Well a quick follow up to my last date before I start my new blog. I arranged to meet a couple of police officers and I can say I had a great time. I discovered that officers here in Russia deal with the same type of issues that we do back home. It was great to hear how that Russian police are taking the security of volunteers and fans here very serious and are working to make the games truly a safe games.
I had an opportunity to take a day and tour Olympic Park and I want to tell everyone of you reading this blog that you truly will be amazed by the wonderful sites that will host the games. The games slogan is HOT COOL YOURS and I want each and everyone of you that these words do reflect the Russian natural character. HOT represents the heart of sport passion that the games will bring. COOL needs no explanation as the nation of Russia is associated with its frosty, snowy winters. Finally YOURS is a reminder that the Olympic games are for everyone.
I took one of my days off and went down to the Coastal cluster where I saw all the wonderful stadiums and rinks that will be used for the games. Standing in the middle of the Olympic park and looking around and see all these wonderful structure was one of the first things that made me speechless. We walked around the park and the centre piece of the park is the Olympic Flame certainly was the centre piece and nightly light show from the base made the day. One of the rinks there is Ice Cube which will be the host of the curling events and after the game will be taken down and moved to another town in Russian. The stadium is one of the smaller ones as it only holds 3,000 people.
The next place I went to was the Adler Speedskating arena and I can say that this place was amazing from the outside and some day I would love to see my son Jeff skating here. The arena has two tracks as well as a training track. I look forward to hearing the Canadian national athem coming from inside this arena many times.
The two hockey rinks that will be used by the men and women are the Bolshoy and the Shaybe arena and I am looking forward to watching the Canadian hockey games from here. We did our touring around the Olympic Park in the late afternoon and the lights from these building were brilliant. The Bolshoy is complex that is a spherical dome and the lights on the top change frequents and makes a wonderful array of lights on the top.
The Coastal cluster is made of the Fisht Olympic stadium which is the host for both the opening and closing ceremonies. The stadium holds 40,000 people and from there the fans can see the spectator mountain peaks to the north and the wonderful Black Sea to the south. A little research and I was able to learn that the structure resembles a rocky crag which blends perfectly into the panorama of the Caucasus Mountains. On January 28 th I can say I got one of the best calls I have had in a very long time. My roommate Jinsong called and told me that I got selected to go to the rehearsal of the Opening ceremonies. The show was great and will be something that many will truly enjoy it. The rehearsal was great, however the best part was when I was able to get 40,000 people to stand up and get them to do the wave. As a result of my personal style it was even better when so many Russian people stood and cheered with me when the cheered for the Canadian when the flag was brought into the park.
In the last day or so things have truly reached the next level up at Endurance Village. All the athletics walk by my Info booth and the bag storage area daily and I have had a great time talking with them and even collecting a few pins along the way. Many of the young Russian are truly enjoying my unique style when dealing with the athletes and I make many of them smile.
One of the highlights of the weeks was yesterday when I took the time and visited the Mountain Village which is where may roommate from England works. The two villages are very unique in there own ways. While my friend talked with a co-worker I took the time to take the long walk to visit the residence of the Canadians and I was not disappointed as I turned the corner and I saw a huge wooden container out front. As I got closer I was amazed to see that the CANADIAN MOOSE had arrived. The CANADIAN MOOSE was decorated in its fine Canadian colours. I was a great moment when I took a picture while inside the actual container.
Everywhere I go people ask about you, if you are enjoying yourself and what you are doing. Love you Jo
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