Shootout at Red Robin

Last week was, without question, the most stressful week we've had.  We had three days of meeting with our regional leadership (Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa for me), which was mostly long days of meetings... lots of presentations, lots of listening, very little moving around.  (Until that point in the afternoon when everyone gets antsy and tired of sitting still and starts shifting in their chairs every 30 seconds!)  Suffice it to say that they were 3 very long days.

On Thursday, we started 3 days of Contingency training... affectionately known as "Torture". Representatives from an independent company came to teach us principles of how to survive and endure detention and captivity situations, ranging from detainment at the airport, being taken hostage, dealing with reporters and negotiations, how to detect surveillance, and even how to possibly escape from captivity.  After they taught us various principles, we began "stress inoculation"...  basically, they took people or groups out and simulated actual hostage and detention situations.  As one of the first hostages taken, I can attest that it was real stress... the thought that "This is just pretend" really didn't cross my mind!

All in all, the week was VERY beneficial, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but believe me when I say that everyone was a little on-edge at the end of our last session on Saturday.  We all needed to just get away from campus Saturday night, so 6 of us decided to go to Red Robin for some good burgers and great fries.  We had a great meal, great conversation, and lots of laughter.  We had finished our meal, paid the check, and were getting ready to go when we heard what sounded like gunfire.  In a split-second, we all exchanged looks and honestly considered either falling into the aisle or diving under the table.  Evidently, the food, conversation, laughter, and falling snow hadn't been enough to relax us from contingency training, because a popped balloon almost put 6 adults on the floor!