Project: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games

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In T-minus ten days, I will be packing up my skis, clothes, sleeping bag, gas tank, cameras, video cameras, Olympic tickets and heading… wait, did I say that right? Yes, Olympic tickets! Even for me, I double take to realize it’s actually happening. I will say this again, as it’s become a bit of my mantra, “I’m going to the Olympics… I’m going to the Olympics.” After a bunch of research, double checking things, attempts at preparations, it’s official, “I’m going to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.” Let me fill you all in on how this awesome opportunity came to be an what my plans are for the next, roughly, 3 weeks.

Rewind: Yeoju, South Korea.

In my time teaching in South Korea, Cass and I met some amazing people we shared a lot in common with, and still regularly keep in touch with. One of those people was Louis. He arrived a little after we did, and when we met, he mentioned he was from Vancouver. Well, if you haven’t been freeze dried in the last 5 years of so, when you hear Vancouver, you instantly think, ‘Olympics.’ In passing we’d exchange things like, ‘man, it’d be cool to come check out the Olympics next year,’ and, ‘totally, Jon, I’ve got plenty of room.’

Fast forward: Butte, Montana

Now that we are settled back into a routine of life, substitute teaching in Butte, I find my spirit of adventure now suffering from an abrupt decline of the “daily unknown” that we were entrenched in while in Korea, out of curiosity. I emailed Lou to see if all that room for the Olympics was still available. The exchange went something like this…

“Louis- How’s the snow? I’m jonesing for a ski trip- Whistler??? Quick Question… What are the chances I could crash on your floor for a few days over the Olympics? 1 in 10, 1 in 1,000,000???”

“Wick- 1 in 1.”

It turns out that Louis is working at a restaurant in the village of Whistler, living there with a few roommates, and skiing whenever possible. Conclusion: I’m in- now get trip planning!

Rewind: Manitowoc, Wisconsin (circa: 1988)

My bedroom growing up, was a tiny little room used as my brothers’ and my baby room. One of my earliest memories of this room takes place when I was roughly 7 years old. I took the small (like 10 inch) t.v. from the kitchen up to my bedroom along with the rabbit ears that received the channels. It seems like hours that I toiled with those things, James running down to the kitchen to grab more aluminum foil, until the snow slowly started morphing into outlines of bodies. Those bodies then started wiggling into a skiing motion. The only channel we could get figured out enough to watch through the blizzard of poor reception, happened to be a cross country event happening at the ’88 Calgary Olympics.

When you’re 7 and 10 year old, as we were, at that time simply having a television in your room was cool, but having a tv that you could actually (sort of) watch, was possibly the coolest thing that ever happened to us. I remember he and I laying on my bed all night watching this competition we barely recognized, on a tv we could barely see, listening to sounds we could barely decipher… and it was Awesome!

Fast Forward: Cedar Falls, Iowa (circa: 2002)

I’m a Junior at the University of Northern Iowa, it’s winter, and the Olympics have taken over the t.v. even more so because there are in Salt Lake City, Utah. At this time, I’m old enough to know what’s going on, realize the global stage the Olympics are, and understand some of the symbolism the games represent. When ever I see the five rings my memory shoots back to that night in my bedroom.

The Olympics are amazing. I’m partial to the winter games, but I'm talking of the Olympics in general terms. Maybe it’s my perpetual optimism bubbling up, but they are pretty darn cool. This year in Vancouver, over 5,500 people will compete, from over 80 countries. That is a feat in itself, but then you sprinkle in the fact they each athlete shoulders the responsibility of representing their entire country, their colors, their pride, and work ethics on the largest stage in the world, and you have a pretty amazing event. I do recognize an undertaking of this scale has its issues, I will touch on them another time, but we should all take a second to realize the Olympics bring together people from every corner of the globe, every walk of life, every social strata, every language spoken, every financial background all while testing your limits through physical competition.

I’ve always kept in mind a cool idea my dad said growing up, he told me that it would be great to see the highest level of competition of every sport- regardless if you like it or not. The Superbowl, a World Series game, Stanley Cup game, PGA Championship, Wimbledon, Nascar, Chess, Under Water Basket Weaving…any thing. Included in this list- the Olympics.

Fast Forward: Butte, Montana (circa: now)

What an incredible opportunity for me to attend such an amazing event. I’m sure it won’t sink in until I’m actually there, but for now… I need to get things figured out.

I will be heading out of Butte, driving the 12 hours to Vancouver, and then to Whistler where Louis lives, on February 10, and staying there through the 19th. That was the most important part, just figuring out when to go.

Now that I got that taken care of, I need to start figuring out what I can do while I’m there. I want to go to an event- it doesn’t matter, really, but I can’t be so close to the Olympics, and not even go to any part of them, even with all the other cool things going on. I could’ve bought a ticket there, and hopefully I can still snag a cheap ticket after I arrive, but I wanted to get to Whistler with at least one ticket in hand to gaurantee me some action. So I started looking for tickets to something. Since it’s so close to the start of the games, the only way to get tickets is through the Olympic website.

I love skiing so I looked at the men’s down hill and was blown away at the price- $360 each. Yikes, I’m willing to pay some money for this once in a lifetime opportunity, but that’s just too much. So it was on to obscure sports like curling- no way- I forgot this was Canada- so they were expensive. How about Luge? Ok- $125- that’s better. Skeleton (head first luge) was the same boat. So I settled on that, but out of curiosity I looked at ladies skiing. Surprisingly, it was cheaper than the men’s. What I settled on, was the Ladies Gold Medal Round of the Super Combined (one run of downhill, one run of slalom) skiing competition taking place on Sunday, February 14th. Happy V-Day to me!

In the meantime, I am working for the travel website, TheExpeditioner.com , explaining my plans and asking if they have any helpful info. The founder, Matt, told me to look into getting some kind of press accreditation because of my work with him. So, through a few emails, and some proof of my work and other writings, I applied and was granted one of the few remaining Limited Access Press Passes through the Whistler Media House. This gives me access to all the media services in Whistler, attendance at press briefings, press conferences, interview rooms. All kinds of stuff that will I don’t really deserve, but will be an incredible learning experience and fun to be a part of. Oh Yeah! (I can see my next article now... Rookie Reporter In Way Over His Head)

Once I had tickets and a press pass, I started thinking. This is all cool and great, but I remember teaching in Philipsburg and doing a thematic unit surrounding the Olympics in 2006, it would've been great to know someone at the games to help out. How can I make this experience more beneficial and useful. My conclusion:

Project Olympics!

I will become an Olympic correspondence for schools all across America and Canada. I will be writing, videoing, and photographing my experience, so why not share that with people, students, teachers that were in the same place I was a few years ago?? Here’s my plan for the time I’m there:

Teachers and School staff (and anyone for that matter) can read and subscribe to my blog I’m writing specifically for schools and students at Wick2010Olympics . I have also set up a project specific email students/teachers/schoolstaff can contact me with anything and that is [e-mail] .

I have already started spreading the word, and we are getting a good following. James' school in Calgary, the school I student taught at in Alaska, Manitowoc, Philipsburg, possibly James old school in Florida. Please feel free to pass these bits of info on to anyone that may find them interesting or useful. Work of mouth is an awesome thing. Thanks!

Just as a side, I will most likely be posting more blog entries there, rather than here, so if you want to bookmark that, or subscribe there, it may be better off if you’re interested. I will plan on putting up a couple more general posts about my travels and things there. After the trip I will resume this blog- it’s my go to- my MVP (or would that be MVB?). I will be posting here, but most likely I’ll be focusing more on the other one.

Exciting, eh? (look, I'm practicing my Canadian already!) It's time for another adventure! Come along with me...

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