We were blessed with a somewhat amazing event- our house sold before we even listed it on the market! It was such a blessing in many ways- we didn't have to invest any more money to stage the house or have the uncertainty of spending a summer waiting for a buyer. In other ways it was a bit of a shock- we didn't have time to do our wishlist items on our Texas bucket list. There were so many things our family had planned on doing and unique places to visit before we said our final goodbye.
Nathan had already moved to Utah to begin his new job, so things were a bit crazy as I prepped for our move and our cross-country trip without him. I was rather worried about child care arrangements since Daniel and Joseph couldn't come with us to Tennessee. I was blessed with a kind friend who offered to watch over them during our trip, and in gratitude I let her pick one of my paintings as a thank you gift. She loved my painting of The Gleaners, because it was a painting close to her heart. Her 'home' temple in Arizona had a large rendition of The Gleaners, so it held special meaning for her. It was sad to say goodbye to a painting I loved so dearly....but I felt so indebted to her for rescuing me out of a tricky problem that I was happy there was a way I could show my gratitude.
Our trip north was interesting- when we passed through Waco we saw hundreds (literally hundreds) of men handcuffed and lined up on a curb surrounded by several dozens of police officers. Police cars were everywhere, and we wondered what the event was. The next morning in our hotel the news channels and newspapers were flooded with headlines of a violent gun fight in Waco between rival biker gangs. Over 200 people were wounded. We drove through a bit of history without even knowing it! I was grateful we were safe and oblivious to the dangerous event that was happening around us at the time.
After two long days of driving, we arrived in Knoxville. Teams were assigned housing in the college dorms and every city hotel. There were over 20,000 people in town for this competition, so the city was packed with people from around the world. What a thrill it was to be there!
From the moment we arrived, there were fun things to do and plenty of food to enjoy. Matthew and I really loved racing in the human hamster balls...I've always wanted to try them out! Every day the courtyards were filled with inflatable games of various sorts.
The most fun part of the week was pin trading, which was a bit surprising. I had expected the pin trading to be a somewhat minor part of the week. I was wrong. Even with all the games, rides, parties, food, and other activities, pin trading was the top attraction no matter where we were on campus. From the minute we set foot on campus, kids were whipping out their pin collections and bartering.
Foreign students didn't always know English, but they always knew enough English to ask, "Do you have pins? Want to trade?" It was such a great ice-breaker for the kids to help them start talking with each other.
Throughout the week people traded at every opportune moment. The tables, lawns, and walkways were always lined with rows of people 'setting up shop' as they spread out their pin towels or pin binders and started bartering. We traded on the bus, in the halls of our dorm (Brazilian teams were housed next door to us!), at the pool, during meals, and I even saw girls trading in the bathrooms with their pins spread out on the counter tops! Most pin-trading locations were WAY too packed with thousands of people, so I couldn't get any decent photos. I did catch these scenes when the kids 'set up shop' on a quieter stretch of sidewalk or bit of empty table during lunch.
Everyone had a 'trading towel' and a 'brag towel'. The trading towel was filled with pins they were willing to get rid off, and the brag towel had the completed sets of their favorite pins.
It was like a game. Most pins came in sets of 3-8 pieces. If you liked a particular set, the day would be spent hunting for the missing pieces you needed to complete a collection. It was such fun to finally locate your missing pins. Then began the bartering. What were you willing to lose in order to get the pin you wanted? It was all very friendly and positive and not competitive in nature. Kids were always so excited to make good trades, and there were just as many adults trading, too.
There were so many thousands of pins to choose from, there was always something to please everyone. I loved seeing the designs from other countries.
One of my favorite pins is from a Guatemala team. Instead of conventional metal pins, they traded gorgeous beaded animal pins. These teenage boys were pleased when we exclaimed how beautiful the pins were. They told us their mothers had spent days creating these complex animals by hand. What a treasure!
Sarah really wanted some of my South Korea sets, so she spent a day hunting down some of the missing pieces I needed. (And she found the rare and elusive characters to complete my Wizard of Oz set- hurray!) I really wanted one of Matthew's frogs to complete my own frog collection, so I searched for the zombie pieces he was collecting. We'd complete a set, then often discover something we liked better and swap it out for something new.
I discovered that many people come to Global Finals as tourists just to trade pins. They ignored all the events of the week and just spent all day trading under huge pavilions. Adults and teenagers stayed up until 3 AM each night hanging out in the courtyard trading, talking, making music together, and dancing. It was SUCH fun.
Some teenagers began a game one night around midnight. It was called the Pin Up Challenge. The object of the game was to start with a really ugly, seemingly worthless pin, then trade it up for something slightly better. Then trade that pin again for something slightly better. Keep doing this for an hour or so, then compare with the other players and see who upgraded to the best pin overall. It was such fun! I played this with 15 free pins that had been handed out for free at the movie-in-the-park event one day. I was surprised that this game netted me some of my best pins of the week!
What a fun week-long game of bartering it was! The pins made the neatest souvenirs.
Oh! I almost forgot! During one of our bus rides, we were chatting with the girls in front of us. They were from Louisiana. We found out that one girl lived on the Air Force base, and was surprisingly next door neighbors with Nana and Grandpa Kingsley! What a small world! We traded a pin with her so we could have the Texas Kingsleys give Nana and Grandpa a pin we collected in Tennessee from their Louisiana neighbor. What were the odds we'd meet someone with a connection to our lives? Such fun! And of course we had to take a picture to record our encounter.
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