Day 3

Yesterday was another crazy day with the Team Welcome Ceremony and the second Opening Ceremony Rehearsal.


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.


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,  delegates decided to take a shower 15 minutes before the start and we literally almost missed our slot by about 5 seconds, with me (!!) and the last athlete sprinting across the village tying up his shoelaces on the way, CRAZY. Welcome to Haiti :-).


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.....


The least you can say is that it takes you out of your normal life and shifts all your references around.



I'll write up the second rehearsal in the next post, or this is going to become a book.

More impressions....

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!


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.




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.






more coming up...so much to say so little time!!

First impressions

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

Day ! : Monday 23rd

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. 

this happened to my 2 teammates, who got royally confused and lost and got to the Village about 2hours later than they had expected.

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

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.

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.

So even though i m exhausted and have a few frustrations points i'm wearing a smile all the time.

I've got pictures but i'll put them up in the next post!

See you there and let me tell you, my iife is AMAZING.

3 days to go...

So here we are with 3 days to go...i'm officially off and it feels great.


3,5 weeks off ...how good does it get. 

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.




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




A couple of things of note :


- Opening Ceremony Technical Rehearsal
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!






- Torch Relay 
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.

- Everybody is doing it.
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 ?).






- It s raining. and has been for a while
Now that is probably really the biggest point of potential failure ( bigger than transport for me). Please please please, let it not rain.




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.




Watch this space, i will try to update it regularly.

Driver Training - Part 1

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.

But what would I not do in the interest of the Games?

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.

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.

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. 

On a Sunday.

NOT FUN.

Got there on time though by some miracle.

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.

The Olympic Village

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.

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

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.

Our pretty cars

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).

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.

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!

The Basketball Arena

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.

Royal Artillery Barracks ( Shooting)

All fun and Games.

I’m loving it ( special bow to the sponsor)

Haiti?? Haiti!! Haiti...

Yes, that is the delegation i have been assigned to:


Haiti.


And like myself, the reactions i got were mixed at first and then get more and more positive. 




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.




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. 


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.


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.


Anyway, all the more for me to learn.


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!


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! 


I'll probably have more to tell about Haiti before i go onto my next training : driving. gloups.


Thank you all for your comments and reading. and yes, one day you will see me in my uniform :-)

UDAC or the IKEA trip

Today is another big one!!


I picked up my uniform and accreditation and all sorts of goodies!


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.




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 :-))




but all is well!! 




Met up with my new buddy from sunday bagging Mario and we did the process together




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!

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!








Best part is the accreditation.Note the "ALL" on mine : means i can access ALL venues!! 








This is getting so close i can almost touch it!!

And to finish off the day, i received my invitation for the Driving Training part 1....the adventure continues!