Don't Wiggle!

It has become quickly apparent here in Whistler that one of the best times to strike up conversation with anyone is during transportation. For some reason, riding the same bus is a sufficient excuse to approach strangers and ask them where they're from and what they're doing here. Perhaps it's because, often times, we are sharing a very tight space other passengers and the reasoning is that if your bodies are going to be pressed against each other for 5-10 minutes, small talk is in order to quell the awkwardness. Or maybe it comes from the "there's nothing else to do on this bus ride" mentality, since chatting is a good way to pass an otherwise boring amount of time. For me, it comes from an uncontainable excitement and insatiable curiosity about everything - and everyone - around me.

Last night we watched the Opening Ceremonies in the Village Square (story on that later) and then went to the Athlete's Village to wait for the Cleanevent shuttle back to camp at 10:15. In addition to myself and three friends, four Denver interns were also escaping the rain under the tent well before 10pm. We knew that the Village workforce had a shift getting off at 10pm, so there was quite a frenzy when the van arrived. After all the interns and some of the workforce had climbed aboard, we waited to fill the shuttle.

Fill it we did.

Although there was another shuttle coming everyone was anxious to get back to camp, so one of the Denver interns sat on the floor between the driver and shotgun seat, and Holly climbed across my and Sydney's lap to make more room, encouraging others to hurry up and climb in so we could leave. An Aussie guy sat next to me and ended up with an Asian kid half on his lap. All in all, we counted 21 people crammed into the 14 passenger van. (Rumor has it, they have fit 22 before).

One of things that had been called out when we were inviting more and more people onto the shuttle was "make some new friends!" so we got to know the guy next to us a little bit. The first thing I learned about him was that he really had to pee. He learned that I have a strong aversion to elbows, since I had to ask him to remove his from jabbing into my arm. See what I mean? Something about being in close quarters has the ability to eliminate any hint of shyness from people.

Partway through the ride, I slightly moved the fingers on my left hand, which were holding onto a "Go Canada Go!" banner I received while watching the Opening Ceremonies. My left arm and hand, however, were sandwiched between Sydney and Holly, who both wailed at my unexpected movement. "Don't wiggle your fingers!" they told me. We all had a good laugh about that, and I tried to suck it up and bear it but towards the end I requested to move them, reasoning that this time they would know it was coming. "Don't wiggle!" they insisted, which made the Aussie continue to laugh and long for the loo.

Cleanevent shuttles aren't the only rides in which I've talked to strangers. Earlier that night, while I was reading aloud everyone's horoscope from a free weekly magazine I picked up, an athlete on the bus turned to me suddenly as said "This bus goes to the Athlete's Village, right?" I'm not sure why he waited until halfway through the ride to ask me, but I assured him it was. A few minutes later he asked if it was the last stop, and Sydney said that was, and that when we get off, he should get off - which earned her a wink from him. If it hadn't been so close to the end of the ride, I'm quite certain the conversation would have continued.

This morning on my way in on an exceedingly crowded #2 bus, the man sitting next to me seemed concerned when the bus turned off the highway and into the Highlands, and he mumbled something to a girl who I assume was his daughter. "Yeah," I said, "it goes through the residential area which takes a while". I could be wrong, but on a "normal" city bus, the conversation would have ended there. At the Olympics, however, it lead to me finding out that he's from Seattle and has tickets to the luge event at my venue, and me telling him that I'm a student intern with Cleanevent working at the Sliding Center. There are almost as many examples like this as bus rides I've taken.

I absolutely love the human element of the Games - that desire to connect with others, becoming more aware of the people around us than in our normal daily lives. Just as every athlete has a story of how they got to the pinnacle of their sport, the spectators and tourists seem to recognize that each person walking through town or riding on the bus also has a story that brought them here to Whistler.

I'm looking forward to collecting more stories.