Today has been one of my favourite days on the race so far and one of the days that I have been able to do the most to serve our women.
Early on having arrived in Romania we sat down as guys to discuss the approaching holiday because we knew that we wanted to do something special to honour the women of our group. “All the single ladies, and the married lady” as Dusty sang 😛
We came up with some great ideas (if I may say so) and wrote a formal invitation to the girls telling them when to be ready and inviting them to look their best. So we set about preparing what we could, doling out responsibilities amongst ourselves and including a “guys trip” into town with Mihai to prepare supplies.
Early on having arrived in Romania we sat down as guys to discuss the approaching holiday because we knew that we wanted to do something special to honour the women of our group. “All the single ladies, and the married lady” as Dusty sang 😛
We came up with some great ideas (if I may say so) and wrote a formal invitation to the girls telling them when to be ready and inviting them to look their best. So we set about preparing what we could, doling out responsibilities amongst ourselves and including a “guys trip” into town with Mihai to prepare supplies.
We decorated the dining room of the guys house with some streams of hearts & ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ made from our pink toilet paper and we bought a white rose floral table piece and some candles to go around the room.
Having scrubbed up to our best as well, we met them on the evening, entering one at a time to pick up our two “valentines” and presenting them each with a homemade flower, taking photos and escorting them over to our house. There we took their coats and ushered them into the candlelit room to take some group photos.
We had some crackers available as entrees, so offered those around and got out the “champagne” – a non-alcoholic, cherry drink called Robbie Bubble – to toast the ladies on Valentine’s day. But before we seated everyone for dinner we started off with a little serenading. We had talked about coming up with a song about them and settled on editing Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’, considering possible content together. I had been able to sit down at one point in the following days and came up with the following song, which Tim and I were able to duet to our women (the lyrics and chords are below). This song is also dedicated to the other Z-squad girls, who weren’t with us at the time.
Next, Mihai had kindly prepared food and we had been able to help with chopping vegetables, fruit, meat, etc., and any other tasks that assisted him. We served out the main course, ate and enjoyed it, offering second servings and drinks as needed. We cleared that and then dished out the amazing fruit and chocolate dessert Mihai had made, rounding it all off with ‘After Eight’ dinner mints.
, 
Following dinner, we presented our skit – Blind Date: Valentine’s Day Special, World Race Style, Romanian Edition. We all had a lot of fun as I hosted, Tim was the eager bachelor and Kevin, Chris and Dusty pretended to be three of our girls – clothes and all. To give you some idea of the hilarity that ensued, the draft script we came up with is below, as well this photo to give you a taste:
We ended with everyone opening their Valentine’s day bags – bags that Jenn had made for everyone and that we had each been able to put things into for each other: words of encouragement and small gifts.
We all headed back to the other house and as they sat and watched ‘Grease’ I was able to wash up all the items from the meal.
All in all it was a great event and a great way to be able to love on our girls. Happy Valentine’s everyone 😀
Blind Date
Francis – Host Tim – Contestant
Kevin – Char (1) – California Chris – Kip (2) – Oklahoma Dusty – Ann (3) – Illinois
Introduction:
– HOST: welcome to tonight’s ‘Valentine’s Day’ special of Blind Date – World Race style. Romania Edition.
- Please welcome our contestant – Tim. Three lucky ladies – Char, Kip, Ann.
- How are you enjoying Romania? How long single? Looking forward to finding a date?
Questions:
– TIM: What do you look for in a man?
- Char – “Like my men like I like my coffee – dark, strong, with a little bit of booze”!
- Kip – “Someone who is prompt, who lacks body hair, who is taller than me”
- Ann – “a history buff, who re-enacts the civil war, but also knows the history of comedy”
– TIM: What is a unique talent that people may not know?
- Char – watch this – head stand or stretches, etc.
- Ann – “just watch” – walks out of the room and walks back in, shakes, widens mouth
– TIM: Where your ideal vacation be?
- Kip – Wi-Fi on the beach
- Char – Israel, we can play mini-golf or this thing called ‘putt-putt’
– TIM: What would you cook for me?
- Kip – “fixing to make you macaroni and cheese with hot dogs”.
- Ann – something about not having dairy. Go into something about second city.
– TIM: What is your biggest pet peeve?
- Char – Being proposed to by white men, because I’m just not interested
- Kip – When feedback goes on too long
– TIM: What would you wear on our date?
- Kip – all black. I can match anything to black
- Ann – well, I have my Josie’s angel’s shirt, but Miche has some great clothes and they fit me perfectly.
– TIM: What are some of your hobbies?
- Kip – reading on my iPhone, playing solitaire on my iPhone, staying in bed,
- Char – un-crocheting.
– HOST: FINAL ROUND – “Ideal date”
- Char – ‘Putt-putt’ / mini-golf
- Kip – anywhere with processed foods and free Wi-Fi
- Ann – We would go to a second city comedy performance
Conclusion:
– TIM: well we can’t date right now but I would love to take each of you for a one on one to share testimonies. I’m fixing to watch a movie though so let’s have this done by nine.
