Olympic madness!

A whole year on from the Olympics and I finally manage to sit down and write a little about the incredible experience I had as an NOC assistant at the Games in London 2012.  

So, I guess I start at the beginning.  I was assigned to be the lead assistant (there were three of us in total) for the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The reason? I speak fluent French.  However I was soon to learn that the French spoken by the people of this fascinating African nation is not quite the same as the French I know and speak every day.  I knew from the moment I opened my little envelope telling me I would be working with COD (The Olympic code for the DRC), that it was going to be a challenge but also an excellent learning opportunity.  I could not have been more right!

Anyway, what was my job? An NOC is essentially the whole team who come from one country, so we were all assigned to different countries for the duration of their stay in the UK.  What we did changed daily as we were there to help them with whatever they wanted doing.  Whether that be taking them on shopping trips (these were my favourite days), getting them tickets to events, making sure the athletes did everything they needed to, or driving them to Manchester for the day to see the football stadiums (this was not my favourite day!).  I have to admit I really liked the variety and uncertainty.  I am a super organised person who generally plans my days to the hour, so coming in in the morning and having no idea what was going to happen was quite exciting.  It was tough at times because we were expected to know a lot about the working of the games.  Whereas other volunteers only had to know about their area, we had to know it all!  We also had to get used to working on Africa Time which often meant a lot of sitting around waiting on them.

A big part of my job ended up being driving.  This was certainly an interesting experience having never driven around London and never driven a car other than my little KA.  We were assigned two LOCOG cars... a BMW 5 series (aka boat) and a Citroen Picasso (aka mum car).  At first I hated going out in the cars as London driving is mental and they felt huge... I genuinely felt like I was driving a boat around the city.  After a while though I got used to them and actually this was one of the biggest learning curves of the experience.  I am now much happier driving around and even made it back from Durham in a hire car with no tears!

I was team leader so had to coordinate with the Chef de missions (head of the NOC) from the DRC and had to manage the other volunteers assigned to the team.  This was often easier said than done as the Congolese are a very relaxed nation, so our instructions or requirements for the following day were given last minute.  I ended up having my Olympic phone on me at all times, even on days off as the Chef would call whenever he had a question.  The two guys I worked with were great and we had a good laugh together. We worked very long days for six weeks from the day the team arrived to when they left after the closing ceremony.  Then you add on the fact that my journey in from home was about an hour and a half on a good day, I was pretty shattered but wouldn't change the experience.

Another good point about our role was that weren't always needed by our country so we sometimes had time off which allowed me to explore the Olympic park and sneak into several events including Super Saturday!!!  When we weren't chilling we sometimes got the opportunity to work with teams from other countries so I ended up working with France, Peru, Germany, Holland, the USA and Nigeria. Being able to speak 4 languages certainly came in handy!!

Highlights include:

- Being an athlete for the final dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony.  They needed people to do the walk from the village to the stadium and then do the lap of honour for timings, so all of the NOC assistants got to take part.  This was an AMAZING experience, one I can't quite put into words, but I will never forget it.  We were joined by some of the army and we had a fabulous evening.
 
- Handing the water bottles to our (COD) marathon runner at drinks station A.  I was stood in the stand with other athletes from other countries and got to witness the marathon up close.

- Working in the Athletes village.  We would walk around and just see all of these amazing athletes walking around, chilling.  It was very inspirational and certainly made me dust off my trainers.  We ended up seeing people like Tom Daly and Rebecca Adlington a lot and it became very normal!

- Getting a load of texts as the other Congo appeared at the Opening Ceremony and having to reply that I worked with the other Congo so they had to wait for the Ds.

I will never forget the summer or my final day when I spent four hours in the evening translating for the police.  Yes four members of my NOC escaped and were on the news (much to my friend's amusement) so on the final day I translated for the investigating team.  BUT I grew very fond of the team and hope they are all well in the DRC. That is all for now, but when I look through my Olympic diary I am sure another post could appear with more stories!

 The COD Team :D

 TEAM COD!

 Opening Ceremony dress rehearsal night 

 My pass - note the bit that says ALL :P It means access all areas!

 Dress rehearsal Congolese team

 The walk to the stadium!

 In the stadium after the lap of honour!!

Walking to the stadium on the real Opening Ceremony night.  We had to escort the team!

The Beginning

As my last blog post was entitled 'The End' it only seems appropriate that my return to the world of blogging be entitled 'The Beginning'! I have not written anything for a while, which makes me sad, but is due to the crazy crazy life I have had in my fourth year. My next post will be a short summary of everything I did and should give an example of the life that can be lead by a fourth year linguist at Durham... not a fourth year wanting a first, but a fourth year wanting to enjoy life and organise a million and one things!

I have started this blog up again as this summer I am going to be a volunteer at the Olympics in London and I would like to write about it on here.  Whilst there are lots of restrictions on what we can/can't write and upload, I would like to share my experience.  I am going to be an NOC Assistant.  An NOC is a National Olympic Committee and is made up of all of the athletes and officials from a country competing in the games.  Next month I will find out which country I am attached to and then for the five weeks they are in London I will be working 6 days on and one day off and will be looking after them. The number of assistants depends on the size of the delegation, for example a small African nation which only has 10 athletes may just have 2 or 3 NOC assistants whereas the USA which is a delegation of about 600 will have the maximum 12 assistants.

So far I have had four training sessions and one general session.  They have all been in London which has involved a lot of early morning trains from Durham but have been worth it.  The excitement after every session is inexplicable and especially yesterday as there are now only 100 days to go until the games.

Anyway, I am not going to write anymore now but my adventures at the Olympics will be documented here! :)

THE END

Because of the type of person I am I cannot write this blog out of order... it will annoy me and seeing as I have a few posts from recent events lined up, I need to write this conclusion to my year abroad before moving on!  So here it is, a few facts and figures about my year abroad to amuse you all!

Total number of plane journeys: 21
Total number of countries lived in: 3
Total number of countries visited: 10

Average temperature (Austria) :  Somewhere between 5 and -10 (on bad days -20!!)
Average temperature (Spain) : 25-35
Average temperature (France) : 25-30
Conclusion? - I loved having proper seasons so doing a winter country in winter and then a really hot one from February onwards was a great plan - although it was a bit of a shock to the system!  I honestly cannot say which I preferred...

Average wake up time (Austria) - 5am
Average wake up time (Spain) - 8/9am
Average wake up time (France) - 7am
Conclusion? I do waking up early pretty well - in fact I would rather get up early!

I took only one small and one large suitcase to each destination and only ever paid for 4 kilos of excess luggage (coming home from Spain).

My purse got stolen twice but I never lost anything vitally important.  The loss of something special someone gave me, hurt me more than anything else.

I made 2 surprise trips back to England - one to Durham and one home.

I went the whole year with only a mini hairbrush and no hairdryer.

English is a ridiculous language to learn, not from a grammatical point of view ( Austrian pupils 'you have only one gender pfft!') but from a pronunciation point of view.  Think wind & wind....though, thought, through, tough etc etc

Things I have learnt:

- It is ok to be self-confident.  Whilst before I always thought self-confidence (not that I am always confident! :P) would be perceived as arrogance, I now know that it is not. There is a big difference.  Self-confidence is knowing you can do something and doing it, arrogance is talking about knowing you can do it and rubbing it in people's faces!

- Asking for things is ok.  I have always found asking for what I want hard... now it is much less of an issue!

 - I can now stand up for myself a bit better.  I was never a massive push over, but sometimes I will stay quiet rather than say what I want to.  I still do this, but when I really care I may now say something!

 - Germanic cultures suit me better than Latin ones.  However living in Spain has definitely taught me to value being a little more relaxed about life.  There are things worth getting worried and stressed about, but most are not worth it - life is too short.

These are just a few little comments!  The year abroad was a truly amazing experience and a genuine opportunity to see Europe and get by alone.  I certainly learnt a lot that cannot be taught or read in a text book.  Most importantly I met some fabulous people along the way.  Some I may never speak to again but the time I spent with them has enriched my life and some I know I will speak to for a long time, wherever they may be!

THE END

To be continued...

As you can see my blog has been completely neglected throughout the summer.  I would like to say this is because I have been off on so many adventures around the world that I had no time to write.  One half of that sentence is true... I haven't really had any time to write this summer, but mainly because I was at home and found myself being much busier than expected.

I am not going to write a big post now, but felt a short one saying I will be back was necessary.  So watch this space!

Blogs to follow

As you may have seen I have just updated the blogs listed on this page... some are good friends of mine and others are just blogs I like reading so you might too!  Blogging is such an odd concept to me and I am still getting my head round it, but nonetheless I love reading them!

Happy reading!

They don't do tables for one

Reading other blogs made me realise I should really update my own seeing as it has been a while.  I am now in France and am having a wonderful time discovering the world of working full time.  I am actually really enjoying it so am happy happy happy :D

I arrived after just a few hours in the UK and was welcomed by my granddad (papy).  I flew to Girona and was one of the 6 non-Barcelona supporters on the flight.  As it was the early morning flight from Luton the morning after the final with Manchester United, we were surrounded by blue and maroon shirts.  They even treated us to a song as we landed, which made a nice change from the normal Ryanair fanfair!

Work is really interesting and I have lovely colleagues so I haven't even seen the last 4 weeks fly by.  I start at 9 every day and then finish at 6 or 7 depending on the timetable.  It took a bit of getting used to after having had so much free time in Spain but I am loving it.  It is a little insight into what the future might be like.
 

So, the job itself.  I am working in a tourism office and spend most of my time at 'l'acceuil', so talking to tourists (in all four languages!!) and advising them what they can do in the town, department and region.  We get a whole range of questions so every day presents me with new challenges.  I also help out with sorting out the post and emails and of course answer the phone.  It is really interesting switching between my languages so much, sometimes having to go from one to the other within seconds.  Good brain training I think!

There are a couple of other stagiaires too and as Lena has the same lunch hours as me we spend our time discovering the different places to eat in the town centre and also visiting things when we can.  I will do another blog post soon explaining our visits and a bit more about the town and what I have been up to with la famille.

I hope this keeps you all going for now!  The title of this blog comes from one of my lunch dates in the first couple of weeks, when the waiter asked me how many people the table was for and I said 'For one!' and he jokingly replied  'Well we don't do tables for one.'  I was, as you can imagine, not terribly amused.  Ah well, it has been fun lunching alone and being able to observe the people and the world going by...

Adios

So I am now in France and it is time to reflect upon my time in Spain.  It was so so different to my 5 months in Austria and I have to say I hadn't prepared myself for the culture shock at all.  The shock is bad enough when going from your own country and culture to a new one and when you have enough time to prepare for it.  So the fact that I was moving from a culture other than my own to a new one made it more difficult and I also only spent 48 hours at home in between. 

My time in Spain was certainly more challenging than Austria, but was equally enriching and my Spanish improved hugely.

I think the main point to make is that I am less suited to a country like Spain.  Despite having Spanish blood in my veins I am not made for their laid back ways.  I am most certainly a morning person so the fact that they tend to stay up late and get up late morning is not really me.  I am also someone who is fairly ‘why wait if you can do it now’, so the ‘mañana mañana’ attitude also took some getting used to.

All this said I had a lovely time and have some very fond memories.  I met a whole range of people; from the business man I taught English to, to my wonderfully welcoming housemates and feel like I benefitted enormously from the experience.  The things I will miss most:

·      My weekly chats with the fabulous lady at the post office :D

·      The weather – seriously 4 months of sunshine!! I even have a pretty good tan going, which for me is very impressive!

·      The time to do things and appreciate what is going on around me.

·      Teaching lessons in the sunshine everyday on the plaza.

·      French lessons with Esther – the most wonderful French teacher at the university.

·      The city of Madrid itself.  I really like it as a capital and think people don’t give it enough credit.

·      Chinese Fridays with my friends.

·      Making Sangria with my housemates.

Spain, at times you were massively interesting, but I am glad I lived there.  4 months I will never forget…

The End.

A long weekend in Salzburg

Just before finishing in Spain I went to Salzburg for a long weekend to see everyone and attend the final party with all of the assistants.  Due to my flight being fairly early in the morning I stayed at Sarah's the night before and it was really lovely to see her.  Then it was an early start for me to get my flight to Munich.

I flew with Iberia, something I had never done before and they managed to annoy me very quickly.  When I booked the tickets they said remember to bring the card you paid with as verification, so when my purse was stolen I made sure to check with them (twice, in person and on the phone) that this would not be an issue as I no longer had the card.  Both times they said it would be fine, however when the time came it was not ok.  This resulted in a half hour of sorting it out at the Iberia desk.. not really that big an issue but annoying nonetheless.

The flight went by really quickly and before I knew it I was in the train crossing the bridge into the station where you get a beautiful view of the city.  Maija and Keri met me at the station and then we went for an ice cream in the Mirabell gardens.  In the evening the girls went out for a meal before heading to the Belgium bar for a drink.  It was really lovely to be back and it felt like Katie and I had just been gone for a long weekend.

The following morning Maija and I headed to Alchemie for their famous Schokomuffin, which entirely lived up to my expectations.  The other girls met us there and we enjoyed a leisurely coffee before heading to Keri's to get the BBQ (or grill as the American's say) for the afternoon.  We then headed to Volksgarten for an afternoon in the sun eating and drinking and generally being merry :)  Getting to the Volksgarten was hilarious.  Imagine Keri with a BBQ full of food,  Maija carrying bags of food and beer and then me with a rucksack containing a watermelon on my back and a bag of coal in each hand... then add us running for the bus! It was a perfect afternoon and the evening completed the day with a trip to Murphy's and then a late night/early morning wander of Salzburg's nightlife with Keri where we even met some of her students, who dragged us into a bar on our way home.

The following day we went for breakfast and met Maija, Dave and Matt before heading to the wine festival happening by Mirabell Gardens.  When I was in Austria we went there all the time for the mulled wine and now we went for wine tasting.. I see a pattern here :P  After having tasted some different wines from across Austria, including a very nice 'rosecco' we went for a casual sit by the river before going for ice cream :)  In the evening we went out for dinner before heading to Emily's for the party.  It was really lovely to see everyone again and I had a really good time :D  I don't know if I will ever again meet quite such a special group of people.

On the Sunday we had a very leisurely day which involved a lot of eating and sitting out in the sun by the river.  On Monday I was due to go to Bischofshofen but due to a change of plans I spent the day in Salzburg walking around and taking it all in before going out to dinner.  It was nice to see the town again in spring because all of the statues were uncovered and the atmosphere is different.

I am so glad I went back and got to make the most of seeing everyone again.  :)  Salzburg really is one of my favourite European cities and if you haven't been yet.. what are you waiting for!

 The famous Schokomuffin

 What would happen if we swapped hair... it amused me so thought I would share

Toledo

After Sam’s visit I decided to go to Toledo for the day to keep myself amused as my essay had been submitted and I had a few free days before my trip to Salzburg.  I went with a friend from Durham, who I ironically didn’t know before we were both sent to Alcala.  Life has a funny way of doing things sometimes.

We got up early to get to Atocha in plenty of time for the 10.20 train, and after having queued for 20 mins or so we were told that the train we wanted was already full so we had to wait until 12.20. This shocked us as a) it was only 9.30, b) who were all these people going to Toledo? and c) in most other countries you can buy a ticket even if all the seats are filled and just stand for the duration of the journey.  Anyway, we got our tickets and went for a little walk before going to Starbucks for breakfast.

When it was finally time to board we were impressed with how much security there was.  The station reminded me a lot of the Eurostar section at St Pancreas and I even had to put my bag through a scanner.  

The journey went by very quickly and soon we were on a tourist bus going around the outside of the town. This was quite possibly my favourite bit of the day as the town is just so stunning from far away.  When you get into the town everything is very close together and if felt a little claustrophobic.  This also meant that you couldn’t really stand back and look at anything.  Toledo is similar to Durham in the sense that it has a natural moat surrounding the town.  In both places the river circles the town and means you have to cross it to get in or out of the centre.

The weather was very changeable all day, but that just made life more interesting.  I really enjoyed just being somewhere completely different for a day.  That is one of my favourite things about travelling and exploring new places - being completely anonymous.  The town is stunning and all of the architecture is really beautiful.  Well worth a visit if you are in Madrid and fancy a day out of the city.

 The station

 This man and his hat amused me

 The cathedral

Sam's Visit

Just 4 days and a lot of essay writing after Keri’s departure Sam arrived.  He is making the most of my being abroad to get some travelling and holidays in.  He arrived late on Thursday night so our Spanish adventures didn’t really start until Friday.  Of course as proud Brits as soon as we woke up we put the Royal Wedding on and spent a couple of hours watching it.  I really enjoyed seeing what everyone wore and also watching the ceremony.  It all reminded me of a fairytale, an opinion I feel is shared by most of the people I know.  In the afternoon we went for a wander to the palace and the cathedral before grabbing a bite to eat in plaza mayor where we enjoyed all of the goings on.

The following day we enjoyed some more walking around the city before going to see the Real Madrid –v- Zaragoza game in the early evening.  I am so glad that Sam wanted to go because it is not something I would have done alone.  It was a really good game mainly due to the fact that R.M had recently lost against Barcelona and ended up loosing again to Zaragoza, who are near the bottom of the league.  The fans were really animated and shouted at the referee a lot (in fairness he made a couple of dodgy decisions)which made the atmosphere in the stadium a good one to experience.

On Sunday we got up fairly casually and made our way back to the Santiago-Bernabeu Stadium to do the tour.  I really enjoyed seeing all the different places within it and again am glad we went.  We then went for lunch before strolling around the park for the afternoon.  The next morning we walked to the temple and enjoyed some more sitting around in the sunshine and people watching.  That evening we went to Plaza Santa Ana, which I would really recommend as a place to go and eat.  I have now been there a few times and have always eaten well.  Thanks to Keri and her contacts for the heads up :P

I was sad to say goodbye but had a really chilled few days, which was exactly what I needed.

 Spiderman just checking in with the police

 Sam got caught..

 La Tuna singers in Plaza Mayor

 The football stadium

 The remains of the pipas which the Spanish chew/eat ALL the time

 This is the strangest football trophy I have ever seen

 View of Madrid

Spanish theory on parking

After a long day walking around the beautiful town of Toldeo - yes life is hard, I know - it is time for me to go to bed before another long day tomorrow and then my trip to SALZBURG!! I am a little excited, you may have guessed :)  I just wanted to share this little gem with you before going to bed.

I have observed many Spanish people attempting to park over the last few months and every time they have failed miserably.  I mean not much can be said for the general standards of parking in Harpenden (4x4 mums need to learn how to park their 4x4s!!) and having seen cars parked entirely on the pavement in Prague and in Munich, I know the Spanish are not the only ones with difficulties.  However the apparent theory behind parking here is just unbelievable.

The theory seems to be:

1) Find a space which my car may or may not fit into - we shall see.

2) Attempt reversing in at an impossible angle.

3) Reverse until you hit the car behind you, then you know you are far enough in.

4) To straighten up drive forward until you hit the car in front.

5) Leave car feeling satisfied at successful parking.

The number of times I have seen this happen is unbelievable.  The other option is taking 15 minutes wiggling into a spot, then give up and leave the car - still not in the space.

So there you have it, a little something which makes me laugh every day.  I have also noticed that a vast majority of cars here have dents/marks on the front and rear bumpers, most probably resulting from the above technique.

Night night

Whoa! We're going to Ibiza!! - well we went..

After a lovely week with the family it was time for our Easter holiday from uni and my chance to get to the beach.  As Keri had never been to Spain before and I wanted to get to the coast we decided a beach holiday was in order.  We chose Ibiza because it is meant to be nice in April, before the clubbing season starts.  So our plan for some sun, sea and cocktails came to be during my one week holiday! (one week seemed very very short after my normal five from Durham :P)

On the Saturday afternoon I made my way into Madrid and checked into our hostel for the night.  The hostel was literally an apartment which the guy owned... very amusing and thank God I speak Spanish as his English was non-existant.  I then went to meet Rachel, Danielle and Holly, three lovely linguists from Durham for dinner.  Danielle and Holly are currently placed in Madrid and Rachel was visiting from Bilbao so it was the perfect occasion to see them.  After a good catch up and a lesson in how to make a Spanish Tortilla from Danielle's housemate I headed to the airport to collect my American friend!! he he!

The flight was a bit delayed (of course it was I hear you say!!) so I made the most of my time and explored terminal 4 - the newer part of Madrid Airport and quite frankly the much nicer part.  I was also greatly amused by the bouquet of flowers vending machine...  Then suddenly I heard some Germans come through the doors, so then I thought.. she's coming and low and behold appeared a Miss Keri Forbringer.

After a good night's sleep we made our way back to the airport the next morning for our flight to eebeeza (as Keri would say).  I was slightly disappointed the Vengaboys song didn't come on as we took off but you know.. The flight went by really quickly (it's only 55mins) and thanks to the clear blue skies we enjoyed looking down at the Spanish countryside and then the sea.  Very quickly we could see the island and got pretty excited!!  Once landed, we got a taxi to our hotel in San Antonio.  We stayed at the Hotel Puchet and I would hugely recommend it.  We went expecting a hostel and found a newly refurbished hotel with a nice pool, nice rooms and breakfast included.

As it was only mid afternoon we decided to go and explore.  We found the beach very quickly and enjoyed walking along the sea front before getting stopped by a guy trying to pull people into his bar.  He did a good job and we enjoyed a cold beer looking out at the port.  We then went to a couple more bars along the way before getting to the Golden Buddha and getting a pitcher of Sangria to enjoy the sunset.  A good start to the week!  The following day we made the most of the pool and spent the entire day enjoying the sun and just taking some time to do nothing.  I also made the most of the pool, as I haven't been swimming for a long time and was greatly amused by the fully grown man who thought the pool was too cold so took about half an hour to jump in.  That evening we got a few beers and some chorizo and chilled on the balcony.  We had a lot to talk about :)

On the Tuesday we decided to rent bikes and go on a little adventure around the coast.  We set off with no plan or expectations and were pleasantly surprised by what we found.  We came across some beautiful little coves and thanks to it not being peak season at times we went for ages without seeing anyone.  We ended up going through the mountains at some point (which nearly killed me due to my current lack of fitness - I am hitting the gym immediately in July!) and the scenery was stunning.  The last beach we went to was just beautiful... there are no words...  I really enjoyed the cycle back as it was all down hill and I loved having the wind in my hair.. he he what a cliche!

Day three was spent on a big long beach on the south east coast of the island.  It was the most beachy beach there and I really enjoyed another day of just reading and taking in the sea and sun.  The following day it was a little overcast so we made our way to Ibiza town on the East coast.  We explored the fishing port for a while enjoying all the little alleys and then went up to the top of the fortress.  We then enjoyed a couple of cocktails :P on a Plaza as the sun went down.

On the last day we had lunch in the sun before getting on the plane back to Madrid.  We stayed the night in Alcala and then went into the city for the day.  What started out as a fairly grey day turned into a lovely one and so we made the most of all the touristy sites and then got a rowing boat in the lake, having bought macaroons.  Life was pretty good :)  We then went to a lovely Plaza - Plaza Santa Ana for dinner and some Sangria.  The next day I took Keri to the airport and we said goodbye - thank God I am going to Salzburg in less than a week!!!!! :D  And now for the photos:

 The Spanish countryside

 The island from above

 My current background on my laptop

 Keri-sized door :)

 :D

 The hotel pool

 Photographer Keri

 ahhhh holidays...

 he he he

 LOL

 This reminded me of the car in the Inbetweeners... but better ;)

 Ibiza town

 Keri giving me a heart attack..

 Ibiza town

 Semana Santa parade in Alcala on Good Friday

 Rowing in the Retiro

 Classy ladies..

 We played on this for quite a while..

 Just cycling along..

 We're here!!!

 Madrid - the park by the Palace where the incident that shan't be named occurred..