Main campsite at Úlfljótsvatn
Cleaning up a campsite is always sad. Especially when you had such a great time together. But we had to move on to the main campsite in Úlfljótsvatn. I still can't pronounce it correctly, so most of the time I call it the 'main site'. Icelandic is very hard to pronounce... The transport to the main site went very smoothly, but þetta reddast, till the last moment, it was not clear when we got the busses, and how many. I started to like this way of organising!
The main site has a complete different atmosphere as the previous days at the expedition center. It's a lot bigger, around 6.000 people and is a lot more organised, especially Icelandic standards. All the patrols still have there own campsite, grouped by expedition center, but the IST is gathered together on two campsites. Although the distances are not to bad, every morning you still have to pack your backpack because you probably not coming back for a couple of hours.
Food
The IST had the luxury of having there own restaurant and cafe. (without alcohol) So every morning, you got out of bed and stumble to the restaurant where you got your coffee, breakfast and a lunch-to-go. This was mostly bread with smur, an icelandic cheese spread, or cereals. After this morning ritual, you go to the job you were assigned to. In my case, program.
In the afternoon, dinner was served in the restaurant also. This meal consists of some good food, lasagne for example, a salad, some sauces and of course a dessert. The food was good and enough for everybody. I sometimes prepare food for my own scout group, and I know how hard it is to serve a proper meal in big quantities.
I already mentioned the IST cafe. Because IST are the working force on an international camp, we have no program. A lot of us are working normal hours, but sometimes also in the evening or at night. So you need a place to sit, relax, play a game or have a conversation with your fellow IST. This was the place to meet people from other countries and exchange idea's. Like a real cafe, but internationally.
Working as an IST
Of course, I wasn't there just to do nothing. My work on the main site involved helping program with the radio scouting and electronics activities. Together with a friend I prepared a game for the workshop with NFC tags. (or QR-codes if your phone can't read NFC) The main goal of the game is to collect all the NFC tags as fast as possible. The fastest wins the game. There is a score board for keeping track. And that was a lot of fun! We put the game on GitHub, so you can play it yourself.
Beside the game, I was helping with all kind of activities, for example showing people what you could do with a microwave, but you parents always keep you from doing. That involves metal, aluminum foil, capacitors, CD's, light bulbs and light tubes. After a couple of demonstrations, the smell was terrible. So the next day, we moved the microwave outside. Most of the participants didn't know you could have that much of fun with old microwaves!
All the activities and material was put online by pe1mew. Use the activities for your own (scout) group and have fun! If you got any improvements, please let him know. If you use it, send him a picture, he likes it! You can find the activities on GitHub
Problems
Being together with 90 different countries has his side effects. On the second day, I become having problems with my trout and started to have raising temperatures. I took some paracetamol, and went to bed early. Sleeping is the last thing you want on a international camp, but in the end, it helped a lot. Except for my trout. I completely lost my voice! Very strange when your job is explaining activities. But I had some great great people around me! And they helped me getting better. Luckily I wasn't the only one. A lot of people got the same problems. It's a common problem on international camps. Your resistance goes down and the risk of getting a disease increases.
Parties
In the center of the main site, there was an arena where all the central events took place. We had an opening ceremony, a party-night and a closing ceremony. The party-night was the best. The band was playing out of there skin. Although I wasn't completely fit, it was a perfect night!
During the event, the Dutch always build there famous "Dutch Cafe". It's just what you expect from those crazy Dutch. A big tent and a big crowded party! Not a lot of decoration on the wall, so there is more room for dancing. It's a Dutch tradition to always take a "Dutch Cafe" to international events. And it was one of the most popular evening activities during the Moot!
The opening and closing ceremony were really nice to watch. Especially the closing ceremony. That was the moment everyone realized the Moot was now over. Everybody was singing and dancing together like a very big family. Was it completely over? No, not for the IST. We helped two more days with cleaning up the whole campsite, have a last special meal and a small party. And than the Moot was really over...