Busy + crappy internet = limited blogging

WOW. Between a lousy internet connection and the craziness of the Games, I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! I'll split this between two entries since a lot has happened...

The last few days before the Games were a little tense in the office as we tried to work out the bugs with scheduling and bus runs. Unfortunately it ended up that the majority of our learning came from failures and problems, but we finally worked most things out before the Games began.

My life outside of work has rapidly diminished. With the new work schedule of either 5-2 or 2-11, I have limited opportunities to get out of camp. Still, for my sanity, I try to escape every once in a while! The most exciting thing I got to do was going tubing. The hill looks small from the bottom, but trust me--that changes when you get to the top. It was an absolute blast! Afterwards, we went to our favorite sushi place. It's amazing that after being here just over a month, we feel like locals--always chatting with the waiters who now recognize us when we come in or grumbling about how the town has gotten too crowded with the start of the Games.

Classes also began right before the Games. Our first session featured Cleanevent's Project Manager for Whistler 2010, Craig Madigan. Although Craig is fairly young, he has so much knowledge to share and is very well established with the company and the field as a whole. Then we toured Whistler Olympic Park. Even though I'd seen it two weeks before, I was stunned at how much it had changed. The "look" as it's called (signs, posters, color, etc.) had been added and the venues were really impressive looking. Plus athletes had arrived and began to practice. I got to see the ski jump in action...it's literally the most insane thing ever.

Sorry it's taken me so long to blog! I only get spurts of internet, and it's usually only when I'm at work. I'll try to update tomorrow about everything that happened since the Games began.

Counting down

The past week has been exhausting, but it's definitely worth it to see the excitement for the Games. I can't believe they are less that a week away!

Monday was business as usual in the office. I started my new schedule and worked from 2-11. It was nice to have the morning off, but it's a bizarre feeling to go straight from work to bed to work the next morning. We attempted to start our new transport system, but VANOC failed to tell us that despite all publications saying the buses would start on Feb. 1, they had decided to save money by starting on the 3rd instead. Might have been useful information to share…

On Tuesday, I worked at Creekside, where all the downhill skiing events will occur. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the venue because I sat in the trailer all day, working the helpdesk. I had to answer and record all cleaning needs. It was not the most exciting day, but definitely worthwhile to see what a day in the field is like for the snow management, cleaning, and waste team. Later that evening, we met with Scott Williams, who will be running the intern program over the next three weeks. Scott is EXTREMELY knowledgeable when it comes to facility and event management—he is the general manager of the arena where the Utah Jazz play and has been in the industry for years.

We’ll be having 5 “class days”, where we have morning discussion/lessons, then guest speakers, then afternoon venue tours. I’m looking forward to it—just nervous about how it’ll fit in with our work schedules. There are more interns coming from Johnson and Wales University tomorrow who will be able to cover our shifts, but it might be hard to teach them in two days what it’s taken us four weeks to learn.

Wednesday and Thursday were long days in the office again—started at 5 AM, checking to make sure people were on their buses. Somehow nobody knew what time to get on the bus, so I was running around and waking people up. Now I know what my mom felt like getting us up for school. We also started doing a daily newsletter that is the responsibility of the morning shift. Thursday night, we went to a meeting with all the venue managers. It was interesting to hear about the challenges of the individual venues, especially those I’m not familiar with.

Yesterday was one of the most incredible experiences I think I’ve ever had. After another morning shift at work, Sarah and I headed downtown. On the bus in, we saw members of the Czech Olympic team—we were trying so hard not to be creepy while still taking pictures on our cell phones. It’s a little hard to “stay cool” when you’re 3 feet away from Olympic Athletes. We went to the Irish Pub with Joey (Sarah’s boss), Coops and his wife, and Don (one of the drivers). It was great getting to know some of the team outside of the office. Then we went to the Skier’s Plaza, where the Olympic Torch was being lit for the night. It was insanely crowded—kind of what I’d imagine Times Square to be like on New Years Eve. First it was nearly completely dark…then we could just see a faint light at the top of the slope. The flame carrier was being towed in on a snowmobile. Right at the peak of the hill, the flame was passed to a skier, who came down the slope with it. The crowd was going absolutely crazy. The flame was then passed to a teenager from Whistler, the chosen community torchbearer, who lit a cauldron on a huge stage. As someone who has ALWAYS loved the symbolism and unity of the Games, it was awe inspiring to see. A local children’s choir sang a song that is apparently being performed at every stop on the torch relay.

Afterwards, we got to hold (and get a picture with) one of the torches that was actually used in the relay. A girl standing behind us in the crowd was the daughter of one of the torchbearers. It was so cool! On the way home, we saw members of the Canadian Olympic Team on the bus…it finally seems real that the Games will be here in 6 days!

Flying through the air

Work in the office over the past few days was rather dull, but my time outside the office was AWESOME.

On Wednesday night, we had a meeting with Paul Lovett (the head of Cleanevent). He just wanted to check in and make sure that we were all getting a lot out of our experience here. He also told us that he has contacts at venues all over the world, and that upon completion of this program, he'll be happy to put us in touch with them. We are so lucky to have the opportunity to get to know him and work for him--he's an incredible contact to have. He also said that there would be many opportunities if we wanted to work with the company again...World Cup 2010 anyone?? While the functional area of snow cleaning and waste is of almost no interest to me, this internship is turning out to be an awesome opportunity.

I spend Friday at the Athletes Village, which is absolutely incredible. In the morning, I helped VANOC with workforce checkin. It's interesting to see how well they take care of their volunteers--great uniforms, meals during shifts, prizes after a certain number of shifts worked...it's a great strategy. While the uniforms seem expensive at $700-800 each, it is significantly less costly than hiring a staff. Afterwards, I just got to explore the village by myself for a while. There is a full medical center, residential areas for 3500 athletes, a DVD lounge, a gameroom, a high-performance gym, a stage for concerts, a post office and bank...It literally has EVERYTHING they could need. I got some great pictures but can't post them until after the Games because of security reasons. Most of it is SO pretty--I thought the whole place was amazing until I had the chance to tour it again with Craig Madigan (the project manager for Cleanevent's Whistler 2010). He pointed out a lot of areas that could be improved from the athlete's perspective. While most of the village is spectacular, the weakest part also happens to be the most important: the first view of the village from the athletes' entrance. It is uninspiring and rather boring, but hopefully is being improved upon ASAP. On Friday, Team Canada and Team Great Britain became the first athletes to arrive.

Today, Sarah and I went ziplining. I am absolutely shocked that I wasn't terrified, considering that I don't even like rollercoasters. But somehow, hanging 200 feet above the ground, moving nearly 80 km/hour was the most awesome thing! I even hung upside down for one of the lines. The tour we did including 5 ziplines (one that was 2000 feet long!) between Blackcomb and Whistler mountains and had several suspension bridges and tree-fort type structures. It was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced :-) the company that runs the tours is called Ziptrek, and calls them "eco-tours". Everything is set up to be sustainable and not interfere with the ecosystem, which is actually a very rare type of rainforest. I had no idea that rainforests even existed in Canada!

Tomorrow starts the shifts we'll be running through the Olympics. I'll be working Mondays and Fridays from 2 PM-11 PM; Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 5 AM-2 PM; and have Tuesdays and Saturdays free to either take off or visit a venue. Based on this schedule, I'll get to see some great events during the Games--both competition events at all the venues and concerts at Celebration Plaza. Right now, it looks like I'll get to see All American Rejects, The Fray, and Usher...for free...on top of that, snowboarding, ski jump, bobsled and luge (probably medal events)...for free. This experience is just unbelievable.

Being a ski bunny is fun :-)

Skiing on Monday was absolutely AMAZING! I am so proud that I didn’t fall a single time (except slipping on the ice while I was walking through the Village, but that doesn’t really count.) We took a lesson that lasted from 9:45-3:00. It was absolutely exhausting, but so much fun. We got to take a gondola to the top of the mountain—the ride is nearly 30 minutes! “Mountains” in the South seem more like hills now.

On Tuesday, I spent most of the day working with Coops on transportation. We tried to go to a meeting at Whistler Olympic Park about transport between the park’s three venues, but the transport supervisor there never showed up. Hopefully we can reschedule soon—it’s a major issue because security won’t allow us to drive our bus into the venue, but WOP is saying that if our shift start times conflict with spectator loading times, they won’t be able to offer transportation to the workforce. All of our other workforce will have to use the VANOC transportation since we can’t get through any security points. It is easier on us, as we only have one drop-off point. It makes me nervous though, because it puts a lot of responsibility on our individual people. Some of them, particularly those who struggle with English, have trouble even getting on a bus that runs from camp straight to the venue. Now they have to catch buses, and walk through the village to another bus or to their venue, and get through security, basically on their own.

Last night I stayed in, despite the fact that most of the camp was out celebrating Australia Day. I wanted to stay home so I could talk to my boyfriend, Gabe, since he’d had a rough day. I think the worst part of being away is not being there when someone you care about is down. It really sucks, but Skype definitely helps bridge the gap.

More work on transportation today, and organizing camp entertainment for the next few weeks. We’re planning a trivia night…hopefully it will work out. I’m not sure how the questions will work out when there are so many different cultures here. What one group knows a lot about, another might not.

Weekend #2

Things at the camp have been fairly uneventful. There wasn't much work to do in the office on Friday...just preparing for new arrivals. Organizing transportation is about to get crazy though, because the venues and Village are going into lockdown. This means that part by part, they'll be shut down, completely searched by the police and armed forces for dangerous items (bombs, etc.), and then sealed. Anyone or anything entering the premises after this has been done will have to be individually searched every time. This means trips to drop off the staff will take MUCH longer. We're also starting night shifts for snow removal at several of the venues.

Friday night, Sarah, Katie and I went out for sushi and then met everyone at the bar. Sometimes it's fun, but sometimes it's weird that the whole camp seems to travel in a pack. Even upper management tends to be there. Definitely encouragement to behave haha

On Saturday, I went into the village by myself to run some errands. I've been sick so I had to stop at the drug store...it's crazy how different some of the offerings are compared to the US. Then I spent HOURS at the Olympic Store taking orders from my family and looking at the awesome souvenirs. Visa has done an awesome job activating their sponsorship--only Visa cards are accepted at the store. Saturday night, the camp had a bonfire. It was fun to see everyone hanging out together, although I didn't spend much time outside in the cold!

Today, Sarah and Katie and I went into the village for our last time together :-( Katie is leaving tomorrow (her grandmother is really sick and she needs to be closer to home). We went back to the Olympic store for more shopping--I bought a TON of cute Olympic mittens. They're apparently the hot item this year and have sold out several times. We watched one of the NFL games at a bar--it's just not quite the same though, when most people there aren't really into it.

The snow started again today and has no signs of stopping. Tomorrow Sarah and I are going skiing--we negotiated a day off during the week by agreeing to work next Saturday. I think we're going to be getting fewer and fewer full days off, but apparently we might get a few afternoons off to go do things or even see events during the Games. I'm personally hoping to see the torch relay come through town on February 5.

Thank goodness for internet...

We FINALLY have internet back at camp…it went down on Saturday, was in and out on Monday, and was out until late last night. It’s so frustrating being isolated from the rest of the world! So to backtrack a few days, here’s what’s been going on…

Saturday: Sarah, Katie and I decided we needed to get out of camp for a while and get away from everyone in our very small living quarters. We spent the day in the village just relaxing and hanging out. We saw Leap Year (which was super super super cute) and went out for Mexican. When I was trying to fall asleep, a train kept blowing its horn. It was bizarrely like I was back in Columbia haha

Sunday: Sunday was pretty lame for me…a bunch of people went bungee jumping, but since trying to kill myself isn’t really my thing, I opted out. I just did laundry and caught up on schoolwork and sleep. It is so nice to be in the only person in the room for a few hours when there are usually ten.

Monday: Monday was fairly uneventful…I worked in the office all day, trying to figure out how many beds were available in the camp. It’s nearly impossible to tell by just walking in a room because everyone moves around and puts their stuff everywhere. We labeled every bed with a number and are now ensuring that people are assigned to (and staying in) just their specific bed number. After work, we went to pick our accreditation passes. This allows access into venues…I feel very cool and official J

Tuesday: Tuesday was probably the worst day here so far. The camp where the entire Olympic security team (a company called CSC) is being housed called our company and asked for help, because 500 people were due to come in the next day and NOTHING was ready. All of the Cleanevent interns were pulled out of camp and their venues to help prepare the rooms. We spent the morning sweeping rooms and distributing linens…then spent the afternoon carrying full-sized lockers down three flights of stairs and then into other buildings. It wasn’t that any of us minded help, but the site was completely disorganized and nobody could figure out what they wanted us to do. It was also the first time I’ve worked on a construction site (completely male-dominated) and been disrespected and treated like a moron because I’m a female. When we finally left, there was a miscommunication with Cleanevent about when our shuttle was picking us up…we ended up waiting outside for 1 ½ hours. Needless to say, the day was rough for all the girls.

Wednesday: Definitely the best day I’ve had. I got to spend the day with Hugh (Hughie) Carey, the precinct manager for Whistler project. This basically means he is in charge of all the venues. This is his 4^th Olympics, and he seems to know EVERYTHING. When I got to his house, we just talked for a while about what the company did. He was explaining about how cleaning is just a tiny part of the job; it’s more about managing people. If they’re not fed, housed, uniformed, and in good spirits, they’re not going to get the work done. In the morning we visited Whistler Olympic Park (WOP), where there are three venues: cross-country skiing, biathlon, and the ski jump. These places are absolutely incredible. The ski jump is higher and steeper than you can ever see from on TV, and I had to wonder if the people who fly off the ramp are suicidal or mentally unstable. At WOP, I got to sit in on a meeting with Cleanevent, VANOC, and another company about snow removal. All of the companies here at the Olympics have very specific contracts and it’s amazing to see how they interact with each other. For example, our snow removal contract is for steps, landings, ramps, bleachers, and only 1 meter around buildings at most venues, while another company handles plowing, etc.

After WOP, we spent a few hours at what will be the Celebration/Medals Plaza. This is where medals ceremonies for all events occurring in Whistler will be. There will also be a concert there every night during the Games. There are some pretty big name acts coming, including Usher, The Fray, and All American Rejects. This is the first time managing a venue for the guy that Cleanevent has stationed there and he needed some help organizing his stock room of cleaning supplies.

Later in the afternoon, we had to go back to WOP to handle an issue with another company. Our guys had put sheets of plastic on all the bleachers so the upcoming snowfall wouldn’t get down between them. Another group was coming through and needed the bleachers uncovered to put the seat number stickers on them. It took forever but finally we worked it out that they would only let our team move the plastic (so it didn’t get damaged) and that they’d be done by Sunday, since a huge snowfall is predicted for Monday. It’s really the random little things that seem to cause the biggest headaches. Before we headed back to camp, we got to drive through the Athletes Village. It is absolutely AMAZING. I would definitely be okay with living there.

Last night, my parents finally got Skype and it was so great to talk to them/see them. My mom was so excited about getting it working. Later, Sarah, Katie and I went to this pub in the Village for a few drinks and nachos. It was a really cool place that had these huge heaters so we could sit out on the patio. We’re trying to figure out plans for this weekend…it’s down between going to Vancouver for an NHL game or going ziplining here. I’m definitely looking forward to it, either way.

Weekends in Whistler

The sun just came out for the first time, and we could see the top of the mountains through the clouds. With the snow everywhere, it was BREATHTAKING. I'll post pictures soon!