Day 4: Tour and Opening Ceremonies

Day 4... where to begin? Woke up this morning about 6:30 am we had to get one our official dress uniforms: brown dress shoes, khaki slacks, white shirts, American flag ties, and blue blazers. Then we got on a bus and were taken to the the headquarters of a company called Vale, which is one of the largest mining companies in the world. They are a huge sponsor of the competition, and they gave us a presentation about their operations around the world. It was fairly fascinating although it was in Portuguese, and the English translation was quite rough. After that, we were loaded back onto the bus and driven to the arena for the opening ceremonies. We arrived along with the countries of Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname, Jamaica, and a few others. They asked us to wait outside and suddenly all these buses start pulling up. Out pour scores of Brazilians in matching uniforms depending on what state in Brazil they were from. Bus after bus pulls up and unloads roughly 50 people each until suddenly the whole area is a swarming mass of several hundred people. Each group has its matching track suits and uniforms, flags, horns, drums, you name it. They start chanting and cheering and dancing around for no apparent reason. And here the the four of us Americans in suits while the Brazilians are going crazy chanting and dancing. It was quite fun to watch. Very very hard to describe. We took some video and I will try and post it soon, you have to see it to believe it. Then, someone realized that we were from the USA, they immediately started yelling, "hey, USA! God Bless America!! (in verrry rough English). Here is another thing about Brazilians.. They ALL own cameras, and they want to take a picture of you every two seconds. We literally had a line of people waiting to take a picture with us. And they all wanted to shake our hands and try to greet us in English. We had to wait outside in the heat for about an hour, then we were taken inside to a small gymnasium with no air conditioning, only several large misting fans. It was miserable in there, especially in a heavy wool suit. Soon, the entire group of several hundred dancing, singing and chanting Brazilians were packed in to this gym. There was Brazilian dance/pop music playing and every time a song came on the whole room became a whirr of dancing and singing. Then whenever an American pop song came on, they ran over and wanted us to dance! And they knew all the words. They all sang "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus at the top of their lungs. All along, people kept coming up to us constantly wanting pictures with us. At one point, Kyle and I had a line of kids taking pictures with us one by one that lasted for a good 20 min straight. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. I think the thing I appreciated the most was that here were probably 4-500 kids in the heat and humidity, pouring sweat, dancing, cheering, and singing their hearts out without a care in the world. It was so refreshing and it made me realize how self conscious we are as Americans which is sad.

Finally after about an hour in the sweltering heat, we were directed to the arena which, thankfully, was air conditioned! On the way in, I was informed by the Team Leader that I had been chosen to go up on the stage during the ceremony and read the Competitors Oath in English. This is basically saying I promise to follow the rules and compete with good olympic spirit...etc. So they line up all the countries and one by one we enter the arena which, I'm not going to lie, felt like running onto the field at the Super Bowl. You would not believe the set up they had. The arena was packed with what looked like at a couple thousand people, with lights, an enormous stage, fully decked out dancers, a live samba band.. and so much more. Again, its very hard to describe. The Estados Unidos do America received a roar of applause from the crowd which definitely overpowered the Boos. We then paraded across the stage in front of what I realized was a full blown live TV production with all the bells and whistles. We eventually made it to our seats where the flag waving, singing, dancing, and more chanting began. These Brazilians never quit! We were given headsets to wear with english translation which was nice. A few speeches were given by Presidents of the sponsor companies, and then a group of Brazilian children sang their national anthem. There were several dance performances by some unbelievably talented dance troupes and bands. Then, they called a girl from Rio, a girl from Colombia, and myself up the stage. When they called my name I was greeted by a roar of applause again which was funny. The two girls read the oath in their respective languages, and then in was my turn to read. I started the first sentence: "I, as a competitor of..." before I could finish the phrase, the crowd exploded in cheers. I felt like the president trying to give a speech, they kept cheering and I could barely hear myself. It was quite a rush. I finished the oath, then they had us stand on the stage a little longer and shake hands with some of the executive guys that were up there. Then back to the seats for some more performances by acrobats, a drumming troupe, and more dancers. It really was incredible. Very very hard to describe it all, but my fingers are getting tired. We have video and pictures that I will try and post soon. So much fun! Tomorrow it is down to business. Over to the competition area in the morning to unpack my tools, set everything up, and inspect the work stations.

Side note: I am learning bits of Portuguese, getting lots of Spanish practice, and learning some Dutch too. Its quite fun.

This whole event is much much bigger than I thought. It is so cool!

More tomorrow. Goodnight. :)