tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048528863426075512024-03-19T04:03:38.326+00:00London 2012: Zab's Games Maker's AdventureAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-53905881951848098942012-09-13T10:24:00.001+01:002012-09-13T10:24:47.956+01:00Thanks for Seb....says it all.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear Elizabeth</div>
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It’s remarkable to think that just two months ago, we were still waiting for the Games to begin. Since then, we’ve witnessed a fantastic summer of sport, with remarkable performances from the finest athletes in the world, staged in world-class venues in front of millions of passionate spectators.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-left: 23px; margin-right: 23px; text-align: justify;">
These have all been possible because of you – our remarkable, inspiring Games Makers.</div>
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It’s clear that you have caught the imagination of the public. From the spontaneous ovations at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies to the great celebrations during Monday’s parade, people everywhere have been expressing their thanks for your contribution.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-left: 23px; margin-right: 23px; text-align: justify;">
And on behalf of everyone at London 2012, I’d like to add mine. As I said right at the start of the Games Maker selection process, volunteers really do make the difference between a good and a great Games, and you have been fantastic. Whatever your role or venue, you were all so crucial to our whole operation coming together as smoothly as it did.</div>
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I hope you will take your passion and generosity of spirit and continue to volunteer whether this is in your own community, at a large sporting event or at local sports club. I wish you all the very best for the future.</div>
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Best wishes,</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-left: 23px; margin-right: 23px; text-align: justify;">
Seb</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-left: 23px; margin-right: 23px; text-align: justify;">
<strong>Sebastian Coe, the Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games</strong></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-85178850587207044302012-08-15T16:16:00.000+01:002012-08-15T16:16:32.358+01:00The most important is to participate and believe.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClJMzZrjoSXQ6feSpDJGWu2ZnHGm0Ux-RrZ4RTo_J6CqI2DPeLnbQVxRIWHH2qT4aiOATx01vWcq9oAALbi1RyubO5z3Mh8Cv-oPdRcu0DwrSsy6i_L9b9DMk_e1Fa3G9zmYM9ewHEavX/s1600/DSC_0866.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClJMzZrjoSXQ6feSpDJGWu2ZnHGm0Ux-RrZ4RTo_J6CqI2DPeLnbQVxRIWHH2qT4aiOATx01vWcq9oAALbi1RyubO5z3Mh8Cv-oPdRcu0DwrSsy6i_L9b9DMk_e1Fa3G9zmYM9ewHEavX/s320/DSC_0866.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">...or something along those lines. I am having a hard time finding a title for this one, which is where i try to take stalk of the whole adventures and see what i've learned and what i'm going to do with it all. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Participating in the Olympics in one shape or form has always always been a dream, and not because i'm athletic but because i believed that it embodied the best of humanity and that the Olympic Spirit truly exists, beyond the doping, the sponsoring, the massive advantage of some countries over the others, the corruption, the scandals and all the rest of the ugly truths.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not religious at all, but the big take-away from these Games, is that it has restored my faith in humanity, i really really believe that i was part of something special and that i saw the best we can do as a group and as individuals.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's been said in the media, which makes it less believable and cynics will be cynics forever, but i was there and i know. </span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can't take that away from me, i' m an educated woman in the 21st century and i rarely try to impose my opinion of the world on anybody, as my opinion is not worth more than anyone else's. But this, this, i know and believe in. I just wish everybody was given the same chance as me to experience it all and see the light shine through all the dark we as humans try to cover the Olympics up with. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It wasn't perfect, heaven, and harmony but it was a whole lot better than anything out there and that makes it worth it. Long live the Olympics.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKVRxX3bt90ChuKL9DqaizX1pD3DcIQW8Tig3_OQmlggfv0n3qiWYKuu2LWdqoGGPSFso37BmtSLi6KV-Nq_vd4x3TypEHMCauJfouJPVRS2jajgoWNQyluOoNRIj1baMvRrXaSsqwWWt/s1600/DSC_0955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKVRxX3bt90ChuKL9DqaizX1pD3DcIQW8Tig3_OQmlggfv0n3qiWYKuu2LWdqoGGPSFso37BmtSLi6KV-Nq_vd4x3TypEHMCauJfouJPVRS2jajgoWNQyluOoNRIj1baMvRrXaSsqwWWt/s320/DSC_0955.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other "big" thought is that i take my hat off to the power of dreams.I'm not someone who wants to change the world or accomplish crazy big things and i only have a couple of things that i 'm really really keen on doing. I've now done one of them and seeing the energy and the drive it gives you showed me that there is really nothing in my way to make my other dreams come true. </span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They will happen.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll stop here for the moment, and will let time do its magic before i reflect further on how these 3weeks have changed me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">London 2012, I was there.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-33821831659224577772012-08-15T15:38:00.002+01:002012-08-15T15:38:32.015+01:00Team Haiti <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Haiti was a small delegation and in the end we had 7 officials and 5 athletes to look after. On the paper, the ratio 4 volunteers for 12 people seems very very reasonable, especially when you know the large delegation like Team GB or the USA only get 12...But small delegations often rhyme with little or no organisation, so the burden and the responsibilities that volunteers take on grow proportionally. Add on in our case delegates who have very different approach to work, status and culture and you can see how suddenly the volunteers have to pull their weight.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our five athletes were as follows and dear athletes, forgive me if my description doesn't match perfectly! :</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Linouse Desravine : a shy 21year Judoka, born and brought up in Haiti, effectively a IOC Wild Card. Not very worldly and mostly comfortable with the other Haitian, didn t speak English, understood french but was at ease with it. Overall a very sweet person but wildly out of her depth in London. She was eliminated in the first round in her -52kg category by a Mongolese lady who went on to win the Silver Medal. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Marlena Wesh : an outgoing 21 year old, born and brought up in the USA by Haitian parents, looked at the Olympics with a certain coolness, convinced that this was not the be all and end all of her career and got through to the semi finals of the 400m. A hard worker, clever lady who kept mostly to herself but comfortable with who she is, really good at dealing with the Haitian delegates and getting her way ( being a girl helps) without getting political.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Samyr Laine : Like any athlete in my humble opinion, this guy is a superman and knowing he's done Harvard and Georgiatown just increases my respect thousandfold. Incredibly friendly and outgoing with a strong tendency to get things done without a fuss but also doesn t take any crap. He's the one who brokered the deal that got all of the Haiti team sponsored by Mizuno.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Jeffrey Julmis : An outspoken, a little "grande gueule" 110m hurdler, first Olympics, vey disappointed of his performance and i get the feeling that because he doesn t think he has much else going on, he believes his career ahead is looking bleak ( which it is not, duh.) Mood swings all the time but very very friendly and grateful for our help and support, a true socialiser. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Moise Joseph : an established and experienced 800m runner, was at Beijing and can put up with a lot of crap until he explodes, didn't do as well as he wished in the Olympics and is therefore looking to new meets in the next weeks to build back up some good performances. Good good person and i wish i could have gotten to know him more, but hey, time flew in a weird way.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It goes without saying that all of these guys have <i>incredible</i> bodies. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ppppfeeew. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don t think we spoke and interacted with them enough, as our first instructions were to work for the Chef de Mission and it was only progressively that we learned to work directly with the athletes as this was faster, less fussy and less political...but we lost a week and only really started to "bond" with them in the second week of the Games.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was enough in any case for them to write a little letter to each of us and get us a gift as well as some of the official Mizuno Haiti gear. Of course i cried reading it and will treasure that in the years.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So to answer my question to myself in the letter i wrote to myself at the beginning of the whole process: athletes are just like everybody else but with this incredible devotion to their body and self discipline, which completely baffles me. As far as i can tell they are mostly driven by their performances and getting better and not a medal, at least for my guys. This might be because they didn t perform all that well at London, but a quick look at the performing history shows they all had the potential to do much better. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Athletes psychology is a fascinating discipline i'm sure but i'm really no expert at this point, just more baffled than i was before as i discovered they are people just like us, but not quite. </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-4433955709693365732012-08-14T12:12:00.001+01:002012-08-14T12:12:30.021+01:00Team (and) mates <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At my first training session back in January, we had to write a private letter to ourselves that we would get back after the Games, where we had to describe what we wanted or hoped to get out of the Olympics. Simple but great idea. </span><div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our letters were handed back to us on Sunday and i had a read through mine and i'm happy to say that most of my objectives and hopes have come true. In particular, i wanted to meet new people and understand more about how athletes work and what drives them. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Working in a small and very disorganised NOC delegation like Haiti pushed me in 2 ways: first you had to rely strongly on your fellow volunteers and second, we got a lot of contact with the athletes. So here i 'll give you a short over view of my team-mates and the next post will be on the athletes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So first my team-mates : </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Harry, British, 25 years old, just finished studying building engineering, learned french and creole in the Caribbean when he was a missionary there for 2 years, dislikes processes and would have put his life down to serve an athlete, not so much the dignitaries, like all of us. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Pierre, French from Grenoble 45ish, lives in Leamington Spa, which meant a 2h30 commute every day to come to the Village in Stratford, London, has 2 little daughters and has done all sorts of sports from Gymnastics to teaching Karate now. Doesn t say much in the beginning but get things done and came out his shell.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Nathalie, XX years old :-), project manager at Apple, lived in Toulouse for a couple of years, one of these people that just doesn t take no for an answer and knows how to set boundaries. Same thing, gets things done.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Yours Truly. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had never met all together before our first day at the Olympic village so we introduced ourselves to each other and to our Chef de Mission Gerald at the same time. Now, i 've never been a freelance or worked in any volunteering organisation in a sustained way, so learning to be part of team in 24hours is really a new thing. I'm used to building a team, devising roles and responsibilities over 6-8 months, so this was a bit of a crash course.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And honestly, from speaking to other NOCs, i think we were very lucky, or very well chosen as a team as our strengths and weaknesses worked well together. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Harry was supposed to be Team Coordinator, in effect Nathalie and I were much more in that role, but i think that is our nature and work coming in, and all this was very comfortably assumed. The difference with a corporate environment, is that there are no politics to be played, nothing to justify or show off, no boss to have to report to. You are entirely autonomous as a group and as a group you fix your agenda and priorities. It s incredibly nice and truly part of the Olympic Spirit i think.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you will have guessed from some of my articles, all was not smooth and easy and there was a ton of information to process so relying on these guys to have your back and find a solution was so so incredibly good.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Best part i think of the whole experience is the daily debrief where we would share and pass on tasks and anecdotes...much laughter, head shaking and " No he didnt!!!? oh yes he did!!"</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They were part and package of my whole experience, so thank you guys.<3 font="font"></3></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will we stay in touch? I don t know to be fair, whilst they are all great people, we have our own life and what brought us together is now over and there is nothing worse than a contrived relationship where all you do is speak about the good old times you have in common. But i would like to stay in touch, as they are really good people. I think at this point i've got a fair chance with Nathalie, and for the guys, well, we will see!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time and Life will tell</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-85793778049693167832012-08-13T22:19:00.000+01:002012-08-13T22:19:42.206+01:00Welcome to the Olympic Village<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know the Village is no longer a mystery for many but i thought i could share some of the pictures i took during my time there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, the Village was meant to be an inner sanctum for athletes, so you will note that in contrast to venues and the rest of London, it all looks very peaceful and semi deserted. I do have pictures of athletes up close and personal but as i want to respect their intimacy and we were asked not to pester athletes, you'll see mostly impersonal views.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And no, contrary to what British media alleged, it was not a sex fest. Yes, there are plenty of couples and liaisons happening during the Games but :</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Athletes most often share their rooms with a colleague and sleep in single beds.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Athletes are professionals and like most people, avoid sleeping around on the job.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So sorry to disappoint on that, no fun gossip coming your way here.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-25676346601513382052012-08-13T21:17:00.004+01:002012-08-17T17:42:48.976+01:00An Accreditation to gloat about<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back when i got into this whole project i understood that i had been given quite a special role ( only 2500 of us out of the 70000 volunteers work directly with the athletes) and that my accreditation was quite powerful. </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the post where i gloat and show off. Be prepared and indulgent.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The power of the accreditation is mostly in the "ALL". This means i could go to ALL Olympic Venues with the same access rights as a spectator. No behind the scenes, warm up zones or press centers, but hey i was living with ALL the athletes in the Village, so i got plenty of behind the scenes and my day job is about working with press, so i'm not fussed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, officially, we could go only to venues while we were on shift and if our delegation needed us there...but there are no specific checks on this.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So i was the first of my team to discover the loophole and i must say the first time i went to the Basketball Arena, i wasn t very confident, but once that worked like a dream, there was no holding me back. To alleviate my sense of guilt though, i made a point of talking to a volunteer at the site explaining honestly why i was there for free and helping out as i could on the site, mostly with spectator management. and to be fair that was really nice, because i got a sense of what the Olympics meant for spectators and other groups of volunteers and not just Athletes and team officials. Not trying to justify myself here though, ( well maybe a bit!!), but saying i tried to make the free perk into something of value to LOCOG (ok, stopping here, completely justifying myself!!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thus i saw (...helped at :-)) :</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- 5 nights at the Olympic Stadium including Super Saturday and its magic hour for Britain ( Ennis, Rutherford and Mo Farah), the 100m evening and the 200m evening...and of course the sessions where Haiti athletes were involved.( Men :Triple Jump, 110 hurdles, 800m, Women : 200m and 400m) </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- 1 evening at the Basketball Arena - Czech Republic against Croatia for women in the the early round...surprisingly fun to watch.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- 1 afternoon at Excel to meet up with Pauline and Meumeu for Women's boxing ( first time at the Olympics), something i would never have paid money for but came out feeling really positive about as i was lucky enough to be sat next to 2 British girls who loved boxing and explained to me what is so cool about it...also was the semi finals day where Katie Flanagan boxed and so half of Ireland was there singing and being incredibly lovely and loud.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- 1 afternoon at the Aquatics center...truly a beautiful building, watching synchronised swimming. Why aren't men allowed to compete in this?? that would be true gender equality, and i m sure the profile of the sport would go up and more people would realise how incredibly physically demanding it is.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- 2 afternoons at the North Greenwich Arena ( the O2 for those who know London) watching gymnastics and trampoline...whoop whooop</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Quite cool, right???</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They clamped down at the end of the Games, as they realised people were doing this more and more and all 3 of my team-mates were turned out of a venue...not me! </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So yes, i experienced the Olympics inside and out.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-5824343031440275662012-08-13T20:22:00.003+01:002012-08-13T20:22:44.608+01:00Pins and Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was the first Olympics for myself and about 60000 other volunteers but for many people including athletes, coaches and dignitaries, this is "just" one other. </span><div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And as with many traditions, all sorts of rituals and habits grow into and around the main show. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hence the "Pins Exchange".</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is how it works: every delegation brings with them a series of ordinary pins that represent their country and the Olympics and each athlete and member of delegation ( and volunteers if you are lucky) get a handful of them to do as they please. The pins rapidly evolve into some sort of currency as athletes start exchanging them with team-mates from other countries and wear them on their accreditation. Delegations also start giving them out to people who have done them a service ( giving directions, helping them in some small way) and before you know it, you see individuals walking around the village with gleaming lanyards full of pins. Competition then comes in and some pins are considered more valuable or sought after than others ( Jamaica, USA being unsurprisingly one of the favourites). Soon everyone looks at your lanyard before checking out your name on the pass and finally looking at your face. "Do you have any pins to exchange?" becomes a favoured icebreaker.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The frenzy evolves to the point where outside the village you will have a real street market for pins, where visitors who have been to previous Olympics will bring in their collection and start trading. I met this American who was a volunteer at the 1984 games and has been going to each Games since, hooked by the virus, "there is simply nothing quite like the Olympics". At every Game he brings pins to trade and collect the ones he wants from the current event. This way he met Queen Sofia of Spain, numerous famous athletes and other personalities.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So the question is : " But what do you do with them?"...well, nothing really, it s mostly a bit of memorabilia. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I must admit i wasn't very good at this game, not really seeing the point but in the last couple of days, i got a handful of Haiti pins off our tight-fisted chef de mission and started to be on the lookout, not really knowing what countries i wanted, so i've ended up with a motley selection....Haiti being quite rare ( partly due the drip supply managed by the Chef de Mission), we could easily exchange one of them for 2 others...you see how this becomes addictive. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's actually quite a nice little tradition as the pin is worth exactly how much each individual values it and i will keep mine for a while but knowing myself, i ll probably get bored of them soon. Maybe ebay???</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-66641620551252952792012-08-13T16:43:00.002+01:002012-08-13T16:43:56.189+01:00A highlight to be cherished - Omi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So it s all over now!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm sitting in a coffee shop on Monday 13th August, the day after the closing ceremony, which was fantastic and on the same scale as the Opening Ceremony. I could have tried to sneak in but i was rather sceptical and so watched it on TV and i had to turn it off after the flame went. What a powerful symbol, especially for a girl who loves her fantasy novels.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">i want to write up on one of the most powerful things that happened to me during the Games. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The night Usain Bolt won the 100 meters, i was lucky enough to be at the stadium, helping out the other purple people there to usher and welcome spectators, trying to be useful, since i had no true justification in being there but my pass allowed it. It was an amazing night at the stadium, topped only by the Super Saturday, in terms of atmosphere and nerve wrecking athletics. I came out of there with the rest of the 80000 spectactors with the familiar grin on my face and a lightness to my step, utterly exhausted emotionally.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I stepped into the Jubilee line and was lucky enough to find a seat across from a grandmother, mother and daughter. They asked me in a strong South African English accent if i was working for the Olympics. I answered yes, naturally and explained that we were all volunteers and that i was at the stadium that evening. They said they were too, and i naturally fell into the "Wasn't Bolt amazing?". And then came the nicest reply ever : "yes, but we were here for Oskie". ...Oscar Pistorius, the first disabled athlete to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics and whose feat at the 400m was eclipsed that evening by the bolting star of the 100m. It turned out that the lady was Oscar's Aunt and the 89 year white haired smiling and full of light elderly woman was his grandmother. They had come especially from South Africa to see the Olympics and had been so far really impressed by British hospitality. I felt truly humbled and honored to meet this family and felt the tears come up and well over. Just thinking of it now makes me sniffle.( told you it was an emotional evening). Omi, the grandma and Dawn the daughter saw it of course and were touched by it and they had tears come up too. It sounds trite and little ridiculous but it was really one of those moments when you feel a surge of love and weird bonding to strangers. Omi came over to sit next to me and proceeded to explain she was going to write to the Queen to say thanks..all this in broken English, as her first language is Afrikaans but, hey, it was perfect. Having 7 children of her own, she brought up her grandson Oscar when his mother passed away when he was 14, so this little old lady, who holds your hand when she speaks and looks at you with warm and strong eyes although she trembles, was instrumental in bringing that athlete to life. </span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It gets better. </span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not for me, but for them and the Olympic Spirit.</span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I left them that evening at Waterloo, where they alighted too, but were moving slower than me, and i just couldn't face any more of this crying as i felt a little overwhelmed and self conscious.</span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next evening, in the train this time, i happen upon them again! One of life's great coincidences. They had had an amazing day and evening again ( even though Oscar didn't get through to the finals, who cares, he's opened up a world of possibilities and forced people to rethink what being an athlete really is...answer still pending) and proceeded to tell me what had happened to them the evening before when i left them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At Waterloo they realised that the next train to Walton on Thames that night was 1h30 later because it was late and few trains were running, so they sat down to wait. A lady from the station, Anna O'Connor, came up to them after a while and asked them where they were going. She then proceeded to go and speak to one of the train drivers who was leaving in the next 10 minutes and promptly came back to them saying that the train was going to make an extra non planned stop on its journey to let them off at Walton on Thames so they didn t have to wait in the station....which is exactly what happened. How amazing is that? All this without knowing who Omi and Dawn and her daughter were. </span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">British Hospitality, amazing individual or Olympic Spirit, i'm not quite sure, but Omi is writing to the Queen to thank her for her amazing stay in London and the people in this city. </span><br />
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keeping that memory close to my heart. </span><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-2766201427473495762012-08-02T20:25:00.003+01:002012-08-02T20:25:44.890+01:00What makes my day so good<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thought i could list ( or try ) everything that makes me feel good about my day at London 2012.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Verdana;">- The uniform : yes it's not flattering but it's is so easily recognisable. I have never spoken to so many random strangers on the tube, in the street or in the Village in my entire life. Of course they expect me to know things like the maximum age of a baby before parents need to purchase an extra seat, or what time the US vs Croatia Basketball match is at, and well, i don t' know but google does :), and it normally leads on to some really interesting conversations.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Verdana;">- My fellow Gamesmakers : my immediate team ( Pierre, Nathalie, and Harry) because they are good and interesting people and in 10 days we've created a stronger team spirit than anything i've ever experienced at work. We have different strengths and weaknesses but there is a transparency and honesty and willingness to do the best we can that is really really boosting. Our "bosses" Barbara and Daniel are also truly supportive and helpful. And then all the other "Blue berries" ( our uniform is bluberryblue) that i meet in the street, tube and village. The uniform unites and everybody's experiences and roles are insightful and you get a sense of how this whole machine of working. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Verdana;">- Athletes : they are beautiful ( oooohhhhhh the bodies!! constant drooling alert, can t help staring helplessly) and for those i m getting to know a little, genuinely nice people with the same sense of humor and concerns that we all have and the " can do" approach to life. they're driven but human, not like corporate people. And bright. and nice. and good looking. and good looking. and nice. and really fit. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Verdana;">- London: the city is lapping up the experience like a cat with milk. All the doomsayers have been proven wrong (i personally love this, i hate people who always see the half empty side of things, really really get on my nerves, no patience whatsoever). No major transport issues, lovely weather, even more pub and club activity, even more diversity and exchanges, even more London. I really really like this city.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Verdana;">- The Olympic spirit : why can t we always be this good as human beings? Why does something this beautiful only happen every 2 years for 2 weeks? Why don t we learn and stretch it out to cover all our lives?</span><br />
<br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-54429992123132749882012-08-02T20:05:00.003+01:002012-08-02T20:05:59.444+01:00Halfway through it!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'m sitting in the NOC services center in the Village at the end of a typical day at London 2012.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana;">Typical, as per usual, i knew how my day would start but not how it would end. For instance, at 7pm i was supposed to pick up our allocation of athletes tickets for tomorrow and only received half of our allocation, along with a nice little letter stating there had been a problem with the ticket distribution and we will get an update in 3 hours...yeah that is 22h. So well i'll just hang out and blog as the atheltes need these tonight and not tomorrw as they set out for their day. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm still amazed at the sheer logistical challenge this whole operation is, the number of processes and people involved to get anything done is truly mindblowing and the volume of information is unreal.In Haiti's case we re constantly trying to find ways around the system as they are so atypical in their way of working, i feel like all our sentences start with " we know there is a process, but here is why it won't work for us".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana;">The good side is that there are so many people,there is bound to be someone who has a solution and 99% of the people in the village are friendly, open, and flexible (thank goodness)...but then there are some "casting errors" or overharassed people/athletes/officials who just can't be bothered. And they have unfortunately a tendency to kill the buzz</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana;">Barring that minority, i still believe that if aliens were to invade Earth or were studying us out of curiosity, they should point their spectacles at this little microcosm in East London : the most beautiful people and values truly come together here. It's about as good as we get, for humans. But inherently because we' re human, there are flaws. I know this may sound trite, but this whole experience truly validates my dream of being part of the Olympics. It's all about the spirit of it. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana;">Enough heartfelt mushiness. </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-49118739391908524382012-08-02T10:54:00.000+01:002012-08-02T11:02:46.873+01:00Borough Market<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Zab is taking care of athletes, some of her friends discover London and the Olympic Games atmosphere in a complete different way. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hello, my name is Pauline and I am a Samsung Global Blogger. Basically, I won a bloggers competition and now am a "blogger / reporter" for Samsung for 10 days during the Olympic Games. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get to go to lots of different places and olympic events, which is absolutely amazing, and try to capture the atmostphere in London during the Games time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Thank you Zab for giving my the opportunity to share my discoveries on your blog!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Today, we went to Borough Market, one of the main Food London markets.</span><br />
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<br />Paulinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02564222963124354399noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-91088611799887657892012-08-01T19:31:00.001+01:002012-08-01T19:31:12.122+01:00An evening like any other<div><p>Top all my experience with free access to all competitions.</p>
<p>Some basketball on the menu tonight</p>
<br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWCu-YcEHiPCeaa79cyMu8rEtYjXPHtVieFiQ47nxD4HH-kOnjDPiyv18xHMgKlLqyXKuaYEj_DvsidoHbpDzvIbfZbTxheW5VtcT1R291Mc9eQF_oEuWDWfdLmFrOfXOJ0vNDgYAvpjg/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq44aYor3uOrm8a8k9gm9BjrdTSEJmHAXy-N6OUfXzrDU4iTEXegJA_03oonOiyg1dJWy_2Yv5As3HiTUUc7T7Y07xpqrAvAJyV0-L0qDu5vmSYhL4EZx4rBlocOoZNNhGGr8b9CIySmEu/' /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0Basketball Arena, London51.54869 -0.0141318tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-71945696055483931292012-07-28T21:26:00.001+01:002012-07-28T21:26:15.767+01:00How to meet/see 2 heads of state in one day<div><p>Yep... Just hang out in the olympic village</p>
<p>Saw Medvedev and had a chat with Mr Lamothe, prime minister of Haiti.</p>
<p>All in a day s work ;-)</p>
<br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-nU6v558ptTAZTXc2jEqLUg1oBfnwDIUN-tcLLlyjeheP0CYUdlXNhMXQVREMUS_VGL71peCPIgrxCS0jwa3Sizo6nNJXssO464t0RkGZxK8dqW3cld3KEP_D29xYBfH-cDlQCyPaouGl/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSsgSJn3tG0RhdBKCDegB0LtrwGfiV4fqUs60ME_uzVsLFNdH8sPSjgXUTz5OlAStkcYCJBz-jDlEYn_zHP-DptOV79jko99tq-cBXakpx2ybOhinJ3z66mEPpQTeiwnmdbRH3O1495I04/' /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-72311097044833845992012-07-28T14:04:00.001+01:002012-07-28T14:04:29.690+01:00Pics of the week<div><p>I ll put more up later :-)</p>
<br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju1CVkSGGwAMTP_pPCImNmJShVIQwdQ0Z3rRBM5uIlwDkB2EpXRwywfJ6qcqSQ8EWPwT5RUUnL1gRl4V6t-KQQWnkz750T3os1eWOP8MXjO2e50ITxSXom3Blw-gBIhL4Y8O8H7hTceFzG/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ6aha9nQDGQbHO4jVHarqfFXq5gabbtV9ED1D9RLPsQdNW55vwe-NpfUFfhaVFnLUIv5JEka4bpAACgisFM0LEnaOrv1mtvWQEIDAH2VJqndMRp2letSmRAlCNpL8CE7YQYVhQv42N-xc/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKiLe_byBBkz8L2fVrYF7fiXeCPWGhLYJO0G0iLuB5in97OACqT_Sqb8Hx11LQRG_9kSKZzrLA99w62GCcJyVT2DwpblF4utThbuki77pbgy3pcAMgQAzo1FwtaExeMdW8Iag77813VriT/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcFtwdzuhoFni6Sz1D9UM0nQUwkeMPds_4I64-_yWDGQ5xLTAZICkKyxunQbeZ_2KuHVFOUtLOtPBpeoWib0GbSQ-KfOsUY9RZBWz7P1Dr-eoKcZVgsONrgDhYKK4LXxvsn12MHv0SFjw2/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzOf3omvm2dtnjCZk9t6hG6ws7asgx7Zv8UU1O-HcE8DmHt4FCaqHGahLi4FDpbqp75gSb9CE2cBFVEhbJxfk9CrWa4wpAkj-f6C7e8mnLxD2SSXFahlQkSdsrUnlDc6TLkF2CiKN3QQkH/' /><br/><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-10EIecY6CL-TcPZh2huFq29i2enpEzKIacegAtcD5pzBv9zOmx297V6pGjCNTvn8GdiIqAZtSvxSn4opN3civr5Iw5Hw8z8t89vEisOXC42k59DGR4DFvoDuNGqyhzgNuydUJCz6KKE/' /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-85842648943755092082012-07-26T12:59:00.003+01:002012-07-26T12:59:21.333+01:00Zab the Flagbearer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yeaaaahhhh that's me!!!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So last night was the second and final rehearsal of the opening ceremony and after enjoying the show on Monday i got to be part of it!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seriously one of the best nights EVER.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The NOC Volunteers ( 2500 volunteers allocated to the National Olympic Committees from around the world, like your humble servant) were asked to impersonate the Athletes last night in order to rehearse the oh-so-famous Athletes's Parade. And to be as "real" as possible, we had to follow the exact schedule and itinerary of Friday with each country leaving from their point of residence at a specific time and walking to the the Olympic Stadium, regrouping in specific areas etc...so it built up quite a bit of anticipation and energy for the actual entrance....and then we were off into the stadium...and WOW the sensation. Music beating, thousand and thousand of dancers, lights flashing...the buzzz is just unreal. You feel like you are standing in the middle of world and everybody around you is just ecstatic, smiling and dancing.I'm not even sure how to describe it, it is so exhilarating.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We did 2 loops and second loop i was a Flag Bearer for Lebanon ( one for you Jean Tyan :-). How cool is that???</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've got plenty of pictures but because i want to #savethesurprise i won't publish them just yet....just watch this space come Friday night...</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Off to my next shift now...wooop wooop!</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-91525778078699105302012-07-26T12:39:00.003+01:002012-07-26T12:39:45.197+01:00Day 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday was another crazy day with the Team Welcome Ceremony and the second Opening Ceremony Rehearsal.</span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So we've worked out a shift pattern with the guys and we re going to try to stick to it. The next challenge is to get advance information from the Chef de Mission, who is quite laid back about everything and then suddenly needs us to do 20 things in the next half hour or when we re no longer available...Super difficult to preempt problems and we go from periods of low to high activity in a matter of minutes. So we're trying to find a way around this.</span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Near disaster yesterday to illustrate :the Team Welcome Ceremony. Every Delegation gets a 45 min Welcome Ceremony to officialise that they have arrived and are now part of the Games. Smaller teams like Haiti ( mine) are grouped with other delegations for time sake : with 209 countries to welcome over 6 days, there is quite a tight schedule. And naturally you'd think that every delegation would be looking forward to this, as there is a gift exchange, their anthem played and their flag is raised. You'd think everybody would make sure they know what is happening when and who be ready well ahead of time. Well, think again!! Although my team were bossing them around like crazy, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">delegates decided to take a shower 15 minutes before the start and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">we literally almost missed our slot by about 5 seconds, with me (!!) and the last athlete sprinting </span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">across</span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> the village tying up his </span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">shoelaces</span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> on the way, CRAZY. Welcome to Haiti :-).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So the project managers in me and Nathalie are climbing the wall. But it does make some great anecdotes, right!?! The evening debrief between the 4 of us is turning into the best storytelling experience ever. I won on Monday when i explained that one Haitian, not residing in the Village, came to London without booking an hotel (!!!!!!!!) and so i was looking for one ( bearing in mind he has a very tight budget) frantically calling one place after the other with rising panic, when i glanced at his computer and realised he was updating his profile on matrimonial sites.....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The least you can say is that it takes you out of your normal life and shifts all your references around.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll write up the second rehearsal in the next post, or this is going to become a book.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-412627947475077882012-07-25T10:23:00.003+01:002012-07-25T10:23:39.164+01:00More impressions....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think everything is going to come out in a disorganised fashion so this blog is going to resemble a diary but hey, bear with me readers!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So on Monday after the DRM ( First meeting of the incoming delegation, where they check athletes profiles, accreditation, entitlements, authorisations, etc...in the minutest details), we met up with our Chef de Mission ( Person responsible for the Delegation), Gerald Fong who a really really nice guy, with the warmth and welcoming you expect from someone from the Caribbean Islands and much more interested in chatting about life in general than actually assigning us tasks. But Harry and Nathalie ( more about them later) are really good people and we managed to organised sort of a schedule and things to do the next day...which happens to have been completely changed afterwards but hey, this is part of the game.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I then wandered off to the Technical Rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony and boy that was amazing but as Danny Boyle requested, i am going to save the surprise, otherwise it s like Christmas, when you already know your presents.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">more coming up...so much to say so little time!!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-85589264688515961582012-07-25T10:11:00.002+01:002012-07-25T10:11:50.370+01:00First impressions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My third day shift starts at 13.pm today but i wanted to capture a few of my first impressions of the 2 last days</span><div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Day ! : Monday 23rd</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because i hadn t done any venue visit before i went up to Stratford at 1pm ahead of our 3pm meeting with Nathalie and Harry> and well i 'm happy i set out early at the whole Olympic Park is barricaded off with only a handful of access points, the Olympic village ( where i work and the Athletes reside) is in the Park, and has it s own second row of barricades and thus security and checkpoints. So it is a massive maze and as the whole thing is gigantic ( literally it takes a good 15 minutes to get from one side of the Village to the other and about 25min to get to any of the Sports venue in the Park from the Village), well you need to factor in time for everything, including getting lost. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">this happened to my 2 teammates, who got royally confused and lost and got to the Village about 2hours later than they had expected.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So yes, you need to get your bearings...and fast, as your delegation has even less of a clue than you of where things are and how things work</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For all the training we've done there is just so much they couldn t prepare us for as you need to constantly be thinking on your feet.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ANYWAY, IT S FANTASTIC. All these athletes and volunteers are walking around the Village in really the best of spirits: everybody is helpful smiling and generally positive. It is really such a change from work or from a normal holiday. I think every one is aware that they a small part of a big and wonderful thing and it really brings out the best of humanity.I've had more conversations with random strangers in the last 2 days than i have in the last 6 months, just because being in the Village or wearing the uniform opens up chats very naturally.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So even though i m exhausted and have a few frustrations points i'm wearing a smile all the time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've got pictures but i'll put them up in the next post!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See you there and let me tell you, my iife is AMAZING.</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-82547069864226027372012-07-20T16:44:00.001+01:002012-07-20T16:44:45.024+01:003 days to go...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here we are with 3 days to go...i'm officially off and it feels great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3,5 weeks off ...how good does it get. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm very aware that i haven t been as assiduous on my blog in the last month, truth is, i haven t has any more training, as the VST ( Venue Specific Training) just didn't work with my work travels and the Driver training part 2 got cancelled.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But with 8 days to go to the Opening Ceremony (whoopwhoop) and 3 days to go til my first day working i thought an update was necessary</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A couple of things of note :</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Opening Ceremony Technical Rehearsal</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've got a ticket to the full run through in the Olympic Stadium on Monday...just as good as the real thing in my mind, even better as i get to see before everybody so that makes me feel quite privileged!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Torch Relay </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week in Basingstoke, ( as in each and every little village in the UK over the 70 day event, i get the feeling), i saw the Torch relay! taking itself much too seriously in my humble of opinion, with big branded trucks, overload of security but hey it still made the whole thing feel real. Not sure how the video looks though.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwvZ-SUKoTXmfEk2fVyARPGTAKM9lu53QGF8irX5mSIvpJotDwoVGbWsoUkSmwZi8yCCOjduwDq2r9nXiW9yQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Everybody is doing it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seriously. It feels like every one i speak to, either knows someone involved in the Olympics or is actually involved. So cool. An actually many more people getting into the spirit than i thought. Where are all the cynics?? ( except the media, who is looking for every gritty story it can find...why be happy about it all after all? bad news sells more right ?).</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- It s raining. and has been for a while</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that is probably really the biggest point of potential failure ( bigger than transport for me). Please please please, let it not rain.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway i'm excited!! I need to do some work to make i m competent over the next few days, but i keep thinking i could wing it...no discipline whatsoever.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Watch this space, i will try to update it regularly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com01 Whitehall, City of Westminster, SW1A, UK51.5073346 -0.127683151.3492066 -0.4435401 51.6654626 0.1881739tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-36538206267803250082012-05-29T12:15:00.002+01:002012-05-29T12:15:25.147+01:00Driver Training - Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok so I have to admit that I have been living in the UK for
over 3 years now ( what??) and have
never needed or wanted really to drive here. I am a strong believer in public
transport and friends basically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But what would I not do in the interest of the Games? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Driving on the wrong side of the road in the wrong side of
the car, seems small and petty from this side of the ordeal but 4 days ago I
was not strutting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckily Hannah at work had faith in me and let me drive her
mini around the work car park in Basingstoke and even take a roundabout in her
lovely Mini, which I think was a lifesaver and helped me get over the initial
fear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nevertheless, last Sunday morning, waking up at 6 am
(!!) to get to the Fleet Depot in
Stratford was not the beginning of a rather stressful day. First the Jubilee
line ( = my lifeline to get to the Games this Summer, being the most convenient
Tube line) was down for “planned engineering work”. And then the buses that are
supposed to replace it are just not. So I have to take a cab to get to Victoria
Station before winding my way through London. And it’s 6am. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">NOT FUN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Got there on time though by some miracle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And it's in for 3 hours of what could have been “ Death by Powerpoint”
and actually turns out to be quite bearable because I meet up as usual with
good people and we get through these sessions with the help of cynicism,
caffeine and solidarity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8duVV8BM6BMmFCCjkjkkQQUy2OC2Hr8kFEbM2kW7utuhDL39uP4tYtBRmnvILmvqbFgSwFhUXX-Jx6-ChrE5l7SWS_0O8VtRqjfcybbNJl8ENSa-aH8FYLvpALZ2ZrXET8VOeuuSJ-4A2/s1600/DSC_0105.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8duVV8BM6BMmFCCjkjkkQQUy2OC2Hr8kFEbM2kW7utuhDL39uP4tYtBRmnvILmvqbFgSwFhUXX-Jx6-ChrE5l7SWS_0O8VtRqjfcybbNJl8ENSa-aH8FYLvpALZ2ZrXET8VOeuuSJ-4A2/s320/DSC_0105.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Olympic Village</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The afternoon comes on, it’s a beautiful day, with the sun
beaming out and we are the lucky people who get to spend it on motorways and
making our way through the heart of London, rehearsing itineraries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rancor aside, it was actually mostly fun…if stressful : The
2 other girls with me in the car turn out to be French and Spanish and are also
either nervous or not used to driving on the “wrong!!” side of the road. So I
think our trainer, who was there to assess our skills, was relieved we didn t
have any accidents. To be fair he was lovely and didn’t try to teach us anything
but actually was positive and supportive<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But my, I haven’t had to concentrate that much on something
in quite a while. Driving other people just increases the sense
of responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ZJQExQ0LfP-Uqjd8dx66ZagpWpDhpUkrOan1rt-2AnYdL6zLJXGT_N3STz4MZrSH00LrmNbtado5Zr2gezKE_BS9i0gisVD41IZAzdyKZ_euJQNRWAxVbLXCePG33npgFYrp4o2RSIBK/s1600/DSC_0112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ZJQExQ0LfP-Uqjd8dx66ZagpWpDhpUkrOan1rt-2AnYdL6zLJXGT_N3STz4MZrSH00LrmNbtado5Zr2gezKE_BS9i0gisVD41IZAzdyKZ_euJQNRWAxVbLXCePG33npgFYrp4o2RSIBK/s320/DSC_0112.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our pretty cars</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">BUT they are lovely cars to drive, all fancy and “green” (
well for a diesel car at least…and yes I see the irony) : they turn off when
you’re stopped in neutral gear, there are smooth and sound, they hold onto the
road , they have lovely logos all over the place so we can t be missed on the
lanes this Summer ( and people in London can sigh with envy or hate at us
cruising round on special roads that turn their transport routine upside down)
and they are BMW 3. So really, I cannot complain ( well not more than I ve done
so far).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj93S-sQVbCv0R7EWePdyl-nyP-C4Xd5mMrbYF-33-iXhYg2qFEsjnDqgZr7oX1ck43akNkcT0x5BRP-7N2Zzf8k-oJvoRbN-vIUGHvtbaN57L-3g5SKBFzsNMopzCx592kR4tpORRgjZOo/s1600/DSC_0120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj93S-sQVbCv0R7EWePdyl-nyP-C4Xd5mMrbYF-33-iXhYg2qFEsjnDqgZr7oX1ck43akNkcT0x5BRP-7N2Zzf8k-oJvoRbN-vIUGHvtbaN57L-3g5SKBFzsNMopzCx592kR4tpORRgjZOo/s320/DSC_0120.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So that was Driver Training Part 1. Part 2 is in 2 weeks and
they will let us go in the urban jungle with just the sat nav and fellow
Gamesmakers for tools and hope we reach destination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I saw Barbara (our boss, the head of the NOC-NPC Volunteer
programme) and she told me that unfortunately I will not be able to visit the
Olympic Village before my first shift as
all the available dates do not work for me for work reasons ( and Gala!) so I
will just have to be super efficient on the first day and rely on my team!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8YdLP4089YgEV1seIhDLAOy0btiEEH1SySnY-u9EcvQkRyPv1fdN1EX_uBnhk0H5k5gcxSQ8_PFJa3bhp6NodAydAvg_2c8r3ozdDDTsG2H0bg7Y6xGhR2nO8eeTu5RzRexsVXoMApnnp/s1600/DSC_0121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8YdLP4089YgEV1seIhDLAOy0btiEEH1SySnY-u9EcvQkRyPv1fdN1EX_uBnhk0H5k5gcxSQ8_PFJa3bhp6NodAydAvg_2c8r3ozdDDTsG2H0bg7Y6xGhR2nO8eeTu5RzRexsVXoMApnnp/s320/DSC_0121.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Basketball Arena</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Speaking of team I haven't yet gotten the names of the other
2 Gamesmakers looking after Haiti,but we should get an email in the coming days
so we can get to know eachother and meet up before it all kicks off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhuG8Bv5YmBI8lKuwhZHJkNRdQQ9lWcFhzxYwTdgwTaY-KnHMHAvs_e9EsOwnS9XH7QVPfDqXdk9U8RiusCZUOon_aI3FATsKB0qVipRNT9w2Cv9EJyas-Ii-83houNbrB2Ri2TyXO8mc/s1600/DSC_0117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhuG8Bv5YmBI8lKuwhZHJkNRdQQ9lWcFhzxYwTdgwTaY-KnHMHAvs_e9EsOwnS9XH7QVPfDqXdk9U8RiusCZUOon_aI3FATsKB0qVipRNT9w2Cv9EJyas-Ii-83houNbrB2Ri2TyXO8mc/s320/DSC_0117.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Royal Artillery Barracks ( Shooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All fun and Games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m loving it ( special bow to the sponsor)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-54309101812260656452012-05-09T22:04:00.003+01:002012-05-09T22:04:48.068+01:00Haiti?? Haiti!! Haiti...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, that is the delegation i have been assigned to:</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Haiti.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And like myself, the reactions i got were mixed at first and then get more and more positive. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last Thursday, the " reveal" day. was the day when we saw how our dear LOCOG bosses had nothing to envy from the X-factor : the suspense management was just incredible. We were in the room for about 10 min before knowing that the guys on the same table and with the same number as yourself were going to be team-mates...then we waited another 15 min before it was revealed that this evening they were assigning delegations from the Americas...and another 15 min before actually going through all the countries one by one and discovering which one was your own. Emotions ran high.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Big Countries like Jamaica, USA and Canada were allocated just at the beginning leaving the majority of us little time to be disappointed before actually knowing which country we had. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sat on a table with about 8 people and we all got allocated Caribbean countries : Haiti, St Kitts, Dominican Republic...and weirdly, Peru.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whilst the Haitian delegation should comprise about 16 athletes which means they get 4 volunteers, only one other member of my future team was able to make it that evening : Harry, a British student who has lived in the Antilles and knows all about them and actually speaks creole and French with something of a Caribbean feel ...quite fun to listen to actually. His knowledge is amazing and makes me wonder once again "why me?" I've never been to Haiti and visited Guadeloupe a couple of years ago but i know that is very different place.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, all the more for me to learn.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I must say i have not yet done all my homework on Haiti, so like you, i know it's poor, suffered a terrible earthquake 2 years ago and well, not really any famous athletes!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, watch this space, i will soon be an expert and snob anybody who doesn't know the names of the last 5 presidents ( or is it dictators?) and the date of independence of the country! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'll probably have more to tell about Haiti before i go onto my next training : driving. gloups.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you all for your comments and reading. and yes, one day you will see me in my uniform :-)</span><br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-53209233451382012152012-05-01T18:24:00.000+01:002012-05-01T18:24:39.474+01:00UDAC or the IKEA trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today is another big one!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I picked up my uniform and accreditation and all sorts of goodies!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trekked over to the UDAC ( Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Center) this afternoon : it's a massive warehouse that could house 10000 people easily and all set up in different queues for different areas - ID verification, helpdesk, accreditation area, waiting area, shoe trying on area, clothes trying on area, uniform distribution area and finally checkout and Oyster card area...hardly any queues for us today but i m sure some days must be absolutely rammed as they need to get 70000 people through there before the Games.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course my triple citizenship confused their system for a while and i feared i would need to go back home to get my 3rd proof of ID ( had only brought 2 along :-))</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">but all is well!! </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b9q4fWdYyOQ/T6AZpCfQhEI/AAAAAAAABBM/Gmj8dKXWSHU/s1600/DSC_0032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b9q4fWdYyOQ/T6AZpCfQhEI/AAAAAAAABBM/Gmj8dKXWSHU/s320/DSC_0032.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Met up with my new buddy from sunday bagging Mario and we did the process together</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shoes are super comfortable and the uniform itself is not too bad either: they wisely did not put up any mirrors in the changing cabins so you need to rely on the opinion of your fellow Gamesmakers ( girls with girls , boys with boys of course) to make sure you've got the right size. iiiiiiii.not exactly the kind of clothing i wear everyday so a bit nervous but it turns out fine!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The whole experience is just like IKEA ( to borrow a lady's analogy today) : follow the signs on the floor, take something here, take something there, lose all sense of direction and check out with a bag full of stuff you're not quite sure of!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Best part is the accreditation.Note the "ALL" on mine : means i can access ALL venues!!</span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is getting so close i can almost touch it!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And to finish off the day, i received my invitation for the Driving Training part 1....the adventure continues!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-51809315142554679262012-04-30T23:15:00.003+01:002012-05-09T22:11:36.541+01:00A busy weekend - Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sunday morning, i got up at 7.00. First shock to the system, especially for a girl who has pretty much been travelling non stop for the last 2 weeks and hasn't has a proper lie-in in ages.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crawl up to Stevenage, north north north London, sort of the equivalent of Basingstoke for those who know, even more roundabouts and less soul, if possible. Let's not even mention the closing of Finsbury Park station for flooding reasons (This month of April has broken all records of raining. horrible.), which was where i was supposed to switch over,nor the 15 min wait in the freezing corridor at the station before pick up time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But hey!! still here to tell the tale, right?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So we get to the John Lewis warehouse, and i discover that thankfully there are about 20-25 of us sacrificing their Sunday to....<b>FILL UP 7500 GOODIES BAGS for the Paralympic Athletes.</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BmnXEdb8w_E/T58NyqNlANI/AAAAAAAABAw/ScHb1lLjzQA/s1600/DSC_0017%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BmnXEdb8w_E/T58NyqNlANI/AAAAAAAABAw/ScHb1lLjzQA/s400/DSC_0017%5B1%5D.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The 25000 Olympic bags were done on Friday afternoon and Saturday (all day).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">target is 4000 a shift (5 hours) so it s no fooling around...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5 or 6 elements in each bag, amongst which lovely home-made pennants made by kids, sewing circles, retirement homes, you name it, from all across the UK...Beautiful and also quite moving, each being unique and full of little messages to wish the athletes the best of luck.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zvq2m5EMcAk/T58M3TwahII/AAAAAAAABAI/zMqyWLSww1M/s1600/DSC_0005%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zvq2m5EMcAk/T58M3TwahII/AAAAAAAABAI/zMqyWLSww1M/s400/DSC_0005%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So we're off, everybody regroups in teams of 4-5 people and settles in packing, wrapping, putting on the palettes, putting into storage, counting etc...every gesture boring and repetitive but you can't let go as the whole chain of people depends on you and your rhythm. I met some great women and with some chit chat, speculation about delegations, the whole thing was super pleasant. In the afternoon, i chose to be a runner, ie making sure everybody has plenty of stock and getting bags from one place to another. and my, that was exhausting and super super intense.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We did so well and finished at 3.30, a whole 4 hours before the offici</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">al end of the shift. The poor afternoon shifters only worked for about 30min before we wrapped it up!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great sense of accomplishment i can tell you...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tomorrow i pick up my uniform!!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This last weekend of April was Olympic for sure and full of good surprises.</span><div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saturday, Module 4 of Training, City Edge, Dalton : I got there 40min late because of the bus taking double the amount of time it had predicted. felt super sheepish sneaking into the full room. Any way...we learned all about Doping, Ticketing for Athletes and Team Officials, a whole new raft of acronyms and weird vocabulary ( a life saving glossary is on its way says Barbara, our boss...fervently praying here), how to deal with media requests, how to use Social media before during and after the Games, and quite a few tips and tricks about Cultural Awareness. This last part what quite fun, we learned all sorts of "strange" customs, lots of laughter and quiproquos on the international tables ( they all are!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">AND AND AND AND : <b>we learned that on Module 5 we will know to which delegation we have been assigned.</b>...not only the continent but the actual country..whoop whoop!! and that is in 3 little days for me!!! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, once she had sad that the volume in the room went u quite a notch as people started to compare dates and the preferences they have been given...a french girl, Christelle on my table is not at all on the same day as me, but i seem to be on the same day as "english only" volunteers, so i m completely confused. it feels like Christmas again, can't wait for the surprise!! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">next comes Sunday....</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904852886342607551.post-26931551799507163832012-04-19T16:30:00.001+01:002012-04-19T16:30:04.833+01:0099 days to go!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes everybody noted yesterday that there were 100 days to go...i prefer the double digit!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and it feels like i have just about 99 days of training coming up...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 days next week : </span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Module 4 </span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> AND</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Gift bag packing somewhere super north of London</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2 days the week after : </span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Module 5...i find out which continent i'm assigned to...whoop whoop </span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> AND </span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> UDAC session :i get my uniform and accreditation...whoop whoop whoop!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It 's getting super real. i 'm loving it.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11888294814300097855noreply@blogger.com0