Diary Part 5
Weird Diary-Competition Thingy
Part 5 - Days 18 to 21
Day 18
Wednesday, 30th July 1997
We all woke up LATE! Step, Norman and I ran down to get breakfast as soon as we woke up at 8:30 and were the only ones there, everyone else having already finished and boarding the bus. There was no sign of the rest of our team! We looked around for them but decided we didn't have time, and boarded the bus and found them there. The silly people had decided to skip breakfast.
We arrived at the closing ceremony and were bemused to discover that there were hooters, whistles and matracas (Carolina taught us this Spanish word, they're those, you know, noisy spinny thingys) provided for everyone on the seats! Unfortunately we couldn't all sit together though. There were a whole lot of boring speeches, and then we were presented with our medals! Some countries were really showoffy, wearing their nation's flag up onto stage. (One guy was brave enough to wear nothing BUT his nation's flag up onto stage!) And of course the Argentine medal winners got heaps of media attention. After the presentations, they showed a video of the whole IMO, which was really cool! When the ceremony was finished, we managed to squeeze our way out of the room and meet up outside, where we took millions of photos.
We finally got back to the hotel and finished packing. Before we went to lunch we sat around the piano listening to Angelo playing. At lunch, we gave Angelo and Carolina their presents! Carolina was so touched, and she even cried. She proved how much it meant to her, by telling us that this was the only time she'd ever failed to finish her icecream - and that meant a lot because she was a huge icecream fan! She recounted how, when she was five years old, she dropped her icecream on the ground, but she picked it up and ate it anyway because she couldn't bear to lose so much icecream! We were all relieved to discover that we were more important to her than icecream. Other teams were so impressed by the huge present presentation and they stood up and clapped, and soon everyone in the dining hall was clapping! (A few minutes later, one team tried to get everyone clapping for
their
guide, and it was a dismal failure.) After the huge fiasco, we thought we'd better give Angelo his present as he was feeling a little dejected. His reaction was nearly the opposite of Carolina's - he looked at his CD's, said thanks with an Angelo kind of nonchalance and smiled.
After lunch, we made sure we were properly packed, taking special care to ensure that we all had a full set of "La Hélice". While we were packing, Lily (from the NZ team) and someone else from another team came up to exchange country souvenirs (we'd all been desperately trying to get rid of our souvenirs for ages!) and we mentioned to Lily how rude her team was to us. Everytime we walked by and greeted them, they'd simply snub us. We were all delighted to hear that Lily too thought her team was mean!! So we managed to get at least one of them to defect to our side. Afterwards we went downstairs and paid Ezra out a bit, and he didn't even understand that we were paying him out! It seemed definite that we had won the OZ/NZ war. ¡Ganamos!
We were soon to leave the hotel forever, which made us very sad. After all, many of the other teams were staying another day! Injustice! Most of all, we were scared that we would miss an issue of "La Hélice", so we asked Carolina to collect them for us! The adults of our team arrived from the other hotel on a bus, ready to take us to the airport - but Angelo realised he'd forgotten, among other stuff, his guitar! Duh! We all knew that
something
would eventually happen to that guitar...
So we all set off for the airport while Angelo went back to his hotel to get his stuff. Then some kid realised he'd forgotten his passport! Duh! So it was back to the hotel again... A few minutes after we set off for the second time, Step realised he'd forgotten to give back his room key! Duh! We decided it didn't matter and continued on our way to the airport...
Finally we got to the airport, where Angelo had already arrived! We bought even more Alfajores! Yummy! And then, all too soon, it was time to leave. It was really sad because Carolina kept on crying. (Not that it wouldn't have been sad anyway.) She was a fantastic guide, I'm sure no other guide was as friendly or as helpful as she was.
We finally boarded the plane, and were embarrassed because we all had about seven hand luggages each, including board games, guitars and Norm's propellerhatman balloon, even thought the limit was one!
Back in Buenos Aires, we returned to the dreaded Wardolf hotel. This time we had three people per room, and Norman, Step and I had a room directly above Jon, Thomas and Dan's. I hung a bottle on toilet paper and banged it against their window but they tok no notice. So I rang them up and told them to notice, and Jon stuck his tongue out the window. He was very excited about sticking his tongue out the window.
We decided to have dinner at the restaurant where we lunched on our second day in BA. Five of us had the same dish, the yummy beef with mushroom sauce. The woman who owned the shop gave Thomas a big kiss to congratulate him for his efforts in the IMO, making Angelo feel very jealous and betrayed, I'm sure.
When we got back to the hotel, I managed to call home reverse charge after spending ten minutes trying to get the operator to understand me (and trying to understand him). During the call, everyone somehow busied ourselves and Step was left sitting outside alone with Sonja, and I overheard them had a very interesting and awkward conversation. I wasn't quite sure if I believed my ears, but Step himself confirmed it for me afterwards. I'm not quite sure if I should be recounting it here, but I want to.
Sonja got straight to the point. "Tell me," she demanded of Step, "did Angelo and Carolina get on well together?" Step, perhaps suspecting what this was leading to, uncertainly replied, "Yes." "But," she countered, "were they
more
than friends?" If she had been the sort of person to nudge and wink, I am sure she would have nudged and winked at this point. But she was unforunately a very unnudgewinky person. Step non-committedly said, "I don't know." She persisted a little further, but was soon saved by the return of us. (Five months later, Ben Burton asked us at a maths camp about Angelo and Carolina, having heard rumours from none other than David Hunt! What a gossipy couple.)
We all went to J,T&D's room where we all tried to solve these stupid sequences in La Hélice 9. Step must have interpreted this as a problem session, so he fell asleep. We slept around 12:30.
Which is the lie?
We were provided with hooters, whistles and matracas at the closing ceremony.
Someone wore nothing but a flag up onto stage.
Everyone in the dining hall clapped when we presented Carolina with her presents.
Lily admitted that her team was mean.
The restaurant woman kissed Thomas.
Sonja questioned Step about the nature of Angelo and Carolina's relationship.
Day 19
Thursday, 31st July 1997
AND
Day 20
Friday, 1st August 1997
We were all told on Wednesday to have packed, eaten breakfast and be waiting in the lobby with suitcases to go to the airport by 8am. I was the first one to wake up, at 8am, and while everyone rushed to get ready, I had a leisurely breakfast downstairs. The stupid thing was we all had to wear school pants and shoes because we had to get changed into our uniforms on the flight in case there were media waiting for us in Sydney. Yeah, right.
We bought more souvenirs at the airport, and got rid of the last of our Argentina money. I think you're not allowed to have Argentine money outside Argentina, but all the shops accepted US money anyway. Peter and Lois had already left, before we had given them their present (a tin of Alfajores) so we had a big debate about when to give Angelo and Hans and David and Sonja their presents. In the end we forgot to give them their presents too!
We had a stopover at Rio Gallegos, which, I was informed, is the southernmost international airport in the world. It was freezing! But I was very excited because there were pathetic piles of something resembling snow, and I'd never seen snow before. And it was a good propellerhatman beanie opportunity.
"Fools Rush In" was shown on the flight to New Zealand, which was quite stupidity. During the movie, Thomas unconsciously tried to steal the pen out of Step's hand, angering Step who shouted,
"NO!!"
. Many people turned their heads, including me who was directly in front of Step and Norm, who was asleep previous to Step's shout. (Step wishes it to be known that the volume of his shout was not due to his anger, but to his wearing earphones. I'm sure Alison Ashley would have something to say about this explanation.) Also during the flight, Angelo solved question 6 of the IMO, and the solution was depressingly easy. For some reason Thomas, Step and Jon did a lot of maths, which I didn't expect at all on a flight FROM the IMO!
We stopped at New Zealand for about 2 minutes during which there was a lot of confusion about my ticket for no particular reason. Then we flew to Sydney on a double decker plane! Excitement! We watched "The Beautician and the Beast".
Back in Australia, we got changed then passed through customs, having to get out all the souvenirs we had bought in Argentina. Angelo, as we predicted, had a lot of problems with his guitar. People were fetched, books were consulted, and in the end they couldn't be bothered and let him through.
So we entered the lobby of the airport, prepared for the reporters shouting questions and the flashes of cameras. Instead, we were greeted by an uncanny silence. To console us, Dr Hunt took photos of us himself, but it wasn't the same.
At that point, our disloyal friends Step, Thomas and Jon deserted us, as did the Hunts. Rudeness! They ran off and left Hans, Angelo, Dan, Norm and I stranded in a strange city. We managed to find accomodation at the Gemini hotel and very fell asleep, despite our plans to stay up for the last night.
Which is the lie?
We forgot to give everybody their presents.
Step shouted extremely loud when Thomas attempted to steal his pen.
Thomas, Step and Jon did a lot of maths on the flight.
We all had to change into uniform, but there weren't any press whatsoever.
Day 21
Saturday, 2nd August 1997
I woke up at about 6 and had a fantasterrifabulorgasarexcellentiopulas breakfast! However, Dan and Norm were fast asleep and missed out on the orgiastic feast for the senses I experienced in the Gemini dining room. When we arrived at the Ansett terminal, Angelo informed me that my flight was a QANTAS flight, and, naively believing him, I dragged my stupidly heavy luggage all the way to the QANTAS terminal, where upon arrival I realised it was in fact an Ansett flight. So I carried my luggage all the way back and was extremely annoyed at Angelo.
Hungry Norman and famished Dan ate at McDonalds. We were astonished to discover that Angelo detested the breakfasts there! Norm and I sat at the lego table but ended up fighting over the lego pieces and not speaking to each other.
Finally I said goodbye to the Melbournians and was left all alone. I flew back to Adelaide. And that's the extremely anticlimactic ending to this tale. I hope you're disappointed.
No lies! (Because I can't be bothered.)
Here's where you submit your entry for Part 5!
What's your name?
And what about your e-mail address?
Would you like to go
home
now?
Or would you rather go back to the main page of this
weird diary-competition thingy
?
Or perhaps to the
Mathscamp Memories
page?
E-mail
ME
or you'll be disqualified from this weird diary-competition thingy.
