Hello all!
This experience is already worth all the confusion, cost and time that went into my arrival in Vancouver, BC Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. I’m working as a volunteer (I like to think of it as an internship), interpreting for Tajikistan. The Games are incredibly well organised; I’m very impressed. The games venues are starting to come together, and I”m writing this post across from the Victory Ceremony Plaza in Whistler Village, where all the Alpine and Sliding sports,as well as Biathlon and Cross-country skiing will be held. Tickets for some of the events (sadly not hockey,sigh) are available, so I will certainly be attending some biathlon! The Victory Ceremony Plaza holds all the medal ceremonies for those events, and music acts like Usher, One Republic, The Roots and Estelle will be performing.
The weather however, has been disastrous… Lots of rain and the snowboarding/aerial skiing events are in trouble. It’s 13C in Vancouver today; not exactly winter weather.
Due to the security surrounding the Games, I can’t talk about my position much, nor can I post many photos. I’ll try to give everyone a feel for the work, without breaching confidentiality issues.
So far, the National Olympic Committee Assistants (NOC), of which I am one, are being housed either in trailers (which remind me of Russian coupe train cars, with a bunk-bed and not much else), or condos right in the center of Whistler’s resort village. I move out of the trailer tomorrow, and can’t wait to see where I end up! From the sound of things, I’ll be living with a few Russian speakers, so that should be fun. And I won’t feel as homesick for MIIS and my Russian-speaking classmates!!
I’ve met people from all over the world, from Ireland to Uzbekistan to Japan. Everyone is excited and unsure of what they are to be doing. I have managed to interpret a bit while here, helping various Russian and French speakers who had lost their way in Whistler.
Internet access is sporadic, but I will certainly try to update my blog as often as possible. And photos will be upcoming!!!!
S