Magic Mailbox: London 2012 Edition

I had the honour of guest blogging for Andrea, of Athletes First while she was away in the UK at a conference and she very kindly offered to bring home some swag for me from London 2012 as a thank you. 

True to her word, these fabulous goodies arrived today! There's Mandeville, the Paralympic Mascot (who at this moment I can totally relate to, seeing as I've been a one eyed spectator!) a mug to match (in my favourite colours!) and two packages of Cadbury chocolate mascots. I'm going to save the chocolate till I go to Whistler. It seems fitting to eat 2012 chocolates where our 2010 alpine events were hosted and you can bet I'll be saving the wrappers! Those will end up in my journal for sure!

Andrea also included a beautiful card that depicts eight rowers. In addition to being a Paralympic ski guide, she is also a rower. She said the card was in celebration of the silver medal the Canadian Women's 8 team won last week. Andrea has friends who were rowing in that boat! 

So, so cool and very much appreciated! THANK YOU ANDREA!! 

The Magic Mailbox, Olympic Edition

Just when you thought I was done talking about the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games...*laughs* Yes, I have more to post!

Yesterday I went to pick up my mail and lo and behold there was a card indicating a large item to be picked up at the counter. I traded the card for over sized Xpresspost envelope, which I had to sign for. Once all the formalities were taken care of, I flipped it over to see where it was from-I wasn't expecting anything other than a prize I won (more about that in a later post) and it certain wouldn't be flat! Imagine my surprise when I saw the return address belonged to VANOC. (The organizing committee of the 2010 Games.)

I didn't even leave the post office before I ripped it open to see what they could possibly be sending me now. There was a letter from John Furlong, president of VANOC (Remember I got a photo with him at the Paralympic Torchbearers' party?) It indicated that they were sending the Blue Jackets a special DVD to commemorate the behind the scenes work we, as volunteers of the Games did. The DVD is called "Behind the Moments/Dans Les Coulisses". It's about 2 1/2 hours long and broken into 4 segments. I watched it last night and it's incredible.

There were a couple specific things in it that stood out in my mind. In one segment, John Furlong talks about some of the preparation for the Opening Ceremony. He tells a story about how he was in a meeting discussing with David Atkins the idea of Rick Hansen wheeling up the ramp to bring the flame into the stadium for the lighting of the Olympic Flame. David tells John that there's no way Rick is going to be able to wheel up the ramp-that it's a theatrical ramp, not a wheelchair ramp and that even he has tried it as a fit person and and can't manage it. He insists that someone will have to push Rick up the ramp. John in turn tells David that it will take a bigger man than he to tell Rick Hansen he can't do something and there's no way John's going to call and tell Rick it's not possible.

David gets Rick to come to the stadium to test his theory that what John wants is just not going to happen and to his utter amazement, Rick wheels himself up the ramp under his own steam on his first try. David calls John to tell him to which John replies "Well of course he did-he's Rick Hansen!"

Years ago, as part of his Man in Motion Tour, Rick Hansen wheeled himself up the most brutal hill in Coquitlam and the steepest one he encountered on his world tour. 20 years later, he did it a second time. Clearly David Atkins had no clue how deeply he underestimated Rick Hansen's ability to move mountains! I was deeply amused by this.

The other thing that I loved on the DVD is a 30 minute montage of photographs from the Games. One photo in particular stays with me. It was taken up on Cypress, home to all the alpine events. The backdrop is snow and a safety fence with the Games colours on it. Standing right in front of the fence is a pair of leg prostheses with a folded sweater resting on top of them. When I saw that, I immediately thought the caption for that photo should read "Gone skiing." It was such a powerful image, speaking to the ability of the human spirit to rise about limitations. That image spoke volumes.

As John Furlong said at the end of the video, there are so many stories of the games, seen and experienced by the volunteers that the world will never know. But, as he pointed out, the important thing is that we, the Blue Jackets know those stories. I have so many stories myself that either never made it onto my blog or that I only mentioned only in part, simply because I was far too exhausted at the end of the day during the Games to go into great detail.

I really wish there was a book to compile them in. I would love to write that book-I would love to hear all the stories and to re-experience the Games through the eyes of my fellow volunteers. Can you imagine? That would be a dream within a dream for me. If only!

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was featured in the Summer edition of Shared Voices, the MS Society's Lower Mainland Chapter newsletter. If you'd like a peek, you can click here. The article is on page 7, so scroll down.

I have more Games related news, but I won't have details for another month or so. I'll spill the beans once I know what the plan is, hopefully by late August. I am really excited about it!

In totally unrelated news, because so many readers have asked, an Indiana Jones update: Indy saw our sweet vet (I love our vet) this morning and he got a clean bill of health. A week's worth of medicine and TLC cured his eye infection. YAY! Thank you for asking after him and wishing him well. He sends you all puppy kisses. xoxo

More 2010 Olympic Volunteer Swag!

The other day when I arrived at Workforce check-in, I was given this box.

It had the theme of the Games written under the flap.

This is what it said inside.

And it held this medallion. This is the front...

...and this is the back.

I was also given this pin from the IOC. (International Olympic Committee.)

Special Olympic chocolate! "Believe" is the theme of CTV (Canadian Television) which is the host network of the Games.

I also got this cool journal. This is the front cover...

...and the back.

Some pages have journalling prompts...

...some pages have Games graphics on them. Each spread is different. It's really quite nice.

The good stuff just keeps coming! I had a choice between an umbrella or a photo album yesterday. I chose the album.

It has a whole page of Olympic stickers inside and the pages for the photos are all in blues and greens.

Our final gift for volunteering for the Olympics is a special edition Swatch watch.

I got mine early because I won't have a bag with me at the ceremonies on Sunday. The face is huge and it glows in the dark.

We've sure been given some fun stuff. I imagine there will be swag for the Paralympics as well. I wonder what that will be?!? We'll just have to wait and see!

Team 2010 Swag

I keep forgetting to tell you about one of the perks of being an Olympic Volunteer. We have this card on the back of our accreditation (ID) that tracks our shifts. Every time we check in for a shift that has Mukmuk (one of the Olympic mascots) marking the square, we get a gift.

You will also notice that I have one square where there's an "X" through the box. That was the day I won the free tickets to the Swiss vs. Norway Men's hockey game that I mentioned the other day. Yes, sometimes we also win random prizes!

The first gift was this pin with Miga and Quatchi.

Gift #2 was a stuffed Quatchi. (Or you could get a Miga, but I thought Quatchi was cuter.) Indy decided he liked this one and tried to claim it for his own, but I knew he'd just rip it to shreds, so I didn't let him have it. I suppose it will take up residence in the studio.

Gift #3 was a silver plated key chain from Birks. The front has both the Olympic and Paralympic emblems on it.

On the back it says "Team 2010" in both English and French. I am going to take it off the ring and put it on a chain and wear it as a pendant. I think using it as a key chain will wreck it and I'd get more use out of it if I wore it instead. It looks like a dog tag.

Yesterday I also went and picked up my Paralympic uniform conversion kit. The blue panel snaps onto the back of my jacket, covering the Olympic rings with the Paralympic agitos. The patch goes on the front after I take the Olympic logo off. (It's attached by velcro.) I also got my new accreditation. (Identification.) I'm all set!

The Paralympic Opening Ceremony takes place on March 12th. It takes 2 weeks to change over all the logos from the Olympics to the Paralympic logos. It's an entirely separate entity, so anything that has the Olympic rings on it is replaced with the agitos. It's a big job changing out all the signage.

While I was at the accreditation center, I discovered that they've produced a CD with all the music from the opening ceremonies. While "We Are More" is on there, the only songs not included are k.d. lang's Halleluia, which she released independently (I already got it through iTunes, though.) and "Un Peu Plus Haut" by Garou. The CD was $20 CDN and I *think* you can purchase it locally at any official merchandising stand and perhaps at the Bay as well. Online, those of you in the US can find it here.

It's amazing to think that there are only 6 days left and then the Games will be over! The time has flown by so quickly. It was really nice to have the day off yesterday so I could see Canada win GOLD in Ice Dance! That's been a long time coming and such a huge accomplishment.

Don't forget to leave a comment on my giveaway post. There's still time, as I won't be drawing it till Friday.