Judging Day! (Wednesday)

Well .. it's finally here ...

Judging Day. The day that the students have spent weeks, months, maybe all year preparing for. It's also Brian's 17th Birthday.

Deciding that the stress of getting everyone all ready and out for breakfast was too much, we had a "continental breakfast buffet" in Cathy and Liane's room. There was juice, milk, fresh fruit, muffins, croissants, bagels, bread, cream cheese, peanut butter, jam, honey, and, of course, lots of orange marmalade. We stick a green candle in Brian's yogurt and sing a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday.

The students all look great. It's always a fun day in town when you see "the locals" doing their double-takes on the street as they see teenagers in suit and tie, and adults with them dressed way more casually! Most of them are fairly calm, but a couple are a little nervous, and our IISEF veterans do their best to answer their questions and calm them down.

By 7:45, we've seen all the students and they head to their projects. They don't have that long for lunch, so the chaperones all head out to get various items to have lunch all ready for them when they come out. We had pre-ordered sandwiches from the Pita Pit (quickly becoming a crowd favourite), so Cathy, Ray and Stef head over to pick those up. Deidre, Liane and Dustin stay back to source out a prime spot on the floor of the hotel big enough to fit everyone. They lay out drinks, fruit, and chips, and "secure" our spot with a dollar store 12 foot string of small Canadian flags.

We set up a "relay" to make sure the kids all get to the right spot. Liane and Stef inside the door of the convention centre, Ray at the door where the convention centre comes into the hotel, and Cathy at "the turn" of the hallway. The instructions are "head down this hall to the end .. straight through Brazil until you arrive at Canada!

They arrive noisily, ready to decompress and talk about their morning. Lots of comparisons about how many judges they have had, how they think the morning has gone, and what the craziest or most difficult question they have been asked was. They finish their lunch, and we stick yet another green candle into a Hostess Chocolate Cupcake (there were also Twinkies and Ho Ho's as gourmet dessert options) and sing Happy Birthday to Brian again. The weather outside is beautiful (75 degrees) so many of them head outside to sit in the sun for 15 minutes, while a few others head to the e-Lounge to check on their email.

We decide that something cold would be good for afternoon snack, so head back over to Safeway to pick up ice cream bars and Fudgsicles for their afternoon break. They come out at 3:45, and the ice cream is gone before we can blink twice! They head back in for their final round of judging.

At last it's over! Time to unwind with a party! Kids and adults are sent to different locations for their dance. The adult reception starts at 6 pm. We get there at 6:05, and they have already run out of food. We get a few rice balls, Stef grabs the last little piece of blue cheese and brie from a tray, and we then decide to start eating the table garnish .. carrots still with the stems on. Liane decides to braid three of them together for fun.

There's a band at the adult mixer ... the music is great, but we all decide that we're getting too old as we think the music is too loud. We decide to head out and find a place to sit and chat. After visiting a couple of places, decide to head back to the hotel.

The kids have just returned from their party that was across the street. We find them on the second floor lobby (which has sort of become our unofficial hangout .. it's the place we've now been holding all our team meetings) playing a game of Mafia .. except for a few who were really tired who had already gone to bed.

We set curfew for midnight .. everyone is in their rooms by then, ready for a good night's sleep.