The earliest day so far. Good thing, not a lot of people in the shower at 5:30 in the morning. Quick breakfast and walk to the HQ. This morning could have started better because the first thing I did was to go and collect water and ice. When I’m turning around to get another bag of ice, the self-closing door hits me close to the eye. I felt the pain, but was more worried about the damage than the pain. I turned to my two colleagues and asked them to look. I seem to have been extremely lucky because it hit just above the eye. Put some ice on it, and the swelling went down a bit.
We kept on with the preparations before the ambassadors arrive. It was quite chaotic and felt a bit unstructured at times, but we made it. Some ambassadors arrived early and some of course late, but eventually everyone was registered, got their device, and the orientation could start.
Four hours of lots of information, activities, a group photo, and connecting with new friends. I had a presentation about a part of the Google Suite that we use. Really basic and took just three minutes.
After the orientation, there were some signups för activities and then the ambassadors were allowed to leave. We manned the helpdesk during the afternoon, but it was dead quiet.
At 15:30, the whole team met up again and changed into national uniforms and took a group photo, then headed off to the big stage where we would meet the ambassadors, since they would be carrying the flags of all participating nations during the opening ceremony. A couple of us stayed behind to scoop up any ambassadors who might have missed the information on when and where the gathering should take place.
We got one girl from Taiwan who we brought with us when walking to the AT&T Stadium, the name of the big stage. When we arrived, they were in full progress of sorting everyone in two lines with the right scout in the right position. Let’s just say I don’t envy the guy in charge of sorting 140 14-18-year-olds who just met and became friends and had loads to talk about.
The ambassadors got to the top of the stands and eventually walked down the sides of the audience. While this was happening, the rest of our staff had great (standing) seats behind a fence on the side.
I’m not sure if everything went according to plan because it was a lot of running and turning back but eventually the flags had been called upon (leading to every contingent screaming and shouting when they were called, the Swedes made a good impression), put into place and the ambassadors got back behind the stage where they could have dinner. We didn’t want to release these teenagers straight into the big sea of 45,000 scouts, so we sent out a message to their leaders to come and pick them up. Some came too quickly (the scouts were standing in line for food), and some didn’t show up when we wanted them to. Let’s just leave it at that, it was a couple of interesting and intensive hours before every one of the ambassadors had been handed over to one from their contingent.
By that time, the show was over; according to witnesses, it was quite good. What I did see was a show with lit drones in the air. That is really cool, I heard there were around 450 drones.
When people started to empty the stadium, a Finnish girl collapsed, so I called the attention of a safety crew who took over and started to wave a blue-lit stick over his head. He also had a radio, so I assume he asked for help and marked his spot with the stick. People kept offering help, but they just wanted everybody to clear out.
On the way back, my team lead took a wrong turn (he was very sure of himself, so he didn’t hear me questioning the decision). Got us a few extra minutes of walking.
Back in Camp Echo, a well-needed shower and then straight to bed around midnight. A long day, most of it on my feet and lots of moving parts messing with my head, took its toll. Tomorrow I start at nine and only have a four-hour shift, which will be nice.
