Saturday, December 10, 2011

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!


Oh My! I will be back in the states in two days! Crazy! Time has gone by so fast and I have done a ridiculously awful job of keeping my blog updated. I don’t even know where to begin.
I wont even talk much about my second day here. I tested out my route to the ExCel Arena (where the competition was taking place), walked around a bit, and then went to Trafalgar Square in London. Which I must say is probably one of my favorite places. I’m not sure why as there isn’t much to do there but to me there seems like there is a lot to look at. In the evening I went with Nina to her Bible study group. It was good; they had been doing a study of 1 John. Tough stuff, but interesting of course and I learned a bit.
Wednesday: I went to the ExCel for “training”. It wasn’t very informative, basically just information about the arena itself and important people we should know. Kind of a waste, but then we got a tour and saw where the wrestling competition would take place and got a small feeling of the magnitude of the event the volunteers will be involved with. We finished a little bit early, I got back to “the flat” about 8pm had dinner and went to sleep planning to wake up early and check out more of London on Thursday.
Thursday: Epic Fail. I did not wake up early enough to go into London. Just made it to Starbucks and the Underground to get to the ExCel. My shift was pretty boring. The athletes did arrive today, which was great. Got to see the American’s, didn’t talk to the guys I knew but they were training and looked good. My job consisted of sitting in the equipment room and walking around watching the different countries train. Unfortunately I cant say too much about what I do, which is quite silly because I don’t do much. But if you think of me like a gopher for athletes (or anybody really) then you’d be close to my job description.
Friday: The days started blending together on Friday, but today I DID wake up early. I felt very accomplished by the time I got to my shift at the ExCel. I left “the flat” about 10am and got to Covent Garden by 11. My shift was at 1:30 and I didn’t have to hop back on the underground until 1 so I had a lot of time to “bum around”. Covent Garden is basically a bunch of shops and boutiques together in a concentrated area. It’s very similar to Quincy Market (in Boston) for those of you who have been there. I also visited the Royal Opera House and walked past, because I was to scared to go in, the Royal Ballet. Kind of exciting. I also went down to Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace. I walked up right as the changing of the guard started and got to see the whole thing sitting on a stone “fence”. I walked up to the palace once the crowds had left and the gates were open, the flag was on the palace (so the queen was there), and a car was leaving! But there wasn’t anyone important in the car, you could see through the windows and it was just two guys. Not very exciting. Then finally I made my way to the ExCel. My shift was pretty much the same as Thursday, athletes practiced, I sat around, and drank tea J. I also individually labeled the 50+ stress balls that were supposed to be used for the draw for the competition.

They were never used.

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