5 Napkins

If anyone has ever eaten a hamburger with me, they know that I have a rule...to only use one napkin. It's not like I'm a super hero and never mess my face up (trust me, it's a mess!)...I just have a rule. Very simply, I don't like wasting napkins but being polite and wiping my mouth after every single mouth smearing bite so, in order to avoid this, I just fight my way through the burger (enjoying every single moment) and wipe my mouth once at the very end. I've heard it can look on the repulsive side of, well, repulsive but it's just my way of eating a burger (and saving the planet one napkin at a time).

I encountered a serious issue today when the Vanoc Housekeeping Supervisors headed into the Village for lunch at a place called Splitz Grill. OH MY WORD! It was a magical place! Simply MAGICAL! You order your burger (meat, chicken...) and then you line up and the person gets your bun ready with whatever you want on it! Then this homemade meat patty of deliciousness is piled on and your heart skips a beat (at least mine did!). It was probably the most incredible burger that has ever been constructed to date until I go back and make another one!! Not to give it away, but as you can see from the title, I had to use FIVE NAPKINS to get through this wonder! What a treat!

I'll be lucky if I can get to sleep tonight with burgers dancing around my head/through my veins!

A new way to blog

I basically don’t have any internet available to me (free internet, that is). For the first week, there was a weak signal in my chalet that I could tap into but that has just been locked. Bummer. I’ve walked a few times to the Creekside Village to find a link to the outside world but it gets a little difficult to type a message when it’s either freezing cold or pouring rain. What I’ve decided to do, thanks to a brilliant idea from Kendra, is to type my observations and stories each night or so on a document and then email them to her from work and she will post them for me. This way I’ll remember things more clearly and be able to share them more frequently – especially since I’m so encouraged that a lot of people are reading this.

Like, I remember the time the army vehicles started arriving to the village. All kinds of army trucks – even the kinds that have mini-tanker-like wheels but not wheels…caterpillar-type moving treds that make the truck move (if you know what I mean!). All I can say is thank goodness they are camouflaged or else I wouldn’t see them against the snow. ;)

Pointie Heaven

On Monday, our job was to move a garage full of boxes of toilet paper to different storage units around the village. Oh yeah, baby! Would it sound any better if I said that it was POURING RAIN?? The joys of the wet coast... kind of reminds me of why I enjoyed Maui so much.

Meanwhile, back to the boxes. We moved over 500 boxes of toilet paper (48 rolls per box)... don't worry, I'll have a calculator do the math... 24,000 ROLLS! And that's not even the start of it -- I'm sure there are thousands more and rightfully so! I'm not going to lie, this is probably one of the most important statistics that the athletes care about. It's not about how many Big Mac's are eaten during the Olympics but how many rolls of toilet paper are at the hands of Olympians! Even though we won't do them, just imagine the potential for pointies!!

93km/hr

I never would have thought in a million years that I would fling myself down an Olympic luge track...let alone HEAD FIRST! I always thought those athletes (if you could call them that) were a little loose in the head, I mean, who in their right mind (or wrong mind for that matter!) would ever dream of such a thing? However, when an opportunity like this is offered to you AND you get to pay real money for it, somehow it just makes sense and money just flies out of my wallet! Before you know it, I'm the one flinging my body down an icicle roller-coaster about 3 inches from the ice...oh yeah, and traveling at an INCREDIBLE rate...head first!!! Now YOU tell ME who has something loose in the head?!?!

It all started earlier in the week when one of my co-workers asked if a few of us wanted to try the Skeleton on the Olympic luge track. He had done it a few weeks ago and said it was a blast -- all we had to do was sign up to the Whistler Sliding Club and ask if we could do it. Three of us signed up and within in moments, our Saturday afternoon plan was taking shape. After signing our life away and paying $50 for two runs we were reassured from the lady that of all the three forms of sleds (bobsleigh, luge and skeleton), the skeleton is actually the safest! Ha! She said that if each of the sleds were let go from the top of the track without anyone on/in them, the skeleton would be the only to make it to the finish without crashing! Phewph! Not only that, but I found it oddly reassuring that there was no mention of how quickly an emergency crew could get to you if you did, in fact, crash! Oh well...

Anyway, we get into the track area and have a look into the tube of ice and the WALL of ice on the last corner which happens to be a U-turn (where you are apparently going to experience 2G's of force!)...and head up to our launching pad -- thankfully only a third of the way up the track to corner 11 of 16. Nervous jitters and giggles are coming from everyone now and as we're walking up to our proverbial 'brain fart' of the day...especially since we are hearing our names announced on over the speakers! So official! There were about 20 of us all tolled and it was a fun bunch!

Once we got to our spot, they started calling us in order and shooting us down the course! It was a rainy day so the course was apparently slower but the first guy down reached a speed of 97km/hr! I was in the middle of the pack and was trying to play it cool the whole time but when it comes down to it, I was freaked! I get loaded onto the sled and am told the final points: hang on, keep your elbows it, shoulders down, head down, feet up...and just lay there like a sack of potatoes. Let me tell you, that alone was probably the most comforting statement of the day...it's a good thing I like potatoes! So, down I go...just trying to breath, stay calm and not move! I was peaking up here and there so I could see where the corners were and if/when I'd be flung up the ice wall. It was INCREDIBLE! The final turn is fantastic and then the course shoots you up a hill where three other people are there to stop you and grab you off the track. I stood up with legs a little shaky after traveling 92km/hr but life is good! I was ALIVE! We are toted back up to our start in the back of a truck and it felt like we were loading into a plane in order to only jump out of it again!

By the second run, we all felt like semi-professionals and everyone was wishing the guy would push us a little harder at the start to really get us going! Some people were even stripping off their jackets and snow pants to get rid of the drag. Second time down, I made sure that I kept my head down, staring at the ice (so close that I'm sure if I stuck my tongue out it would've been stuck right onto the track!)...and boy, it felt a LOT faster! The hood of my jacket became untucked and slowed me down (I think!) but my maximum speed overall was 93km/hr!

I am totally hooked on this sport and can't wait to do it again! Next time FOR SURE I'll be sporting a spandex uni-suit and go on a prime weather day where the course will be super slick! This Olympic course is apparently the fastest in the world (no big deal)...and I can't wait to see the real athletes do their thing in a few weeks!

What a rush!

Beyond the toilet bowl...

Well, beside the toilet bowl, actually! Yep, that was part of my job today...placing the toilet bowl scrubbers beside the toilets in Lot 5. Thankfully there weren't that many but I would say that, by far, it has been one of the most important jobs I have undertaken in this new adventure.

Now, there is a weekend ahead of me and I'll be on the Olympic luge track...hopefully the freezing rain doesn't slow down my time! From all accounts, I should be traveling at an incredible rate -- like, 98km/hour! Hello!

I've unlocked the comment side of things so hopefully this allows all of you who reported trouble to say a little something! I'm so glad so many people are reading this...it makes me excited to write random things down!

Whistler living...

Well, I pretty much experienced the best day of work EVER yesterday! We arrived to Whistler on Monday night after some training in Vancouver and my new roommate, Nathalie (from Montreal...yes, I will eventually ask her to translate some Celine for me!) moved into our sweet little condo in the Bay Shores area. It's pretty sweet, I'm not going to lie! A nice kitchen and living area -- leather chairs, a couch, a real fire place and three rooms downstairs. We'll have to share a room at times during the Games but right now, we each have our own room and our own bathroom! SaWEET! :)

Yesterday we headed to the Athletes' Village and it was SO COOL! Security is quite high already and each vehicle and delivery truck is stopped and cannot come in unless your name is on the guest list or if someone is expecting you. We sign in and sign out each way and now have a special accreditation that we have to wear everywhere to be allowed to walk around the village on our own. This accreditation is good until January 22nd when the VPD and RCMP and Canadian Army come through the village and do a 'sweep' to make sure there is nothing suspicious. If want want to have anything on site (like food or snacks) for the Games, we need to bring it in before the 22nd...otherwise, it'll be quite a challenge to get through security for our shift! We had a really sweet tour of the village yesterday and went into the different rooms where the athletes will be staying...rooms from condos to townhouses and even a hostel style place. And everything is BRAND NEW!! I mean EVERYTHING! It is really quite something to think about all that goes into the Games and if only from the housekeeping side of things! New beds, frames, sheets, towels, mops, toilet brushes, vacuums...you name it...NEW! Today we moved all the boxes of cleaning supplies to the cupboards and storage lockers...yay, that was fun! ;)

The sponsorship stuff it crazy too! Coke is everywhere! There is an entire lounge area dedicated to Vitamin Juice...and in the Athletes Dining hall (which is in a massive tent..and the inside is super cool -- no one is allowed in there but we've snuck in twice already) is a full fledged and soon to be operational McDonalds!! Like, full on! The other food is set up in a market place style and it looks really classy -- and did I mention that Chef Michael Smith (you know, the taaaaall guy from the Food Network..."Chef at Home" etc.) will be the chef for the Whistler dining hall?!?! No big deal! :D

Hmm...well, I think that's everything for the first three days of work. Trust me, though, it's going to be CRAZY once the Games get closer but it's so exciting and probably one of the cooler things I've done in my life! I do imagine myself on the beaches of Maui quite regularly, however...it was a cold one today! I'll do anything to imagine my feet being warm! :)

Until we get closer to opening the Village (which so happens to be on my birthday!), we'll be working Monday to Friday, 8:30-5...which leaves weekends open for me to ski (debating a seasons pass...but whoa is it expensive!)! It's either ski or go down the luge course on the skeleton (head first!)...I'll be doing the later on Saturday!!

Woo!

Extremes

Well, it's time to switch out the summer clothes from the suitcase and jam it full of long sleeved everything! Somehow winter clothes are a touch more bulky then their summer counterparts but I'm determined to make it work! All I have to do is get them from the floor and into the bag...no big deal!

The best part is that I can bring my ski gear too...oh life!

From one extreme to the next...let the next adventure begin!!