Reaching the end... - The Journer

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June 23rd, the end of this DeVillage-adventure is getting closer. My first task of the day was an inventarisation of the tents: which are occupied and which aren’t (something you’d expect to be known by the people at the front desk), how many beds per tent and how many people in each tent, which are to be cleaned and which aren’t. That kind of stuff.

We eventually noticed that quite a lot of the “luxurious” tents were available and could be used by the crew members as there are only four more check-ins to be expected in the next couple of days. From now on, people are starting to leave, not to arrive (except for the four that I mentioned).

So I’m also moving. From crew tent C1 to luxurious tent L100. Now I can stand up in my tent! Yet, numerous mosquitoes had also liked my new home apparently. I had a first chasing session earlier this evening and there’s definitely a second one coming up after I’ve written this blog. I guess my mosquito net will be very useful from now on. Though I must also state that I have been very lucky (until now?) when it comes to mosquito bites. I’ve had only two or three here in Rio. Pretty amazing considering I’ve already been here for over two weeks. Yet the couple of hours in Belo Horizonte were a different story: just a couple of hours, resulting in fifteen or more bites. All on my legs…

So apparently the mosquitoes in Rio are different from the ones in Belo Horizonte. I’m already wondering what the mosquitoes in São Paulo will be like!

Anyway, back to today. I did the inventarisation of the tents and got some responsibility with that as well. I decided who got to go in which tent, I got to coordinate who would clean the tents and which ones first, but I also got to plan an extra day off for everyone! I loved running around from one person to another, hoping to do everything as good as possible and at the same time being the one people would go to to get instructions or ask something. I would’ve loved having more of these kind of responsibilities while being a DeVillage-volunteer here, but I’m not complaining. I’ve had a great time.

Oh yeah, so we get an extra day off! Just yesterday I was hoping for it.. For me, it will be the day after tomorrow: June 25th. What I will do? Go on a tour, visiting Corcovado, the mountain with the famous statue of Christ Redeemer on top of it. Caroline, Gabi and Benjamin will join me. Or that’s at least what we hope for because the tourbus is already full and the front office is looking into the possibility of getting a bigger bus or an extra bus. Tomorrow we’ll know. At the same time, June 25th is also the day of the next Swiss game, so after visiting Corcovado I just might end up at the House of Switzerland again. Although there’s also a Goose concert that evening in the DeVillage party tent… Whatever happens, it will be a good day.

But also a short night again afterwards as we head to Sao Paulo the next morning to go and cheer on our national heroes. Hopefully they will finally be able to put a convincing performance on the mat and thus win the group. So it sounds like a good plan to go to bed early tonight and get a good night’s rest in my new tent. On a self-made bed with a normal mattress AND an inflatable one on top of it. And sheets. And maybe also my sleeping bag, just to get even more comfortable and to be more protected against those mosquitoes.

So things are getting more chill now, as you can probably tell. Though I never really felt like there were some really busy times here. Or maybe that’s just because work doesn’t feel like work when you like what you do. That’s also a possibility.