salut.

i had a field day, people-watching at today's specialized training. most of the international volunteers have just flown in from all over the world and attended today's training and venue tours. seeing all these different people, it was just awesome. sure, being foisted into a predicament where your (a little) contrived cordiality comes into play is a little intimidating and awkward at times, i'm still perfectly grateful for this opportunity to meet all these new people. somehow, the enduring wanderlust in me outdid my indelible awkwardness and i managed to have some really illuminating conversations about the covetous parr-tayy-ing and school life in norway. damn jealous of them, can?

i'll never forget her shock at the fact that we had to line-up every morning at assembly and the lame-ass, archaic exercises from a begone era we had to do in anglican high on friday mornings. "don't you all have gym class, or something?" ha seriously, i know right. apparently most european educational institutions grant students a lot of autonomy, where right here, it's the other way round. being caught in between the russian crowd on the crammed bus during venue tours, it was only in the midst of their unintelligible banter did i really feel that my present understanding of the rest of the world was so completely lacking and parochial. btw, it was totally surreal; to be in someone's personal space and yet, not understand a single thing that they were saying. there's really so much more out there for us to learn.

initially, like some of the people out there, i cannot rationalize why some people give up personal time to volunteer for events like these. to be willing free labor. but now, i can really feel that every shred of apathy is unjustified. there are people flying halfway round the world just to come here to give up their time. what is a mere two hour commute on the first train? the sheer scale of the affair and the amount of resources involved in the operations are so overwhelming that i can only imagine how the coordination had been accomplished. signing up for this gig has been a pretty good decision thus far. i'm sure i'll have even more good things to say when the 26th comes.

although all volunteers have been handed out cautionary advice on blogging about the games and very possibly all related happenings for a myriad of security reasons, it won't stop me from dousing myself in someone elses' culture class and noting it down here for keepsake. it's only during times like these that even mundane weather observations can be the most interesting of conversations. all in all, it was time well-spent today! maybe it's time i should start learning some survival serbian so that i can actually communicate with my team when they arrive next week! i'm so excited.

:)