Wizolympics 2020: Expedition Wandless Day 5
Hypatia Shilling-Shaw here with an exciting update on Day 5 of Expedition Wandless at the 2020 Wizolympics. We have had our first finishers!
Team Philippines made it to Kahaku Dome yesterday with all three of its Tamagotchis still alive. The Filipinos opted to prioritize speed, survival, and diligence in a few select tasks, focusing on those little creatures, their origami, and a direct route rather than tackling more time-consuming challenges. This is an incredibly early finish with quite a few bonus points racked up, but will this strategy be successful in the end? It may come down to how many other tasks the other teams fit in, how well they accomplish them, and how many Tamagotchis survive. A more circuitous route allows for more opportunities but also carries a higher risk of getting lost or injured, or ill fortune befalling a Tamagotchi. Only time will tell.
Team India, on the other hand, headed for the Shikoku Pilgrimage and caught a bus to visit seven of 88 temples for 20 points. An extra point will be awarded for every additional temple a team visits.
Femi Emezi of Team GB skillfully used the squatting Japanese toilet before the team set off to do some spelunking in the Nippara Limestone Caves. Once again, I couldn’t help but notice Emezi spending an awful lot of time with his teammate Carnation Willoughby-Myers, whispering while putting their equipment on and casting furtive glances at their third teammate to see if he noticed. Dwight Reginald did indeed seem to become aware of the conversation and looked a little glum afterward. Perhaps Willoughby-Myers caught his attention as well and he’s feeling a pang of jealousy? When Emezi slipped on the rocks, Reginald was quick to reach out a hand to catch him before Willoughby-Myers had the chance and stayed by his side for the rest of their time in the caves, seemingly trying to prevent his teammates from getting more alone time. Willoughby-Myers didn’t seem to mind – maybe she was flattered by Reginald’s envy.
Team USA had a bit of difficulty behaving themselves during the tea ceremony – patience isn’t the Americans’ strong suit – and Japanese-American athlete Thomas Takechi had to remind his teammates Agamemnon Abste and Alejandra Ramírez to follow the proper etiquette. All said, they ended up really enjoying the matcha but didn’t realize how long the ceremony would be and were hungry afterward. Therefore, they decided to find a vending machine next, an experience that tested both their hunger and their impatience. The machine ate their money without dispensing anything. The Americans kicked and shook the machine until a packet of dried seaweed eventually fell out, which they munched bitterly. The judges awarded them 5 points for using the machine but deducted 2 for manhandling it.
Team Australia fared all right getting a crisp Fuji apple out of a vending machine, but the family was less lucky during the tea ceremony, during which the twins, Dora and Daniel Carnabey, became passive-aggressive in their tea sharing, resulting in a dropped bowl and spilled tea, for which 3 points were deducted from the 15 gained for completing the task.
That’s all for today’s update – we’ll be back on Day 7 with more! Hypatia Shilling-Shaw, signing off.
