Day 1: First Day at Cypress + Canada & Poland Get Silver

I woke up with a bit of a hangover to rainy skies but... that has not come even remotely close to wiping the smile off of my face. Today, I finally get to put on my sexy uniform and do what I came here to do: be the "face of the Games," as they call the Event Services (EVS) folks here, and greet the world to Cypress Mountain: the venue for all the freestyle skiing and snowboard events.

I got dressed and headed downtown, where I had a quick lunch with Andrew and some of his friends who just got down from the zip-line at Robson Square (one thing that I have to go on before I leave!). At 15:20, I boarded the SeaBus, which brought me to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. The Olympic Bus departs from this location, bringing spectators and volunteers up to Cypress Mtn. as no private vehicles are permitted at the venue. We left at 15:45 and got to Cypress about 40 minutes later. It was a funny site... There is really no snow anywhere except for the runs and the peak. Also, I don't think I have ever seen so many buses in one spot. Most were plated with California licence plates but some were also from Utah. I heard there are also about 30 coaches from Quebec. It's a big event... :)

After checking in at the Workforce Check-In tent for my 17:00 shift, I headed up to the Venue Operations Centre to meet with my team, our leader Sandra, and the VANOC crew. The site was already buzzing with all the freestyle skiing action. What was on today?

• 16:30 - Ladies Mogul Qualification
• 19:30 - Ladies Mogul Final

I was assigned the role of a Ticket Validator for the evening. It's fun because you get to mingle with the crowd and watch the event at the same time (the run was clearly visible from the validation area). A couple of other volunteers and I were fortunate enough to see the actual silver and gold medals runs! Seeing it live is absolutely amazing! Both Hanna Kearney (USA - Gold) and Jennifer Heil (CAN - Silver) flew down that mountain to an incredible support from the thousands of fans on site.

In other news, Poland's Adam Małysz also got silver today in Men's NH Individual Ski Jumping, losing only to Simon Ammann of Switzerland by 7 points.

What else can I tell you about... They fed us well! I had a potato & bacon soup, sun-dried tomato and basil pasta with caesar salad (with real Canadian bacon), an apple, and a granola bar. It was really good! What else... My team, Bravo20, is really fun. There is one more Quebecker in it, Christian, from Richelieu, so I get to practice mon français. The whole EVS team is really energetic and enthusiastic, which is important since we really have to rely on team work to get things done and... we need to keep moving to stay warm. Even though the temperature today was above zero, it was windy and really wet. The uniforms are waterproof and quite warm (thank you, HBC!) but it's really the action that kept us warm throughout the evening. Since the crowds vacated the venue quicker than we anticipated (probably because they were cold and hungry as wait time at concession stands was over an hour), we got to go home an hour early.

We left the rain-soaked mountain at around 22:10 on an Olympic bus. I met two more fellow Montrealers on board. They were also volunteering at the venue, fixing up the moguls in between runs. When I got back downtown, I visited the torch again and continued down along the shore to check out the Olympic rings that are floating in the Burrard Inlet, between Vancouver's Waterfront and North Vancouver. I will take some night shots of both sites tomorrow, when I bring my camera with me...

It was an awesome day, really. I'm exhausted but that smile I woke up with is still on my face, only bigger! Can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow... :) Good night!