TV appearance.

Steadily the machine is in motion.
Designs are made for cards and leaflets, idea's are born and deserted, texts have to be translated, a robot needs to be built.
Practical stuff, but also questions are raised like; who's sharing rooms with who, who will be carrying all the decoration-material with which we hope to dazzle, will it be a roman circus (including lots of costume-drama) or merely a modest display...
The kids are playing it cool.
Well....at least my kid is: "What was that? Dentists-appointment? No sorry, I am not available that week, I'm in Saint Louis that week!...".
It's almost comical, it seems he's actually growing faster these days...

Other teams!

First introducing:The other dutch team! : NXT.
Not so elusive anymore, it's on their website now, so I suppose it's on for them as well.
These people are very experienced, and will most certainly be fierce competition!
Well...good luck, guys, see you around!
And since we are busy introducing other teams to the home-front:
This is our buddy-team from the States!

Is that what you call it?
It is in any case the team that we get to hang out with while over there!
A Missouri-team, so I suppose they probably know their way around town.
Which is a good thing: they know the best ice-cream, food, things to do...
Yey!

You know?

"There's a few things you should really do! You should go to a game, or dine outside on the riverbank. You sure could go shopping!, the town is definitely bigger than Nijmegen, it's warmer, you'll like it..."
The more I think and read about Saint Louis, the more I anticipate.
I knew it was the Gateway to the West, were the buffalo's were traded and riverboats domineered the inland-trade.
I knew it once hosted the WorldFair in 1904.
It was where the largest Hooverville was, but that is probably not what the city boasts about, though I have to say that to me that is as fascinating as any tourist attraction; Historian, go figure...
Friends visited the city before and showed me pictures.
It's what you expect from a town that grew extremely fast; long, straight, broad streets, high square buildings, some sort of Capitol in the centre of town...

I wonder if there are many bookshops, what the people are like.
We are going to America.
The America of Toddlers and Tiara's and fastfood.
But also the America of Jazz, the Melting Pot, of a nation of nations...
Even if for all I care the whole event could take place in a town near to here, because I will not be outside a lot, the whole idea of being there in a few weeks time is none the less pretty powerful stuff.

More than fifteen minutes of fame...

...that's what they already experienced after the regional-finals and in Kerkrade.
On their website Team WIT! they pasted most of the articles in which they feature.
And today the local newspaper was there once more, probably an item for tomorrows edition.
They'll let you know.
In the meantime it is a bit quiet, silence before the storm.
The first rush has cooled down a bit and everybody is busy doing...stuff.
Going to school, work, learn, wait until the end of April.
I am getting restless though.
Shouldn't I be painting something?

The other dutch team...

...turned out to be not Team Infinity, as of this moment I don't even know if there is another dutch team, just rumours about one, an elusive team then...
In the meantime the team here is working hard to get it all organized.
We are thinking of good ways to present ourselves and the region we're from, which is historical "river-country", just along the German border.
In this time of year it is beautiful around here, with loads of flocks of geese flying around either leaving or returning, some storks nesting in nearby countryside, the first oyster-catchers are spotted between the rest of the waterfowl, and all around spring is seriously in the air.
At the same time I realize that it is probably more or less the same in Saint Louis, from the air it looks a lot like over here: forests, water...
You guys use Fahrenheit, we Celsius, I still haven't figured out how that works exactly.
So we have to check the conversion tool to see what to pack in a few weeks.
But so far this is fun!

Grace...

Core values are a complicated , however good, concept for a ten year old to grasp.
It was hilarious to be honest, I tried to explain, what these "kernwaardes" were, but it seems the FLL did a pretty good job with that one, because my son was already able to recite them perfectly.

* We are a team
* We do the work to find solutions with our coaches and mentors
* We honor the spirit of friendly competition
* What we discover is more important than what we win
* We share our experiences with others
* We display gracious professionalism in everything we do
* We have fun!

He knew them all; maybe not precisely in these words, but he was close enough to show me he understood!

They maybe will not travel to St Louis to win that contest, but they will certainly go to St Louis to grow, share and enjoy the interaction with everybody they meet.
My son is over the moon, he is so looking forward to this, he's infecting me now...

It's on!

As far as we know there are two dutch teams: us and Team Infinity from Hillegom and as soon as I know where exactly they are on the net, there will be more information about them as well, it will be great meeting them again.
So...a dutch team... I hear you think...tulips, cheese, wooden shoes, all things nice...
But maybe we can do even better : Romans, old celtic tribes, oldest city in the Netherlands (well, at least it's what the city claims, the debate is still out on that one), the Van Limbourg Brothers who lived there in the 14th century, the famous early 16th century legend of Mariken van Nimwegen; I love the history of this town, and hope to bring other people in touch with it as well.
Work in progress, there's more where this came from.
I can't believe it, this whole insane idea is actually no longer an idea...

Here goes...

In English, needless to say...
A few months ago a group of dutch kids, ten years old, from Lent (near Nijmegen) entered a contest.
For the fun of it.
They had a great time, won the regionals and therefore competed in the Benelux-finals, and ended up somewhere around the twentieth place.
So far so good.
Never in a million years did they dream it would take them all the way to the United States.
They are entering the finals in Saint Louis on a wild card.
They heard the news a few days ago,
So now they are brushing up their language skills, rebuild the robot (which was already dissembled) and walk on clouds.
If all goes well, they will be meeting you all in a few weeks!

This is what they see every day! (click)