Day 7 - A Week in Japan

Thought I was working this morning so was up at half five to get showered and breakfasted. I met Rebecca in the queue, and during our lovely meal of a jam roll, salad and cereal, she informed me that we weren't actually working until 6pm. Another day to fill!!
 
We still went to the Scout Shop and queued, we were there from about 8ish to roughly 10.30. Met some lovely people in the queue, and actually managed to swap some badges! I bought a really cool Disney bag that has the jamboree logo on, decided I'm going to sew all of my swap badges on it for a souvenir.
 
We lost most of the crew in the shop, and Alix was meeting some other friends at GDV. Me and Rebecca decided to relax a bit more and popped to the supermarket for a cold drink. I also spotted Pringles and Sprite, they went straight in my basket!!!
 
After wandering around for a while, I suggested the play area (big kid I know). I'm not going to lie, it was epic. There was a bouldering wall, a massive netting type climbing thing and a slide. We had great climbing all over it, we both avoided the slide though.. didn't want the embarrassment of getting stuck!!
 
About 1ish we found some shade to eat our lunch in and I tried my second cat food pouch. It was corned beef hash this time and I tolerated it for a while, didn't finish it all though it was far too soggy. Whilst we were eating a Nigerian Guide introduced herself to us and gave me a cap as a gift. She was ever so sweet and it was great to meet a Girl Guide from another country!
 
It was 34°C and at least 60% humidity, so we moved to the shade by the dome. I used the cool to nap, and it was probably the best sleep I'd had all week!! I got bored after a while so excused myself and went for a long loo break. It was far too hot though and I soon found myself back in the shade.
The canteen was open earlier for dinner today because of the Opening Ceremony. It was Fried Japanese Chicken on the menu, and yet somewhere along the line it turned to pork. After eating, we both went back to our tents to get bits ready for work. I really wanted to go to the Opening Ceremony so had a shower and put my uniform on.
 
When we got to work, Lottie asked who wanted to go to the Opening Ceremony. I put my hand up straight away, surprisingly there were plenty of people that didn't want to go, so I got the night off!! Before I left I picked up a lovely work t-shirt for tomorrow.
 
I quickly dropped my bits off at the tent and hot trotted to meet the others. The whole of the UK IST looked very impressive all dolled up in uniform. It was great to finally catch up with Gemma and Emily. All of us (Dylan, Callum, Alex, Hannah and Dom included) headed to the Arena. The mob of UK Scouts and Guides was massive and we made quite a racket chanting on the way over. I have a feeling we were lead the long way round just to show off for a bit longer. It was still sunny at this point and I was looking forward to sunset for a bit of shade!
 
We were near the back of the arena, but as everyone was told to sit down we could still see quite clearly. Me, Emily and Gemma sat on Dom's Nottinghamshire flag he'd brought. He also wore his Robin Hood hat, but that's another story.
 
The first performance was from a drumming group called Dadada Dan-Tenko. They had so much energy and I really got into the beat. We were having a right boogie. That was the best part of the Ceremony, the presenting of the flags took a really long time. With over 140 countries, it took forever to get to United Kingdom.
 
The part we were looking forward to the most was the Jamboree song. I couldn't wait to do the dance, we'd practised on the way down and I knew all the words and corresponding moves now! But that moment never came. After speeches from a few main organisers, they did play the song, but only as background noise as we left. Gutted.
 
Me and Emily lost the others walking back, but amused ourselves with Opera High School Musical. We sounded amazing. There was a mass of people surrounding the icecream vending machine and, unsurprisingly, the others were part of it. Apparently there had been a bit of a party by the Food Houses last night, so we went over to check it out.
 
No music was playing so me and Gemma asked the guys to turn it on, unsuccessfully. They had been banned from any parties tonight because of the Opening Ceremony. Gutted, we made our own music for a while, mainly singing the jamboree song. I got tired after a while and headed back to the tent for some much needed kip. Working a double shift tomorrow so I've got a feeling I'll need it.

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