EYOF opening ceremony

The openning ceremony of the Tbilisi EYOF was going to be grand they said, because it was a very important event in Georgian history and it was to be watched by so many people not only in Georgia, but in other countries too. So everyone wanted to attend it, of course. However, some didn't have a ticket or an invitation, so they couldn't attend the event, but they could watch the live translation on Georgian TV channels.

Since it was the middle of the summer or was very hot and, despite the fact that it was too start in the evening, the hotness of the day still wasn't over or something like that. While we were volunteers in this event, we had invitations for ourselves _ the organisers and staff gave us those invitations and they asked us to be in the uniforms while we attended the opening ceremonyand those uniforms weren't very summer friendly, if you ask me. However, we still wore those forms and that way we walked into the streets of Tbilisi and to the very stadium. And there were so many of us, the people were just staring in amazement, I guess.

Well, it all started with us gathering at the Rustaveli metro station, there were some of us who were going to be together at the Sport's Palace working as volunteers. Turned out, the others didn't really know how to get to the Boris Paichadze Stadium and they were going the wrong way, so it was good that I knew how to get there, so we went across the street and waited for the bus number 61 or whichever went to Bagebi, you know, the place is called that. Well, the busses were crowded with volunteers going to the opening ceremony and it was so cool meeting with others like us and even if we didn't know each other, we still talked about things and waved each other and stuff like that. Finally we were nearby the place and we got out from the bus. There were many people going around, all waiting for the entering to start and, of course, the ceremony to start in the first place. It was really hot and there was only one small thing where you could buy water and some other stuff and, you know how it goes, first of all, there was this huge line outside this thing and everyone was trying to get some water first and everyone wanted to be first and, second of all, what's more, the 30 Tetri bottle of water cost there something like 1 Lari, I guess, and, well, everything was too expensive compared to what their actual cost was. However, people still bought those things, because it was necessary and there was nothing else around to buy something there. Little did they know that no one would allow them to bring anything inside the stadium.

Some time later they announced the entering and everyone just rushed to the doors so they would get in fast and, I guess, they would sit on their places. We were in line for some time until we got to the gates where there were security and they told us to show them the tickets and they didn't let us bring our water bottles into the stadium and that was pretty bad action, if you ask me, because it was very hot and people get dehydrated very easily at that time, especially when there's no roof or something like that, you know, and there can be some serious consequences, of course.
Anyways, we got to the seats and until then there were other security guys who looked at our tickets and gave us orders where to go to find our seats. The volunteers had this whole section reserved, you may say that. We were all together and that way or was kind of beautiful from the distance that people with similar uniforms sat together.

The start

Well, the start was a grand, I can definitely say. There was this whole story of Georgia and Georgian people and our history in brief with dances and music and everything. There is this myth about the Argonauts and Jason and how they crossed the Black Sea and got to Georgian shores, where there was this Golden Fleece that they wanted to take to Greece with them. Georgian king's daughter Medea helped them at the end to achieve their goal because she fell in love with Jason and she went to Greece with him with that Golden Fleece. I guess, the first thing was about that myth and there wad a dance about it, which then was accompanied with the first Georgian alphabet and then the Christianity brought to Georgia by St. Nino duron the reign of King Mirian and Queen Nana. There were some sort of stages, with one of them bigger than others and on all of them couples were dancing and those were the on this large kind of map of Georgia and these stages represented the caital of Georgia and all the other major cities and towns of our country. And, of course, the dancers danced the national dances characterized to those particular places. There are many Georgian national dances from all the different parts of Georgia and each part has itws own dance. So all these things were very beautiful, especially from above. They also danced Khorumi, which is a battle dance with a group of soldiers searching for enies and then fighting and winning and stuff like that. This dance is a very distinguished one, because of the exact movement and straight lines of the dancers that leave you fascinated.

Then there were these musicians playing georgian famous music. And they played it pretty well. It was all in harmony and stuff. I really enjoyed it.

Then there was this whole speeches and stuff. People talked about this event and how important it was. Our Prime Ministeralso had some things to share. We were there sitting together and we had this thing like football and sports fans do when they make a wave and we made those waves, too and I guess it looked now very good, but at least we tried our best.

The was this thing, too, remember I told you about how they made us leave our water bottles outside and didn't let us have anything if we were thirsty or something? Well, some of the volunteers brought many bottles of water in packs and stuff like that, I don't know where they got them, maybe it was for everyone or maybe it was for volunteers or maybe it was for people sitting all around us, but who cared? At least we had some water and we were calm, that if we got thirsty, we would have water and we could drink it and we would not have to worry about that, I mean, we would not have to worry whether we got thirsty in that hotness would we have some water or not. It was Bakhmaro water bottles, those with dark blue color and, well, while some people prefer Bakuriani water, I just like to drink Bakhmaro, so I was really glad that throughout the whole Olympic Games we would have Bakhmaro water to ourselves. Besides, those Bakhmaro bottles are really beautiful, if you ask me. Now they have produced new glass bottles of water, it's only 250 ml I guess, but they are really cute and I bought one of them just so I could have the bottle I liked it that much. I have it at home like a decor thing and I have some small flowers put in it.

Anyways, the ceremony continued and there were all these groups from different countries coming out and they had their flags and they were waving at us and were all happy and stuff like that. This was all organised well, of course, and everyone knew what they had to do and everyone had their own role in that. The delegations took their seats amongst the people. Well, they had the whole sectors reserved for them, you know, so that different delegations wouldn't seat somewhere where they could kind of dissolve in each other, of course. The ceremony was really nice and the process of the delegations coming out on the stadium was great to watch.

The culmination of the opening ceremony was the Olympic Fire. The fire had been to all the cities and big towns in Georgia coming from the very Greece, of course, and now it was in Tbilisi and on this stadium and they could light up the torch and work that they would tell us that the Olympic Games was begun! There wad this funny thing, though, while lighting up the torch. They say the fire was put out and they lit it up again. Well, it's hard to say that, even though I was there looking directly how Zviadauri went up the stairs with the fire in his hands and tried to light the torch.

The Olympic Games was officially open and now we could celebrate our with the grand ending of the opening ceremony _ there wad this huge fireworks planned for the people watching the ceremony! I must say, that the fireworks were really amazing, though there was some misleading and some of the fireworks did a bad job, I guess, and some fires appeared on those seats where the fireworks were planted and then I saw some people running there with their shirts taken off and they tried to put out the fire with their shirts and it was kind of funny. Well, actually, it was really funny and I laughed about it, of course, but that shouldn't have happened, you know.

When everything was finished and stuff, this whole crowd went to the gates and there was this whole mess, however sooner or later we went outside, too. Of course, it was already dark and there were large white Olympic busses waiting for the delegations to come out so that they would take then to the Athletes' Village, which was located nearby the Tbilisi Sea above Varketili. Some people were very glad to see the sportsmen so close, I mean, when the delegations came out people also came out to that direction, so that they would meet each other somewhere in the middle without doubt. Well, in that chaos I discovered my friend there, who I hadn't seen for a long time. We visited England in 2010 together and we had this two weeks English course there in Cambridge. We talked a little, well,we did what we could in that crowded place and then we split, because there were too many people going here and there. It was really nice, though.

So, me and some other volunteers went downstairs and got to the bus station, where we would wait for any bus that would take us to any metro. Well, I needed a metro to get home and the others didn't matter that much, because once they were nearby metro they could easily move around the city. We were there waiting for buses, but nothing came. Little did we know that there would be no busses at all neither at that bus station nor at another ones on the whole Rustaveli Avenue. While we were watching those white busses leaving the place and the Athletes waving at us with joy and cheerfulness, we understood that thing and decided to walk until some bus came, because it was already something like 11 p.m. I guess, or nearly it and the public transport just worked until 12 a.m. We just walked all the way from Vake Park to the Rustaveli metro station, can you imagine that? It was awful, because we still hoped that any bus would come and we would take it, but in vain. It was a "walk of volunteers " as there were so many of us walking together on Rustaveli Avenue

Finally we were at Rustaveli metro station and it was almost 12 o'clock and we made it, we went into the metro and that was it, there was nothing to worry about then. I could go home and sleep.

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