who actually know how to speak Spanish correctly. I met people from all over the world- Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Germany, and Finland. A lot of the players were either from Argentina or Colombia and most of them were men. I asked the Colombians why there were so many of them, and apparently Ultimate is big at the universities in Colombia, but there is not a lot once you leave the university scene.
Over 30 people showed up to this event, about half regulars and half randos such as myself. We warmed up in the sun (Yeah, it was 70 degrees and sunny in the park. Sorry I'm not sorry, Hanover) and then played 6 consecutive games, rotating with whoever wanted to play. What is apparently typical for these "Ultimate and picnic in the park" events is that half of the people show up to actually play whereas the rest are there to socialize, so I got to play nearly every point. I learned about half of the useful Ultimate phrases in Spanish, including pull (say it with a Spanish accent), handler (say it with a Spanish accent), and up (just say it normally). Exhausted, I then walked back home with a few "couchsurfers" I connected with at the practice. Once at home I proudly showed off my legs, totally covered in dirt, to Freddy, and then ate two plates of a spinach and cheese tart. It was a great way to spend a day and one of the best Easters I've had in a while!
This does not do justice to how dirty my legs actually were, but you can see the line of dirt (not a tan)- lovely!
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