the size of the athletes' dining hall in the Whistler Olympic village is compared to hockey rinks (3).
McDonalds is a big Olympic sponsor and have a big presence in the dining hall, which can seat 900 athletes at a time. Apparently, the best athletes in the world train hard, eat training specific diets for years, and then celebrate the completion of their journey with a Big Mac and Fries (true story).
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Volunteers from all over
Today I went out to do inspections on the housing units with a lovely young lady who was born in Barcelona and a young man from Croatia/Slovenia.
My older daughter spent her junior year semester in the Balkans studying transition and social change. One of her classmates did a videography project on identity in the Balkans among young people today.
The man could have been a case study for that project. When I asked him "aside from Whistler, what do you call home?" he replied, "that is hard to say." He claims both Slovenia and Croatia as his countries. He explained that before the war, everyone was from Yugoslavia. Now there are six small countries that were once part of Yugoslavia: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia Hercegovenia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia. (Interesting that Republica Serbska was not mentioned). When asked about the skiers from Croatia, he evidenced a very strong pride in his country's team.
My Barcelona born cohort left there ten years ago and said she had a strong dislike of cities. She moves from (ski) season to (ski) season now.
I am really enjoying interacting with the worldwide team that is bringing the Whistler Olympic village to the world.
My older daughter spent her junior year semester in the Balkans studying transition and social change. One of her classmates did a videography project on identity in the Balkans among young people today.
The man could have been a case study for that project. When I asked him "aside from Whistler, what do you call home?" he replied, "that is hard to say." He claims both Slovenia and Croatia as his countries. He explained that before the war, everyone was from Yugoslavia. Now there are six small countries that were once part of Yugoslavia: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia Hercegovenia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia. (Interesting that Republica Serbska was not mentioned). When asked about the skiers from Croatia, he evidenced a very strong pride in his country's team.
My Barcelona born cohort left there ten years ago and said she had a strong dislike of cities. She moves from (ski) season to (ski) season now.
I am really enjoying interacting with the worldwide team that is bringing the Whistler Olympic village to the world.
Monday, January 11, 2010
It's raining, it's pouring . . .
Rained all weekend and today it was really steady rain. Snowing in the Alpine, but the freezing level is pretty high. Whistler should be ok, but Cypress Mountain in Vancouver is struggling. they expect a high of 13 degrees C tomorrow, which is curtains for the snow pack. Fortunately they stockpiled snow from the early season dumps. According to the head of the Whistler Village, they will be able to push it down the slopes.
the good news: all the rain is melting the treacherous ice that was under foot. Now when it snows again, the village teams charged with snow clearing will have a clean base to start from.
Everyone is trying not to worry about the world coming to Whistler and instead of seeing a winter wonderland, see a typical foggy, rainy Pacific Northwest day.
the good news: all the rain is melting the treacherous ice that was under foot. Now when it snows again, the village teams charged with snow clearing will have a clean base to start from.
Everyone is trying not to worry about the world coming to Whistler and instead of seeing a winter wonderland, see a typical foggy, rainy Pacific Northwest day.
Job specific training
I had my 'job specific (as opposed to venue specific) training on Friday. This gave context to the whole process.
What we do now is to prepare a 'home' for the athletes. VSS is known as the 'heart' of the village. We are even going to have special coats to wear, in addition to our Olympic uniforms.
During the games, we are the only village volunteers with security approval to access the residences. If there is a problem in one of the units, we accompany the carpenter, technology, or other specialist to the unit. We also go through the units with each country's delegates before move in.
During the games 'volly's' will have one meal voucher per shift. We will have access to the same food as the athletes (prepared under the supervision of celebrity chef Michael Smith from Food Network), but have to eat in a different part of the 40,000 sq ft food tent. During the games, there will be up to 1,500 'back of house' staff in the Village, but there are only 300 eating spots. Guess we eat in shifts. They will be preparing up to 10,000 meals a day.
the Whistler Village population will be as much as 5,000 people during the games. Larger than many towns. Not bad for what was the Whistler garbage dump a few years ago.
What we do now is to prepare a 'home' for the athletes. VSS is known as the 'heart' of the village. We are even going to have special coats to wear, in addition to our Olympic uniforms.
During the games, we are the only village volunteers with security approval to access the residences. If there is a problem in one of the units, we accompany the carpenter, technology, or other specialist to the unit. We also go through the units with each country's delegates before move in.
During the games 'volly's' will have one meal voucher per shift. We will have access to the same food as the athletes (prepared under the supervision of celebrity chef Michael Smith from Food Network), but have to eat in a different part of the 40,000 sq ft food tent. During the games, there will be up to 1,500 'back of house' staff in the Village, but there are only 300 eating spots. Guess we eat in shifts. They will be preparing up to 10,000 meals a day.
the Whistler Village population will be as much as 5,000 people during the games. Larger than many towns. Not bad for what was the Whistler garbage dump a few years ago.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
An 'I" for an "I'
I & I means inventory and inspection. Our teams works through the rooms and check to see if everything works. We make a list of deficiencies and then create work orders for the fix.
First thing today we went to three of the 'portables' that will house the extra delegates/non athletes. these buildings are long hallways with sleeping rooms. for some reason all the doors on one side are flat panel and the other side are raised panel. this only makes a difference when figuring out where to put the evacuation cards (flat panel above the eyehole, raised panel, below).
The top '25' teams will know where their rooms in the main village are in advance of arrival. In many cases for the larger teams they will have been able to request a certain facility. For some of the smaller nations, with fewer than 10 athletes, they may not know where their rooms will be until they arrive on site.
I "I&I'd" a couple of rooms today that had killer views of the Tantalus glacier and the Athletes Village plaza. somehow I can see the athlete occupants hosting more than a few get togethers in their rooms when there is entertainment in the plaza.
this afternoon we did I&I duty in what will become the hostel after the games. What a great facility and such an improvement locationally on the whistler hostel now (currently located across the lake, without bus service. People staying there have been known to walk across the ice at night to shave miles off their journey home. in whistler's warm again, cold again climate, not a safe idea).
Tired by the end of the day. somehow all that bending, plug testing, and blind cord untieing and lowering/raising was exhausting.
First thing today we went to three of the 'portables' that will house the extra delegates/non athletes. these buildings are long hallways with sleeping rooms. for some reason all the doors on one side are flat panel and the other side are raised panel. this only makes a difference when figuring out where to put the evacuation cards (flat panel above the eyehole, raised panel, below).
The top '25' teams will know where their rooms in the main village are in advance of arrival. In many cases for the larger teams they will have been able to request a certain facility. For some of the smaller nations, with fewer than 10 athletes, they may not know where their rooms will be until they arrive on site.
I "I&I'd" a couple of rooms today that had killer views of the Tantalus glacier and the Athletes Village plaza. somehow I can see the athlete occupants hosting more than a few get togethers in their rooms when there is entertainment in the plaza.
this afternoon we did I&I duty in what will become the hostel after the games. What a great facility and such an improvement locationally on the whistler hostel now (currently located across the lake, without bus service. People staying there have been known to walk across the ice at night to shave miles off their journey home. in whistler's warm again, cold again climate, not a safe idea).
Tired by the end of the day. somehow all that bending, plug testing, and blind cord untieing and lowering/raising was exhausting.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Unique Opportunity for Games Volunteers
How exciting! I got an email announcing an opportunity to attend the dress rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony at BC Place. Volunteers are eligible to receive one free ticket, and we can buy one for $50. This is an opportunity not to be missed. Lucky for me, I am not scheduled to work on the day of the rehearsal.
Day 1: Meeting the Queen of Keys
After a warm welcome by the Volunteer Support Services (VSS) staff, I was introduced to a few other volunteers. A charming and cheerful bunch of Whistler locals, most of whom had already worked multiple shifts in December. They kindly showed me the ropes of being a 'vol-y.'
What does the VSS staff do? Under the guidance of our energetic supervisors, we work in teams to get the athletes' housing units ready for move in. Today this included testing electrical plugs, windows, blinds, locks on bedside tables, hot water tests, putting up room numbers and emergency evacuation instructions, and testing the keys to front and interior doors. The team moves through a unit with purpose, but there is still a bit of time to chat and get to know people.
I learned that the work will be a mix of indoors and outdoors, so clothing choice is a bit of a challenge. How to dress warm enough for outside, without roasting when indoors. Slip off boots are a must for the many entrances and exits into the housing units.
These units will become much needed permanent housing for Whistler-ites in August.
I had an orientation and safety training, along with some of the men who will be actually running security in the Village, construction workers, and housekeeping people. At the conclusion, we receive our 'load in' pass, which serves as our identification on site until later in January when we receive our official accreditation and uniforms.
The site is gorgeous, nestled in the valley with snow covered peaks all around. The street lights are in the shape of the Olympic torch. There are multiple buildings to house the 800 athletes who will start arriving in Whistler January 29, as well a many enormous white tents that will provide the round the clock services for everyone. One of these is the food service tent. I learned that after "lock down" volunteers can't bring their own food or beverages on site; meals will be provided. The VSS trailer is close to the this tent :)
After a lunch break I was introduced to the 'queen of keys'. She is in charge of all the keys in the Village, both electronic and traditional. I spent a couple of hours helping set the electronic locks in the building where the US and Australian teams will be housed. I'm a pro now; but my husband says I shouldn't be too eager to list this new skill on my resume.
The day finished with more key related work back in the trailer. We had to cut and prepare lots of mini boxes that will actually be used to hand the keys out to the various nations. I am very impressed with all the planning and organization involved and the incredible level of detail to ensure that things will go smoothly when the athletes arrive.
What does the VSS staff do? Under the guidance of our energetic supervisors, we work in teams to get the athletes' housing units ready for move in. Today this included testing electrical plugs, windows, blinds, locks on bedside tables, hot water tests, putting up room numbers and emergency evacuation instructions, and testing the keys to front and interior doors. The team moves through a unit with purpose, but there is still a bit of time to chat and get to know people.
I learned that the work will be a mix of indoors and outdoors, so clothing choice is a bit of a challenge. How to dress warm enough for outside, without roasting when indoors. Slip off boots are a must for the many entrances and exits into the housing units.
These units will become much needed permanent housing for Whistler-ites in August.
I had an orientation and safety training, along with some of the men who will be actually running security in the Village, construction workers, and housekeeping people. At the conclusion, we receive our 'load in' pass, which serves as our identification on site until later in January when we receive our official accreditation and uniforms.
The site is gorgeous, nestled in the valley with snow covered peaks all around. The street lights are in the shape of the Olympic torch. There are multiple buildings to house the 800 athletes who will start arriving in Whistler January 29, as well a many enormous white tents that will provide the round the clock services for everyone. One of these is the food service tent. I learned that after "lock down" volunteers can't bring their own food or beverages on site; meals will be provided. The VSS trailer is close to the this tent :)
After a lunch break I was introduced to the 'queen of keys'. She is in charge of all the keys in the Village, both electronic and traditional. I spent a couple of hours helping set the electronic locks in the building where the US and Australian teams will be housed. I'm a pro now; but my husband says I shouldn't be too eager to list this new skill on my resume.
The day finished with more key related work back in the trailer. We had to cut and prepare lots of mini boxes that will actually be used to hand the keys out to the various nations. I am very impressed with all the planning and organization involved and the incredible level of detail to ensure that things will go smoothly when the athletes arrive.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
