Quiz Night - The Guide Hog

A Brit, an Australian, a New Zealander, an Iraqi and an American go into a bar … sounds like the beginning of a tacky joke, but really it was the beginning of a fun evening – Quiz Night at Sticky Fingers Restaurant here in Vientiane.
Our multi-national team was one of about 12 in the competition, and we comprised a second-grade teacher and librarian from my school (plus the librarian’s husband, who was really only there for moral support although he gave us a couple answers), a middle-school teacher from another school, and me. We dubbed ourselves the United Matrons.
The emcee and restaurant owner, Marnie, also has a yoga studio where Tony and I occasionally take classes. She provided a multi-media quiz covering history, music, movies, celebrities, ancient wonders, English literature, sports and explorers.
I admit to feeling quite stressed all day in anticipation of this event, and I even made Tony test me with the Trivial Pursuit cards. We only realized later that our 10-year-old game might not have provided the best preparation.
Fortunately, each member of our team brought something useful to the table. We really strutted our stuff with English literature, and not surprisingly, ancient wonders (most of which one or another of us had seen in person).
Our team actually took the lead for a short time, only to crash and burn. The celebrities category required us to match baby pictures to the names of famous people. One indication of how badly we did: We thought Demi Moore’s photo was Tom Hanks.
As for sports … Seriously, does ANYONE know how many players are on an Australian Rules football team? History kicked our asses, as well, which is pretty pathetic for a group of teachers who travel all over the world. We had to put a list of 10 historical events in to chronological order. The only American on the team, I’m embarrassed to say, couldn’t quite pinpoint when the Mayflower landed at Plymouth OR when the Salem witches went on trial. Not a proud moment.
In the end, we made a respectable showing and weren’t horribly humiliated. Next time, we may consider throwing the game. The losing team got a pitcher of cocktails as a consolation prize.