We're in the Village!

We are finally here, as unbelievable as it is! We arrived in the Whistler Paralympic Village this afternoon after travelling pretty much all day. We drove out of Canmore around 8 this morning with our van packed to the rafters with suitcases and ski bags. Poor Andrea could not see anything to the right of her because of all the stuff, and Robert had to tell her when it was safe to change lanes! But we got there in one piece and flew out to Vancouver. Andrea and I were at the very back of the plane. As we walked onto the plane, we saw Jamie sitting in first class. He says to us, all sad-and-lonely-like, "aren't you guys in first class?" Apparently, somehow he was the only one on the team who got bumped to first class! We still haven't figured that one out.

When we got to Vancouver, we were greeted by lots of volunteers, who helped us get our accreditations validated, got all of our luggage for us and loaded it all on the bus. They also took lots of pictures of us and gave us pins and lolipops that turned our teeth blue. Celebrity treatment or what? Then we drove to Whislter on the very scenic Sea-to-Sky Highway. When we go to the village, there were some super strict security measures to go through, which included checking underneath our vehicle with mirrors and an airport-style screening. But before it, we got free Coke out of a free Coke machine, which made our day.

We got lots of gifts and our HBC clothes when we got to our rooms. The rest of the afternoon was spent in a frenzy of trying things on, exchanging what we could with teammates and filling out official exchange forms for CPC. Most of the sizes didn't seem to match what we requested last year somehow, but according to Jason, our Athletes Services Officer, that's pretty normal for the Paralympics.

Then, we went to supper, and boy is the food tent amazing! It's got all these different stations: Italian, Asian, continental, cold-cut, soup - you name it! And of course, the usual free full-service McDonald's. We had an Asian stir-fry that they made right in front of us after we picked our ingridients and pizza and ice cream. Can't wait to try something else tomorrow!

Alright, it's quite late and I'd better go to bed. We're going skiing at 9 tomorrow. Good night from the Whistler Paralympic Village!