Competition and friendship!!

Hello there,

We are halfway the tournament and this is very noticeable! The matches are becoming more exciting and you can feel the pressure on all the players and the teams. Too bad, only the Dutch under 20 women are doing great – they haven’t lost a match yet!! The other categories lose a lot which is disappointing. Luckily there is not only tension between the teams, but also friendship. This is especially noticeable in the buffet-tent, where there is no competition, and where the players put aside their ambitions to win the tournament and start to search for new friends from other countries. I really enjoy seeing this!! Another thing what I really like is seeing how some things are very recognisable for a lot of people. During the different meals you can the Israeli teams singing ‘Call me maybe’, and within a few minutes, everyone is singing along. But I also enjoy seeing how countries hold on to their own customs and habits, even though they are in another country, with completely different circumstances. A good example was according to me the Italian team. Italians are used to having their meal later than the Dutch, and this was noticeable, as the Italians were always the last persons to enter the tent for a meal.
As I already told yesterday, today I had to stand up at 6.30, as I had to be ready for my first shift at 7 am. This was a buffet-shift, and together with one of the cooks of the catering I had to make sure that the fruits, bread, spreads and drinks were available and refill it if it was running empty. At ten, when both my shift and breakfast was finished, I went to the bar to help one of my friends with her shift, even though it wasn’t very busy. From today on, the snacks are available at the bar! We have crisps and bars, everything for €1,-. After her shift, we went to the field to watch one of the games of the women under 20 and luckily the Dutch won again!! At 17 pm I had to be back at the buffet-tent for my buffet-shift, so after the match we played some games in the volunteers canteen. The volunteers had a special building with toilets, showers and a canteen where we could sit at the moment when we wanted to relax. At five I went to the buffet-tent where I had to provide the teams and volunteers with food. At 20 pm my shift was finished and I went to the canteen again, as it was freezing cold outside, and my tent wasn’t very comfortable to relax. I won’t be there long however, as I saw I should be in the kitchen tomorrow at 7 am again. I really enjoyed today, even though it was a very long day.

Have a good night and see you tomorrow!!