The following account is by Margo Neal, proofreader for The Malibu Times and Malibu Times Magazine, as well as a Malibu Rotary Club member. Neal is volunteering at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada. She is in Whistler, where many of the skiing events are taking place.
I had the day off yesterday (my birthday) and I went skiing. First off, Merilea and I went to the race course for the Women’s Super G and watched some of the racers take off … they go so-o-o-o fast, but some not fast enough to get a medal. The difference between a medal and no medal can be so-o-o-o small-the laser timers here can time to one billionth of a second (.000000000001), but, in fact, they have needed to go only to the hundredth-still!
To get to the racecourse, we had to ski down a black diamond run-this, my first run in a few months! So, very quickly, I had to remind myself what to do on a black diamond run: weight on the downhill ski, lean downhill until your bra strap falls off (I don’t know what men do for this) and don’t spill the virtual tray of Riedel glasses filled with chardonnay. Made it just fine, didn’t spill a drop. After we watched the race for a while, and hooted and hollered at the racers, we skied the mountain. It was perfect: not too cold, full sun, great snow (and plenty of it) and almost no one on the slopes. Sometimes we were the only ones on the run. Wow! And of course I had to wear my birthday present to myself-a new, gorgeous ski outfit.
We go in for lunch, find a table and who walks by-Malibu Councilwoman Pamela Conley Ulich and family. I had heard she was coming. They are a skiing family and this is their first trip to Whistler. Ed and Laura Gillespie are also here-and we hope to meet up for a few runs one day this week.
Week two of volunteering-the blush is off the rose a bit. Merilea has very long days and is on her feet all day out at the Whistler Olympic Park, site of the Nordic events. When I picked her up from the bus the other day, her first words were, “This job sucks.” No wonder-she is on her feet for her 10-hour days and still has to get up at 3:15 a.m. in order to get out to the park on time-then, an equally long bus ride back to the village at the end of her shift. Much of volunteering here can be/is not exciting. I asked one young man on the bus about his job: “Very unglamorous, I load and unload boxes.” Both of us would like to quit and not fulfill our obligation (one week was enough), but, of course, we won’t-we’ll stick it out. This is the last week we have to work, just three more days. We can do it. Those early hours take their toll-but, hey, this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, eh?
Walking through the Whistler village day or night is wonderful: exciting, alive, vibrant. Flags waving. Cowbells ringing. Tubas blowing. Alp horns blowing. It’s a circus-a very colorful, happy, crazy, fun-filled circus! Everyone trading pins, asking for new ones. The European fans go all out and dress in some outrageous costumes. And the European women! They are dressed to the nines-easy to pick them out.
Canadians are hockey crazy, just like L.A. and the Lakers. We know of two instances (from second but very reliable sources) where a person paid $20,000 for two tickets to the hockey gold medal game. As I said, hockey crazy. But the Canada hockey team just lost a game to the U.S., which now goes into the quarterfinals. Team Canada has to play (and win) one more game (against Germany) in order to get into the quarterfinals. All the U.S. teams are doing extremely well; they are way ahead in the medal count.
We have had some great weather here the last few days; keeping out fingers crossed that it will last.