Let the Games Begin!

I apologize for not posting sooner, but it has been a roller coaster for me. I was struggling to get to and from the house I was staying at. It was taking me 2 1/2 hours each way. Needless to say after helping from 9 to 7pm at the village and traveling 5 hours, I just didn't have the energy to make a post.

After a couple of days of making the trek, it was decided to move me much closer to the village. I got a great placement at a complex right across from Whistler Village (not to be confused with the athlete village) where all the action is in blueberry hill (Yes, that is the complex's real name). That couple is extremely nice as well. The hardest part for me was going to be telling Linda and Janice that I would be moving. Linda is disabled and really wanted to support the Olympics. She thought this was how she could. She moved out here from Ontario and made sure the guest bath and bedroom were complete in time for me. I just didn't want to disappoint her after all her hospitality.

I explained that there was a place closer and told her I would be back in a couple of days to pick up my stuff. I got to the new place and felt just horrible. It is hard to come into a new house. This situation is so different. Its like you are taking over there lives for weeks and yet hardly there. They wanted to hang out alone all night and I was so anxious to finally get a chance to get out and see the village at night. I had been spending all my time on buses, and almost no time really experiencing the Olympics. We did the dinner "getting to know each other and I was off to bed.

The trek to work the next day was soo much better. I slid down an icy driveway and walked less than 100 feet to a bus stop. I took the 7 bus to the "main street exchange"..then off to the athlete village. It was about 30 minutes to the 1st security check at the village. I struggled with leaving Linda, but was so excited about how close I was to everything else. Then I found out I could catch the 10 bus another 100 feet down the road. So now it is about 10 minutes to the security gate from where I am. So now, I am excited to get to be in the middle of Whistler.

I didn't realize when I left that so much of my blog would be on transportation, but I didn't know how much it would be a part of my daily life. I am not a bus person, but I really love the bus system here. The first couple of days the VANOC (Vancouver Olympic Commitee) and BC Transit were working out all the kinks, but now things are running pretty smooth. I am learning my way around town and what buses go where. Now just to figure out how to get back and forth to Vancouver..that is for Thursday.

The press office I work for is a small facility. It was set up that most press conferences would be held at the main media center in Whistler Village. But, while preparing for their events, the athletes didn't want to make the 1/2 hour trek each way to do a press conference. So we are pretty busy. The majority of my time is spent setting up press conferences and running mics. If you were in Japan, Switzerland France or Solvenia, you would see my on TV for sure, but probably not in the states. We have 2 rooms. One set up for 50 people and one for 35. Often we can get up to 70 in the big room and 45-50 in the small room. We often have people overflowing into our work space and it isn't uncommon for one on one interviews of the athletes to be held right on our desk. It makes it difficult to move let alone get anything done. We have had a couple of special events we helped with as well. We had the Governor General from Canada come for a fire side chat as well as the president of Latvia. We are in charge of the "non-rights holding broadcasters" media for all of these events. In the US that is like everyone except NBC. We spend a lot of time making sure all the "rules" are followed. In the athlete village there are no pictures allowed in the residential area and only rights holding broadcasters can video anything on site. Add in the language barrier most of the time and that keeps me busy. I am learning the difference between Slovenia and Slovakia. I have learned a lot about media and press. Ok, I have to go to catch a ride to a bus. More soon! (pictures are Linda and Janice - center, Whistler village end of day 2 watching medals awarded and a co-worker Connie and myself inside the whistler olympic rings)

Cath