Yesterday my friend Audrey arrived from Calgary -- she'll stay with Hailey and I for the rest of the Games. She'll be stationed at the Athlete's Village, but not until tomorrow, so we had time to wander around (Whistler) Village yesterday.

First of all, the 'rings' finally arrived, to adorn the entrance to the Celebration Plaza, where medal ceremonies will take place every night...

(We're assuming that those colored stripes must light up at night ... otherwise these rings are pretty boring. :)

Audrey and I posed for Hailey...

By the way, that piece of plastic hanging around my neck is called my 'accreditation,' and it's THE security bracelet around here -- the info is all scan-able (is that a word, d'ya think?), and includes my 'number,' my photo, my volunteer job here, the list of venues where I'm allowed, and any restrictions on that access (for example, mine tells them that I'm allowed pretty much anywhere in Whistler's Olympic world, but ONLY if I'm in my official Olympic vehicle).


The athletes are starting to arrive from all over the world now -- I've seen Russian delegates, Czech delegates, French delegates... and yesterday I overheard a story about two Kazhakstan (spelling?)delegates who'd gotten hopelessly lost somewhere but were eventually found.

These German delegates were at the rings yesterday with one each of the Olympic mascots. There's Qautchie the Sasquatch..

Sumi the animal spirit ...

Miga the sea bear...

And last, but not least, MukMuk the marmot...

... who only existed in cyberspace until the Vancouver Sun intervened!

Yesterday this was my view from the 'Staging Area' at the Whistler 'Transportation Mall (where we wait for clients who need to be driven somewhere):

That's Whistler's Municipal Hall (unaffectionately known locally as 'the Muni') on the right.

Sadly, we are still spending quite a bit of time practising the routes, routines and procedures, etc, since there aren't that many folks yet demanding our services -- that will all change pretty rapidly after today, though, we've been told.

But today I actually have a day off, because it's the day that Hailey and I go to the Opening Ceremony dress rehearsal in Vancouver! Cameras are expressly forbidden so I'm not sure what I'll have to show for it, but we're pretty excited to be going, anyway!