Morning

Today, I took my usual walk, but it turned out to be more exciting than usual. While I was walking, I could see 2 men walking in front of me with Estonian shirts.

So I wished them good morning and they were really surprised. 😀 Mostly because they had just arrived and were just looking for breakfast somewhere. They did not expect to find an Estonian that soon in this big city. So, here are my greetings to Toomas and Aivar from Viljandi.

When I got to my morning check-in, I met another Estonian. Turns out that there is another Estonian volunteer at the beach volleyball arena. Pretty cool. 😀 He gave me some pins to share with other people.

So my morning was really exciting and I hadn’t even made it to the tribunes yet.

While walking around the venue, I also met a Norwegian volunteer that works for the doping committee at the swimming arena. He is changing over to beach volleyball next week for the finals. We started talking English, but then moved over to a mix of Danish-Norwegian. A bit comic, but we both managed to have a conversation. 😀

The games today

Brazil vs Poland women ( Brazil won 2:0) – Even though Poland put up a good fight, Brazil was clearly better.

Cuba vs Canada men (Cuba won 2:0) – Very exciting game and Canadian fans are very loud. 😀 This time I think they were sober at least. 😀

Poland vs Chile men (Poland won 2:0) – Chile had a great fan club. The game was not that exciting as Poland was clearly better. The press agreed. 😀 There was no one at the tribunes.

Russian vs Holland men (Russia won 2:1) – Very exciting and close game. Both opponents played very well and it was exciting to watch. Some Russian fans had even made it to the tribunes. Dutch fans were more visible though with their orange costumes 😀

Russia vs USA women (Russia won 2:1) – Another exciting game and at this time there was actually some journalists at the tribunes. Very close match and USA do like their yellow cards. Once again they argued themselves to a yellow card with the referee. Funny. 😀

Volunteers and pins

Turns out that Olympic volunteers are crazy about pins. The kind that you attach to the neck tie of your accreditation card. Some have a lot and some don’t have any.

Today I got a handful of the Estonian pins, to exchange for different pins, and the hunt was on. 😀 It is funny to see how volunteers go ask the journalists or broadcasters for different pins and then how the exchange is working.

Some don’t even want a pin in return but are just willing to give some away. We happily accept.

So, my catch today was a pin from: Latvia, Estonia, USA volleyball, USA volunteer club. Now I need to go get some more tomorrow.

Evening

The day isn’t over yet. Today, Estonia opened their medal score with a bronze in rowing (Just behind Denmark. 😀 Tillykke!). In honor of that, we are having a medal party at a local pub. Everyone is welcome!