Free Time and Fly Time

Day 25 – February 24, 2014

Some of you may have thought that the end of the Olympics meant the end of my posts. Not quite. I’m here for a few more days and those days are all mine, and they might even be interesting enough to share. Today, however, would be a real down time day. Time to catch up on sleep and catch up on my blog posts. And then maybe do a bit of sightseeing.

I had breakfast with Christian this morning and we talked about our families and home life. He has two young kids. I also found out that he’s a police officer (detective), something I would never have guessed.

In the volunteer village, many of the Olympic volunteers are leaving today, saying their final goodbyes and taking the last pictures of new friends.

Meanwhile, the Paralympic volunteers are arriving.

I wonder what their accreditation and uniform pickup experience was like.

Ilya is the only one from our suite staying for the Paralympics. Alexander, Bernhard and Dima are all gone but we have one more person in our room now – Na’il (pronounced “Nile”, like the big river that his size matches). He arrived yesterday.

He towers above me and really is a big bear – extremely nice and seems mild-tempered. I immediately gave him a PoCo pin and he felt bad that he had nothing for me. He’s from Russia and speaks reasonable English, although he doesn’t always get some of the words quite right. Par for the course here, though.

One interesting thing I’ve noticed is that whenever you ask a Russian if they speak English, they always say “a little.” Almost guaranteed. Compare this to Norway, where the standard response was “of course I speak English.”

They haven’t told Na’il what he’s doing yet. Or where. Welcome to the volunteering world of Sochi, Na’il.

Vasiliy had invited me to go to Abkhazia today, which is a breakaway republic from Georgia recognized as a separate country by only a few other countries (including Russia) that is just south of here. I debated going since I still had a few things to do. I almost decided to go but then thought that perhaps I should investigate about this place I’ve never heard of before. There is a fairly mild warning on the government of Canada website. I can deal with that.

However, it turns out that I need a separate visa to enter. I was told I could get one fairly cheap in Sochi. However I also needed a multiple entry visa for Russia. With my single entry visa, I’m not sure what would have happened had I crossed the border and then tried to return. It would not have been good being stuck down there.

Now a story that I call the “Bosco Fiasco”. I wanted to buy some Sochi gloves for my daughters Cierra and Tristyn, so I went to the Bosco store in Rosa Khutor where they were being sold. They had nothing but large gloves but the store clerk told me that they had more sizes in Sochi. I made sure they’d be open and was told that they close at 10:00 p.m. So, off I go to the mall in Sochi. It was 8:30 and… they are closed! Everything else was open except for Bosco! Huh?

I checked at the info desk and they said that I should go to the Bosco at the port, a good half hour away, if I run. So, off I go. I arrive, hot and sweaty and… they’re closed! This time they actually had a note on the window that they were closing at 8:00 p.m. today. Likely a post-Olympic party for employees, I’m assuming.

Oh well, at least I had a bit of an impromptu workout and got a few pictures.

And the other fun part was when I came up behind two guys and two girls in my rush to get to the store, said “izvinitye” (“excuse me”) and the girl just screamed and that led to the other girl screaming! Nothing more fun than scaring some Russians!

At the train station, somebody stepped on the back of my foot/shoe as they cut across behind me headed in a different direction. This is about the third or fourth time this has happened to me here! Although I’ve had people accidentally step on the back of my foot as they followed me, I don’t ever recall it happening like this before. It must be that Russian need to eliminate personal space.

On the Sochi volunteer group Facebook page I found that a lady that had arranged a pre-Olympic get-together in Vancouver was also organizing a tour for international volunteers. We would rent a tour bus, see Stalin’s Dacha (summer villa) and go for a jeep ride to an area called 33 Waterfalls in Sochi National Park. It sounded interesting so I signed up.

I realized that the train schedule I had was now expired with the Olympics over. I tried to get a new one at the train station but it was non-existent. Sure, I can find out when a train leaves by looking at the display board once I get to the station but that’s not exactly ideal, especially if you have to be somewhere early in the morning at a specific time. I finally managed to get an attendant to give me his plasticized copy.

Day 26 – February 25, 2014

For the volunteer excursion today, we were to meet at the fountain in front of the port building.

I arrived a little earlier and took a look around the port at some of the interesting ships.

I saw a lady sweeping, with a bush!

You may remember the countdown clock in Vancouver. They have one here too.

The bus arrives and we all get on. There are about 20 of us – a real mixture that includes Canadians, Lithuanians, Russians, somebody from India, an Aussie – plus a tour guide and a translator. As we drive through the city, we are told all kinds of interesting things.

We get to Stalin’s Dacha, which is a lovely shade of green, apparently to camouflage the building. We found it anyway.

And there was the man himself, sitting at a desk, looking a little stiff.

His swimming pool had some amazing mosaics.

Stalin particularly enjoyed being entertained by watching his large-screened TV while keeping cool with, what was at the time, a state-of-the-art air conditioner.

Lots of wood was used throughout, including on his balconies.

Then off again on the bus. This is what a Russian traffic jam looks like.

Yup, just like North America – not moving. About an hour and a half later, following a sometimes very windy road, we end up in a small town by a river.

It came complete with its own dogs.

We start off with a wine and cheese tasting. One of the cheese recipes was 3500 years old!

Outside was a young boy and his babushka selling nuts and what looked like jam or chutney.

And, another stray?

Git along little dogie!

This is where they smoked the cheese.

Then we all climbed into a jeep for a trip to the falls, in Sochi National Park.

The driver drove like a bat out of hell, into the water!

And this is where we ended up, a little tourist area at the base of the 33 waterfalls.

Lots of fun carvings greeted us at the start of our climb.

This was the first and largest of the falls.

And things only got more beautiful from there.

You literally felt like you were in a fairy tale forest!

I suddenly felt like I’d come a little underdressed, when I ran into this guy hiking in a suit.

And, yes, it was winter here too.

The higher you climbed, the more beautiful things got. I had the urge to jump into some of the crystal clear pools. Then, I ran into these guys, one of whom had jumped in.

We were only given an hour to explore so I sadly had to head back down. We then drove to a small (replica?) native village, where we had dinner.

It too had the modern conveniences of satellite TV.

Dinner was a choice of trout or barbecued pork. I chose the latter.

Not too bad. We learned a little about native life here, including how they’ve built a better mousetrap, how they churned milk and how they ground grain.

That little platform was for standing on.

Finally, back on the jeep through the water, past some cows and back onto our bus.

One of the guys started getting into the wine, having a great time. He was going around offering everybody else some wine and getting quite tipsy. Our translator sang us a song and everyone was having a great time. They put an end to the drinking as they could see it was getting out of hand. The guy behind me that had definitely had too much finally fell asleep.

Then, about fifteen minutes later, I thought I heard a sneeze. I look back and he is fully covered in pre-digested wine, from his face on down! It was not a pretty sight! I was lucky enough to have only been hit by light shrapnel. One of the passengers was staying at a hotel not too far away and we stopped there while a certain someone was made to clean up. Not sure how he managed with limited water and a rag, and a complete mess, since I didn’t stick around to watch, but it was clean when we left.

Mr. I-like-to-imbibe sat in the stairwell of the back exit. Well, it wasn’t too long and round 2 comes along. We were lucky enough to pass by a car wash where we grabbed some water.

And I had some time to snap a shot of one of the many local sanatoriums (the health spa, not the insane asylum).

When the bus was finally clean again, the guy that cleaned it spent the rest of the trip with his feet in the stairwell lying across the aisle sleeping.

On my return to the mountain cluster, I decided to stop off in Adler so that I could go down to the beach, since I’d never actually done that in all my time here. I got off at the Adler transit hub, not sure where to go.

I walked down a dark lane and eventually found an overpass that went over the railway tracks to the beach. The sign at the end warned me not to go swimming.

Thank goodness for that! Then down some stairs, which got a little wonky at the bottom.

I don’t know how often I’ve encountered things like this. Whether it’s a step or drop-off that you weren’t quite expecting because it’s not clearly marked or in a place it should be, or steps that are a little higher than normal, they all seem aimed at trying to make you fall.

Day 27 and the Trip Home – February 26-27, 2014

My last day here was spent packing, cleaning and catching up on some computer work and e-mails. Do I know how to have fun or what? More Paralympic volunteers were coming in and getting registered.

At breakfast I noticed an obvious Canadian in the line-up. He had a maple leaf shaved into his head. Whenever I see another Canadian, I always have this urge to jump up and down and yell “I’m Canadian too!” However, since there’s really no way to do that without losing every last shred of dignity, I tend to hold off on doing that.

After breakfast, I spotted the alpine group meeting outside.

This was all memories of when I first arrived, complete with the drizzly weather that I arrived to. It almost seemed appropriate. Back in my room, there were four or five new arrivals to our room as the last of us were vacating it. I didn’t even try to learn their names. One of them asked what it was like living here. It was hard not to laugh out loud.

Woody and I were leaving at about the same time this evening. I don’t believe I’ve posted a picture of him yet. This is what a Californian in Russia looks like.

Woody and I said our last goodbyes to the others, turned in our sheets, towels and keys, got our official “you can leave” signatures and waited in the rain for the bus.

At the airport, I not only had to deal with odd Russian logic but now had odd airline logic added to that. For international flights, they charge 100 Euros for a bag that’s overweight, between 23 and 30 kilograms. I was at 32 kilograms, which would cost even more. After some rearranging, twice, I got it down to about 27, plus two very heavy carry-on bags. Payment was to be made at a separate counter, not where you check in (as I’ve done any other time I’ve travelled).

As I’m paying for my overweight bag, I realize that if I check in my duffel bag, I can put some of my heavier items in it (such as liquids, which you can’t carry on) to take my suitcase to 23 kilograms and only be charged 50 Euros instead of 100. That’s right, they charge you 100 Euros for a few extra kilograms in a bag but, if I give them a second item that weighs up to 23 kilograms, effectively doubling the weight and the quantity of items, I will only be charged half as much. Makes complete sense to me.

After rearranging, I did not realize that I actually had to go back to the check-in counter to let the service agent know that I’d changed my mind about which extra charge I wanted to pay, so now there was confusion. I keep insisting that I only want to pay 50 Euros because I’m now in extra bag mode, not extra weight mode. They keep telling me that I have to pay 100 Euros. I point to the fee on the charge sheet that clearly shows 50 Euros for international flights, as she keeps filling out the extra charge form (the old-fashioned way, handwriting it). Anyway, they finally let me know that they can’t change what I’ve originally told them at check-in, so I race back over there. The nice lady tells me that check-in is now closed and that I’m too late. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

Fortunately it all worked out in the end. She made a call, got my bags through, told me to run back and pay as quickly as possible (yes, 50 Euros) and then run to the gate. I made it, a little frazzled and a little parched, hoping that my luggage also made it on!

Upon exiting the plane in Moscow, I was reminded of one little Russian habit that tended to annoy me. Whether it’s on a bus or a plane, when exiting down the aisle, my rule has always been to wait for those ahead of you to move into the aisle and out before moving forward yourself. With the Russians, if you’re not right there, ready to go and push your way in, then “too bad, so sad”. The whole aisle line behind you moves past you. And then just try pushing your way in. Remember that lack of gaps in Russian line-ups?

The rest of my trip was relatively uneventful, including the six and a half hour layover in the middle of the night in Moscow. I did have the option of sleeping with these folks here.

Or of staying in a “capsule hotel” for a few hours (minimum four) here.

Instead, I just spent the time catching up on things on my laptop. Of course then I was out like a light on the trip to Amsterdam.

A three and a half hour stop in Amsterdam, where I noticed what looked like a very interesting book.

One last stop in Seattle and my 29 hour excursion was over.

And thus ends a very successful and very enjoyable (for the most part) adventure. This was a trip that I had really waivered about taking. I am so glad that I decided to go! Russia is beautiful, its people are friendly and giving (I’ve lost count of all the fridge magnets and other souvenirs I’ve been given). The friendships I’ve made and the wonderful things I’ve experienced have not only made this a memorable trip, but they’ve enriched my life.

Thank you to all those many people that have had a role in making this so. Goodbye Sochi. You will be missed!

Countries Sweep as the Games End

Day 22 – February 21, 2014

I’m taking quicker showers these days. Yesterday, fortunately some time after I had completed my shower, the water in our suite was shut off. No warning or anything. Vasiliy said that this happened to him once already, before my arrival. Can you imagine, you’re all soaped up, including your face so that you can’t open your eyes lest you get soap in them, and suddenly the water shuts off? That has to be right up there with running out of toilet paper!

Speaking of toilet paper, it seems now that any time we get below four rolls, one of the guys in our suite brings in more. I guess nobody wants to take any chances given past history.

Another drizzly day, which meant snow on the mountain.

It was just a training day for the athletes, so we didn’t have much more to do than stand up v-boards that were starting to be covered in snow.

Lots of time to snuggle with a friend.

And let me be clear, they are just friends.

The reason we’re up there, even if there’s no work, is because they don’t want us to take more than one day off in a row, and then they keep us up there in case something does come up. Off to do a little exploring. Found this fellow guarding the entrance to the bus loading zone.

And then Slava showed me a picture of a snow dragon that he took, so what else to do but go find him!

And the guy that made him, one of the security guys, was busy on his next project.

He shook my hand and, when I told him I was from Canada, he said “I like Canada!” I’ve been hearing a lot of that, actually. I don’t know if it’s the connection with hockey or something else, but the Russians seem to really like us.

I did some eavesdropping as well. I heard a couple of Norwegians talk to a jury member about altering the course. And then I heard an NBC crew talk about filming a newbie being taught how to cross country ski. I saw them later doing exactly that.

The snow had turned to a bit of a rainy drizzle now and the clouds had lifted a bit. It still made for some nice pictures.

On my way home, I ran into these two guys, who seemed to be interested in this strange, colourful person walking by.

The good news is that they don’t seem to be strays, since they came out of somebody’s yard. And for those of you who have been asking, no I will not bring back any stray dogs. They won’t fit in my luggage and I don’t think the other passengers will appreciate the whining coming from my carry-on if I put them there.

I also had a lady stop and ask me something in Russian. Her young daughter seemed quite amused when I replied in English that I couldn’t speak Russian. I’ve been approached many times by people to ask me something in Russian, and they always seem very stunned when I reply in English.

I decided to head off to Sochi this afternoon to do some more sightseeing, after a brief stop at Olympic Park to check the lost and found for a certain red and white item that I left behind the other day. Of course, no such luck in finding it. Apparently the Russians not only like the Canadians, but their flags as well.

The sun was getting low in the horizon over the Black Sea as I was looking out from the train, nearing Sochi.

Did anybody else expect this sea to be darker…?

I could see lots of interesting wharves and buildings jutting out into the water along this coastal resort area.

This place seems to have an obsession with markets. Here are some of the ones I’ve spotted over the past few days. First, you’ve got your minimarket, which you see all over the place.

Your supermarket, which also contains an alkomarket for those that like to imbibe.

Then there’s your gipermarket (hypermarket, perhaps?).

And, of course, your stroymarket (don’t ask me).

In Sochi, I decided to explore Riviera Park, which is a large amusement park and garden that also has souvenir shops, restaurants and an oceanarium. The entry was all lit up.

The most interesting thing that I saw in the park was this aquarium full of many small fish, which formed part of a bench.

Here are a few more pictures that were taken inside (or from inside) the park.

Now you know how they say “nyum, nyum” in Russian!

I followed the river to where it enters the sea beside a port.

One last stop at the Sea Port Building, which is also an Olympics Live venue and, apparently, a Bosco retail outlet.

These people were nearby, waiting to travel somewhere. It seems that things just weren’t moving along for them.

Then up Gorkogo Street, which is the main central street in the city. I passed this wonderful flower arrangement, which was in the shape of some of the patchwork quilt displays that I had seen around. One little girl actually took the time to stop and smell the flowers.

Back at the train station, I spotted this sign.

Somebody should’ve used Spell Check!

Day 23 – February 22, 2014

So this morning as I was going through security at the gondola they asked me about my cheering cowbell that I have in my day pack, which they had done a few times before. I replied with my usual “Bell, ding-a-ling.” And then the two security people had a laugh between themselves as they talked about the bell, rang their invisible one and said “ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling”. I’m glad that I have brought amusement into somebody’s dull morning today.

Back to racing! We’re now at the final two events, the distance races, starting with the women’s 30 kilometre event today. They come into the stadium in a big group and get into their chevron formation for the start.

The gun fires and they’re off!

Again, several Canadian skiers were racing.

Several years back, you could not change your skis during a race. In fact, they’d mark your skis at the start and check them at the end to make sure that you did not do that. Now, they actually have exchange boxes set up in the stadium so that you can change your skis for ones with better wax, although that does take time to do.

The day was to be dominated by a strong Norwegian team, three of whom took on the lead early pulling ahead of the pack and staying there.

And at the finish, it’s the Norwegians! Some of you may recognize the famous winner.

And second.

And again!

Here’s one exhausted Canadian skier who is happy to be done. Just look at the elation on her face.

Okay, perhaps exhaustion takes over the elation part of things sometimes.

A final Aussie skier comes in well after everyone else to loud applause and cheering, as I help to set up the (extremely heavy) awards podium.

On to the flower ceremony and more podium hover time.

Kaupo and Christian were enjoying the sights.

On our return home, as we went to board the gondola, they held us back briefly. It took me a second to realize that it was because of some important delegation that was arriving. I was with Slava, who told me that it was the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev. Don’t ask me why they get both a President and a Prime Minister. Back in North America, we only get one or the other.

After that, it was time for a little culture. And I don’t mean the water back at our apartment suite either. Nope. We were going to see the ballet! Volunteers at Laura were given the opportunity to attend a performance taking place that evening. And going to the ballet seems like a very Russian thing to do, so what could I do but go? The show was at the Galaktika, the bright building by the base of the gondola.

The inside was quite spectacular, done up in a space theme.

And the washrooms even made you feel like you were about to blast off (which may not be so good…).

The show consisted of performances from various famous ballet institutions, like New York City Ballet, La Scala and Bolshoy Ballet. Of course the dancing was absolutely amazing.

These were a couple of my favourite pieces.

On the way home, we stopped off at the nearby market to pick up a few things. I spotted this interesting can of beer, featuring a couple of more than slightly amused Canadian hockey players in addition to the Russian hockey player tying shoelaces.

See, they really do like Canadians here!

Some of my roommates are starting to leave. Alexander went home today. Here is a “tutorial” they’ve posted to make sure that we exit following the proper protocol.

Must remember to count my time!

Day 24 – February 23, 2014

And, suddenly, here we are. The last day of the XXII Winter Olympics. How the heck did we get here so fast? Despite all the sitting around and waiting we often did, the time has just flown by!

Onto the men’s 50 kilometre event, probably one of the most grueling in the Winter Games. Compare it to a marathon but much harder, since you’re using your arms in addition to your legs to propel yourself forward. Want a real full body workout? Just try skiing that distance.

Because the race started at 11:00 a.m., we were in at 8:00, in time to catch the morning glow behind the mountains.

On the walk up, I passed an info booth and noticed this sign.

For those of you thinking that Scottish is just English spoken in an odd manner, it is actually a separate Germanic language.

On the way to setting up the v-boards, I spotted something interesting.

Hmmm, wonder if that was for anything important. “Open up the finish zone – we have skiers coming in! Vlad…? You there? Come in Vlad.”

For most of the race, I was stationed at a corner just behind and below the stadium to shovel away soft snow. Despite the fact that it was probably one of the warmest days I’ve experienced up there so far, because of the early start, the snow remained firm. However, when you have so many skiers going around a corner, a ledge of snow tends to build up that can easily catch a ski. Early on in the race when the skiers are together in a large pack, absolutely flying by, this can be a problem.

Did you notice the one skier in the back on his butt? Some of them like to take the fun way down.

After the corner, they head back uphill again. Here you can see the stadium on the left and also a jury member watching for infractions. Infractions often occur here as skiers push and shove for position.

While we waited for the skiers to return and mess up the corner again, some people made up for the late night partying.

Our top two or three Canadians were in with the main pack for most of the race but not in front.

They had expected to do well in this race but a combination of factors, including a fall for one of them near the end of the race, saw the top two Canadians place a very respectable 19th and 20th.

A couple others were a little further back.

Today was to be owned by the Russians and, unfortunately, not a former Russian that was now a Canadian skier. In an exciting finish that also involved a hapless Norwegian, the Russians swept the podium!

And, as you can well imagine, the crowd was beyond control!

What a feeling of pride for the Russians. And what a way to end the Games! Congratulations, handshakes and hugs were taking place everywhere.

Of course the winners were a pretty happy trio too.

The winner even saw it fit to bow down and kiss the podium.

Yup, winning makes you do strange things sometimes.

And then, it was all over. Just like that. Time to pack up.

Don’t forget the skycam!

Down comes the styrofoam “Sochi 2014” sign.

Then the many, many cross country volunteers gathered in the stands for a post-event pep talk.

Not that it meant much to me. It was all in Russian. Heck I didn’t even know who the speakers were!

Thank goodness for that wonderful zoom feature on my camera!

Some pictures of us in the stands. Then into the stadium for a few more.

While the Omega timing team watched the goings on.

Then, off to pick up a pin and certificate and then some snacks.

We had a choice of buns with fillings – apricot jam, a potato mixture or cabbage.

Again, not for those watching their carbs. And of course tea. Presweetened. No milk.

On my way down, I noticed the Norwegians packing too.

When you have skiers as good as they do, you can afford the big truck!

Meanwhile, many athletes were back in the village again. This one had a ringside seat for viewing the mountains.

And before heading down, I realized that I had not once taken the gondola that crosses the venues. I board it for one last overview of the place before I leave.

So this is what the biathlon stadium looks like from up top.

And, back down. Here’s a good view of the biathlon stadium on the left and cross country on the right (the path up is on the far side).

On the walk home, I met this guy who seemed to really be enjoying himself. He not only has a cool hat, but a man purse too.

Yes, those are allowed here.

By this time the hockey game had already started, so I thought I’d stop by Gorki Plaza to see if it was playing on a big screen there.

My good luck had run out and I had not been able to beg, borrow or otherwise confiscate a set of tickets to the big game, so I was left to find a screen. When I tried to cross the pedestrian overpass, the policeman told me (in Russian first) that I had to wait five minutes. I assumed it was because some important Russian type was about to come by and, sure enough, here comes the cavalcade announcing where he (or she) was.

When I got across, it was already 2-0 for the Canadians.

Thank goodness, no stress! At least not for now. We all know how quickly a game can turn though.

There were some interesting characters in the plaza, including this guy and his… family(?).

Cross dressing is allowed in Russia.

There were also a whole host of other strange looking beings there.

Yes, I was surprised too. Dressing up as your favourite star wars character is also allowed here.

Second intermission and time for some (Sberbank of Russia sponsored) fun! Out come the ballons!

And then, let them go!

Canada wins 3-0, and that’s all I really needed to complete my day. Although a ticket to the closing ceremony would have been icing on my cake. I ended up watching it on a big screen in our volunteer tent.

Afterwards, there were a few fireworks nearby that we could see from the village.

And these Games are officially over!

Clean, Fresh, and White (and Gold!!!)

Day 20 – February 19, 2014

The last of my laundry is by now dry. Thank goodness, because it was my underwear that was taking the longest to dry, and that’s just one of those key pieces of clothing that you can’t do without.

And the sun is shining. The air is cool and crisp, and I had heard that there was 15 cm of new snow at Laura. That means no salting! WAHOO! It seems that sometimes a little rain must fall in one’s life, just so that you can appreciate those times when the sun returns. Darn, there I go being philosophical again. What has this trip done to me?!?

Anyway, off to work for an early morning shift and this is what it looked like near the base of the gondola.

And this is what greeted me at the top.

The moon was still out.

The street sweepers where clearing the roads of dirt and the last remnants of snow.

Our first job today was to put the v-boards out. At the end of each day, the v-boards are picked up and stood on end at the side of the trails, out of the way of the groomers. These pictures give you some idea as to why we stand them on end, lest they be lost forever (or at least until the real spring rolls around).

Here’s one that almost didn’t make it.

And around every corner, as we laid out the v-boards, was another beautiful scene out of some Christmas card.

And the rings, in all their glory, were a little less colourful today.

A perfect day to be doing some maintenance on the groomers.

Our next task was to take out a set of three tracks that the Jury didn’t want on a short downhill section. The first step is to chop up the tracks.

Then we throw some (clean, white) snow on it and pack it all down.

Then, break time. There is a room in the wax cabin complex that has a place where we can sit and perhaps watch some of the competitions on TV. These two gentlemen were getting cozy on the couch.

They’re friends. Really. Just friends.

We were able to get tickets again to watch today’s events, the women’s and men’s team sprints, from the stands. This event has teams of two skiers doing three alternating laps of a sprint course. There is a semifinal qualifier that consists of two heats, with the top two in each heat moving forward plus the next 6 best times from both heats combined. After a break to give the skiers adequate rest, the finals take place to decide the top ten positions, with the remaining positions ordered based on the semi-final times. The ladies went first.

For this event, the teams are allowed to bring in waxing support in assigned locations near the start area.

Then on to the men’s semi-finals.

Waiting for the exchange.

As the other team members come into the stadium.

Unfortunately, neither the Canadian
men or the women moved forward to the finals. Although the men had done well at this in the past, one of them was just coming off a cold and was not in top form.

“Half time” and they brought out the entertainment. The guy on the left, although he looks like he’s just been hit by an audience member, is just in the process of doing a back flip.

I think one of these guys is thinking “Oh $#!%, he’s falling!”

Meanwhile, this guy was hanging around above his friends.

While another is looking for a Kopec he dropped.

Bet you didn’t know cross country skiing has cheerleaders.

Out back, a girl and her mother were helping out a snowman that had dropped its flags.

While you wait, here’s some of the junk food you can buy.

Yup, pancakes. And if you don’t like those, how about some nuts mix, or small rusks out of the vending machine?

Yeah, I don’t know what small rusks are either.

Clouds were starting to roll in.

This lady in yellow was from the small African country of Togo, of all places! Are you surprised she’s all bundled up and looking cold?

Are you surprised Togo has a cross country skier?

It was a day for the Nordic countries, with Norway, Finland and Germany taking the top spots for the ladies and Finland and Sweden taking two of the top spots for the men. The Russian men were the spoilers in taking second place.

The women were so jubilant that they were floating on air!

The flower girl on the left looks like she’s floating above the podium too. The men had to help each other float.

It was a particularly bad day for the Germans. The last skier for the women lost out on a podium position as she was passed in the last 50 metres or so, just beat out by the Swedish skier. And with a few hundred metres to go, the last skier for the German men who was in the lead at the time fell. That resulted in a protest being filed by the German team against another skier they felt caused him to fall, which caused a delay in the men’s flower ceremony, but it was ultimately rejected.

I also received some tickets to watch tonight’s biathlon event, which was the mixed relay. This is one of the few events where both men and women compete together, with two men and two women on each team. The women ski first, doing a 6 kilometre lap, and then the men ski a 7.5 kilometre lap.

I had run into Anna (in the middle here, who had helped me on the bus when I first arrived), Narmeen and a friend of theirs.

We were in the midst of the throngs of thousands of spectators!

There were even some Canadian supporters in the trees behind the stadium.

Skiers have a few extra bullets in case they don’t make all of their shots, although it does take time to load them so you still don’t want to miss.

And if you do still miss, you ski a penalty lap around a short loop for each missed shot.

One of the most famous biathletes was there. Although behind initially, he picked well over a minute on the third leg in helping to lead the Norwegians to a win.

Czechs came second and Italians third. And the Germans? Fourth. And then they were disqualified. It’s just not their day.

These two German supporters were busy trading pins after the race.

The walk down was probably a little more exciting than watching the biathlon race. with thousands of people heading down the path to the gondola, the snow got pretty packed. The crowd heading back suddenly slowed right down. Some guy that was doing his best to push by people, presumably to get to the gondola first, came flying into me. A half a minute or so later I discovered why the backup. I suddenly hit a patch that was literally like an ice rink. Even my with heavy-duty super-grip Sochi Olympic boots, I still started sliding downhill. Those on the sides could grab the fences. Those in the middle just held on to each other for the ride down.

Fortunately that only lasted a few metres.

Tonight’s dinner choice included “lagman”.

Not sure exactly what that is, but it included potatoes, pasta sauce (but no pasta?) and “mutton flesh”. Mmmmmm. Note, they do have a vegetarian option, although they tell you that you must be a vegetarian if you choose that. Okay, today I’m a vegetarian!

Day 21 – February 20, 2014

I got the word yesterday that today would be a day off, even though we were scheduled to work. No competition, so nothing to really do up there. And I guess they got tired of making work for us.

So I decide to go in to Sochi, with no detour to Olympic Park this time, to do some exploring and perhaps look for souvenirs. Sochi, the city proper, is about an hour and a half away by train. We pass through several suburbs, which are actually part of Sochi, including Adler where the airport and Olympic Park are located.

One of the things I noticed in disembarking the train is that people here tend to often push their way in, even though others are trying to get off. Now, to be honest, I have seen this same thing at the Skytrain in Vancouver, but the crowds coming off the train here are massive. In boarding, one guy in particular ticked me off, as he shoved past me while I stopped to take off my backpack as I was sitting down. Gotta get one of those 700 seats before they’re all gone!

The train went a long at a nice pace, reaching a top speed of 140 km/h, the fastest I’ve seen it yet.

The train station in Sochi is an old, historical building.

The first stop I had in mind was the flea market that we were at last week, just up the river a ways.

There was an inside section with mainly clothing and shoes and, further on, an outside area where most of the souvenirs were.

Then off to a large mall nearby.

I noticed a couple of billboards which, oddly enough, made me drool. Just a little.

Just your standard mall. The most interesting thing I found though was in a sports store – Sochi-branded ski equipment!

Then down the river a ways and over a bridge, which bounced as you walked across it.

They did a great job of sprucing up one particular intersection with a beautiful floral display.

Why, yes, it is winter here.

Unfortunately, as in many North American cities, graffiti can be found here as well.

I passed a beautiful soccer field and then could tell that I was getting close to the sea by what I saw in the other direction.

But alas, today was not my day to see the sea. I got a phone call from Vasiliy, who I had been talking to earlier about hockey tickets. He managed to get me tickets to tonight’s women’s gold medal game between Canada and the US with the help of one of the Argentinians that had a spare one. SCORED! All other bets are off – I’m going to a hockey game!

And the seats were pretty good too. They were at one end of the rink, but in the ninth row! So good that, at one point, a cameraman came and sat in an empty seat beside me.

I was definitely close enough to see all the action.

And the cheerleaders and mascots.

Lots of Canadian fans were there.

Notice the poor American in the middle? The US did have their fair share of supporters as well, though.

“USA!” “CANADA!” “USA!” “CANADA!” The chants were going back and forth. It was loud! And there were some strange characters out there, on both sides.

First period, no score. Canada was now down at my end.

And the US scores. Aaaaargh!

This was despite the fact that I was doing my best to support the team, with my Canada cape, my Canada hat and, behind me, my Canada flag.

At the start of the third period, Helene from Montreal showed up and sat beside me. I’m not sure where she was the first two periods. I had met her earlier during my stay during dinner one evening. It’s amazing how many people you run into again that you had just gotten to know.

Helene was quite loud. I think one ear is now a little harder of hearing.

Third period and the US scores again. Okay, I can’t take this anymore! Things are looking hopeless. And then, with three or four minutes to go in the game, Canada scores! It is unbelievable how that turned the Canadian crowd. Now, any time Canada even headed towards the US zone, the cheering was on! And you could barely hear the American fans now.

Just over a minute to go, and the goalie is pulled for a sixth attacker. The puck rolls towards the empty net and amazingly hits the goalpost! Why do these Canadian games always have to be so stressful?!? And then, they did it! CANADA SCORES!

We’re going to overtime!

The battle is back on.

And, if you’re Canadian, you know what happened next.

What an unbelievable feeling, to be there and watch the women get gold! Fans were ecstatic. I give Helene a big hug because, hey, she’s Canadian. And the team is even more ecstatic.

And then the Canadian anthem. You could hear the Canadians singing.

Because of the late game, I didn’t get back until after 2:00 a.m. and I had missed dinner that night. I left my flag behind, which some Russian likely picked up and said “Zabil!” (“Scored!”) But, nothing could ruin this golden moment!

Is it my imagination, or is that flame burning just a little bit brighter tonight?

Up Here With My Head in the Clouds

Day 18 – February 17, 2014

Have I mentioned how great my roommates are? Vasiliy was saying just the other day how compatible we all seem to be. He’s teaching me Russian curse words. Not so that I can use them on Russians, but so that I know when Russians are using them on me. ‘Cause you just know they are.

None of them smoke. In fact, they are all pretty healthy and into sports. Unfortunately there are others unclear on the concept, who smoke just outside the main apartment door, with it open, and the smoke drifts all the way up the stairwell. For the most part though, the smoke manages to stay out of our suite since we tend to keep our door closed.

The four Russians in the one room that speak less English than the rest of us try very hard at speaking with me, particularly Ilya. Most people would give up in frustration when they can’t find the right words to say something in a foreign language. But he’ll keep trying different words (often Russian ones), will pull out his Russian-English dictionary, finally make me understand, and then continue speaking with me until he hits the next stumbling block, at which point he starts the whole process over again.

Alexander speaks even less Russian. But he brings fruit and candy bars, from where he works on the mountain, to compensate. Not sure why they get the good stuff that we don’t.

I woke up to the first miserable, cloudy day since my arrival. Well, okay, I’m in Russia at the Olympics having a wonderful time, so how miserable can it really get?

On my walk to Laura today, this was the first time I noticed this at the Deutsches Haus (German House).

Yup, a tree growing right through the roof. And there are more coming through the roof on the other side. I can just picture the conversation as the construction workers were putting up the place:

Sergey: “Yuriy, look, tree, right where we put building.”
Yuriy: “Da.”
Sergey: “What we do?”
Yuriy: “We build around.”
Sergey: “Yuriy, look, another…”

I’m still not sure how they keep the water from leaking in. Hmmm, based on some of the other things I’ve seen around here, it’s likely they just don’t worry about a little water coming in.

Rain down here meant fog up in the mountains. This was responsible for the postponement of last night’s biathlon, as the clouds had rolled in yesterday evening, and ultimately again this morning. The fog was so dense that you couldn’t see several metres in front of you. The biathletes don’t like to shoot when they can’t see the target. Or the person standing between them and the target.

This gives you some idea as to what it looked like up at the venue.

I thought that I would show the signs that they put on the (sometimes steep) hill up to the biathlon and cross country stadiums, apparently to encourage the spectators to keep going. These are the last few as you near the biathlon entrance tunnel.

Great! We’re here! But some of us have to keep going to cross country…

I’m surprised that I haven’t seen some of those signs knocked to the ground.

Fortunately there was no competition planned for cross country today. This gave us an opportunity to do some remedial work on some sections of the trails where the snow base had been thinning. After coming in at 10:00 a.m. and then waiting around for an hour or two for our assignment (this is not uncommon), they eventually sent us out to shovel snow from the side of some of the lower trails onto the thin sections.

It’s amazing how much snow it takes to build up a trail. Some of it had to be taken from just up the trail in a big snowmobile carry bin.

And then spread out the snow. More backbreaking work.

Of course, safety first.

And here is what the first section looked like when we were done.

Yeah, well I couldn’t see it either.

Somebody new showed up to help out today – a girl with very dark hair. I would have noticed her before because of her distinctive looks. Not sure whether she was from another team or had just showed up late for some reason. Very late.

The nice thing about working hard is that it feels really good afterwards to come in for lunch, and hot tea, with sugar and lemon. No milk.

I noticed on the whiteboard in the food tent that I could win me some souvenirs.

On my little shortcut home from the venue, not far from the base of the gondola, there’s a section of the dirt road where they’ve obviously blasted through some rock. Looking back towards the gondola base, you can see a piece of the cliff on the right side that they had left.

I keep having this urge to knock it over.

This evening was laundry day. They do have several washing machines located in some of the buildings but apparently they’re all always in use, unless you go at 4:00 in the morning. I wasn’t planning on doing that. Especially since they don’t have dryers and I’d have to haul my wet clothes back somehow anyway to hang in the suite to dry. It explains the drying racks in our rooms. Apparently a lack of dryers is a European thing, so I’m told.

This left me washing clothes by hand. And wringing them dry. And rinsing them several times. And finding enough places to hang them up to dry. And repeating the process with the next batch. Now I know why they invented washers and dryers. My underwear better be dry by morning!

Day 19 – February 18, 2014

The weather has worsened as I woke up to a rainy day. Will this horrid weather never end?!? Oh well, this will give me some time to stay indoors and work on my blog, and then perhaps go down to Sochi to explore. In the afternoon, I headed off to the train station.

Security spotted my bottle of sunscreen in my backpack and asked me about it. No, I didn’t think the sun would come out. I just forgot to take it out. Anyway, they let that through. However, they won’t let liquids, including water and pop, through. And Kaupo told me the other day that they were going to stop him from coming through because he had a ceramic souvenir cup that he had just bought, although the nice security guy did ultimately allow him through. I’ve learned by now that security oddities are common all over the world though.

There are some interesting buildings that I saw from the train platform.

I had decided to go to the Olympic Park instead because, hey, it’s raining and there should be fewer people, hence no line-ups. Well, that wasn’t quite true, although I’m sure they were shorter than they normally are.

Having pictures taken with your Russian flag is common here now. This is at the park entrance at the top of the stairs coming down from the train station.

Time to see some corporate pavilions. At the Volkswagen Group pavilion, you could sign up to take a ride up and then down a steep “mountain”.

This should be exciting, since there were long line-ups, first to get into the building and then to sign up for your ride. After tracking down an English waiver and spending at least an hour in lines, off I go. I got to speak German with my very friendly driver. Here’s the “view” from the top.

And then, over the tilting ramp and down.

Interesting, but not sure it was worth an hour of my life.

Nearby is an ice climbing wall, although it wasn’t currently being used.

Then into the “Love my Russian Athletes” building. It not only had a line-up outside, but also several inside.

There were various stations for each of the sports throughout, where you could get marks on a card for each one you visited (and got your picture taken, shot a puck, watched a video on a headset, etc.) and then turn it in for some souvenirs. If you were lucky, the attendant would just mark your card. If you were unlucky, the attendant would make you wait in line to do the activity. The curling girl made me get my picture taken.

I was never a big curling fan to start with.

If you saw my picture of Tretiak in one of my previous posts, here is what he looked like in his younger days.

There were some interesting displays, like some old medals and stopwatches.

And some old skates.

Those Dutch wood shoes are painful and awkward enough to wear as normal shoes. I couldn’t imagine throwing some blades on a pair and trying to skate with them!

There was this cute dress from a famous Russian skater when she was a little girl.

There was an area for trading pins, with cool-looking pin displays.

And they had a section of previous (and current) Winter Games torches. Here’s a small sampling.

I decided to try a fitness test that they offered, which involved some strength and flexibility tests, and they would tell you your “fitness age”. I actually did quite well. I just hope they weren’t comparing me to some 50-year-old overweight Russian smoker.

The most eye-catching pavilion was the Megafon one. It is a big, bright cube with 3-D projections of people’s faces, after they’ve scanned them somehow, that pop out of one side.

Unfortunately I had spent so much time in the Russian pavilion that by the time I arrived there they had just closed the queue.

And the Coke pavilion, which was this big, puffy building, was closed.

So, back on to the train so that I don’t get back too late. I have an 8:30 start tomorrow. The one nice thing that they’ve done here is connect the train stations and Olympic Park and some of the mountain venues so that, once you enter a secured zone in either, you don’t have to go through security a second time when arriving or leaving. That means I can run for the train at the last minute, being very careful about stepping into any holes along the way, and not have to worry about extra time getting patted down.

As I go to sit down on the train, some gentleman is sitting down at the same time across the way. He catches my eye, nods at me and starts talking to me like he knows me. He asks me where I’m going. I’m quite sure that I do not know him. Just another friendly Russian, I guess.

At dinner that night I finally discovered what they meant by “Dear volunteers, in food is one puff” sign that was posted in the food tent. I had run into Jim at dinner and he had spoken to a Russian friend who helped him figure it out. A “puff” is the puff pastries that they were giving us for dessert. Apparently they want you to only take one. Yeah, okay. It’s just too bad that they’re message is unclear and I don’t have a clue what they’re telling us.

I’m Feelin’ Hot, Hot, Hot!

Day 16 – February 15, 2014

The warm weather continues. It has been as warm as 12 degrees Celsius over the past few days, and today is another one of those days.

Artyem is the Deputy Chief of Course who decides when the course prep teams come in and what they do. He’s a big guy who you don’t want to ignore. Very nice though and actually speaks relatively decent English, although I’m still often playing the “follow these guys and do what they do” game. Here he is giving instructions to the team (in Russian, of course).

Our first task this morning was snow-whitening. Yup, it’s not just for teeth anymore! The idea is to shovel fresh snow from the side of the trail onto the course where it had turned a little brown from dirt or tree droppings.

What, you thought the Olympics was real? Things gotta look good for TV, you know!

Next task – salting the course. This involves putting salt (fertilizer pellets are also used) onto the course so that the snow melts and refreezes, thereby hardening the course so that the skiers don’t have to ski in slush. In Vancouver, they did this with a snowmobile and a spreader attached to the back, similar to how you would spread fertilizer on your lawn. Here, they have us haul these heavy bags of salt out on to the course, put it into buckets, and spread it by hand!

Three people, in a straight line, walking down the course tossing salt. Seems like a make-work project to me but, hey, at least we’re not sitting around twiddling thumbs.

One of my team members, Vachislev, and I carried one of these heavy bags up the hill, through the tunnel, towards the far end of the course. Then we followed the course as it doubled back down a hill towards a point not far from the tunnel. We could see the tunnel and could have easily crossed to the other trail. What the…? Vachislev told me that it was a Russian thing. Yeah, I know.

As the bag seemed to get heavier and heavier, and noticing that others were dragging the bag instead of carrying it, we decided to drag it at the downhill parts. Yeah, that’s much easier. Suddenly it got extremely easy as the bag got very light. Yup, we have discovered the abrasive properties of snow! Here’s the nice long salt trail that we had left.

Fortunately most of it had escaped during the last few metres and it didn’t take too long to pick up the bulk of it.

And then we wait. For what, I’m not sure at this point.

Turns out we were waiting for one group of salters to reach us, where we would then join them. Plenty of time to explore some of the local wildlife, like this interesting furry creature with the long tail.

I even had some time to find money!

This Russian 100 Ruble bill is worth about three dollars. Who says there’s no such thing as a three dollar bill?

This salting by hand thing is not so easy. I had to keep roughly within my three metre width. And then we had to deal with breaking up (or tossing out) some of the big, hard clumps of salt that had formed with moisture. Bucket refill – everybody stop! At one point I was told to toss the salt higher in the air. I did, and this only caused it to blow back in my face with the small breeze that was coming my way. Aaaack! Definitely not the most fun job that I’ve done here.

After my shift, I ran into Ilya and Narmeen. They had heard that there was a small souvenir for us at the check-in desk so we headed down there. We saw some lovely snow art along the way.

At check-in, I stole Ilya’s sunglasses. Just call me “shyest-glaz” (“six-eyes”).

Today’s race is the women’s 4X5 km relay. The start is a mass start with skiers lined up in a chevron format (although you can’t quite see that in this picture).

Two skiers do a classic lap and two do a free technique lap.

Here you can see skiers filing in from the left as their teammates near the exchange zone, which you can see marked with evergreen twigs if you look carefully.

It was an exciting finish, with the Swedes winning gold and the three medallists finishing within a second of each other.

Canada didn’t fare quite so well.

After the event, I decided to follow some of the spectators up a chairlift, which took us to a larger gondola that held up to 22 people (instead of 8 on the other). You may be able to see the long line-up at the bottom of the chairlift.

This took us to a large building near the Krasnaya Polyana transit hub, which also had another gondola out of it going to the sliding centre.

There were also shops, restaurants and a pub that had a large screen where you could watch the Games. This is a view from that building towards Esto-Sadok and the train station on the left.

Safety seems to not always be a big concern around here. On the walk home I noticed some workers around a manhole with one of them standing in it. No fences or warning signs.

Not something to lose your head over! Here’s what the traffic sign was being used for.

Wow, in colour and everything!

And I’ve noticed several of these sections cut out of the sidewalks nearby (when there are sidewalks) with absolutely no barriers or warnings.

Sure they make great ashtrays but someone in a hurry is liable to step in it and fall down hard. Yes, it does happen! They do eventually fill them with concrete.

That evening a very large and exuberant crowd was gathered in the food tent watching the US-Russia hockey game on TV.

You could swear you were at a live event with all the cheering and booing going on. It went to a shootout, which went on for some time, and the Russians ended up losing in a real heartbreaker. You had to feel bad for them.

Finally, I ended the night with an evening walk. I spotted this interesting car.

This building is near the Gorki Media Centre bus stop where those going to the volunteer village disembark.

And a shot of RusSki Gorki, where an event was taking place.

Day 17 – February 16, 2014

It’s turning out to be another warm day, although slightly cooler than yesterday, so more salting. Oh joy of joys. Like I didn’t get enough of my daily salt allowance in my hair, clothing and boots yesterday! At least this time they’ve provided us with some make-shift sleds to haul those heavy bags with.

Amazing what you can do with a used pallet and an old pair of skis. It’s still no snowmobile though.

The Jury oversees the event for the international ski federation (FIS), and includes the Chief of Competition and Technical Delegate, amongst others. Here they are making their rounds reviewing the course.

This wider section of the course, just below the stadium, required four people across salting.

And then off to lunch quickly before the 2:00 p.m. competition start. The Russians seem to be much more fanatical about washing hands before a meal, with sinks right in the dining tent.

After spreading salt, even though we were given gloves, I wouldn’t eat without washing my hands! I had been asked at several previous meals, by the person that scans your accreditation there to verify your lunch allowance, to use the antibacterial dry soap dispenser that’s right there. “Thanks, but I’ve already washed my hands.” I don’t trust anything other than soap and water.

This is where we pick up our food.

Note the red sign that lets you know that you receive one free Coke product (including bottled water) with each meal.

Today’s event is the men’s 4X10 kilometre relay, similar to the women’s race but a longer distance for each leg. Early on in the race the skiers are still bunched together, just coming out of the stadium and into the first corner.

A certain famous Canadian cross country skier was watching the race. He was left out of the relay so that he could rest up for the team sprint event in a few days.

Just before the race, we had shovelled soft snow off the last corner into the stadium. This left us at a great spot to watch the race, near the first corner out and last corner in to the stadium.

Love the cool hats that the Japanese team is wearing!

Notice all the spare poles, used in case a skier breaks one.

In the end Sweden won the event in an upset victory as no Norwegians placed. They were so far ahead that the final skier was able to grab a flag and ski in waving to the crowd. That’s both relay events for them.

Russia came second (if you weren’t watching, you could definitely tell by the crowd response). Putin was there somewhere watching the event. This probably made up for that hockey game last night.

And the French came in third. The French support team was quite emotional, with one member literally in tears over the win. That was so great to see!

I’ve noticed this sign on a fence as you walk along the path towards the gondola.

I’m trying to figure out where, exactly, this environmentally sensitive area is. In Vancouver, they left certain wetlands untouched. Here, there is a trail and road on one side and the race course on the other. Perhaps if they put the sign there, that makes it so?

These are supposed to be the greenest games ever. I’m just not seeing it though. For example, we place all of our garbage – paper plates, plastic utensils, disposable cups, empty plastic pop bottles and food scraps – in a general waste bin. Perhaps they have people who separate the recyclables and compostable items somewhere else?

Although our suite is pretty good (except for Kaupo’s chainsaw snoring!), things sometimes get a little noisy in our apartment building. The other night I heard chants going on from time to time late into the night. There’s often a lot of banging. But then I’m a bit of a night owl anyway. Well tonight I heard a bunch of running up and down the stairs. Later on I stepped out the door and saw this.

Toilet paper went all the way down to the first floor and out the door.

I never did live on campus when I went to university but I’ll bet this is what it must have been like. I’m glad I’ve finally been given the opportunity to experience it.

Feeling Canadian Pride in Russia

Day 13 – February 12, 2014

I thought I’d start this post by describing seven habits of highly effective Russians. Well, maybe not quite seven habits. And perhaps they’re not all highly effective Russians either. Okay, I’m no Stavislav Covey, you know.

In some ways they seem to be very polite. It is required protocol to say “priyatnaga appetita”, or “bon appetit”, at the start of every meal. And they shake your hands when they greet you in the morning, which I thought was only a French thing.

However, try standing in a line-up with a few Russians. Any personal space you may have had will suddenly disappear. And for the proper non-cluster queues, you feel like you are not moving fast enough as the person behind you is right behind you. An excuse to move to the front? Yup, they’ll find one.

They smoke a lot in Russia.

That was outside one of the stairwells where they’ve housed some of the security people. Remember the high school smoking pits? They have one here at the venue.

The interesting thing is that when you take the train somewhere, you’ll hear an announcement stating “Sochi is a smoke-free city; please refrain from smoking in public places.” It seems a lot of people do not ride the train.

Russians like their tea, even more than coffee it seems. I thought that was a British thing. They’ll have it with every meal. And during breaks. I already mentioned that they don’t use milk, just sugar. Lots of sugar!

And what my wife Judy and her family call a “sport hankie” and the Aussies call a “Bushman’s Hankie” is very popular here. Oh well, when in Rome…

Today I have a day off. I found out late yesterday from Maria that she had managed to find me a ticket for Nordic Combined, which takes place this afternoon. Great! I can sleep in a little, have a little breakfast, work on my blog post, and then enjoy the afternoon being a real live spectator.

For breakfast, again something different and unknown.

At first I thought that these were chicken patties, but they were soft. Turns out they were some sort of soy patty. It was edible but I think I’ve had it with this Russian variety thing. I want the crepe rolls back.

The Nordic Combined competition has athletes ski jumping, where they are ranked based on distance travelled and style, followed by a (in this case) 10 kilometre cross country ski free technique (skating) race where the skiers start based on how they placed in the ski jump. The jumper with the highest points goes first, the next one leaves a certain number of seconds after based on how far behind the leader he was, and so on. First skier across the line wins the event.

The RusSki Gorki venue is about a five minute bus ride from Esto-Sadok to the Esto-Sadok transit hub followed by either a short bus ride up the hill (followed by a 5 or 10 minute walk from the bus stop to the jumps) or a more direct gondola trip. That’s literally a hop, skip and a jump away! Given the long line-up for the gondola, I picked the bus/walk option.

When I arrived, the athletes were doing their practice jumps.

This is the media centre at the end of the landing area.

Would you feel safe entering this building?

I wonder if this region is prone to earthquakes.

The ski jump venue is at the lowest elevation of all the mountain cluster venues. Note how there’s no snow anywhere except on the ski jump hill and the ski track heading off in the distance.

This symbol of Sochi that was in the landing area seemed appropriate.

While the workers packed down the hill…

…the announcer and some singers kept us entertained.

Then onto the ski jumping.

Note the markings in the landing area. The K-point (German “Kritical”) is the steepest part of the hill. The distance from the take-off to the K-point defines the size of the hill. In this case, the skiers were using the smaller K95 hill. The bottom line (HS) is about the furthest that the best skiers can be expected to jump.

Then there was a break for a couple of hours. This gave me a chance to look at the food and drink options, which weren’t overly cheap.

To convert rubles to Canadian dollars, divide by 100 and multiply by 3 (and add 5 to 10 percent).

I had been wondering where the stadium was for the ski race since I could only see the course. Did we have to go somewhere else to see the start/finish? Well what they did was convert the ski jump landing area into a ski course stadium and moved some barriers to open up to the course.

I had never seen anything like this before, and apparently it is unique in the history of the Olympics.

In the meantime, workers were preparing the larger K125 hill for another event.

If the guy on the top, right falls, I can picture a domino effect taking place.

John Heilig, who is the Manager for Nordic Sport at Whistler Olympic Park, is the Technical Delegate for this event. His job is to oversee the event and ensure that it runs smoothly. Here he is on the right.

During the break, a guy comes up and starts talking to me as if he knows me. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out who the heck he was, but it turns out that he was just a spectator from Oakland, California that had been to many Olympics. He was an anthropologist who had been studying smoking amongst various ethnic groups. He turned out to be very interesting to talk to.

He told me that he had a male partner back home who did not like travelling. I almost wonder whether he was looking for a new travelling partner, since he asked me about my family and was a little hard to shake after the event was over, and he made sure to let me know that he was going down to the spa in Sochi afterwards. Knowing how they frown on two guys travelling together down here, I did my best to say “goodbye” in a nice but firm manner.

I watched the sun disappear behind the ski jumps. Or is that “suns”?

After thinking I’d completely lost it, my new friend let me know that one of the suns was just a reflection. Ohhhhh.

Back to the compettion. Here the skiers are leaving on what’s known as a Gunderson start (which I described earlier above). The flip chart you see on the right lists the skiers’ start times.

A German skier and a Japanese skier battled for the lead the whole way, with the German skier pulling ahead the last few hundred metres to win.

They congratulate each other at the finish.

This is all three winners at the flower ceremony.

It was a beautiful day, so I decided to walk down to the train station and then back to the volunteer village.

An early evening moon had risen over the top gondola station at Laura.

Home sweet home.

Day 14 – February 13, 2014

This morning at breakfast we were greeted by this sign.

I can’t possibly imagine what they were trying to tell us but it certainly had me worried. What exactly was going to happen when I bit into that puff? We had sausages again. I really want those crepe rolls back!

On my walk in this morning, I noticed these workers looking at something on the backhoe.

Upon closer examination, I discovered that they had a cigarette lighter under one of the forks and they were going to crush it.

I decided not to hang around to see how their little experiment turned out. I’m thinking they had a bit too much spare time on their hands.

The cold that I caught a few days back seems to be on its way out, and was never really all that bad. No more than a bit of a runny nose. Nothing that a little sport hankie can’t cure.

Riding up the gondola for my afternoon shift, I shared my trip with the Finnish photographer (Kari) again. He was again very interesting to talk to. I found out that still photographers are not allowed to take and post video of any kind anywhere. He did this once at a previous Olympics and, within half an hour, somebody called him and asked him to remove it immediately or else he’d lose his accreditation.

The shift started with lunch. We actually got fruit (apple and pear slices) for the first time!

We were then able to watch today’s race, the women’s 10 kilometre individual start (skiers leave one at a time, every 30 seconds) classic technique. Things are not so bad here at all.

Several Canadians were again skiing. Dasha Gaiazova is one of those Canadians, and she was born in Russia. The announcer interviewed her Russian grandmother in the stands. Apparently Dasha was always a good little girl who never got into trouble.

And off they go!

Slava, Elena and I were able to watch the race from the stands.

Behind us were three members of the Canadian support team, one of whom was the team doctor.

I noticed that cheering is a family affair, even if the flag is a little skewed.

And what do you do after you’ve skied the hardest race of your life? You collapse from exhaustion.

This is the Polish athlete who won the race. She deserves to collapse.

A Swedish athlete came in second. We were right beside her father being interviewed in the stands.

And the winners!

Interestingly, all had Fischer skis.

It was nice to see an American and a Canadian going for a ski together after the race.

Heading down, I had to battle the sea of spectators heading up to see the biathlon event that evening, including this Norwegian supporter (who was having a hard time climbing the hill).

And this guy. Russian First Nations?

Something new for dinner tonight – a package of dried fruit and nuts mixture!

Somebody had mentioned to me that there was a Canadian Sochi Volunteers group on Facebook, so I had joined it the other day. I got home and saw that I was accepted into the group, and noticed a post stating that Canada Olympic House was having an open house. Great, I know what I’m doing tomorrow!

Day 15 – February 14, 2014

It’s Valentine’s Day today, and I noticed this sign.

Hmmm, sounds like fun. I wonder if I should take part…

I noticed that there were police posted every perhaps 100 metres or so around the athlete village perimeter at Laura. With all the security at the venue, I dare not step into the woods to take a leak lest they shoot at the first weapon they think I’m pulling out! Or I might be captured on some TV camera!

The entertainment today was these guys with the world’s biggest catcher’s mitts.

Yes, they actually used them to catch balls.

Couldn’t stay too long to watch that since I had a date with a certain Olympic House.

This is the view inside.

You may have heard of the fridge that only opens with a Canadian passport (which, by the way, I needed to get in the building).

Roch Voisine was there to play but, before he started, there was a special surprise guest: one of the greatest goalies ever – Vladislav Tretiak! Here he is with his wife and daughter.

What a thrill! And then on to some great music!

And a large crowd of Canadians was on hand to watch.

And of course, Roughriders fans! Canada’s biggest football fans are everywhere!

There’s only one Canadian, and Canada’s beer was here! And eagerly consumed.

I spoke to lots of people. One was a lady from Paris who was here to ensure that the French protocol was being properly implemented. And then there was superfan Chad (in the middle) and a couple from Toronto who were involved in the opening ceremonies as part of the human flag and ushering the athletes in.

By the time the open house was over at 7:00 p.m., this sign definitely reflected some of my feelings. So proud to be Canadian!

I was on my way out and ran into Jim and Brian (the ski jumping volunteers), who had managed to acquire “friends, families and athletes” passes. I started speaking with them for a while but it was starting to get well after the time I should have left so, being the good Canadian that I am, I excused myself and left. Not two minutes later, Putin walks into the building! AAAAARGH! Missed him by that much! I had noticed the commotion outside and they had mentioned earlier that he was at the U.S. House next door. This was his entourage outside.

This lucky pair got to shake his hand. The girl kept saying over and over “I shook Putin’s hand twice!”

Oh well, a quick stop at the Pyeongchang Pavilion to see what’s up for 2018.

And then back to the village for some dinner, where the Canada-Austria hockey game was being shown on TV.

I thought “great, they really do love the Canadians and hockey!” And then towards the end of the second period, somebody switches the channel to figure skating. Thank goodness Canada was well ahead at the time (5-0) and you just knew they were going to win.

I noticed someone had posted this sign.

Not sure what it says, but I’ll bet it’s something along the lines of “boy, us Russians, we really love our tea.”

Skating and Skiing and Shooting (Oh My!)

Day 10 – February 9, 2014

A little more information about my roommates. Woody, the American from Lake Tahoe, is in his 60’s, retired and in excellent shape. He is working in the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre and actually gets to ski. An interesting fact I learned from Kaupo, “khutor” is Russian for “farm”. And Rosa was the family name of an Estonian who settled here. Honey bee farms in particular are common around here. That also gives you some idea about what this region was like before the Olympics. But I digress.

Dimitriy is on the team that looks after the Argentinian congregation (including athletes and coaches). This gives him access to every venue.

Christian, one of the Germans, has been to many Olympics, most as a volunteer. Bernhard, the other German, was originally an Alpine volunteer and is now quite involved with cross country skiing. They met on their way to Sochi and discovered that they live relatively near each other. Both work in the race office at Laura. This is them at the venue, with Christian on the left.

Bernhard is a secretary for the jury and thus gets to sit in on all the meetings where they decide whether or not to disqualify someone (for example). Unfortunately those meetings are confidential so I was not able to find out why they did not disqualify an athlete who had cut off another to take the win in one of the early competitions.

Alexander is working at the snowboarding venue and also gets to snowboard. He does put in long hours though. I was here for probably four or five days before I even met him. The other Russians – Ilya, Dima and Rustam – all work at Laura. Kaupo is part of the competition control team at Laura.

So breakfast this morning was a bit of a surprise.

What the heck are those?!? I think I want my crepe rolls back. They’re a couple of sausages, kind of like wieners that need to go on a diet. Didn’t taste too bad but not what I’d normally want for breakfast.

Because I moved to the morning shift so I could go to the speed skating, I’m working with a different team. Vladimir is the team lead. He’s on the right here, along with Narmeen on the left (finally remembered her name!) and Yana in the middle.

Vladimir speaks better English than Slava, and he’s quite a funny guy. Yana speaks very good English and was very friendly.

Arriving at 8:00 a.m. means I get to watch the sun rise on the mountains.

Across the valley, the Rosa Khutor alpine course was all set for the day’s races.

After setting up v-boards, it was off to the tea house. Kaupo had told me about samovars, which are ornate metal containers used for heating and holding water for tea. I noticed a very beautiful one on display here.

I’m still handing out lots of Port Coquitlam pins. Here’s one amongst the other pins on Vladimir’s toque.

I’ve been getting a lot of little gifts in return, mainly fridge magnets and some pins.

Yana was all set to cheer her country in the cross country skiing event that afternoon.

After my shift, off I raced to catch the train to Olympic Park. And there it was – the flame, finally lit!

Note the baked potato and hot dog stands just below it. You had to know that they weren’t going to waste all that heat.

I had some time to go into some of the pavilions and watch some of the entertainment. The Volkswagen Group had a big wall with dancers.

Microsoft and Samsung were a couple more of the sponsors that had pavilions there.

And somebody decided to set up camp, right in the middle of the park!

Lots of entertainment going on.

Is that moss man in there? He’s everywhere!

The speed skating was taking place in Adler Arena.

My seat gave me a good view of the guys with the really expensive cameras.

There were a couple of Canadian skaters, although they did not podium.

And did anyone know that the actress Gina Lollobrigida had a niece named “Francesca” that is an Olympic speed skater?

Here she is flying by in front of me.

Halfway through the field of racers and the Zambonis come out (another Italian family, I believe).

The big winner was a Dutch athlete.

And of course the Dutch fans were out in full force to watch one of their favourite sports.

Not too sure who this guy was supporting, but can’t you just feel the love?

And, even more exciting, I was lucky enough to watch Russia win its first medal of the Games – a bronze.

Of course there were many deafening chants of “RA-SEE-YA”.

Then I had some time afterwards to tour the park. There are a lot of flags flying.

It took a while, but I finally found Canada’s.

And I also found Canada Olympic House.

Unfortunately I didn’t meet the criteria to enter.

Right beside was the American Olympic House. Kinda looks like a fortress, doesn’t it?

And, of course, lots of people wanting pictures with me in my Canada cape again. Of course I couldn’t refuse a request from these lovely young ladies.

Then off to watch the water show that is set to music, right beside the Olympic torch.

That is the Bolshoy Dome in the background behind the torch. In the medal plaza nearby, they were testing the lights for tonight’s show.

The torch really takes on a different look, depending on the angle you’re looking at it from.

And as it gets dark, they light it up.

The entertainment starts on the Medals Plaza stage, with folk dancing and music.

Then it’s meet the mascot time!

Mommy, who is that strange man taking our picture…?

And this last one gave me a chance to do something I’ve been wanting to do in a long time – talk to the hand.

After taking well over 300 pictures that day, it was time to head home. A nice little surprise greeted me at dinner. Dessert!

Things are improving, indeed!

Day 11 – February 10, 2014

So it seems that some people have been taking more than their fair share of yogurt. I couldn’t possibly have been one of those people, could I? They’ve brought these fridges in and made it absolutely clear as to how many you’re allowed to have.

And this morning, they’ve got a person (and sometimes two) watching the table where you pick up your precious curdled milk. Security guards for the yogurt.

Christian and Bernhard showed me another route to the base of the Laura gondola, a minor road along the base of the mountains, which is slightly shorter (and more pleasant) than the walk along the main road. This is looking back towards the volunteer village. I love the trees around here!

There is a wonderful mix of architecture along this route, both old and new.

This door looks like it leads into some sort of secret garden.

Although the weather has been spectacularly sunny, it was still quite cool and crisp outside. Some clouds did start rolling in today though and it is starting to get warmer.

A little bit about the venue for my skiing officiating friends. I discovered this lovely little weather station up the hill behind the stadium.

These are the directional signs they use for the (very fast) racers.

Um, was that 1.37 kilometres to the left or to the right…?

Right beside the stadium, they have a section marked “Ski Depo” (sic), where the teams lay out and test their 3,000 pairs of skis for different waxes. A little further on is the ski wax testing hill.

One of our tasks today was to put up netted fencing (the type you unroll). That wasn’t so difficult. It was climbing up those steep hills to fetch the netting and haul it down on our shoulders, and then head back up again to do it again. Finally some work that makes it feel like you deserve your lunch.

I noticed something interesting on the cable car ride down today. I had seen all the scenery already so, nothing better to do than read the safety sign (which, apparently, we’re all supposed to read as part of the contract that got me onto the cable car). Notice something interesting about numbers 4 and 5?

I was definitely getting that deja vu feeling. Apparently some things are particularly important.

At the volunteer village, they have a “fun tent” that one of the universities is sponsoring. It was where the dance was held several days ago. They have now brought in some ping pong tables.

Here are some of the decorations.

Nice to see Canada represented. Just wish they’d speak our language a little more. Often, when I ask people here if they speak English, it is always “No” (or “Nyet”) or “a little”. I never hear what I heard when I travelled to Norway, which was “of course I speak English.”

Tonight there was a quiz show going on. There was a list of 15 questions that they distributed earlier in the day, asking whether certain things were possible. Examples include “can you drink water while standing on your head” and “can you send 30 people under a chair in a minute”. Answer these correctly and you could win a prize. Then that evening they’d pick volunteers, from the volunteers that were there, to try these out. Interestingly, some didn’t want to volunteer.

Here’s somebody balancing a balloon on one finger for three minutes.

She succeeded. I was surprised.

And the 30 people under the chair in a minute? Yup, they did it. It’s easy when you have two people hold the chair in the air.

Rustam told me this evening that he saw Putin drive by today, only he saw three Putins! Look-alikes so that the terrorists are not sure who to pick off. Which is a good thing, because they drive down the road in a big cavalcade with the police lights flashing. Doesn’t make them hard to find.

Day 12 – February 11, 2014

So the toilet paper did actually arrive, just like they said it would. I immediately went and got a couple rolls. It seems though that the others in our room are worried we’re going to have another TP drought.

Today is sprint day at Laura, for both the men and the women. The qualifiers are first, with skiers leaving at fixed intervals to try to get one of the top 30 times that gets you into the finals. The women first.

And then the men.

We were able to sit in the stands for the qualifiers.

Cierra (my daughter at home) told me later that she saw me, which is pretty cool. I also spoke with a group of French people, who thought my maple leaf was “jolie”. I briefly put aside the Russian (what little I know) and pulled out the high school French.

The temperatures had really warmed up, which made for very soft snow. There were lots of crashes.

You’ve probably by now heard the story about Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth giving Russian Anton Gafarov a ski to replace his broken one. Justin is actually American, although he’s married to Canadian (gold-medal Olympian) Beckie Scott, but we’ll take him. At the time I had no idea what had happened but saw Gafarov come well back to the biggest cheer that day!

One of the things we had to do as course prep crew was to use shovels and rakes to clear the soft snow off a section of the course between the qualifiers and finals. Note the piles of snow at the side of the course.

When we were done, we watched the finals from a great vantagepoint beside some of the camera crews.

Finals have six skiers racing head to head.

Norway was the big winner of the day, winning the top two spots in the women’s event and the top spot for the men.

This is what the mix zone looks like now all dressed up.

Beautiful sunset tonight.

Maria said that a few of us could get tickets for the biathlon event taking place this evening. It seems that there were more volunteers than spare tickets. We missed over half of the event but it was still fun to see what we did see.

That evening Ilya had a couple friends in – Narmeen and, on the right, Dar’ya, who quite amused me.

That night, when we turned the lights out in our room, it did not get as dark as expected. They had been digging just outside our apartment suite, I believe to do some electrical work. This continued into the night so, of course, they had some very bright lights on. And the generator to keep them going. Ah, the joys of Russia!

Let the Games Begin!

Day 8 – February 7, 2014

This is it! Opening day has arrived, with the Opening Ceremonies taking place tonight. And for me, a relatively easy day with an afternoon start and some venue training. I know, I’ve been at the venue for several days now, living dangerously not knowing anything about the place or the rules. I’m still not sure how I’ve managed.

Up to the venue, and I had a little time to take some pictures.

Lots of interviews still going on.

This is the entertainment tent that was just erected.

I then met up with Maria (the cross country coordinator) at the workforce check-in room at the venue. Here she is on the phone. She does a lot of this.

While I waited, I took a look at the map that showed where everyone was from, which had filled up a fair bit since I had seen it last. The most interesting ones are the pin off the northwest coast of South America and the other one that looks like it’s in Antarctica.

A group of about 10 or 15 of us met up, including Kaupo, several Italians and others from various countries.

These two lovely young ladies ran the training session.

The one with the toque spoke much better English. The one without the toque did most of the training (and talking). Yeah, there are a lot of things that I scratch my head about here. Toque girl started with the intros, asking each of us to tell us who we were, where we were from and what made us decide to come. I was actually a little excited to share my story. The four Italians spoke a bit about themselves, and then that was it. We moved onto the presentation. Huh? Did she think that we were all Italian, and they were becoming a bit of a bore perhaps? I don’t understand.

Oh well, onto learning about Laura. It was not named after my high school girlfriend, but rather a local mountain river. The two venues, biathlon and cross country, were completed in 2012. It is the largest of all the sites, responsible for 25% of all the Games medals.

And then a few rules about things like radio protocol, how to present ourselves, and also about social media, blogs and what we aren’t allowed to post. Oddly enough, I have already inadvertently forgotten a lot of that section (in the interest of keeping my blog interesting, in case you were interested). Darn it all anyway.

One of the things she spoke about was the stray dogs. You probably heard that they’re everywhere, and it’s true. Here are a couple heading out to the local minimarket to pick up some kibbles.

And they are way up here at the venue too! In the cold and snow, several hundred metres up a mountain!

They are all quite tame but definitely a danger to skiers at the venue, should they get onto a course while athletes are going by. We were asked to report their location if we spot them at Laura and assured that they will be sent to good homes.

Finally, we were told that they may from time to time get some spare tickets in for volunteers for some of the other events (all right!). And if we head down to Shayba Arena this evening, we would be able to watch the opening ceremonies there (presumably on some kind of big screen television). All of our names had been given to somebody there. I decided that I would head down there since that would be where all the excitement would be.

That evening I get to Olympic Park. I try to go to the main security entrance but was told I need a ticket. Okay, perhaps the other entrance that I went through the other day. Into the park and off to find Shayba. I try to go through one entrance and am sent elsewhere. I start heading around the park, asking directions along the way. Eventually I arrive at the back of Fisht Stadium, where the ceremony is taking place (a good 45 minutes later, some time after the ceremony has started). There’s a big crowd there being kept back by security.

I manage to find someone that speaks English and they explained that they had just been through the same thing. They may have been handing out tickets earlier but Shayba was full. Or perhaps they were giving away some tickets to fill empty seats but they were all gone. Regardless, things did not look good for Dirk to see anything tonight.

While I was there talking, some fireworks went off on the roof of Fisht suddenly, scaring the living daylights (nightlights?) out of me!

Oh well, I had seen the dress rehearsal. I could hang around for the final fireworks and then get home well after midnight again. Nah, forget that. Time for a few pictures before heading back. Here are a couple of the more impressive buildings – the Bolshoy Ice Dome and Iceberg Skating Palace.

A couple of other interesting buildings were nearby.

And, finally, the soon to be lit torch.

Day 9 – February 8, 2014

Many things in the volunteer village are improving. I am told that we now have Wi-Fi for the internet, although I’ve already bought a USB modem that gets me access through the cellular network. They’ve now put automatic door closers on the dining hall doors since people tended to leave the doors open. We now get jam and butter with our meal, which I originally thought was for the (already greasy, sweet) crepes, but they must be for the bread.

Some things still need to be improved. A few days ago we ran out of toilet paper. These things happen, especially with ten people in a room. So, off I went to the registration/info desk to find out where I could get some more. “We ran out; we have none,” says the nice girl at the table. Seriously?!? I looked at her incredulously. Apparently we were expected to purchase our own until they restock. I explained to her that this is a basic need that should be supplied. Well, a phone call later and I’m told that I could go pick up a roll at the warehouse where we picked up and exchange our sheets. Of course I asked for a second roll, which took a while to find.

Apparently two rolls wasn’t enough to get me through the TP drought. I check at the warehouse. “We have nothing.” Back to the registration/info desk. “We have nothing.” You cannot be serious. It has been several days! Another phone call and now we’ll get some tomorrow.

Oh well, up to the venue for my earliest start yet – 8:00 a.m. I followed these local beverage providers up (this one’s for my Coke truck driving friend, Troy).

We met in a room in the wax trailer complex. I noticed that Bermuda has a skier(Tucker Murphy), believe it or not, sharing a cabin with Boznia and Herzegovina.

Just like in Vancouver 2010, there are two main race courses – a red course and a (more difficult) blue course. They are a maximum of 5 km each but can be adjusted to various distances by using cut-off trails. Today’s race is the women’s 15 km skiathlon. They ski two laps of classic technique (with the tracks) of the 3.75 km red course, change skis in pit boxes in the stadium, and then ski two laps of free technique (i.e. skating) of the 3.75 km blue course.

This is the stadium with the long row of pit boxes stretching the length of it in the middle. The picture was taken from the final corner into the stadium.

If you looked at the red course carefully, you may have noticed that it crosses itself at one point. No, this is not like the figure-8 car races they use to have at the PNE fair. They use this tunnel.

One of the tasks we had to do today involved shovelling the snow along the edge of a retaining wall so that it was flat allowing more room for snowmobiles to travel. One of my team members worked a little too hard.

When all the hard work was done, we were able to watch the competition. We had to put on a different jacket though since we were no longer officially working. Yep, we were real Olympic spectator types now, even getting our faces painted!

Pictures with the mascots!

Okay, I have no idea who that lady is. But hey, she looked cute with the mascots.

I found a spot along the end of the stadium with these lovely people.

I pull out my Canada flag cape and hang it on the fence. I’m not the only Canadian watching though.

Off go the forerunners, who pre-ski the course before the race to make it better for the racers (particularly on snowy days) and also as a ceremonial protocol of sorts.

Filming the event, we have the low sky cam…

And the high sky cam.

The race is under way and the crowd is ecstatic, chanting “RA-SEE-YA, RA-SEE-YA…” (Russia, in Russian) every time a Russian skier departed. And other nationalities cheering on their own countrymen (especially the Norwegians). It was so exciting to be there!

We had three Canadians skiing today, all of whom placed in the middle of the pack.

After the race was over, I put on my cape. Well then suddenly everybody wanted pictures with me. “Photo with me?” “Russia. Canada. Hockey. Da.” I felt like a Canadian superstar ambassador of some sort!

One lady even gave me a Russian toque!

Of course I was nowhere near as popular as the Norwegians and their Viking hats!

And I spotted this girl in her mascot hat, which all the kids here seem to like.

Apparently they also like Coca Cola and gold medals.

On the way back to the gondola building, I was stopped and interviewed briefly by an OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) crew, asking my impression of the Games and filming my Canada flag cape. And the entertainment tent was now in full swing!

Notice the canon? That’s to be used on those that don’t applaud.

And there was more to top an already fabulous day. After I finished dinner, someone made an announcement in Russian. Several people go running up to line up, the way that Russians tend to “line up”. Interesting, I though. So I mosey on over. “Does anybody speak English?” One lady did and explained that tickets for the 3:30 p.m. women’s 3000 metre speed skating tomorrow were being handed out. I had a shift that afternoon but worked my way into the line-up anyway in the hopes that I could change my shift. There were enough tickets that I got one and Maria’s response to my text was that of course I could change to the morning shift. SCORED!

I’m feeling very Olympic today!

The Final Countdown

Day 7 – February 6, 2014

The one thing you dread happening on a trip has happened – I have caught a cold. Better yet, it caught my while I wasn’t watching. Fortunately it’s not all that bad and I’m able to continue functioning as a human being. A bit of a runny, stuffy nose and relatively minimal discomfort.

Enough of the doctor’s report. Final preparations are being made everywhere. The last of the paving stones have (just recently) been put in place. Banners are going up. Entertainment tents are being erected, both in the villages and at the venues. I saw a metal street/sidewalk dividing fence being spray-painted. Interestingly, nobody was cleaning off the dirt beforehand. Hey, it’ll look nice while it needs to.

At the venue, our first task this morning was to put the “Sochi 2014” labels on the v-boards. The hazy effect is so that you can see exactly what things looked like through my foggy glasses.

And then out onto the snow.

One of the things we do is mark where the tracks start, after a corner or steep downhill that has no tracks, so the skiers know where to aim for. In Canada, we place coloured plastic “whiskers” between the two tracks. On this side of the Atlantic, it is common just to use evergreen twigs.

The country flags have now been raised.

Athletes are being interviewed all over. You may recognize a famous American skier.

In the meantime, our team is actually putting in a decent day’s work, working on adjusting some fencing here.

You almost get the feeling something big is about to happen.

I spotted this tree, which I thought was symbolic of some of our struggles to get to the top, despite the obstacles life might throw at us.

I know, I should have been a philosopher.

With my morning shift done, I head down. I rode down with a photographer whom I thought was either Aussie or perhaps English, given the accent. It turns out that he was Finnish! He was a freelancer that had been to many Olympic events. Very interesting to talk to.

At the bottom, I decided to take the path less travelled this time (by me, anyway). Let’s see where this path up the other side of the river leads to.

Past another set of Olympic rings.

And then nearing the town of Rosa Khutor.

I love how buildings are precariously perched on precipitous plateaus around here.

As I walked further into town, for a second I thought I had suddenly gone back in time a week or so ago.

However, I knew I couldn’t really be in Amsterdam since there was no strange herbal odour emanating from this place.

Oh, look, tourists!

I came upon a film crew from NBC, who had set up on one of the many pedestrian bridges over the river, doing some interviews. As I was passing, they were interviewing three American snowboarders.

They even brought in their own authentic Russian folk singers as a nice background!

This guy scared me most. Still not sure what that is sticking out of his back.

Nearby was another plaza.

And on the other side, one of the many Sochi Live entertainment sites.

And everything around here is new and beautiful, including the parking garages.

It was just a quick walk to the end of the town.

And then back home down la rive gauche (where am I again?).

The new buildings are wonderful but you really have to admire some of the old buildings around here too.

Okay, I admit, these may be new buildings done up to look old.

This is one of the many, many gondolas heading up into the mountains from the valley.

On the way back, I stopped in at a souvenir shop. Two girls came in and said “Hello Dirk”. I had no idea who they were. I’m meeting far too many people!

I also stopped in at a grocery store and found these – “fish in a basket”.

Finally, a little game. Let’s see how well you know the Cyrillic alphabet. Here are some American company logos written using the Cyrillic alphabet. Do you know which companies these are?

That’s right – Subway, Baskin Robbins and McDonald’s. The last one should have been obvious. And, for bonus points, which one of these is a worldwide Olympic sponsor?

Pre-Games Prep

Day 4 – February 3, 2014

One of the nice things about travelling is all of the people you get to meet. The other day, coming back from picking up my accreditation and uniform, I was standing in a long line-up for the Megafon kiosk (Megafon is a local cellular supplier) to ask about costs of various plans. Lo and behold, what do my ears pick up, but someone speaking English! After hearing so much Russian and understanding almost none of it, it’s amazing how soothing a familiar language is.

I introduce myself and find out that they are Jim from Squamish (near Vancouver) and Brian from Kitsilano (in Vancouver). Both are involved in the ski jumping. There is actually a whole group from the Vancouver area helping out with that sport. They seem to be quite a close-knit group.

Today I had an afternoon shift, so a good chance to sleep in. Five o’clock rolls around and here I am, wide awake. Of course come 9:00 p.m., it’s all I can do to stay awake. Yup, our friend jetlag again. Oh well, time to catch up on some e-mail and, a little later, take some photos of the suite.

This is my personal space.

The bed is actually reasonably sized. The cabinet (in the back, left) isn’t. Woody has the left side and I have the right (yes, it’s for two people). Hence, my suitcase is not only being used for a tabletop, but another “cabinet”. When adversity hits, improvise!

Here’s the rest of that room.

And the other two bedrooms.

You can see why I changed my mind about staying in that last room.

Here’s our “kitchen”.

The toilet is in a separate room so that someone can still wash up if the toilet is in use.

Note the blue garbage bag just sticking out on the right. It’s where the Russians deposit their used toilet paper. And when I say “used”, I don’t mean after blowing their nose. I saw this in Colombia as well. Apparently the paper clogs up the sewer system. I, personally, don’t care about the sewer system getting clogged. Especially after I’ve had to flush the toilet five times to purge it completely!

And the wash room. Note the position of the legs on the tub. Note the cloth on the floor to soak up the leak. And the shower head (sitting above the tap handles) – no place to hang it above. So much for a nice, relaxing shower.

Yesterday for breakfast, I had asked for three crepe rolls and actually got them. Dare I ask for four today? I get to where they’re serving them and see two plates sitting there – one with two and the other with three rolls. Did I take the one with three? Of course not. I took both! Well you should have seen the look I got from the server when she noticed. I just smiled, rubbed my tummy, said “hungry”, and moved on down the line.

I decided to walk the whole way to the base of the Laura gondola today. It takes about half an hour. If I took the bus, after walking to the stop, waiting for it, the five or ten minute drive to the Krasnaya Polyana transport hub and then a 15 or 20 minute walk from the transport hub to the base, it is probably faster to walk.

Interestingly, the walk from the transport hub didn’t have to be so long. On the left in the picture below, you can see the red sign of the railway station, which is where the transport hub is. Even further left is what looks like a walkway across the river. However, that is just for holding pipes or cables. We actually have to walk to the right about 400 or 500 metres, cross a busy road, and then double back.

Here’s the view from near the base of the gondola. There is a path on the left, but it goes to a crossing a little further up the river, towards the town of Rosa Khutor.

Since I have an afternoon session, I start my shift with a late lunch at Laura Centre. We actually get a salad of some kind along with the soup and main dish. I also discovered buckwheat groats, which is a Russian staple. (Note, this picture is from http://www.inspiritoo.com.)

They don’t look all that appetizing but are actually quite edible. One thing I’ve noticed, Russians seem to put ketchup and mayonnaise on everything. Ketchup on the groats, noodles, potatoes, amongst other things. Mayonnaise on salads and soup.

My start time today is 2:00 p.m. Work includes a lot of “sit around and wait”. We’ll put out some v-boards (plastic v-shaped course markers that are a metre or so long) to demarcate the course (for training), help move some equipment, raise some fencing or whatever else needs doing. All the teams are pitching in wherever is needed at this point. When there’s nothing to do, we have tea. Or just wait.

Lots of time to take some more pictures of the outstanding scenery! Here are the Olympic rings from above the cross country stadium.

This is the Rosa Khutor Ski Centre, where alpine ski events are taking place. It is straight across the valley from Laura.

Is there a building under there…?

A lot of the teams and press have arrived, like these colourful media types from Belarus.

The course here is one of the toughest ever in the Olympics, with huge hills, which we need to climb when we are setting up the course. Here is one of the hills, which is right beside the long hill we slog up in the morning to just get to the cross country stadium.

And more hills.

Having found some internet access in one of the hallways in the biathlon building, I hung around until it got dark out. However, when I looked out, it didn’t look like nightfall had fallen. That’s because the lighting here is amazingly bright! No need for a flash for this shot just outside the biathlon stadium.

At dinner that night I met Jim and Brian again, and also Tim from Canada, Albert from Norway (who spoke excellent English) and a lady from Portland, Oregon.

Dinner seems to alternate between a rice dish mixture and a potato dish mixture, along with soup. There’s always bread, soup and tea.

And there seem to be crepe rolls every morning for breakfast, alternating between savoury and sweet. The Russian definition of “variety” differs greatly from mine!

From time to time the power goes off in the dining hall. I wonder whether that’s done on purpose so that you can’t see what you’re eating. Most of it actually tastes pretty good to be honest, although it’s nothing to write a blog about.

Day 5 – February 4, 2014

Today’s a day off for me. Yup, after a couple of days of work, doing perhaps two hours of real work, a guy needs a break! No need to go up to the venue.

It seems there have been some complaints about the food, and “management” is responding. As of this morning, they’ve started giving us four crepe rolls, and yogurt too! And some rolls too. No, I won’t be starving after all. Things are definitely improving. Anyone that’s watching their carbs, though, is not doing well.

At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, all the volunteers were allowed to watch the dress rehearsal of the opening ceremonies. That is not the case here in Sochi. They have a couple of rehearsals here – one on February 1 and another today. There were only small batches of tickets distributed to the various venues for distribution.

When I asked Maria (the cross country coordinator) yesterday, she said that they only received a few tickets and those were for Saturdays rehearsal. Well, around noon I receive a text message from Maria stating that she managed to find a ticket for me, and that I could pick it up at the cross country race office. WOHOO! Guess I am going up to the venue after all today.

When I got up to the venue, I decided to take the shuttle bus to cross country since I was now running tight on time. At one point, we had to wait for a bunch of Canadians to get out of the way!

On the way back down I took this picture looking up the river. On the far right is a yellow parking garage, to the right of which is the gondola base station.

This is the German House nearby.

And a little further down the road, a security post.

I noticed the new mall was finally open and went in quickly to have a look. After a security check, of course. I noticed this lovely young princess handing out flags for a new toy store and decided to take a picture, and was promptly berated by a security guard. However, being the princess that she was, she convinced him to allow somebody (with poor camera skills) to take a picture of her and me.

And then off to the Olympic Park. That was a bit of a trick getting there. Woody convinced me that the trains would be packed and to take the B11 bus. I got to the bus stop and I swear there were 50 people there. Almost all of them got on the bus that would take them to the train station. I saw a B11 go flying by my stop. After watching another bus fill with people to the train station and the scheduled time go by for the next B11, I decide to take the train myself since time was now tight. Off I go for my unplanned workout – a fifteen minute run to the station.

I made it with time to spare. Tons of people were headed to Fisht Stadium.

Of course the show was amazing! However, I froze. I had no idea it was an open-air stadium since it does, after all, have a roof. It was tolerable after I put on every piece of clothing I had with me.

After the show, the worst incident on my trip so far took place. I was racing back to get a seat on the bus, given the throngs of thousands that were doing the same thing. Suddenly, down I go, slamming hard into the pavement! The culprit, a missing grate, similar to the black one in this picture, from a drainage hole that my foot went into.

My hand was pretty sore but no blood, scrapes, twisted ankles or broken bones. Of course my immediate thought is “51 billion dollars and they can’t ensure that all the grates are in place!” However, there could have been any number of reasons that it was missing. I’m sure that there was some security camera watching this, and a bunch of Russians are having a laugh over it. I expect to be on the next episode of “Russia’s Funniest Home Videos”.

Day 6 – February 5, 2014

To give you some idea of the size of the village, here are a couple of maps. The first shows the location of the village. Sochi is to the west and Laura Centre to the East.

And this is a detailed map of the village itself. We are in block 20 on the second floor.

The food tent is the large, green structure in the middle. There is an entertainment/lounge tent to the right of that, sponsored by a university, I believe.

On today’s ride up the gondola, these five Uzbekistan technicians rode up with me.

What an enjoyable trip up! They spoke almost no English and I know not one word of Uzbek, yet we had the most interesting conversation. They were a real fun-loving bunch that were happy to be here. And when we got to the top, they all wanted photos with me.

The weather continues to be absolutely wonderful, although there is still quite a chill in the air.

Athletes, technicians and their hundreds of skis are all over the place.

Here’s a shot of some of my team.

I’m still trying to remember all of their names. Most only speak a smattering of English but they’re all quite friendly and helpful. I do a lot of following around and “let’s do what they do”, since those giving instructions often don’t speak much English either. It certainly helps if you’re good at charades too.

This area is called the “mix zone”, where all the athletes are interviewed by the media. A camera platform is in the background. The fences will eventually be covered in Sochi Olympics colours.

Fencing is being put up everywhere.

I hung around until dark again. There was a practice event going on at the biathlon stadium that evening.

The purple security guys were everywhere.

And, for your viewing pleasure, a few more shots of what the venue looks like at night.

Don’t you wish you were here?