heywoodu

About @kungshamra71's remark about Portuguese and Russian being alike to untrained ears sometimes: I'm watching track cycling at the moment, and one of the coaches was yelling quite a lot. One of the Dutch commentators thought it was a Russian coach, but the other commentator got a message from someone a bit later saying it actually was the Portuguese coach. "It does sound a bit similar sometimes, Russian and Portuguese", he said

BRAZIL Bom dia a todos, esperamos que todos estejam bem. Aqui estão os votos do júri brasileiro! Good morning everyone, we hope you're all doing well. Here are the votes of the Brazilian jury! Malta 10 France 9 Portugal 8 Argentina 7 Italy 6 Canada 5 Serbia 4 India 3 New Zealand 2 Israel 1

Ok, hold on.

Only nine hours to go until I don't need to be afraid of those anymore.

After a rather out-of-the-blue twelve points, Greece jumps from 33rd to tied 21st place in one single round, now that's called moving up! Serbia is closing in on Canada, while three nations are tied for 5th at the moment. Juries voted so far: 10 / 35 Next jury: Brazil TOISC - NETHERLANDS 2020 New Zealand 18 18 Canada 1 61 China 19 16 Serbia 2 58 Portugal 19 16 Malta 3 50 Greece 21 14 Ireland 4 46 Spain 21 14 Kazakhstan 5 44 Moldova 23 12 Indonesia 5 44 Croatia 24 11 Romania 5 44 Denmark 25 10 India 8 35 Israel 25 10 France 9 32 Mexico 25 10 Brazil 10 28 United States 25 10 Lithuania 11 27 Czech Republic 29 9 Argentina 11 27 Slovakia 30 7 Germany 13 25 Egypt 31 4 Italy 13 25 Slovenia 31 4 Netherlands 15 22 Hungary 33 3 Poland 15 22 Tunisia 34 1 Great Britain 17 21 Bulgaria 35 0 We move to the other side of the world and go to Brazil , @titicow would you be so kind as to share the Brazilian votes with us?

BULGARIA Greece 12 France 11 Serbia 10 Kazakhstan 9 Netherlands 8 Lithuania 7 Canada 6 Germany 5 Indonesia 4 New Zealand 3 Great Britain 2 Ireland 1 Това бяха българските гласове, благодаря ви много и пожелаваме на всички късмет до края на деня! Those were the Bulgarian votes, thank you very much and we wish everyone good luck for the rest of the day!

BULGARIA France 11 Serbia 10 Kazakhstan 9 Netherlands 8 Lithuania 7 Canada 6 Germany 5 Indonesia 4 New Zealand 3 Great Britain 2 Ireland 1

Thank you for the 8 points @stefanbg

BULGARIA Добро утро на всички, надяваме се, че всички се справяте добре. Ето гласовете на българското жури! Good morning everyone, we hope you're all doing well. Here are the votes of the Bulgarian jury! Serbia 10 Kazakhstan 9 Netherlands 8 Lithuania 7 Canada 6 Germany 5 Indonesia 4 New Zealand 3 Great Britain 2 Ireland 1

The latest news was that @stefanbg would be here, so I'll give him two more minutes until halfway his voting window

Canada jumps from 4th straight back into the lead thanks to their fellow large Northern Hemispherers. The top-5 is within one set of twelve points though, who knows what might happen next... Juries voted so far: 9 / 35 Next jury: Bulgaria TOISC - NETHERLANDS 2020 Portugal 17 16 Canada 1 55 New Zealand 19 15 Malta 2 50 Spain 20 14 Serbia 3 48 Netherlands 20 14 Ireland 4 45 Moldova 22 12 Romania 5 44 Croatia 23 11 Indonesia 6 40 Denmark 24 10 India 7 35 Israel 24 10 Kazakhstan 7 35 Mexico 24 10 Brazil 9 28 United States 24 10 Argentina 10 27 Czech Republic 28 9 Italy 11 25 Slovakia 29 7 Poland 12 22 Egypt 30 4 France 13 21 Slovenia 30 4 Lithuania 14 20 Hungary 32 3 Germany 14 20 Greece 33 2 Great Britain 16 19 Tunisia 34 1 China 17 16 Bulgaria 35 0 Next up is the only country that, so far, is standing on zero points. Hopefully @stefanbg has not given up hope and is ready to share with us the votes of Bulgaria !

CHINA Canada 12 France 11 India 10 Indonesia 9 Kazakhstan 8 Poland 7 Lithuania 6 Ireland 5 Italy 4 Germany 3 Great Britain 2 Spain 1 这些是中国人的票，非常感谢，我们祝大家在剩余的日子里好运！ Those were the Chinese votes, thank you very much and we wish everyone good luck for the rest of the day!

CHINA France 11 India 10 Indonesia 9 Kazakhstan 8 Poland 7 Lithuania 6 Ireland 5 Italy 4 Germany 3 Great Britain 2 Spain 1

CHINA 大家下午好，希望您一切都好。 这是中国陪审团的票！ Good afternoon everyone, we hope you're all doing well. Here are the votes of the Chinese jury! India 10 Indonesia 9 Kazakhstan 8 Poland 7 Lithuania 6 Ireland 5 Italy 4 Germany 3 Great Britain 2 Spain 1

Serbia hits strongly, but it's Malta that takes back the lead they had after the very first round. Romania's strengthens their position thanks to their closest allies, Canada and Ireland are out of the medal positions...for now, at least. Juries voted so far: 8 / 35 Next jury: China TOISC - NETHERLANDS 2020 Netherlands 18 14 Malta 1 50 Lithuania 18 14 Serbia 2 48 Spain 20 13 Romania 3 44 Moldova 21 12 Canada 4 43 Croatia 22 11 Ireland 5 40 Mexico 23 10 Indonesia 6 31 Denmark 23 10 Brazil 7 28 France 23 10 Argentina 8 27 Israel 23 10 Kazakhstan 8 27 United States 23 10 India 10 25 Czech Republic 28 9 Italy 11 21 Slovakia 29 7 Germany 12 17 Egypt 30 4 Great Britain 12 17 Slovenia 30 4 Portugal 14 16 Hungary 32 3 China 14 16 Greece 33 2 Poland 16 15 Tunisia 34 1 New Zealand 16 15 Bulgaria 35 0 We go to the Far East now and hope to get China's votes, @Vic Liu are you ready?

MOLDOVA Serbia 12 Romania 11 Malta 10 Mexico 9 Portugal 8 Poland 7 Netherlands 6 Germany 5 Egypt 4 Hungary 3 Argentina 2 New Zealand 1 Acestea au fost voturile moldovenești, vă mulțumesc foarte mult și le dorim tuturor noroc pentru restul zilei! Those were the Moldovan votes, thank you very much and we wish everyone good luck for the rest of the day!

Sinterklaas brunch already? I hope you get some nice presents

MOLDOVA Romania 11 Malta 10 Mexico 9 Portugal 8 Poland 7 Netherlands 6 Germany 5 Egypt 4 Hungary 3 Argentina 2 New Zealand 1

No worries mate, they'll remain here for quite a while, only the introduction of them is over! Take as many as you want throughout the day, hot chocolate will keep being prepared as well

I'm positively surprised every nation in the first session posted their own votes

MOLDOVA Bună dimineața, iată voturile juriului moldovenesc! Good morning, here are the votes of the Moldovan jury! Malta 10 Mexico 9 Portugal 8 Poland 7 Netherlands 6 Germany 5 Egypt 4 Hungary 3 Argentina 2 New Zealand 1

Good morning!

The morning break is over, we go on with the 8th nation already! Moldova, can we have your votes please?

I'm getting myself some kruidnoten at this very moment

Morning break The first of five sessions is already behind us and it's a close race! Canada leads the charge, but Malta and Ireland are close behind, while only three nations are waiting for their first points. Interestingly, already six nations have received a set of 12 points, which promises for a close battle. With that, we take our first break: feel free to grab a cup of coffee or tea, maybe some hot chocolate is more your choice? We're getting ourselves a nice double shot of hot chocolate with some extra cream! Early December is closing in, which in the Netherlands means - or at least used to mean - the national celebration of Sinterklaas, a children's party full of festivities, fun and children getting presents. Traditionally these are delivered in a large bag on 5 December, often done by friends or neighbours to make the children think it came from Sinterklaas. A tradition in the days leading up to this is to put a shoe down somewhere in the house, preferrably with a carrot or something for Sinterklaas' horse, and the next morning a small present can be found there! Sinterklaas on Amerigo, his trusted horse for many years, who sadly passed away aged 30 last year Anyhow, there's not only gifts related to Sinterklaas, there's also things to eat! Most notably, the so-called kruidnoten: small, mostly round sort of cookies which are the main thing around the Sinterklaas celebrations - hands full of them are quite literally thrown around for example in classrooms. Beware: a lot of people call them 'pepernoten', for some weird reason. Pepernoten are a very different kind of 'snack' though, they taste entirely different - 10/10 would not recommend. Kruidnoten are made with basically the same ingredients as speculaas, another kind of cookie which comes in all shapes and sizes. In the middle we see kruidnoten, the regular ones, with chocolate-covered kruidnoten on the right. The ones on the left are 'pepernoten', avoid them, pick the kruidnoten, which by the way are really easy to make yourself! As a third option for your snack during this coffee break, there's the stroopwafels - few things are as Dutch as these bits of absolute delight. Basically it's two thin waffles with caramelized syrup in between them, it's magic. Extra magic if one lays a stroopwafel on top of their hot beverage (or a heater) for a little bit, to make the whole thing just a tad softer and even more magical. The goodness that are stroopwafels The last option is a simple, yet very much local one: 'Veluwse Zwienenkeutels', basically translated as 'Veluwe boar droppings'. No, they are not actually made up of pig shit, they are delicious soft chocolates with a tasty and of course chocolatey inside, which one can get in plenty of smaller shops around the Veluwe. A bag with some Zwienenkeutels Our musical entertainment for this short break comes from the mid-90's, the time in which the so-called Happy Hardcore scene was big in the Netherlands. The nation is represented by a song out of this genre in TOISC 2020 after a long internal battle between Rainbow in the Sky and the 1996 song Have You Ever Been Mellow by the Party Animals, one of the leading groups in the Happy Hardcore era. That's it for the morning break, enjoy what's on offer and we'll be back at 11:00 CET!