Day 13 of the games
What a day today. Canada wins 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze and the night aint over yet. The rings in the inner harbour turn to gold whenever we take the top prize. Not sure if anyone else noticed, but all the medals today were won by women. The city erupts with cheers, cow bells, horns and screams. I love it. If nothing else comes from these games, the sense of patriotism is particularly heartwarming.
Ok, enough of the mushy stuff. It has been brought to my attention that I may have been voted off the survivor mountain. What if it is not my foot but rather an appeasement to the Russian team that has kept me off the mountain since Friday? Suppose the Russian Comrades, as part of their fomal complaint were told that they could be assured "the blond bombshell dope-tester would no longer be a problem for their team?" Since in Canada we rarely send anyone off to the Arctic, (hell, we hardly send anyone to big house for a full-blown grow-op), they had to settle for removing me from the anti-doping team and send me to the field as a roving greeter and dispenser of directions. I hope the Comrades are happy. I know I am not too terribly upset. No more getting up at 4am to ride in sweaty snow pants for 2 hours to get to the mountain. I actually feel kinda powerful. I always suspected I had the ability to put fear in the face of men, given my career choice, but to piss off an entire country puts me in the big leagues. Perhaps I should include this on my resume.
Today, the weather is back to somewhat normal - wet, cold and windy. On my way home I noticed that I had even more flowers popping up in my garden from all the warmth and sun we have had. If you have more than one crocus bloom is it called a bunch of coc-i? The trees on the street are in full cherry clossom bloom as well. What a sight for the end of February. We are about a month early.
I have posted a picture of the fireworks from last night. Not sure it is too great but it is from my balcony. I have such a great view each night. While I certainly enjoy the show each night, I might be done soon. The boom and rattle of the windows each night at 11pm makes for trying to go to bed early a bit tough.
Tomorrow, I am off to spread charm and goodwill to the media centre area down at Coal Harbour. I will keep you posted.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
No longer on the mountain
Day 12 of the games
I was just too exhausted to post anything last night. Due to my walking cast, I am no longer posted to the mountain in Whistler. I am now an RV - Roving Volunteer.
I spent the day roving around the international marketplace and the seawall. I answered questions for folks who were lost and in 3 cases, posed for pictures in full uniform. I thought that was kind of odd. There are 25,000 volunteers wandering around wearing the same uniform. It's not like we are unique. I am well aware that the camera is not my friend so as not to scare these lovely tourists when they go to take a look at the shot, I made like your slightly retarded cousin and made goofy faces. This way it would look goofy on purpose not because I look like a freak of nature when the camera flashes.
Yesterday was another scorcher - 13 in the sun. And as such, the streets were filled again. Mind you, not quite as busy as on the weekend but not by much. As an example, the line-up for Canada house was only 90 minutes as opposed to the 2 1/2 of the weekend.
The marketplace is kind of fun. It is in the middle of the old Plaza of Nations of Expo fame and as such has a stage smack in the middle of it. During my time there, they had 3 different musical acts playing. I kind of felt bad for a couple of them. They play in front of a giant screen that is showing all the games and at times, the audience would break into cheering and drown the poor band and singer right out.
At one point, a rather inebriated fellow started to dance and tried to pull me into the mix. I pointed down at my foot in the hopes that when he noticed the walking cast, he would back off. I was wrong. Instead, he started to bop around like he had one as well before reaching down to try to lift mine right off my foot. I tried to laugh it off whilst pushing him back into his friends where it seems some beer was spilled. As any good Canadian knows, you can do just about anything as long as you don't spill the beer. I thought the friends would get mad at me but instead they called him an idiot and made him go off in search of more beers - one for me as well to make up for them having stupid friends.
Another fun event at the market - I got to have calamari on a stick for the first time. Who would have thought you could have calamari on a stick? I am here to try new things and this was most certainly one of them. Makes for easy eats. . It wasn't that is was so tasty, but I could walk, talk and eat all at the same time.
I am back in the office today and tomorrow and then my last two shifts of the Olympics will be Thursday and Friday. I will let you know where I will be. I am getting tired. I think only the young have the stamina to work 2 jobs.
Today's picture is the Athletes Village from across the bay,.
Stay tuned.
I was just too exhausted to post anything last night. Due to my walking cast, I am no longer posted to the mountain in Whistler. I am now an RV - Roving Volunteer.
I spent the day roving around the international marketplace and the seawall. I answered questions for folks who were lost and in 3 cases, posed for pictures in full uniform. I thought that was kind of odd. There are 25,000 volunteers wandering around wearing the same uniform. It's not like we are unique. I am well aware that the camera is not my friend so as not to scare these lovely tourists when they go to take a look at the shot, I made like your slightly retarded cousin and made goofy faces. This way it would look goofy on purpose not because I look like a freak of nature when the camera flashes.
Yesterday was another scorcher - 13 in the sun. And as such, the streets were filled again. Mind you, not quite as busy as on the weekend but not by much. As an example, the line-up for Canada house was only 90 minutes as opposed to the 2 1/2 of the weekend.
The marketplace is kind of fun. It is in the middle of the old Plaza of Nations of Expo fame and as such has a stage smack in the middle of it. During my time there, they had 3 different musical acts playing. I kind of felt bad for a couple of them. They play in front of a giant screen that is showing all the games and at times, the audience would break into cheering and drown the poor band and singer right out.
At one point, a rather inebriated fellow started to dance and tried to pull me into the mix. I pointed down at my foot in the hopes that when he noticed the walking cast, he would back off. I was wrong. Instead, he started to bop around like he had one as well before reaching down to try to lift mine right off my foot. I tried to laugh it off whilst pushing him back into his friends where it seems some beer was spilled. As any good Canadian knows, you can do just about anything as long as you don't spill the beer. I thought the friends would get mad at me but instead they called him an idiot and made him go off in search of more beers - one for me as well to make up for them having stupid friends.
Another fun event at the market - I got to have calamari on a stick for the first time. Who would have thought you could have calamari on a stick? I am here to try new things and this was most certainly one of them. Makes for easy eats. . It wasn't that is was so tasty, but I could walk, talk and eat all at the same time.
I am back in the office today and tomorrow and then my last two shifts of the Olympics will be Thursday and Friday. I will let you know where I will be. I am getting tired. I think only the young have the stamina to work 2 jobs.
Today's picture is the Athletes Village from across the bay,.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
And the Beat Goes On
Day 10 of the Games and another incredible day in paradise. I understand we hit 11 this afternoon in the sunshine.
The games are now more than half over and I am betting that the folks who live in Yale Town are counting the minutes. Last nights Colin James concert on the water front was the loudest yet. For those of you who are regular readers, you are aware I live, as the crow flies, less than half a kilometer away across the water. I heard the music as clear as if I had been in a loud night club.
My brother, sister-in-law and I took off to spend the day strolling around town. We started at Granville Island where we rode a water taxi across the harbour to the site of the concerts in Yale Town. It was 12:30pm in the afternoon and the wait to get inside was 45 minutes to wait for the first concert to begin at 5pm. No thanks. As mentioned previously, I wait for no one (except perhaps the fine Mr. Clooney and by the time he met me, he would be the one waiting for me). Off we went for a stroll around the waterfront seawall. It was more like a people wall to wall to wall. As we made our way to what was once the Plaza of Nations of the old Expo 86 sight. I hadn't been down there before and was surprised to discover that it had been converted into a huge market place. Not only was there plenty of international types of food but the market had stalls from all over the globe selling interesting little trinkets. I was offered the opportunity to purchase 7 year Ginsing. If I understand, the taking of Ginsing is supposed to improve your memory. I am pretty sure I will forget to take it every 7 years. Better I should just buy one bottle of 'take me now' Ginsing and see how that works. If my memory improves then most likely I won't need anymore in 7 years.
After the tour through the united nations market place (which I thoroughly enjoyed and will go back), we headed off to find Molson Canadian Hockey House. We found it in the centre of Canada Place and were incredibly surprised and relived to discover that the line was relatively short - only one hour and that was only because they hadn't opened the doors yet. As we stood there, I noticed the fellas in front of us were wearing some sort of pass and I noticed the name of Molson on it. We asked and these kind men told us we needed tickets to get inside. I went to check out the situation. A rather flamboyant man opened the door and gently, although perhaps a little patronizingly (and those who know me know how well I handle being patronized) explained the only tickets they had left for that days festivities were the VIP ones for $525.00 - FOR THE DAY! However, it would cover my food and alcohol and the hockey player who would show up for the evening. I could watch the games on their big screens and be entertained by BTO. After I stopped goggling at him in sincere disbelief, I was offered the opportunity to go online and check for any available 'fan' tickets for any other days of the games. Those tickets could be had for a paltry $100 for the day but so sorry, that will not include the cost of food and beverage. Beer is being reasonably offered for $10 per bottle.
As you can imagine, we left in disgust and headed toward the Russian House located in the former Science World. It would have been very interesting and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it was now 2:30 and the exhibit would be closed by the time we got through the line. Instead, we marched across the street to hop on the train to head back up town. After we were shoe- horned in along with 20,000 other fine folks, (including the man who just ate a pound of garlic and was now sweating it out of his pores) we made it to our new stop where we all poured out like the yolk leaving a cracked egg. I had to bite back the urge to start screaming at people the inadivsability of stopping dead in the road to decide where to go next. Last year when I was in Lima, Peru, a city of 14 million, I noticed that people knew how to move. Rarely did I run into anyone who decided to come to a dead stop in the middle of a crowd to pull out a map and gather their group around them to decide where to go for lunch. They moved off to the side and kept the other 14 million moving.
About this time, I recieved a phone call from my cousin who announced that he and 4 other cousins happened to be in the city for the hockey games and wanted to meet for lunch. We arranged a place and set off. We fought through the immoveable objects, formerly known as people and made our way - slowly. Along the way, we passed by the zip line. They had a fun sign posted - only 5 hours to wait for less than 30 seconds of fun. Perhaps tomorrow.
We had a wonderful lunch and a great visit. After about 2 hours, it was time to part ways. They, to return to the arena for the next hockey game and we to make our way home. Transit was out of the question. I had no desire to get groped in the crush of people pocked in a tight space so off we went for the walk home. It was about a 4.5 kilometer walk and along the way we were treated to some great sights. It was such fun to see such patriotic people. A group of Canadians decked out in full red and white broke into a spontaneous rendition of the nathional anthem. Buskers were on almost every corner. We can across Irish House. It was set up on the corner of Nelson and Seymour and is a giant white tent with IRISH HOUSE and a shamrock spelled out in front. The line for this one stretched around the corner and down the street for over 2 and a half blocks. Holy crap! All this for the chance to see a leprechaun and drink some green beer. If I wanted to see that I could go back to my poor ex-husband and just add a little food colouring to his nightly brew and he kind of resembles a leperechaun after the 5th or 6th bottle of Bud.
I almost collapsed when we made it home. My foot was on fire and it seemed the walking cast hurt more than the actual fracture at this point. It was almost more exhausting than the 15 hour days of volunteering at Whistler.
Well, off to the mountain tomorrow. Today's picture is of the ski jump.
Stay tuned.
The games are now more than half over and I am betting that the folks who live in Yale Town are counting the minutes. Last nights Colin James concert on the water front was the loudest yet. For those of you who are regular readers, you are aware I live, as the crow flies, less than half a kilometer away across the water. I heard the music as clear as if I had been in a loud night club.
My brother, sister-in-law and I took off to spend the day strolling around town. We started at Granville Island where we rode a water taxi across the harbour to the site of the concerts in Yale Town. It was 12:30pm in the afternoon and the wait to get inside was 45 minutes to wait for the first concert to begin at 5pm. No thanks. As mentioned previously, I wait for no one (except perhaps the fine Mr. Clooney and by the time he met me, he would be the one waiting for me). Off we went for a stroll around the waterfront seawall. It was more like a people wall to wall to wall. As we made our way to what was once the Plaza of Nations of the old Expo 86 sight. I hadn't been down there before and was surprised to discover that it had been converted into a huge market place. Not only was there plenty of international types of food but the market had stalls from all over the globe selling interesting little trinkets. I was offered the opportunity to purchase 7 year Ginsing. If I understand, the taking of Ginsing is supposed to improve your memory. I am pretty sure I will forget to take it every 7 years. Better I should just buy one bottle of 'take me now' Ginsing and see how that works. If my memory improves then most likely I won't need anymore in 7 years.
After the tour through the united nations market place (which I thoroughly enjoyed and will go back), we headed off to find Molson Canadian Hockey House. We found it in the centre of Canada Place and were incredibly surprised and relived to discover that the line was relatively short - only one hour and that was only because they hadn't opened the doors yet. As we stood there, I noticed the fellas in front of us were wearing some sort of pass and I noticed the name of Molson on it. We asked and these kind men told us we needed tickets to get inside. I went to check out the situation. A rather flamboyant man opened the door and gently, although perhaps a little patronizingly (and those who know me know how well I handle being patronized) explained the only tickets they had left for that days festivities were the VIP ones for $525.00 - FOR THE DAY! However, it would cover my food and alcohol and the hockey player who would show up for the evening. I could watch the games on their big screens and be entertained by BTO. After I stopped goggling at him in sincere disbelief, I was offered the opportunity to go online and check for any available 'fan' tickets for any other days of the games. Those tickets could be had for a paltry $100 for the day but so sorry, that will not include the cost of food and beverage. Beer is being reasonably offered for $10 per bottle.
As you can imagine, we left in disgust and headed toward the Russian House located in the former Science World. It would have been very interesting and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it was now 2:30 and the exhibit would be closed by the time we got through the line. Instead, we marched across the street to hop on the train to head back up town. After we were shoe- horned in along with 20,000 other fine folks, (including the man who just ate a pound of garlic and was now sweating it out of his pores) we made it to our new stop where we all poured out like the yolk leaving a cracked egg. I had to bite back the urge to start screaming at people the inadivsability of stopping dead in the road to decide where to go next. Last year when I was in Lima, Peru, a city of 14 million, I noticed that people knew how to move. Rarely did I run into anyone who decided to come to a dead stop in the middle of a crowd to pull out a map and gather their group around them to decide where to go for lunch. They moved off to the side and kept the other 14 million moving.
About this time, I recieved a phone call from my cousin who announced that he and 4 other cousins happened to be in the city for the hockey games and wanted to meet for lunch. We arranged a place and set off. We fought through the immoveable objects, formerly known as people and made our way - slowly. Along the way, we passed by the zip line. They had a fun sign posted - only 5 hours to wait for less than 30 seconds of fun. Perhaps tomorrow.
We had a wonderful lunch and a great visit. After about 2 hours, it was time to part ways. They, to return to the arena for the next hockey game and we to make our way home. Transit was out of the question. I had no desire to get groped in the crush of people pocked in a tight space so off we went for the walk home. It was about a 4.5 kilometer walk and along the way we were treated to some great sights. It was such fun to see such patriotic people. A group of Canadians decked out in full red and white broke into a spontaneous rendition of the nathional anthem. Buskers were on almost every corner. We can across Irish House. It was set up on the corner of Nelson and Seymour and is a giant white tent with IRISH HOUSE and a shamrock spelled out in front. The line for this one stretched around the corner and down the street for over 2 and a half blocks. Holy crap! All this for the chance to see a leprechaun and drink some green beer. If I wanted to see that I could go back to my poor ex-husband and just add a little food colouring to his nightly brew and he kind of resembles a leperechaun after the 5th or 6th bottle of Bud.
I almost collapsed when we made it home. My foot was on fire and it seemed the walking cast hurt more than the actual fracture at this point. It was almost more exhausting than the 15 hour days of volunteering at Whistler.
Well, off to the mountain tomorrow. Today's picture is of the ski jump.
Stay tuned.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Another wonderful day at Whistler
Day 8 of the games and Day 7 of competition
Today I was involved with the mens qualifying rounds of Ski Jumping and the women's 15KM cross-country event. It was almost hot up there again. Very sunny and absolutely spectacular. People were in short sleeves, shorts and for some, shirtless.
It was my first time with the jumping that wasn't warm ups. It was very exciting. The crowd was huge and very vocal. The Canadian's didn't do so well. Only one made it through to tomorrow's final. Based on the distances though, I am not holding my breath.
An interesting thing happened during lunch break in the workforce tent. I sat down across from a group of interpreters. One of them was the Russian interpreter assigned to the media and doping team. He looked up and out of the blue asked if it was me that was involved in the incident on Wednesday with the Russian female and all the confusion. He told me he was brought in as the interpreter as the Russian team filed a formal complaint with the IOC, Vanoc, the Russian Consulate and the head of the International Skiing Federation. It seems that they feel that I went against the rules and therefore cost the team their medal. I interupted her concentration before the competion was finished and they want me reprimanded and fired. I guess they are not clear on the definition of "VOLUNTEER". I was assured that none of this was my fault as I was just following the direction of my supervisor who decides who the random testing athletes are. Gotta tell you, I was relieved. It would be seriously embarrassing to be fired from a volunteer position. I wouldn't be able to put it on my resume.
Due to my injured foot, I was not given any athletes for testing today. I acted as the go between in finding the athletes for testing if they were a random draw. Because of that I was finished early and able to leave the mountain on the 3:30 bus home. Ski jumping is such a popular event in addition to the cross country that the mountain was incredibly crowded. They were short of buses to take people back to the city. Not sure how that happened since those same buses had to bring the people up.
Because normally I get off the mountain late, I have never had to face any of the mad house at Lonsdale Quay with the seabus. However, arriving back in North Vancouver at 5:30, rush hour, on a Friday, with folks heading into the city for the weekend festivities, made for another nutso crazy day. The line up for the seabus wound around the block and I was told that it would take at least 3 sailings before I could get on. The seabus carries 400 people at a time so you can do the math. When we landed on the other side, the line ups for the trains started. It was easier to walk. I took off up the hill and waited for my bus.
A number of happy revellers on the bus started asking about my volunteer expierence and what a trooper I was to keep working with my foot in a cast. I was getting tired of telling a boring story of falling down in the mailroom and I was bored so I told then I was a forerunner on for the ski jumping. (there are fore runners for each event who go out and ensure the runs are ok). I got a lot of oohs and ahhs. It was fun. I think on Monday when I am next working and in uniform, I will tell folks I fell during the super G slalom fore running.
About 2 stops into the trip a man about 35 years old, 5'10" and about 180lbs got on along with a short, slightly chubby woman of about 65 years of age. They were standing in the aisle in front of me. I started to hear angry words and then the bus driver was on his phone. 2 stops later a transit security officer got on the bus. The man was getting angrier and the woman was muttering, looking around with a somewhat defiant look on her face. As the man started to really shout and look like he was going to haul off and pop someone, the transit officer told the woman to give it up immediately. She grinned and handed the man his wallet back. Right in front of me and I missed the pick pocket. Who would have expected Grandma to be a thief?
Well, when I arrived home, my much older brother David and his much younger wife Angie were waiting for me. Due to the fact that I am too tired to even cut my meat, they took my brother Kris and went out to dinner without me. I will be up to speed tomorrow so we will all go out and see some sights.
I am back to the mountain on Monday. I only have 2 more shifts and my volunteer experience will come to an end.
Stay tuned.
Today I was involved with the mens qualifying rounds of Ski Jumping and the women's 15KM cross-country event. It was almost hot up there again. Very sunny and absolutely spectacular. People were in short sleeves, shorts and for some, shirtless.
It was my first time with the jumping that wasn't warm ups. It was very exciting. The crowd was huge and very vocal. The Canadian's didn't do so well. Only one made it through to tomorrow's final. Based on the distances though, I am not holding my breath.
An interesting thing happened during lunch break in the workforce tent. I sat down across from a group of interpreters. One of them was the Russian interpreter assigned to the media and doping team. He looked up and out of the blue asked if it was me that was involved in the incident on Wednesday with the Russian female and all the confusion. He told me he was brought in as the interpreter as the Russian team filed a formal complaint with the IOC, Vanoc, the Russian Consulate and the head of the International Skiing Federation. It seems that they feel that I went against the rules and therefore cost the team their medal. I interupted her concentration before the competion was finished and they want me reprimanded and fired. I guess they are not clear on the definition of "VOLUNTEER". I was assured that none of this was my fault as I was just following the direction of my supervisor who decides who the random testing athletes are. Gotta tell you, I was relieved. It would be seriously embarrassing to be fired from a volunteer position. I wouldn't be able to put it on my resume.
Due to my injured foot, I was not given any athletes for testing today. I acted as the go between in finding the athletes for testing if they were a random draw. Because of that I was finished early and able to leave the mountain on the 3:30 bus home. Ski jumping is such a popular event in addition to the cross country that the mountain was incredibly crowded. They were short of buses to take people back to the city. Not sure how that happened since those same buses had to bring the people up.
Because normally I get off the mountain late, I have never had to face any of the mad house at Lonsdale Quay with the seabus. However, arriving back in North Vancouver at 5:30, rush hour, on a Friday, with folks heading into the city for the weekend festivities, made for another nutso crazy day. The line up for the seabus wound around the block and I was told that it would take at least 3 sailings before I could get on. The seabus carries 400 people at a time so you can do the math. When we landed on the other side, the line ups for the trains started. It was easier to walk. I took off up the hill and waited for my bus.
A number of happy revellers on the bus started asking about my volunteer expierence and what a trooper I was to keep working with my foot in a cast. I was getting tired of telling a boring story of falling down in the mailroom and I was bored so I told then I was a forerunner on for the ski jumping. (there are fore runners for each event who go out and ensure the runs are ok). I got a lot of oohs and ahhs. It was fun. I think on Monday when I am next working and in uniform, I will tell folks I fell during the super G slalom fore running.
About 2 stops into the trip a man about 35 years old, 5'10" and about 180lbs got on along with a short, slightly chubby woman of about 65 years of age. They were standing in the aisle in front of me. I started to hear angry words and then the bus driver was on his phone. 2 stops later a transit security officer got on the bus. The man was getting angrier and the woman was muttering, looking around with a somewhat defiant look on her face. As the man started to really shout and look like he was going to haul off and pop someone, the transit officer told the woman to give it up immediately. She grinned and handed the man his wallet back. Right in front of me and I missed the pick pocket. Who would have expected Grandma to be a thief?
Well, when I arrived home, my much older brother David and his much younger wife Angie were waiting for me. Due to the fact that I am too tired to even cut my meat, they took my brother Kris and went out to dinner without me. I will be up to speed tomorrow so we will all go out and see some sights.
I am back to the mountain on Monday. I only have 2 more shifts and my volunteer experience will come to an end.
Stay tuned.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Just imagine
Day 7 of the games and day 6 of competition
Ok, so you will need to use your imagination for a minute here. Just imagine that the whackado L.Ron Hubbard was correct and we were put here by aliens. Suppose that these aliens were none too bright. Suppose this planet was naked - no human beings to speak of - and these aliens were told to plant the whole race, at once, on the planet. Suppose these none too bright aliens got confused and planted everyone, at once, in one spot rather than to spread us all over the globe. They planted everyone - all 6 billion of us - in downtown Vancouver. That is what it felt like today. It was the perfect storm. The USA hockey team was playing earlier in the day and the Canadians were to play later. EVERYONE was downtown. I couldn't move along Granville, Robson or Georgia streets. At one point I was watching from my window, 29 floors up, as a sea of people moved like lemmings along Georgia street making their way to and from Canada Hockey Place. It was an amazing sea of people. I do not think anyone ever thought we could hold so many happy people.
As I write this, Canada just won the game against the Swiss in a shoot-out. The neighbourhood just erupted. I can hear bells, horns from the barges in the harbour and the crowd down in Yale Town. It must be even wilder downtown again.
And again, as with the last gold medal win, I knew the minute today's gold medal was won in speed skating. I could hear the cheers all the way up to my office and again the cannon went off.
Now, back to the crowd on Granville street. I was trying to make my way to the salad bar for lunch and was drawn to a crowd in the middle of the street to see what they were all watching. Turns out, it was Batman. Not sure what Batman has to do with the Olympics but there he was up on a box and taking a few sheckles from the crowd who wanted their picture taken with him. I like to think that he is here to protect us from the bad guys. He could also be confused. The laser beams shooting across the sky each night from English Bay could easily have been mistaken for the bat call.
After I obtained my salad, I tried to fight my way back to my office to eat in some peace and quiet. However, I was again drawn to a crowd and someone yelling. Turns out it was a preacher and he was getting visably upset that people were not listening to him as he tried to tell us that we needed to be saved and reach to our God as our saviour in order to make it to heaven. He was red in the face and sweating. He started to pump his fist in the air and stomp his feet. Suddenly, I heard something that brought a collective gasp from the crowd before people started to laugh. The preacher had reached his breaking point and just would not stand for people not paying attention to his message so he yelled "for F&*% sake! Will you people just shut up and listen?" Gotta tell ya, that kind of made my day. I went back into my office with a smile on my face.
I am in bed early tonight for another big day at Whistler. I will be wearing my walking cast as I found after yesterday that it is a must if I do not want to contemplate chewing my foot right off myself to make it stop hurting. I guess I will find out if they will let me continue or not. I will keep ya'll posted.
today's picture is of the view that the ski jumpers have of the mountains at Whistler. How perfect is that? How can the British papers say these are horrible games when you have something like that to look at?
Stay tuned.
Ok, so you will need to use your imagination for a minute here. Just imagine that the whackado L.Ron Hubbard was correct and we were put here by aliens. Suppose that these aliens were none too bright. Suppose this planet was naked - no human beings to speak of - and these aliens were told to plant the whole race, at once, on the planet. Suppose these none too bright aliens got confused and planted everyone, at once, in one spot rather than to spread us all over the globe. They planted everyone - all 6 billion of us - in downtown Vancouver. That is what it felt like today. It was the perfect storm. The USA hockey team was playing earlier in the day and the Canadians were to play later. EVERYONE was downtown. I couldn't move along Granville, Robson or Georgia streets. At one point I was watching from my window, 29 floors up, as a sea of people moved like lemmings along Georgia street making their way to and from Canada Hockey Place. It was an amazing sea of people. I do not think anyone ever thought we could hold so many happy people.
As I write this, Canada just won the game against the Swiss in a shoot-out. The neighbourhood just erupted. I can hear bells, horns from the barges in the harbour and the crowd down in Yale Town. It must be even wilder downtown again.
And again, as with the last gold medal win, I knew the minute today's gold medal was won in speed skating. I could hear the cheers all the way up to my office and again the cannon went off.
Now, back to the crowd on Granville street. I was trying to make my way to the salad bar for lunch and was drawn to a crowd in the middle of the street to see what they were all watching. Turns out, it was Batman. Not sure what Batman has to do with the Olympics but there he was up on a box and taking a few sheckles from the crowd who wanted their picture taken with him. I like to think that he is here to protect us from the bad guys. He could also be confused. The laser beams shooting across the sky each night from English Bay could easily have been mistaken for the bat call.
After I obtained my salad, I tried to fight my way back to my office to eat in some peace and quiet. However, I was again drawn to a crowd and someone yelling. Turns out it was a preacher and he was getting visably upset that people were not listening to him as he tried to tell us that we needed to be saved and reach to our God as our saviour in order to make it to heaven. He was red in the face and sweating. He started to pump his fist in the air and stomp his feet. Suddenly, I heard something that brought a collective gasp from the crowd before people started to laugh. The preacher had reached his breaking point and just would not stand for people not paying attention to his message so he yelled "for F&*% sake! Will you people just shut up and listen?" Gotta tell ya, that kind of made my day. I went back into my office with a smile on my face.
I am in bed early tonight for another big day at Whistler. I will be wearing my walking cast as I found after yesterday that it is a must if I do not want to contemplate chewing my foot right off myself to make it stop hurting. I guess I will find out if they will let me continue or not. I will keep ya'll posted.
today's picture is of the view that the ski jumpers have of the mountains at Whistler. How perfect is that? How can the British papers say these are horrible games when you have something like that to look at?
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
What a mess
Day 6 of the Olympics and Day 5 of competition
Well, let me tell you about my day. I awoke with a start at 5:15am and stumbled into the bathroom to brush my teeth and strat the process of getting ready. I was putting my face on with my eyes half closed and eating a banana at the same time. I made my way back into the bedroom to get into my snow pants, longs leeve shirt, wrap up my foot, stuff my feet into two pairs of socks, put on my fleece vest and into my jacket. Last thing before locking the doors, grab my backpack and gloves. I was off to the train to waterfront station and on to the seabus over to the Lonsdale Quay to catch my bus for the 2 hour ride up to Whistler. I was now wide awake and excited. However, the excitement died when I used the ladies room at the seabus and noticed, in my half-awake state, that I had mascara on only one eye and I put put blush on only one cheek. Great, now I looked like a lop-sided clown. I spent some time trying to wipe it off in the bathroom with just water. By the time I left, I looked like I had a black eye and I looked ill. In removing the one cheek of blush I now looked pale and sick. I was off to a great day. Because I took the extra time to try to fix my face, I had to run for my bus. Thankfully, they held it for me.
2 hours later, at 8:45am I was walzting through the security check point at Whistler Olympic Park. I signed in for my first full day at a chaperone for the anti-doping team. I was pretty happy. One more bus ride to the venue centre for my day at cross-country skiing. I somehow got turned around as I exited the check-in tent and was forced to mae an extra run through security. I am now on a first name basis with Bob - operator of the security wand.
Since I didn't have to check in to my station until 10:30, I had an hour and a half to kill. I wandered over the ski jump area where they were holding pracise runs prior to tomorrows event. It was amazing. They go flying by you and you really feel the wind and they land with such force that I am sure if I was standing a little bit closer, you would feel the vibration on the ground. They are averaging about 95 KM an hour. Unfortunately, unless something changes tomorrow, I don't think the Canadian's will do so well tomorrow. Our longest practise jump was 119.5 metres while the German's posted a 145M jump. The average seemed to be about 130M.
Time was up. I reported in and recieved all the documents, doping passes and water (for the athlete) and made my way to the Ladies cross-country sprints. Today, we were testing the top 5 and 3 random athletes. I was told that I would take a random (they tell you the number after the race) since I had experience in doing this previously. It was some one elses tunr for a medalist (I had a world cup gold last year). I waited and watched everything going on. It is somewhat organized chaos behind the scenes.
The way the cross-country sprint works is similar to snowboarding. They would run 5 heats and the top 2 winners from each heat would move on. At the end of the semi's there would be 4 top finishers. At that point 2 "lucky losers" would also make the final based on their overall times. If your random sample athlete actually made it through then they would not be tested until the end.
I was told I would have #14, a Russian woman. My supervisor told me she did not make it through as she came in 3rd in her heat. I was to notify her of being chosen for dope testing. Along for the ride as an observer was a member of WADA (world anti-doping association). They are watching that we do everything right as we answer to them first and the IOC second. So, my supervisor and I go up to #14 and I start in with my spiel. She turned on me and started to yell. I was told to just keep going. I was still at it when she took off into the media area. She was yelling at me over her shoulder. She then came back into the notification area and her coach appeared. Now they were both yelling at me in Russian. I did my best to explain. Then she was off again. Each country has a wax room. She ducked inside, slamming the door in my face. The rules state I must keep her within 6-10 feet until the process is over and in my line of vision at all times. She was on a walkie-talkie yelling about doping. Now 3 coaches showed up and they were all yelling at me. The WADA woman tried to interpret and explained I had just been sworn at in Russian.
My supervisor then shows up again and tells me to leave since there was an error and she had moved on and therefore she would be tested as part of the top 5 finishers. I had just gotten back to the finish line when I was notified there was a mistake and she didn't make it and I had to go back to her. To make a very long story short - we repeated this 4 times. Mistake - she made it - no she didn't. #14 was livid and decided on the last one to take it out on me. She decided to go for a full out run. The WADA person told me to go, I had to stay with her. Let me tell you, I was dying and would have very happily tripped her with her own ski pole at that point. I dropped my backpack as I tried to keep up. Picture this old broad trying to stay with an Olympic athlete - while running on a fractured foot. I actually did ok. She then realized I wasn't going anyway so she started running for the race track. I followed as far as I could because she then popped on a pair of skis and took off. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN for me to follow that. I was defeated. My first day, and I blew it.
When I limped back to my area, my supervisor told me it was in fact a mistake and she was going through to the finals. It was embarrasing to say the least. However, the WADA rep did come up and say I had provided some lively entertainment as as I chased after her. I was rewarded for the fiasco with another athlete. I got the gold medal winner from Norway. She was lovely and co-operative. They felt it best that another volunteer be asigned to the lovely #14 Russian nightmare. Turns out it was a good thing as she filed a complaint against me.
I was just doing as I was told and I end up being sworn at in Russian, run off my feet and was entertainment to the masses.
Once I had the other ahtlete, it was a blast. I was with her through the media scrum. This is where the media are put in little pens along the back of the finish line and the athletes have to make thier way through before heading to the press conferences. She was there a long time as everyone wanted a wee interview. The doping rules state the athlete only has 60 minutes from the time I notify them. We needed an extra 30 minutes.
The day was picture perfect in terms of weather. It was almost too warm. I had to take off my vest and gloves and wished I didnt have the extra socks or tights.
I think however, I may have overdone it with my foot. I had to give up most of my shifts. I am going to try it again on Friday and then my last one will be next Thursday. I am quite upset and really mad at myself. These people on the 2 inch wide skis actually are much more graceful than I am on my feet.
Anyway, today's picture is of the ski jumping.
Stay tuned. I am off to bed now after a 16 hour day
Well, let me tell you about my day. I awoke with a start at 5:15am and stumbled into the bathroom to brush my teeth and strat the process of getting ready. I was putting my face on with my eyes half closed and eating a banana at the same time. I made my way back into the bedroom to get into my snow pants, longs leeve shirt, wrap up my foot, stuff my feet into two pairs of socks, put on my fleece vest and into my jacket. Last thing before locking the doors, grab my backpack and gloves. I was off to the train to waterfront station and on to the seabus over to the Lonsdale Quay to catch my bus for the 2 hour ride up to Whistler. I was now wide awake and excited. However, the excitement died when I used the ladies room at the seabus and noticed, in my half-awake state, that I had mascara on only one eye and I put put blush on only one cheek. Great, now I looked like a lop-sided clown. I spent some time trying to wipe it off in the bathroom with just water. By the time I left, I looked like I had a black eye and I looked ill. In removing the one cheek of blush I now looked pale and sick. I was off to a great day. Because I took the extra time to try to fix my face, I had to run for my bus. Thankfully, they held it for me.
2 hours later, at 8:45am I was walzting through the security check point at Whistler Olympic Park. I signed in for my first full day at a chaperone for the anti-doping team. I was pretty happy. One more bus ride to the venue centre for my day at cross-country skiing. I somehow got turned around as I exited the check-in tent and was forced to mae an extra run through security. I am now on a first name basis with Bob - operator of the security wand.
Since I didn't have to check in to my station until 10:30, I had an hour and a half to kill. I wandered over the ski jump area where they were holding pracise runs prior to tomorrows event. It was amazing. They go flying by you and you really feel the wind and they land with such force that I am sure if I was standing a little bit closer, you would feel the vibration on the ground. They are averaging about 95 KM an hour. Unfortunately, unless something changes tomorrow, I don't think the Canadian's will do so well tomorrow. Our longest practise jump was 119.5 metres while the German's posted a 145M jump. The average seemed to be about 130M.
Time was up. I reported in and recieved all the documents, doping passes and water (for the athlete) and made my way to the Ladies cross-country sprints. Today, we were testing the top 5 and 3 random athletes. I was told that I would take a random (they tell you the number after the race) since I had experience in doing this previously. It was some one elses tunr for a medalist (I had a world cup gold last year). I waited and watched everything going on. It is somewhat organized chaos behind the scenes.
The way the cross-country sprint works is similar to snowboarding. They would run 5 heats and the top 2 winners from each heat would move on. At the end of the semi's there would be 4 top finishers. At that point 2 "lucky losers" would also make the final based on their overall times. If your random sample athlete actually made it through then they would not be tested until the end.
I was told I would have #14, a Russian woman. My supervisor told me she did not make it through as she came in 3rd in her heat. I was to notify her of being chosen for dope testing. Along for the ride as an observer was a member of WADA (world anti-doping association). They are watching that we do everything right as we answer to them first and the IOC second. So, my supervisor and I go up to #14 and I start in with my spiel. She turned on me and started to yell. I was told to just keep going. I was still at it when she took off into the media area. She was yelling at me over her shoulder. She then came back into the notification area and her coach appeared. Now they were both yelling at me in Russian. I did my best to explain. Then she was off again. Each country has a wax room. She ducked inside, slamming the door in my face. The rules state I must keep her within 6-10 feet until the process is over and in my line of vision at all times. She was on a walkie-talkie yelling about doping. Now 3 coaches showed up and they were all yelling at me. The WADA woman tried to interpret and explained I had just been sworn at in Russian.
My supervisor then shows up again and tells me to leave since there was an error and she had moved on and therefore she would be tested as part of the top 5 finishers. I had just gotten back to the finish line when I was notified there was a mistake and she didn't make it and I had to go back to her. To make a very long story short - we repeated this 4 times. Mistake - she made it - no she didn't. #14 was livid and decided on the last one to take it out on me. She decided to go for a full out run. The WADA person told me to go, I had to stay with her. Let me tell you, I was dying and would have very happily tripped her with her own ski pole at that point. I dropped my backpack as I tried to keep up. Picture this old broad trying to stay with an Olympic athlete - while running on a fractured foot. I actually did ok. She then realized I wasn't going anyway so she started running for the race track. I followed as far as I could because she then popped on a pair of skis and took off. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN for me to follow that. I was defeated. My first day, and I blew it.
When I limped back to my area, my supervisor told me it was in fact a mistake and she was going through to the finals. It was embarrasing to say the least. However, the WADA rep did come up and say I had provided some lively entertainment as as I chased after her. I was rewarded for the fiasco with another athlete. I got the gold medal winner from Norway. She was lovely and co-operative. They felt it best that another volunteer be asigned to the lovely #14 Russian nightmare. Turns out it was a good thing as she filed a complaint against me.
I was just doing as I was told and I end up being sworn at in Russian, run off my feet and was entertainment to the masses.
Once I had the other ahtlete, it was a blast. I was with her through the media scrum. This is where the media are put in little pens along the back of the finish line and the athletes have to make thier way through before heading to the press conferences. She was there a long time as everyone wanted a wee interview. The doping rules state the athlete only has 60 minutes from the time I notify them. We needed an extra 30 minutes.
The day was picture perfect in terms of weather. It was almost too warm. I had to take off my vest and gloves and wished I didnt have the extra socks or tights.
I think however, I may have overdone it with my foot. I had to give up most of my shifts. I am going to try it again on Friday and then my last one will be next Thursday. I am quite upset and really mad at myself. These people on the 2 inch wide skis actually are much more graceful than I am on my feet.
Anyway, today's picture is of the ski jumping.
Stay tuned. I am off to bed now after a 16 hour day
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Bells and Whistles
Day 5 of the Olympics and Day 4 of competition
In dowtown Vancouver at noon each day a whistle down at the waterfront is blown to signal the beginning of the lunch hour. A cannon that sits in Stanley Park is shot off on special occassions. At about 2:30pm, I was surprised to hear both. The Whistle blew first and then the cannon followed shortly after. Within about 20 seconds I could hear the shouts and cheers coming up from the street 29 floors below me. Someone from the office across the hall ran into our office to shout the news that we had another gold medal. The winner this time was a young woman right from North Vancouver who won the snow boarding event.
I wanted to be a part of the excitement on the street so I left my computer, turned off the phone and hit Granville street. People were shouting, ringing cow bells, waving flags and all wearing happy smiles. The pride of a country was palpable. It is certainly nice to see in "no fun city",
I heard today that some London newspaper was making fun of us. Generally speaking, just being plain mean. They apparently wrote that our games were a disaster with the rain at Cypress . Yeah, one mountain venue makes it a disaster. Considering that they are still running events there, I think I have to give some credit to the effort put in despite the rain. I guess they never learned their manners at their mother's knee - if you can't say anything nice then keep your damn mouth shut. (My mother never said damn so I am improvising here) They also made a comment on our "Own the Podium" campaign. They wrote that it is un-Canadian to be so aggressive. They say it is impolite and they find it comical as it goes against everything Canadian. It seems they feel we have stepped out of character and our manners flew out the window.
Ha - spoilsports. They haven't medalled at all yet. I mean really, other than fish and chips, what are they doing in the winter games. I guess they are still upset over the fact we never invited the Queen to the games. They also seem to know nothing of Karma. They are hosting the summer games next and it is my guess that more than a few local reporters are kind of pissed off at the articles - so beware - what goes around comes around.
I am going to bed early tonight to get ready for my first full day tomorrow as your local Anti-Doping control chaperone. I will be at either the cross-country or biatholon venue. I need to be up and out of the door at 6am. It is supposed to be sunny and dry on Whistler tomorrow. I will have my foot taped up like a hockey player as I cannot wear my walking cast. I am hopefull that with my new boots, the wrapping and the new pain pills, I will be ok. If nothing else, it will be kind of fun to be the anti-doping operative while dopped up myself. Could be interesting.
Today's picture is of the kids in front of the electric polar bear display.
Stay tuned - much more tomorrow
In dowtown Vancouver at noon each day a whistle down at the waterfront is blown to signal the beginning of the lunch hour. A cannon that sits in Stanley Park is shot off on special occassions. At about 2:30pm, I was surprised to hear both. The Whistle blew first and then the cannon followed shortly after. Within about 20 seconds I could hear the shouts and cheers coming up from the street 29 floors below me. Someone from the office across the hall ran into our office to shout the news that we had another gold medal. The winner this time was a young woman right from North Vancouver who won the snow boarding event.
I wanted to be a part of the excitement on the street so I left my computer, turned off the phone and hit Granville street. People were shouting, ringing cow bells, waving flags and all wearing happy smiles. The pride of a country was palpable. It is certainly nice to see in "no fun city",
I heard today that some London newspaper was making fun of us. Generally speaking, just being plain mean. They apparently wrote that our games were a disaster with the rain at Cypress . Yeah, one mountain venue makes it a disaster. Considering that they are still running events there, I think I have to give some credit to the effort put in despite the rain. I guess they never learned their manners at their mother's knee - if you can't say anything nice then keep your damn mouth shut. (My mother never said damn so I am improvising here) They also made a comment on our "Own the Podium" campaign. They wrote that it is un-Canadian to be so aggressive. They say it is impolite and they find it comical as it goes against everything Canadian. It seems they feel we have stepped out of character and our manners flew out the window.
Ha - spoilsports. They haven't medalled at all yet. I mean really, other than fish and chips, what are they doing in the winter games. I guess they are still upset over the fact we never invited the Queen to the games. They also seem to know nothing of Karma. They are hosting the summer games next and it is my guess that more than a few local reporters are kind of pissed off at the articles - so beware - what goes around comes around.
I am going to bed early tonight to get ready for my first full day tomorrow as your local Anti-Doping control chaperone. I will be at either the cross-country or biatholon venue. I need to be up and out of the door at 6am. It is supposed to be sunny and dry on Whistler tomorrow. I will have my foot taped up like a hockey player as I cannot wear my walking cast. I am hopefull that with my new boots, the wrapping and the new pain pills, I will be ok. If nothing else, it will be kind of fun to be the anti-doping operative while dopped up myself. Could be interesting.
Today's picture is of the kids in front of the electric polar bear display.
Stay tuned - much more tomorrow
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