So, Where Are We?

I’ve mentioned the buses a few times, but I want to give you a better idea of where we are living in relation to where we’re working. Whistler RV Camp, home of Camp Cleanevent, is located about 15km south of Whistler Village. Going North on Highway 99, there is a turnoff on the left that takes us up a steep, exceedingly winding road to the RV Park. Once through the security gates, we drive past all the RV parking spots to the very back of the camp, where all of our containers are located. Since we have to go up and around so far on our driveway, we are far from the sounds of traffic and civilization, so camp is quite peaceful (as long as the drunks aren’t around).

To get to work we first take the Cleanevent shuttle north towards Whistler, but our normal shuttle runs no longer take employees straight to the Village. Instead they drop off at both the Athletes’ Village, on the right, and Function Junction, just across the street. From here we take the public buses. The shuttle ride and bus ride are each about 15 minutes.

In order for our van to gain access, the dashboard has to bear a sign with the infinity symbol, ∞, and the first line of security waves the van through. Once we get off the shuttle, our accreditations are what get us free rides on the public buses.

Different buses pick up and drop off in various locations around the Village. One thing about Whistler we noticed right away was that a great many people walk around in ski/snowboard gear all the time. One of the main bus stops is located by the gondola I take to work, and I watched a guy literally snowboard down the mountain, stop at the bottom, unstrap his bindings, and hop on the bus. Transport really is as easy as that in Whistler!

While the half hour of transportation time might seem long, we really have great deal. CE’s competitor, who has the contract for the housekeeping services in the Athletes’ Village, did not square away their housing far enough in advance and are stuck about an hour and a half down the mountain, much closer to Vancouver than Whistler. Gabby, from our camp office, explained that they will have to worry much more about traffic and weather delays, and she hopes they don’t make it to work on time so we can win back the contract.

Other volunteers are about 50 minutes south of Whistler, living on a cruise ship docked in the harbor of a town called Squamish (where the Wal-Mart and other such stores are). We were also told that the housing for security at the Games is really tight quarters, without much space between the bunks. As I mentioned in a previous post, VANOC volunteers were on their own for housing, and may have ended up either paying exorbitant amounts or living way out of town. I learned very quickly that perspective is very important when scrutinizing our situation, and I refuse to complain about how Cleanevent runs their camp.

Another logistical concern, besides transporting all the workers/volunteers required for a successful event, is feeding everyone. Cleanevent had to purchase meal tickets months ago, for $18 a pop. Someone from FAB (Food And Beverage; I prefer the – American? – F&B) stamps the date and meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, overnight) on the tickets and hands them out for the week. At WSC the Employee Break Tent is in Lot 7 with our office, and that’s where we go for our catered meal.

The break tent offers coffee, tea, cocoa, and cookies at all times. Lunch is a choice of two soups, one of three sandwiches, a piece fruit, a granola bar, and a Coke beverage (Coke, Dasani water, Minute Maid orange juice). I’m not sure what dinner will bring, but I’ll let you know.

As I said, Cleanevent had to purchase these meal tickets about 6 months ago. My first day, we had about 9 extra meal tickets, which already had the date and mealtime stamped on them, so we each took an extra sandwich, granola bar and drink so as not to waste the money already spent. Nikki and I counted ahead the meal tickets we got for the rest of the week, however, and when compared against the number of people we have rostered (scheduled) there are days in which we are one meal ticket short. I’m interested to see what CE does about this.