Luke Burrage's Blog

I’m nearing the end of my summer holiday. I’ll be doing a series of blog posts about what I’ve been up to, with photos and maps and everything, but not until I have time to do the writing. Say, when I next have a week on a cruise ship with not a lot else to do.

Like this coming week!

I’ve known about the trip for a while, and I’m really excited about it. Technically I won’t be visiting a new country, but I’ll certainly be going to some unique destinations. Here’s the breakdown:

The above map was made over at Sosauce.com and by following that link you can zoom in stuff.

I fly from Zurich to Oslo, then wait 7 hours in the airport. Then I fly to Tromso, then to Hammerfest, then to Honningsvag, which is as far north as you can fly and lang in Europe. From there I’ll visit the “tourisz version” of the northernmst point in Europe, and spend the night in a hotel.

From there I join a ship then sail north. There are some islands halfway to Svalbard, but I couldn’t find them on the map. I’m sure that will just be scenic cruising. But then we land at Spitzbergen, Svalbard, which is pretty much as far north as you’ll ever get unless you’re taking a trip to the North Pole. It’s so far north, one of the tourists attractions is a 24 hour sun dial.

This kind of remote is so cool I can’t even imagine it. I want to go hiking when I get there, but I have to hire a rifle to leave the city limits… in case of Polar Bears!

The next stop is way south, slightly below the arctic circle (it sounds strange when I read that out loud), in Iceland. I leave the ship in Akureyri, then fly over to Reykjavik. I then need to cross from the local to international airport, which means I’ll have maybe two hours to see the city. I’ve been to the city before, but pretty much drove past it and back again from a long truck drive. I really need to look up what I can do in the city in under an hour.

Then I fly back to Zurich (via Berlin) just in time to perform at the Feldkirk Gauklerfestival, which is our first streetshow festival of the year. That we didn’t get more festivals in July and August (but 3 in September) is the reason we’ve had such a long holiday. And the reason why I had to take a work trip in the middle of it all.

Anyway, I’ll be sharing photos, and maybe videos, on my return next Friday. Other blogging will continue, as I have things I want to write and post.

Today was a slow, very hot day. I got up late, and went looking for Pola. I found her in our hammock, asleep in the shade between two trees. I guess I didn’t wake when she came in to get it sometime in the morning.

I spent a while writing emails and uploading photos, but the info tent got too hot. So I went outside. Where it was even hotter. In the end I sat under some trees and watched people juggle.

After some food I thought I’d check out the parade. But then I couldn’t be bothered to join in, so cycled into the city center. There I ate ice cream and drank coke and read a book in the shade. Alesandro was hosting the games, so popped over to ask some advice, and we bashed out a list of games, an order for the games, and gave him various suggestions of things to do in the various challenges.

As I was the first juggler at the games arena, I had a quite relaxing time. Of course, after an hour or so, the parade arrived, and the arena was soon PACKED! I thought it would be a perfect place for the games, but it wasn’t. Far too small, it turns out.

There was a real party atmosphere, with people dancing to the samba marching bands, and throwing water around, and climbing on to the high buildings around the square.

I’d saved some seats in out of the sun, and finally the Berlin crew joined me. And then the games began!

They started with a torch relay, then a burning arrow shot into a bowl. Which promptly melted onto its wheely bin stand. It was a great opening ceremony.

Bar from Israel won the five ball endurance. I dropped out right away, because I was trying to get a shot for a video project, and stood too close to the burning bowl of fire, and got a face full of burning hot smoke.

Bar also won the 7 ball endurance, and came second in the 5 club endurance. Along with coming third in the Fight Night last night, I think this makes him the best juggler at the EJC. Or something.

Some games suffered from the overcrowding. Two people stumbled into me during the club balance endurance, a game I normally do quite well in. This meant I knew to keep clear of others during the coin juggling game. I came sort of joint second in this one, meaning I was one of two jugglers who dropped on the last trick (two up pirouette). I got no prize for that place, though, as the only prize was the cash.

3 ball Simon Says was a bit frustrating. I followed instructions exactly, but then a man dressed as a lion came and knocked the ball out of my hand. Apparently Matias and I were the only jugglers who followed the “Simon says pull your trousers back up” instruction. This meant that, once Matias dropped, I was the only one left with my shorts returned to the normal position. It turns out half the audience agreed with the decision to knock me out way after the fact, and the other half were as confused as I was. Oh well.

The overcrowding really came to a head with the three club combat. The hosts of the games really couldn’t control the players, and most of the audience couldn’t see what was going on due to the eliminated players standing up around the edges. After four completely mad games, the winners from each round fought in the final. This final consisted of Jochen (of course), Alvaro, myself and some other guy I don’t know. I came third, Jochen knocking me out and then going on to win.

Afterwards Jochen said “You know, I didn’t mean to knock you out so quickly!” which made sense, as in such a situation, with a big audience, we normally try to play a bit, to raise the tension, to make a few faints and jabs for show. He simply missjudged the distance. I’d thought at the time “Wow, Jochen’s really serious about winning… not very sportsmanlike!” I don’t mind though, he’d probably have won anyway, and I think I won the same game last year.

Inexplicably, after the crowd-pleasing triumph of Jochen, there was another game: ball on head combat. As the final game it was sort of an anticlimax.

Then the tossup, in which I didn’t toss up, but did juggle (for personal reasons). Overall the games were a big success, although they did last a long time. I knew they would and thats why, when asked about who many games to play, I said 10 was plenty. In fact, they could have done without the 2 diabolo endurance (pointless).

After the games, Pola and I and other Berliners visited Dominos pizza again. By the time we got back to the convention site, the ska band was playing, and the concert/party was in full swing. I dropped off my things at the van, then went to the 24 hour hall to play combat. I did some video editing too in between all that. Combat was fun tonight, and the lack of people made the games very relaxed.

Then I popped over to the info tent to upload some photos. It was closed so I couldn’t sit down at the table inside (boo) but the wifi was still on (yay) but nobody could use the computers (boo) but that meant all the bandwidth was just for me (yay). I’m currently sitting outside on a beanbag, listening to the band, and catching glimpses of the show in the renegade tent. A very pleasant last evening at the EJC.