Yeah, I am a "host" at the olympics. Now for all you funny, funny people out there that doesn't mean I am the Ryan Seacrest of the 2010 winter games. Really it means that I am lowest on the food chain. I guess here's a general run of my day. I will write this trying answer all the questions I think my mom would ask so if it gets a little specific just keep this in mind...(sorry mom). I wake up at 3:45am...(yeah I know) and in total silence and almost total darkness get my gear on for the day and head downstairs. It's imperative that I stay silent cause there are people who have a days off and so I want to let them sleep a little later. I go down stairs to the lobby/kitchen area of the Squamish Baptist church. I pop a bagel in the toaster, butter it up and munch it down. Then I usually grab a bowl of raisin bran and use a bite to swallow my cold-fx pill. It boosts my immune system to keep me from getting sick which currently isn't working very well cause I am feeling a cold coming on strong. I will either grab a bible and write down a verse for the day or just sit there and be numb for a few minutes. At 4:25 I pile into the van with the other 10-17 people and Jimbad drives us to the bus station where we catch the 4:40 bus. The bus ride is different every time. Sometimes I talk to the person next to me, sometimes I sleep the whole way. Mostly it's a combination of the two. We roll into the Whistler Olympic Park at about 6am and head over to the check in tent. We check in, grab a bottle of water, get an assignment and then head out to our areas. I usually get mag and bag which is the security area. at 6:30 we have a meeting with out team leaders then we get ready for open at 7. I have had different team leaders everyday and different teams, most of the time I am with at least one other Kaleo student. Down at the mag and bag I wait until security opens their tents. There is airport style security and my job is to make sure people go through the metal detector one at a time. Depending on the tent I get put into, there is usually a lot of time where we are just standing around. I get to talk with the security people for many hours and it's great. I will get one break before 10:30 which is about 15 minutes long, time enough for a hot chocolate and bathroom break.. Depending on the events that day I, the security mostly closes down by 11am. I then get 30-45 minutes for lunch. It's good to sit at this point. The food is always a bowl of soup, a sandwich, a granola bar, a cookie, apiece of fruit and a drink. It's a filling meal of varying qualities. Salmon paste on rye bread with cauliflower soup was a particularly dark day for me... After lunch we get ready for what is called "egress" which is just the people leaving. They come down and we tell them which line to get in for the buses. The first few days there was a two hour wait in the bus line and people were pretty angry, especially since it was raining those days. I mostly went around and asked people what I could do to make the wait better. Many of the asked for either a song or a beer. I gave them a song but the beer was a tall order. After the third day the bus system improved and now egress is just saying good bye to people and answering the occasional question. After egress I grab a bus back to Squamish. An hour's sleep later I hop off that buss and get a 10 minutes ride from the stop to the church. When I get back to the church I change into comfortable clothes, read some of my books for class, play some music and then eat dinner. If I am not on dishes then I go to the prayer room and wait for our evening meeting. While waiting I sit and read my bible and pray and just rest in the Lord, most important part of my day. Then we have a meeting where we all share our stories from the day, prayer requests, tomorrow's schedule and maybe sing a tune or two. After the meeting I head upstairs to an inflatable mattress and bed down. In another 7 hours I will do it all over again...unless I have a day off. Which is a different story.
So far I have had a lot of fun working. Today I got to go watch biathlon for a half hour which was cool. I have been talking to a lot of people. I am mostly in talking with the security people. The security people are an interesting mix. They get paid about $18.50 an hour so there are some who are there for the money. These people have some sad stories. Many had to leave their families cause they had no work. One lady I met, Angela, had to leave the morning that her 5th grandchild was born. She felt sad about it but she had no choice, she has 11 foster children that she still sees and normally works at a school as a janitor and in a casino. Another guy, Josh lives a hard life. He works jobs all around the west coast, mostly construction but he spends a pile pf time away from his wife. There is also Max, a painter/author who was hard up for cash and put his art on hold for while so he could support his family.
There are also really interesting people who are around for the experience. Today I met Pierre Desjardins, a retired security guard who just wanted to volunteer to be around the Olympic hype. Or there is Michael from Germany who is spending the year traveling around Canada and is working to get some money for his flight back home to his girlfriend.
It's also important to know that the accommodations for the security crew are terrible. It's called rainbow valley but's it's been nicknamed "District 9" and "The Refugee Camp". The rooms are stacked storage containers with four people to a container. There is mold and many people are getting sick. This makes it hard to be there. I love talking to them cause I get to share some hope and enthusiasm with them. Very few people take the time ask about each other's lives in any detail so when I know them by name and ask them questions for an hour or so they seem to cheer up.
There are also a few volunteers outside of the group who are attaching themselves to the Kaleo group. Gareth, Tim (from Germany), Raissa and "Zan" are some of the other youth volunteers who we hang out with, even outside of the Olympics when we can.
Kaleo is getting known amongst the workers too. Some people are coming up to us and saying "Oh you must be part of that bible school group". Which is cool cause we have a continuing ministry everywhere we go. At this point we rarely are starting from ground zero when we talk to the volunteers and workers cause they already know a but about us. The other cool thing is that people are recognizing the Jesus in us, even if they don't realize it. Some Kaleos have been approached by people and told "there is some sort of spirit about you that makes you stand out". Others have seen us reading bible verses and encouraged us and been encouraged by us. This is so cool because according the policies of the Olympics, no religious group can be directly involved in the games at all and yet we are there, sharing hope and joy and our ears and lives with these people. God has put the church where they were told they couldn't go!
Yeah I am getting really tired but a few of us were talking last night and it really just allows God to show his strength. There is irony in that God's weakness is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25) and yet His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Very cool thing to see so visibly how God sustains us, especially when we are so weak.
Pray for us for freedom of sickness, rest, energy, more great conversations, bold words to share with these people we meet and above all praise God for working in such incredible ways.
Hope you all now know what it is I am doing and I will give updates in a few days on this very blog. Thanks for being interested and for praying everyone.
Cheers,
Tim
