This morning did not require an alarm. Friday was Culture Day across the Jamboree, so the site was closed to visitors. All the participant units were encouraged to showcase food and culture from their homes, and visit each other.
I spent the early part of the morning sleeping. I took my time getting up, enjoying the fact that I didn’t have to be anywhere. Well, I did have to go get breakfast before they closed up shop at 10 AM, so I did that.
After breakfast I came back to my tent and did laundry. There are no laundry facilities in Echo, and the Jamboree has not found anyone willing to take on all the laundry for the event, so I’m on my own. I brought a dry bag from Sea To Summit, and some Wilderness Wash with citronella. A dry bag is meant to keep water out, so it works quite well to keep water in, too. I had been using it to hold my dirty laundry, so now all I had to do was fill it up with water, add some soap, and agitate. I have to say, a 35 liter dry sack full of clothes and water gets pretty heavy.
After laundry I laced up my shoes and made my way to Camp Foxtrot. There are several scouts from The Appalachian Trail District in two of the USA contingent troops, and that’s where they’re camped. I wandered around a bit, checked out the displays, and found the two units. I took pictures of the scouts I know personally, and sent them to their parents as proof of life. I even FaceTimed one friend so he could chat with his son for a bit.
On my way back from Foxtrot I ran into joulupukki! He was out visiting, and I had a quick chat with him. He looked a bit hot, but did let me know that his belly was actually a hydration bladder, and he was steadily getting skinnier.
For the rest of the evening we hung out a bit in Chat-and-Chew, got dinner, and sat a while in the Meet & Greet tent (they have couches). No sauna tonight, as it closed at 4 due to the evening’s camp wide Unity Show. We were told there would not be buses back to Echo after the show, so we opted to watch the live stream in the cinema tent, as we had another early wake up the next morning.
Each of the big shows features one of the three host countries. The Unity Show kicked off with a Mariachi group. There were also presentations from the different religions represented at Jamboree, and we also heard from Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka, the UN’s Envoy on Youth. She had a wonderful quote she shared from a refugee she had met years ago:
There are hundreds of reasons that divide us. But there are millions of reasons that unite us.
There was another inspiring quote later in the program:
You don’t have to be a superhero to bring the world peace. A scout in a neckerchief can change the world.
Once the official part of the program was over the live stream ended. The scouts at the stadium continues to have fun in the form of Disney singalongs and fireworks. We headed to bed so we would be ready for the crowds the next day.
Xennial Wanderer 