The Games & Volunteering

It took quite a while to get that golden, furry makeup off our faces and was 1:00 a.m. by the time we actually left Maracanã Stadium after the Olympic Opening Ceremony. A group of us that were all staying in Copacabana came back together and decided to find a place to grab some drinks. Right as we were walking by one of the only open (though already-closing) restaurants, we saw that the TV was starting to play the Opening Ceremony! We started FREAKING out (you all know how I scream when I get excited...it was like that times five) and convinced the manager to keep the restaurant open a bit longer. We ordered food and drinks and squealed nonstop as we got to watch the entire show for the first time. It was nuts to see ourselves and our friends on the TV and to watch the whole thing come together. By the time I got home, it was 4:00 a.m. and I had my first shift volunteering at beach volleyball starting that morning at 6:30 a.m.

That's right.

I went home, showered, got all my stuff together, took a 10-minute nap and then headed out for my first day on-the-job! I'd assumed there would at least be coffee for the volunteers (wrong) but also that I would die of exhaustion (also wrong!). It turned out to be such an exciting day that I didn't once feel tired. I led a group of volunteers and we were in charge of seating people in one of the upper sections of the stadium. That meant that most of our group was inside the stadium at any given moment, able to watch parts of the games as well.

Some of my awesome team the first day!
(Yeah, that was like 7:00 a.m.)

It was such an exciting atmosphere to be in. Those athletes are incredible and you could sit all day in awe of their talent. It was fun to see people from all over the world who had come to cheer on their countries as well. My favorite part of the day was seeing a huge group of Argentinian men cheering on their women's team. With all the blatant sexism I observe day-in and day-out, with people not taking female athletes seriously and whatnot (especially living in Brazil), it was so refreshing to see men caring like that about a female sport. It was probably the lack of sleep but I honestly started to tear up a little as I watched them paying such close attention to the game and cheering so loudly for their team.

We had a pretty damn good view from up there :)

During the rest of the days I volunteered, one was spent taking tickets outside the stadium (which was actually fun because I was able to talk to the other volunteers as well as all the people coming in) and the rest were spent seating people. I was a team leader so I always waited to take my lunch break last and often volunteered first to take the not-so-awesome position just outside the stadium, but it was all fun! I was also usually the only person on my team who spoke languages other than Portuguese so I was called over by different people to translate a number of times for Spanish and English speakers and that was super fun, too!

Every onceee in a while someone got super rude and yelled at me because people were in their seats, they thought they'd paid for better seats, or because another volunteer had done something they didn't like...but these people were few and far between. Almost everyone was SUPER nice, some people thanked us for volunteering and I even made some new friends! I unfortunately got a cold and then a stomach virus that took me out for like a week so I wasn't able to do all of my shifts but I loved every minute that I was there!

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Volunteering, I got to see a bunch of beach volleyball games and, thanks to my friend, Emilie, I also got to see a game in the best sport in the world!! We watched Men's Soccer: Brazil vs. Honduras and "our" team won 6-0! It was so much fun to be there for the game and so awesome to spend with Emilie, who was the first friend I met in Brazil when I came back this time and who has had my back EVERY minute of this year! Brazil would not have been the same without her!

Then I got to watch two wheelchair basketball games with two of my all-time favorite students, a brother and sister that I taught for a while here in Rio. They are the sweetest, smartest little kids I've ever met and I will be forever grateful for the time I got to spend here with them. (Emilie and I gave them our maracatú costumes, too, which I'm sure they will make better use of than we would've!)

We put on the costumes and danced around
on the roof for a while to inaugurate the new
maracatús, lol

So not only were the ceremonies great, but the Games themselves were, too!

I hope that the IOC will be more careful about where they hold the Games from now on, given the high price that Brazilians and especially Cariocas (people from Rio) paid to have the Games here. It was honestly not a great decision but I don't know if everyone really knew that it would work out like that when they made the decision eight (or however many) years ago. Since the Games were here though, we made the best of it! I made lots of new friends, got to practice my language and leadership skills, got to audition and perform for the first time ever, and got to take my precious little students to a game, hoping they'd get even more excited about the world, languages and all the different opportunities that could come their way! Overall, I'd say this was a success! :P