"CRAZY TAXI" Vancouver, the team arrives at the University of British Columbia After a five-hour flight from Toronto, Amir and I arrive in Vancouver at around noon. As we disembark, we find to our great surprise Peter there to greet us. His flight had arrived a few hours earlier from Calgary, but out of sheer boredom he decides to wait for us near the baggage carousels. As luck would have it, Noemie, whose plane from Montreal landed within minutes of ours, runs into us as well. Ali joins us a few hours later, but not soon enough to take part in this first adventure! The four of us pick up our luggage and head out of the airport together. We encounter, of course, the inevitable lineup of taxis waiting to take us to our destination. Amir, eagle-eyed as usual, notices a sign at the end of the taxi queue that says "Limo Service - $39.99 to downtown Vancouver." Amir puts forward the suggestion that since we're the IPhO team, we should make a grand entrance in a limo! But I, being the fifth smartest team member, explain to him that UBC isn't exactly in downtown Vancouver, and so the ride would cost a lot more than 40 dollars. I remind everyone about how we should at least try to make a decent first impression when we meet our team leader, and it would be unthinkable to accumulate such exorbitant expenses on the first day of our adventures. Of course, being as persuasive as I am, the rest of the team sides with me and Amir loses out on his limo ride. Instead, we hop into the first taxi waiting in line. The driver looks to be Middle Eastern, and his sound system is blasting out some decidedly ethnic tunes. I, being the classical music enthusiast, try unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh, which causes the poor guy to turn off his radio in embarrassment. It's not long before we arrive at our destination, the Hebb Physics Building at the University of British Columbia. We request a receipt from the driver, since the Olympiad sponsors are covering all of our expenses. He asks if we just want a blank one, which would save him the trouble of using a pen. We agree, because what can possibly go wrong with a carte blanche? Well, a few things, actually! First, since it’s a blank receipt, it’s also unsigned. Now, physicists are smart fellows, so what would the team leader think if we gave him an unsigned receipt? Ok, fine, so we'll forge the signature. But there's a problem - we don't know the name of our taxi driver, so what if someone calls the taxi company for confirmation? No problem, we'll make up a name! After an intense brainstorming session, we decide that our driver looks kind of like an Arash - you know the times when you meet someone and get this strange feeling about exactly what his name should be? Admittedly, our verdict is influenced in part by the fact that a certain friend of ours, Arash Joushaghani, was a chemistry competitor at our National Olympiad Finals. I don't know whether the taxi driver bore any actual resemblance to him. So we have a name, but who among us would be mischievous enough to be the author of this forgery? All eyes fall on me. Remember, I’m the fifth smartest team member, so I’m responsible for doing all the dirty work. Well, fine, I'll do it, but I have to protect myself! What happens if the team leader is marking my paper, and realizes that the taxi driver's handwriting looks remarkably similar to my own? The problem is easily solved by taking a pen in my non-writing hand and scrawling out as illegibly as possible "Arash" on the signature line. Yes, our fictional taxi driver would be so illiterate he only knows how to write his first name. And thus we had a signature, but our problems are far from over. Nobody remembers how much we gave our taxi driver. Some entrepreneurial person among us suggests we can put an outrageous fare – say, $500 – and make quite a handsome profit at the expense of our sponsors. Once again, my stupidity decides to intercede and I reminded everyone about making a good first impression. I write "$30" on the receipt and we head off to meet our team leader. Well, a few days later, he asks us for our receipt. There are grins all around as I pull out the receipt from "Arash" and warily hand it over. The team leader doesn't even glance at it (we told him earlier what our taxi ride cost) and without hesitation gives us the 30 dollars.