Muscat, Oman – 22 March 2018 (World Water Day) – SunGlacier Challenge Day 2
By Marcel Rompelman – Van Hall Larenstein / Windesheim University of Applied Science & Wetskills Foundation
World Water day and the official start of the challenge. 8.30 sharp on the site of the Middle Eastern Desalination Research Centre, 3 nervous teams installing their devices. A bit windy so close to the shore of the Gulf. Already warm from the start today. I wonder if the machines will work. Ok, students are ready. What? All 3 devices work. Brilliant. After just a few minutes you can already see drops of water appearing. The first interested audience appears. After the official opening Marcel started the presentation on Wetsklls and the why of this challenge. Now it’s official : the first ever Sunglacier Challenge has started and we were there taking part. Sheiks and a princess attending the MEDRC conference to see the challenge. Quite the opportunity.
In the afternoon (lots of people have already gone from the conference – we were worried that we would be the only ones left), Ap is presenting his new Growing Waterfall technology and Max shows how the Dutch team designed and contructed their device.
In Oman 2 million out of 4,5 million inhabitants are expats. We were invited to a BBQ at one of the Dutch expats. It is good to see different perspectives on the ways of a land and how it is experienced by different people. Nicole, thank you for this wonderful evening among expats from several countries. Plans are made for a return to Oman next year as a Wetskills/Sunglacier Challenge combo. Shoekran!
Now nearly falling asleep in an air-conditioned room @ 24 degrees instead of the roughly 30 degrees thick air outside in the night.
