Tukes, Snipers, and Waste

In addition to providing some daily updates and extended stories, I'd also like to share some miscellaneous tidbits that I pick up from keeping my ears open around the Games.

It was estimated that about 80% of the employees at the camp are Australian, due in large part to the fact that Cleanevent began in Australia. A couple of our roomies are Australian, and we were chatting with Jacinta the other day about assorted things, like conversions between American measurements and metric. Fun fact: while Aussies use the metric system for almost everything, they still refer to their own height in feet and inches, and when babies are born their weight is given in pounds and ounces. Every other distance and weight measurement is given in metric. We're also learning dialectic lingo. For instance "tukes" are what we'd call beanies or skull caps (in both Canada and Australia). Jacinta also calls flashlights "torches".

Paul Lovett, the brother of Cleanevent founder Craig Lovett, mentioned in our meeting last night about the five levels of security at the venues. The front lines are volunteers, who direct us to venues and scope out our accreditation. Next are the local police, followed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and then the Canadian military. Apparently there are also many Secret Service snipers hiding in the hills, and helicopters circling constantly. While the idea of snipers is a bit unsettling, at least I know that VANOC is taking every safety precaution!

At work today a woman from VANOC's Snow Cleaning and Waste department explained to us about the Games' sustainability goal in terms of recycling. The Games are aiming to divert 85% of the waste generated at the venues from the landfills. All the paper plates, utensils, and coffee cups are made out of compostable material (corn) and can therefore be thrown into the same receptacles as banana peels and muffin crumbs. Someone keeps track of the percentages, and the venues are ranked in how well they are meeting the standard. Currently WSC is only diverting 58% of the waste, and are ranked 9th out of the 17 overall, but 5th out of the 7 mountain venues. One of the Cleanevent girls today was working on making fool-proof signs to show crew and spectators alike what trash goes where.

I snapped this photo before Jessie could tape the Coke and Dasani bottles to the left of the red recycling symbol. Coke one of the three major sponsors (along with Visa and McDonalds) so only Coke products are sold.

Sitting in a cafe with free WiFi tonight, I chatted with a guy named Ryan from Saskatchewan who is volunteering with VANOC. We've all been pretty jealous of VANOC's awesome uniforms, so I was curious as to what other cool things volunteers got out of the deal. Apparently they don't even get housing or any real access to events, so I am no longer as envious of their materialistic superiority and I am more grateful for all that Cleanevent has given me.