Well my fellow readers this is the day that inevitably had to come, the day
of the Closing Ceremony. During every
other year when I’ve been able to only watch the Games on TV this day always
seems like a bummer because it means the 2+ week of fun is over. I don’t even think it is the end of
competition that makes me feel that way.
It’s the end of that energy high you coast on. The effect is amplified by a ton when you are
at the Games because you rely on it so much more. The coverage you see isn’t limited to what is
on TV. It is all around you all the
time. While the crash of everything
being over worries me a little bit I also know that the ‘real’ rest does sound
incredibly refreshing. I was actually
very excited for this day, not because it is the end, but because it is a day
to close things up and celebrate. A big
group of us (volunteers, staff, and 24 Hour Fitness group) all headed to SCORE
to tear down all of the equipment there.
Yes this meant tearing up the volleyball floor (my least favorite
setup). It was actually quite fun though
because Paul and I were having a blast messing around and trash talking to each
other. We had so many people helping the
teardown of both volleyball courts and the boxing ring went incredibly
fast. The people who ran SCORE were such
great hosts during the Games and helped with any requests or issues that arose
with a very fast response. The same goes
for the staff at UEL, from the security staff to Mary and Phil to the
maintenance team, Graham and Yohan. I am
going to miss Yohan with his assistance he game me with the sauna and
everything and his “No problem” response.
And seeing Graham on his scooter driving across campus was a sight to
see every time. Too funny. One of my favorite parts of working at the
Games is the unforseen hiccups that occur and make you improvise and try to
find a solution. I’ll never forget how
ridiculous it was for all 10 or so of us (the Sound Moves moving crew and I) to
be in the back of a semi-trailer trying to jump up and down so the wheel would
gain traction underneath and the truck would be able to get out of the parking
lot. Something as big as the Olympics is
absolutely impossible to prepare for and not have things that were unexpected
to happen. The Games test and challenge
you to be on your feet. I love it! But at the same time a lot has to be said for
the people that do try to examine every angle and minimize those occurrences
otherwise it would be utter chaos. After
SCORE we returned to UEL to work on tearing down equipment at UEL. The mats and fencing strips were a piece of
cake to pack up but the worst nightmare was the sauna. The worst part was the tarp underlying the
sauna. Imagine sweaty wrestlers in an
enclosed box with high temperatures. Um
ya a couple weeks of that will produce the most disgusting slime/liquid and
stench that you can imagine. Paul, Ryan,
Abby and I felt like our entire bodies needed to be disinfected after getting
the tarp to the trash. Disgusting! That pretty much wrapped up today’s portion
of the teardown at UEL and saved the loading and shipping portion for
tomorrow. After we all took turns
sanitizing ourselves we headed over to the big grassy area along the path near
the water and just laid down and enjoyed the beautiful day for a while over a
cold one. Jay and Rob joined us as
well. A solid day of work and now some
relaxation before some great food at the Edge (dining hall) made by Terri and
her crew was a perfect cap. The food was
amazing like usual. It was a
carribean/south american theme to represent the next Games in Rio de
Janeiro. After mingling for a while Jay,
Paul (Amerian one), Rob, and I headed off the UEL campus and back towards Tower
Bridge to try to get into Austria House once again. Once again it was packed. Instead we went to meet a bunch of other USOC
staff at a place called Belushi’s. It
was by far my favorite place we went out in London. It reminded me more of the atmosphere I like to
go out to. In there we met Andrea and
the other dieticians as well as Wes. On
one level some were watching the Closing Ceremony and on the other there was a
live band. I enjoyed seeing all the
music culture of the UK come out in the Closing Ceremony. It would have been great to be there. It looked like one big party and the athletes
were really enjoying themselves. After
we tried to keep things going and tried to find Brazil House but once we did it
was closed. That wraps up the Games as
far as competition days go but not quite the end of my time here working. There is still another day and something
tells me there is one more day of some high quality fun left ;) Na-na-naa-na, hey hey hey, Goodbye!
Day of the XXX Olympiad: 17
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