Wednesday the 24th of February was the last day that I volunteered for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. My client, Felipe Muxf1oz Kapamas and his wife Wendy returned to Mexico. After taking them to the airport I washed my Olympic car, vacuum cleaned it and cleaned the mud off the inside. Even the car had a little bit less than 3000 kilometres on the odometre, it looked like it had been used for much more than that. Especially driving to Whistler where venues have become snowy and muddy, there was reason enough for a good clean.

The last couple of days I haven’t been able to update the site as things were just way too busy during the Games. The unfortunate thing is that I haven’t been able to write down much of my experiences. Everything that I know is currently in my brain and I am going to try to describe some of this below.

Since I hadn’t heard anything from my Mexican delegation, I first started to drive the German President and Vice-President of their National Olympic Committee on Saturday February 13. They were a bit surprised that I could speak German, even though I hadn’t been using it for more than 13 years. I took them to the Olympic Village in Vancouver and hung out for a few hours. I met some interesting people there. Later in the afternoon I took them to short track skating at the Pacific Coliseum and dropped them off at Germany House.

Marieke and I were invited to a Dutch NOC*NSF reception at Holland Heineken House in Richmond’s O’Zone. Marieke was invited because of her work and the invite was extended to me as well. It was very nice to meet the President of the Dutch NOC*NSF, Mrs. Erica Terpstra and so many more people who attended. I ended up speaking with one of Erica’s direct associates of which I didn’t get his name, but he was very interested in hearing what our backgrounds were all about and what we were doing for the Olympics. The fun thing was that he said that he has been living in Denmark for about 40 years, but he was also living in Holland. After I started speaking Danish to him he was totally surprised as he never expected me to speak the language. Erica had a very nice speech for the audience. She is such a nice person who is very passionate about the Olympic movement and sports in general. This is her last Olympics as a President after which the flag will be passed onto someone else.

It wasn’t until Tuesday Feb 16 when I first met Sexf1or Ricardo Contreras Hernandez, the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Mexico. He and his wife wanted to go out shopping, but not in Pacific Centre in Vancouver. Therefore I took them to Metrotown in Burnaby where they were able to spend four hours shopping with the hundreds of shops out there. Later in the afternoon I took them to Figure Skating at the Pacific Coliseum. The next day they were leaving Vancouver to fly back to Mexico on Wednesday Feb 17. So on that day I just did a trip to YVR. On Thursday Feb 18 the President of the Mexican National Olympic Committee and his wife arrived. After they were taken to the Olympic Family Hotel (OF2), they contacted me and we met down in the lobby. Right from the start I knew that we had a perfect match. Felipe Muxf1oz and his wife Wendy were very nice and with my Mexican background we got along with each other very well.

The first trip with them was to CHP (Canada Hockey Place). With the city completely changed with road closures and detours, it was quite interesting to actually reach the venue through the Costco parking entrance. After I dropped them off at the T1 drop-off location, I went up with them through security into CHP to the Lounge for Olympic Family Members. Before I realized, I was jumped on by a number of fellow volunteers who pointed out to me that I was not allowed into the lounge accompany my clients. They told me that they didn’t want any of us ‘smurfs’ into the lounge. Too many blue uniforms could convert the place into too many volunteers and even though we had the accreditation to get in, we were not allowed to enter. I ended up in the Workforce Break Area and was able to enjoy some speed skating and hockey at the same time. After an hour or so I picked them up and took them to Ice Dancing at the Pacific Coliseum. For this occasion I actually parked my car at the back of the arena for T1 parking. I made my way into the coliseum through backdoor security and I was able to enjoy some of the performances the ice dancing competitors were showing off. I talked to a dutch guy who was the RMT for one of the short track skaters. Always interesting to hear some of the inside stuff…! After I took Mr. Muxf1oz and his wife back to the hotel, I called it the night.

The next number of days I took them to many different events, such as snowboarding (unfortunately I couldn’t watch this myself and ended up in the staging area for a few hours at the bottom of Cypress Mountain. I also took them to Short Track skating at the Pacific Coliseum which I was able to watch as well and after spending a day in Whistler with the one and only Mexican athlete, I took them to the 1500 metre speed skating at the Richmond Olympic Oval. After I dropped them off at the Olympic Family seating area, I found out quickly that I was not allowed in, even though my accreditation should have allowed me in. But no, I had to wait elsewhere, so I ended up right behind Erica Terpstra, the Dutch NOC*NSF President who I met earlier at the reception and dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Mxe1xima and their little 2 year old daughter Arian. Although shielded off by ‘under cover’ agents, it was so cool to see the Dutch cheer on their countrymen and to see the Prince and his wife enjoy the race so much. Mark Tuitert ultimately was the one who won the gold medal in this distance. After the race was over, the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge and his wife walked right past by me… I thought it was kind of cool to see all these people up close. Early on in the Games, Marieke asked me to hand deliver an envelope to the secure OFH (Olympic Family Hotel) for the Private Secretary of the Dutch Crown Prince. By coincidence I met Joost Klarenbeek at the Oval and introduced myself. I told him that I was Marieke Luit’s husband and showed him Marieke’s picture. Marieke had to make a lot of arrangements for him and the Prince for the Olympics. It was definitely a small world at the Oval as I met many more volunteers in that area who were all (former) dutch citizens.

After the Oval we rushed to the Pacific Coliseum to watch short track speed skating. As before, I made my way in and was able to watch the entire race!!

We visited the Olympic Village as the President and his wife wanted to buy some Olympic things for their 3 children and grand children. There were waiting lines of at least 2 hours at the Olympics Suporstore so my suggestion was to do this quickly in the village. Security was tight, with thorough car inspections and ‘mag and bag’ inspections at the village. My shoes would always set off the detectors because of metal within them. I was also taken out for lunch. They liked to eat fish, so I recommended Joe Fortis… It was very nice of them to take me out for lunch and to include me as much as they could to all of the events.

Throughout the Games they have continued to include me into anything that they went to and it was just wonderful to see so many things during these Olympic Games. Thanks to all who have made this experience so wonderful for me!!!

The best thing about my job during the Games is that other than driving, I get to see some of the events. I am lucky that my client and his wife like to watch the competitions and therefore we have been all over the place. Here are a couple of photographs of the ice dance competition at the Pacific Coliseum as well as the short track ice skating. On Monday evening we saw the men’s free style skiing at Cypress Mountain and today we saw the Super G skiing with the one and only Mexican athlete Prince Hubertus von Hohonlohe. He is a 51 Mexican skier who lives in Spain and trains in Austria, but was born in Mexico and still holds the Mexican nationality. As most competitors were going for Gold, Hubertus ended up somewhere at the 86th place.

I am having an awesome time at the Games, which will soon come to an end. On the right a picture with me and Felipe Muxf1oz and his wife Wendy while we were watching Hubertus doing some training runs. We went up Blackcomb mountain in the chairlift and watched him ski down.

Tomorrow I will drive my Mexican friends to the airport. I might be driving the Chili delegation for a few hours on Thursday.

On the right a picture of the freestyle skiing at Cypress Mountain.

Check this video where Marieke was clearly visible and her sister Ingrid also around 1:24 min into the video… A dutch speed skater won the Gold medal in Richmond Olympic Oval. I was there and saw it with my own eyes!! I was standing right behind Erica Terpstra and Crown Prince Willem Alexander, Princess Mxe1xima and the youngest Princess who is currently 2 years old. Later on there was a big party at Holland Heineken House where I ended up after my busy day!

Here is the YouTube video at Holland Heineken House:

Vancouver is seeing an increase in tourists coming to visit for the Olympic Games. I have noticed that there are more and more pedestrians. Where on a normal day you would encounter may one or two people crossing a road, now whole groups of 20 to 30 people are using the crossings. The Olympic cauldron is a big attraction to everybody and thousands of people are walking by to get their best pictures taken. VANOC has now made changes to the fencing around the cauldron, which looked rather ugly, so people can take pictures that wouldn’t have to include the fence.

Work for me is slowly getting better. The first week was rather slow, but I have been reasonably occupied. The last few days I have driven the Secretary General of Mexico’s NOC. He took off yesterday and has now been replaced with the President and his wife. They are really nice people and after a long flight from Mexico all they could handle today was a hockey game at Canada Hockey Place. They wanted me to join them, but I was stopped by fellow volunteers who said I had to leave. Obviously my client was disappointed, but those are the rules, even though I do have the right accreditation. It looks like they do not want too many of ‘us smurfs’ occupying the VIP Lounge area. Fine by me. I went to the Work Force Break area and enjoyed both the hockey game and speed skating in the Oval on TVs. After an hour we left and I dropped them off at the hotel after which I could call it the night!!

Tomorrow we will be driving up to Whistler! The weather is great, so it should be a wonderful trip!!

The last couple of days we have seen more famous people than ever before. Marieke had a get together with Dutch Prime-Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Dutch NOC President Erica Terpstra. We also attended the reception (see invite below) that Erica Terpstra invited us for, so even I had the chance to meet her! Then today Marieke had another reception with Dutch Government leaders and ministers. After the reception I was at the right place at the right time at Holland Heineken House where I took a couple of pictures of Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Mxe1xima.

Obviously the Dutch were also very excited about their first Gold medal for speed skating won by Sven Kramer. I am pretty sure that Sven will score more gold in other distances. However I noticed that there is fierce competition with the Germans and Asian contenders putting their best foot forward.

Princess Mxe1xima and Prince Willem Alexander are being informed about the beautiful Dutch Olympic clothing at Holland Heineken House. After their official reception they came out in public and visited all of the shops. This of course drew a lot of attention and people were taking lots of pictures. Here is one of the pictures I took for the occasion.

BTW, Marieke bought herself a very nice jacket at this store!!

Gold on home soil!! We have it!! Alexandre Bilodeau won gold with his victory in moguls!! Way to go!! This is just the start!! Jennifer Heil took silver in moguls too and Kristina Groves won bronze on the 3000 metres speed skating in the Richmond Olympic Oval yesterday!

After a day of watching CTV Olympics at the Work Force Break area at OF2 (Marriott) on Friday, spirits were up for Saturday hoping to see the Mexican Secretary General. I hadn’t received a phone call from him at all…! Then one of our supervisors (Jim) came over to me and asked if I would like to drive the German NOC President and Vice-President for a few hours. For sure I was very happy to actually do something useful, so when I picked them up the President and my supervisors were actually stunned that I could speak German, so that worked out very nicely. First we headed to the Vancouver Olympic Village (see pictures that I took) where they had to meet the German athletes. I walked around the entire village and ran into lots of interesting people. I saw a big group of Dutch athletes entering their building and even some them were riding Dutch bikes! I spoke with an American aerial skier who just did an interview for TV and ended up chatting away with a police officer from Ontario who put his name in the hat and who got lucky to be chosen for security work for the Games. Then I drove my guests back to their hotels and since the Mexican delegation hadn’t called I continued to drive the Germans to the Pacific Coliseum where they attended short track speed skating. Later in the evening I dropped them off at Germany House which concluded a nice full day of driving. In between I had the opportunity to walk to the Olympic flame close to the Main Media Centre and I walked over to Robson Square and Robson Street where I watched some short track on a giant video screen on side of the Sears building.

The city is buzzing, people are in great spirits and everybody wants their pictures taken with the flame. Despite all the good things police had their hands full trying to control protesters who were out to cause nothing but trouble. Department store The Bay lost a number of their windows and remarkably only 7 protesters were arrested.

Since I had to surrender my Olympic vehicle due to my day of on Sunday, I took the West Coast Express home and after arriving at the Maple Meadows station I found out that I had nowhere to go… No buses or taxis…. Nothing!! Without having a cell phone on me I got lucky to use a Quebec lady’s cell phone to call home and later on a police officer’s phone to call home and see if Marieke could pick me up. Obviously for Marieke this was a bit of a challenge as she had never drive by herself to this station. After 45 minutes she finally found me (she missed a turn..!) and it took us 10 minutes to arrive home!! It was a great day!!

Overshadowed by the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili after a terrible accident in Whistler’s sliding centre during a training round, the Opening Ceremony of the the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games has been watched by more that 2.5 billion people all over the world!! This biggest question for Canadians was who would light the cauldron after the flame arrived at BC Place. We were very happy to see Rick Hanson, Nancy Greene, Steve Nash and Catriona LeMay Doane as well as the biggest favorite of them all Wayne Gretzky! Two days earlier on Wednesday Marieke and I, together with our neighbours Doug and Lois witnessed the entire dress rehearsal of the ceremony, excluding the cauldron. It was fantastic and on TV it looked even better with all of the different camera positions. The city is completely into the Games right now and there will be parties everywhere!! Click here for some great pictures!

The O’Zone will be the home for a lot of people during the Games. Richmond was proud to have Rick Hansen to bring in the torch. Holland Heineken House made the following impression:

Now get this… I was informed that my delegation would arrive on Sunday Feb 7. The entire day I stayed home, because "that important phone call may come", but it didn’t. On Monday I thought, "well, this is the day…", but "no", it wasn’t. The day was awesome though, I got to see the flame as I reported yesterday. Last night I got a call that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to show up for some office work. Sure, I am a volunteer, so I drove to Vancouver this morning and reported for "work"…. I was told to take a coffee in the Work Force Break area and got to meet many of my fellow volunteers, waiting for their ride(s) of the day. Some teamed up and took a Traverse to visit the Olympic Village, just to see it for themselves and to explore a little bit. After two hours of chatting and drinking coffee, I offered my wife to help her out to take an envelope into OFH. She didn’t have the right accreditation and I did. I had a great walk and the weather was Spring like. Back at the Work Force Break area, I ran into an old friend of mine who I used to work with at MacMillan Bloedel in the 1990s. We remembered that our mutual friend Ton and I went drinking with Margerie on a very frequent basis those years!! What a small world, after almost 13 years we have reunited, just because both of us volunteering for the Olympics. In the afternoon I chatted for a long time with another volunteer who was in the same situation as me, waiting for a party from Bermuda, but nobody called. An interesting lady who seemed to have about 5 different jobs…! After a few hours I went out for a walk along the new Vancouver Convention Centre and Canada Place, then via Homer Street to the Art Gallery where I saw John Furlong (CEO of VANOC), Robson Square, through Robson Street back to OF2 (Marriott). At around 3:30 pm I talked to Greg, the VANOC person who trained us. He couldn’t say much about my delegation other than the fact that they were supposed to arrive on Sunday, Feb 7. I then took matters in my own hands and went down to the reception desk. After having checked their names with the manager, it turned out that the Mexicans did not check into the hotel… So, where is my delegation?