Day 2 - Set-Up Day ... Sunday May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day ... I hope all our kids did the obvious.

Day 2 started with an early 7:30 am meeting in our designated Canada Meeting room just off the front foyer.  Stef, the Head Chaperone from YSC typically heads the meeting.  Because the chaperones were not able to find time to coordinate a more affordable breakfast venue due to yesterday's arrival, a decision was made to have breakfast at the Bigelow Grille, the hotel's restaurant.  Ouch $$$$$.  Don't worry Eleanor, we all have our receipts.

We are all told that the ISEF Fair is held at the Convention Centre and that it is only a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel.  Although there is a courtesy shuttle, everyone decided to make the trek to carry their projects to the Convention Centre.  By 9 am, everyone from the Team had made it over and proceeded to assemble their projects.  However, Dennis and Mangot had a SRC violation that necessitated a noon meeting with the SRC Review Board to address the violation.  As I approached the Convention Centre, I was astounded by the huge magnitude of this event; I have been at past CWSF and have enjoyed them but this INTEL ISEF is impressive and I am sure it makes the kids feel especially important as they begin their particpation.

We were all given our special badges and warned that its loss would carry a $200 replacement cost.  I immediately taped it to my neck (just kidding). TEAM CANADA is one of the earliest teams and consequently received a lot of open space to work within as they do their taping, cutting and assembling of their project.

Many of the kids worked together to help each other and this collective cooperation enabled our team to be all done assembled and safety checked by 1 pm or so.  Dennis and Mangot had pre-assembled their project, expecting that their SRC meeting would end up being resolved ... which it did.

The whole TEAM CANADA left at 2 pm, hungry and tired and proceeded to find a place for lunch ... pretty difficult on a Sunday that is also a Mother's Day.  It felt like Moses wandering in the desert but eventually we ended up in an area called Market Square that had a smorgasbord of eateries to cater to everyone's palate.

By 4 pm, we were all back at the Doubletree to freshen up and get ready for the Pin Trading event. It's much talked about and the chaperones warned that the Team is forbidden to trade their jackets.

We met up with the Team Montreal contingent led by chaperones Wilson and Gus.  Wilson was on his 23rd chaperone trip ... unbelievable and he does look older than 40.  Gus, well he's a venerable looking fella ... best way to describe him is that he looks like exactly like Albert Einstein.  I will have to get a side by side picture comparison for all to see.

The Pin Trading event was being held at the luxury Westin, a grand looking hotel connected to the Convention Centre. The kids proceeded to an area where between 7-9 pm, they would be fed and then encouraged to trade their pins for other's countrys' and state fair pins.

The chaperones were in for a real nice surprise.  Ben Gulak, a BASEF and ISEF alumna (2004, 2006, 2007) was to be the keynote speaker at the Opening Ceremony and he was to meet our group for dinner.  I sat next to Ben and had a delightful evening.  He said he was a little nervous for his speech but he did not show it.  Ben came accompanied with a lady friend who is quite easy on the eyes.

Here's a lovely story to beat our chest on.  When Stef was trying to book a table for dinner at the Westin Hotel restaurant, we were initially told that it was going to be at least a 45 minutes.  But when they learned that we were the delegation from Team Canada (I don't know who dropped that on the hostess), we were immediately led to a very prominent table.  Sure puffs up our chests a little.

By 10 pm, we were all back at the Doubletree, some with pin-laden lanyards.  Stef and Cathy had their end of day summation at our Team Canada meeting "room" and reminded us of our curfew and of the 8 am start for the next day.