Day 16 (Saturday Feb 27)

Ethan scored his first goal in hockey today! He was pretty pumped. I was SO sorry to miss it; you have no idea. Everything I have seen and done here has been so worth it, yet I will be ecstatic to get back home to them. This has been a long LONG time to be apart.

I spent a lot of the day packing and tidying up. I didn't have much to do in the athlete's village today, besides hanging out with all my skiers who were unexpectedly clad only in their underwear. These Europeans have no shame. It's pretty hard to discuss logistics for closing ceremonies when you are the only fully clothed person in the room. I took off my jacket and shoes, so I could fit in a little, but I drew the line at removing my pants, thank you.

They were all excited to go see Usher tonight at the Medals Plaza. I didn't have a ticket but I have a spot on the wall opposite the entrance where you can see into the plaza. And of course it's open air, so you can hear the concert all the way back to the cabin anyway! So I stood on my wall for a few songs, then headed home to clean the toilet. Oh, it's glamorous here, let me tell you! Royalty one day, toilets the next.

Tomorrow morning Paco competes in the 50k Cross Country event, as we're racing around checking them out of the accommodation and checking them in for their flights. Then we race them down for the ceremonies and afterwards, relax for a nice dinner out downtown. I'll be up early and to bed late, so off I go to bed now. I have packed Kleenex for tomorrow...

Except I Totally Forgot This...

OK, how could I forget that I bumped into the 51-yr-old Mexican Alpine skier, Prince Hubertus, today? He's German or Austrian royalty, I forget which. And he's 51 and still skiing at an Olympic level! Last week, I nearly walked into the King and Queen of Sweden, today Prince Hubertus. Also this week, the King of Norway brought us a cake. It was the absolute best cake I have ever eaten in my life. (And I knows me some cake) Turns out it was baked by the official bakers to the royal house of Norway. No wonder it rocked!
Royalty. Wow. And l'il ol' me.

Day 15 (Friday Feb 26)

I don't think my heart is strong enough to watch another hockey game. They won, but oh lordie they made us sweat at the end! Please, Canada, go hard on Sunday for Gold!!!

Today the Andorran assistant based in Vancouver came up to Whistler for a field trip, since he hasn't had much to do during the games. I showed Jefte around Whistler village, and took him to see the Sliding Centre too. Then we watched Mimi and Sofie race (not a great day for Andorran skiers) before heading to WVL.

We met up with Mariana and Erin, and all four of us assistants signed the cards we got for the athletes and coaches. We had a brief meeting with Vicky to discuss how we're going to manage the whole check out / closing ceremonies / departure process. It's just like the logistical nightmare we faced for Opening Ceremonies, only more so as we are getting baggage down to YVR and returning vehicles and cell phones... ay ay ay. I have only two more nights in Whistler, and I have completely mixed emotions about that! I can't wait to get home to Mike and the boys, and to my lovely bed in my lovely house and my lovely life. YET. This experience has been so amazing that I really don't want it to end!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Xoke. Sniff sniff. Then Sunday night the Andorrans are taking us out to dinner and dancing after Closing Ceremonies. I'm going to crash on my brother's couch that night, since we'll be up early again Monday morning to get them all to the airport, and get us assistants back up to Whistler just to check out and catch the 4:00 bus home with all our luggage. Sigh. But Monday I should be home before the kids go to bed!!!

Vicky gave us all more gifts tonight - a pen / wallet / keychain set nicely engraved with Andorra on it. More hugs, more kisses. I have kissed more cheeks this month than ever in my life. So please forgive me if, when I get back to Real Life, I greet you by laying a big smackeroo or two on you. And if I speak in French or Spanish, I apologize in advance, because I seem to be having a hard time with English lately!

Tomorrow I sleep in. Then I clean up and pack up. 2 Whistler sleeps to go!

Day 14 (Thursday Feb 25)

I started off today with a nice gentle run on the Valley Trail. My original destination was Meadow Park, but then this happened to the trail: Which wasn't such a happy thing for my knees as every step in the ice and snow seemed to wrench. So I returned back over the River of Golden Dreams and headed for home. Although I got tired while running, I get too bored of walking, so I ended up running most of the way home too. It felt good to get some exercise after all the free meals at the athlete's village. Seriously, when you can have McDonald's Cinnamon Melts every day for free, you really do need to be an elite athlete to work it all off. March = Salad month for me.

When I got back to the house, the plan was to watch Mimi's race, then shop for a goodbye gift for our chef de mission (leader of the Andorran delegation) before heading to WVL for my afternoon shift. Poor Mimi DNF. But then I found a very pretty BC jade pendant and necklace for Vicky (chef de mission) from us assistants. As for the rest of the day - Of course, as always, plans change by the minute. Instead of sitting in the break room at WVL for 8 hours, waiting for something to do, would I like to go to the Ladies' Figure Skating final program tonight?

Why yes I would. Thankyouverymuch.

So I drove our chef de mission to Pacific Coliseum. Although our seats were quite high up, we were in athlete seating. So we were quite literally surrounded by athletes. I am in a million pictures tonight! People were snapping away at the USA team behind us (one alpine skier Kaylin, one ice dance figure skater Emily, etc.), the Japanese speed skaters, the Georgian and US ice dance teams, and on and on and on. I was a little star-struck, to be honest. So many faces I recognize from TV, and I'm sitting among them!

And then our girl Joannie skated to bronze. Sigh. This is her at the kiss and cry. Can you see her? Squint into the jumbotron, and into the lower left corner above those people's heads... The Korean girl was especially beautiful to watch, as well. So it was lots of fun and muchas gracias, milles mercis to Vicky for asking me to go with her! I feel very privileged!!!

Day 13 (Wednesday Feb 24)

WOOT WOOT Canada!!! Awesome competition day!

I had pretty much zippo to do for the team today, so I sat in the break room and did Sudoku as I watched competitions on TV. Half of the ladies' Giant Slalom got delayed so we were kind of in a holding pattern for most of the day. One of our girls DNF but the other is waiting for the second run, rescheduled for tomorrow! Here's a picture I took today of the fire pit for the athletes: All the Andorrans but one were at Creekside today. We had to laugh when we went to deliver the competition DVDs to the house - Xoke had tidied the common room while everyone was gone and wrote a big note on the whiteboard in English for everyone to keep it tidy!

This is what it said (be forewarned, they like to swear!)

"Hey Mothers Fu**ers - Keeps it Ranged!"

Xoke (that's his nickname; it means "Crash") asked me to correct it, so I did. I am SO glad I majored in English at University, because you just never know when you may need to tell any Mothers Fu**ers to keep the room tidy in proper English.

Anyway, we sat and chatted for a while. Then, since Erin was there, I no longer needed to stick around on call. I had been getting so nervous about the Canada-Russia hockey game, and I just couldn't stand watching it at the NOC Services Centre with a bunch of other assistants. In fact, I got so nervous about the game I couldn't stand to watch it at all. So I found a last-minute Bobsleigh ticket for the Ladies' final tonight. And off I went!

I stopped at home to throw my long underwear and jeans on, and got to the Sliding Centre just in time to watch the first sled. Luckily I can stay well within VANOC rules of posting competition shots as all I could get with my camera was ice after the sled had passed! Here is a nice shot of the bottom of the Sliding Centre, taken from near the top. I worked my way up to the top during Heat 3, and then worked my way down during Heat 4 so I was at the finish for the GLORY GLORY of Canada winning Gold AND Silver in this event!!! I was THERE y'all!

Unfortunately I saw two crashes during the event, but all four of the ladies walked away. The British girls looked pretty shaken, and upset about losing, but the German crash was more freaky for us. The crash knocked the back girl clear out of the sled and she slid by herself for FOREVER. Unbelievable that they can walk away.

So I was already riding the Gold-Silver high when I heard that not only did Clara Hughes get Bronze in speed skating, but the Canadian men had beaten the Russians! Unspeakably Awesome. Now we wait to see if we face Sweden or Slovakia in the semi-finals. Next game: Friday! What event can I distract myself with then???

Day 12 (Tuesday Feb 23)

I didn't get to take our athlete to the airport today. I was supposed to go down to help him with his bags as, due to his injury, he is unable to lift them himself. However, when push came to shove, he needed to choose between space in the car for me to sit to help him at YVR, or space in the car for the last of his bags. He chose to take his bag home with him. I hope he found someone to haul his stuff once he got to YVR! I was ridiculously sad to say goodbye to him. We had a nice hug and farewell, and I promised to send him our pictures. Sad, sad, sad to say goodbye.
:(
So I consoled myself by watching Team Canada spank Team Germany in hockey. Sigh of relief at a happy result! And I just happened to be in the right place at the right time when someone offered me a ticket to tonight's Victory Ceremonies at Medals Plaza. Isn't the torch purty? Here are the women's biathlon teams getting their medals: This shot makes me swell with Canadian pride: the Mountie saluting Canadian Gold in Ski Cross. Then they gave out the Men's Alpine Giant Slalom medals; here are the flags being raised: After all the medals were awarded, The Fray played a set. It was fun! Now I'm tired and need my beauty rest. Bonsoir!

Day 11 (Monday Feb 22)

I'm pretty sure I was told not to bring any animal products through security into the athlete's village. So how did these end up in here? Oh wait, they ARE security. You wouldn't believe what a hit these cuties were with all the athletes from all over the world. It was very hard to snap this shot WITHOUT an athlete in the frame.

I took the ripped ski bag to the seamstress today. They had a very expensive pair of skis escape from their bag in transit to Whistler, and the skis completely broke. They want to make sure their skis arrive safely home! We wandered a little bit in behind Nesters, and eventually found her condo. She sews out of her home, and is perhaps the only seamstress in Whistler! While she repaired the seam, she told us stories of the business she's had lately: sewing badges onto the Mounties' red serge uniforms, crests onto Olympic uniforms, and also sewing black armbands for the Georgian delegation in the wake of the luger's death.

What is heartwarming about this story is that although this woman is obviously struggling to make ends meet, she is doing most of this Olympic work for free! She wouldn't take any money for the repair today, although I did make her accept an Andorran Olympic pin. She wanted to volunteer for the games, but couldn't find anyone to watch her young son. So she is giving back to the games in her own small way. I just stumbled upon her name at the drycleaners, and I'm so glad I found her!

Mariana and I completed the repair with upholstery glue to reinforce the seam, and then enclosed it all in an attractive layer of duct tape inside and out. The bag ain't pretty, but if the skis escape again, it will not be through THAT seam, I can promise you!

We also had a little free time to just hang out at the Andorran house. One of the girls was showing us all her 2010 souvenirs she's purchased, one of the boys was jokingly trying to make me do his laundry (I politely declined), and we chatted a bit about favourite places to ski. Apparently I need to go to the Swiss Alps and the Dolomites in Italy, although he's been pretty happy with his time in Whistler!

I googled "Dolomites". Um, yeah - I could hang out there!
Tomorrow's another YVR run I think. I may not get to a computer tomorrow night to post... but I'll try!