McSwain's Minutes: OLYMPICS

Sochi was a once in a lifetime experience. It was something that I waited for a long, long time, but passed by in the blink of an eye. I went to Sochi not know what to expect, besides what had been shared with us in the training. I knew I would be working with South Korea and that I was a National Olympic Committee Assistant. Other than that, I was learning as I went. I will NEVER forget the experience I had in Sochi and it is something that can never repeat itself again in my life, even if I decide to attempt to volunteer at future Olympics. The fact that I spoke Russian and that my native language was English put me in a very unique situation, unlike 99.5% of all other volunteers. It was hard work, VERY HARD WORK, but it was worth all 20 pounds I lost and the sweat, frustration, and almost tears at times.

My work included lots of different things: translator, taxi driver, cleaner, bed maker, furniture mover, errand boy, and I could go on and on. The 2 most exciting things I did was being a "body guard" for Yuna Kim and translating a telegram from Putin to the Korean speed skater who won several medals.

I was very lucky that my accreditation got me into any stadium and if there was an empty seat, I could watch the action happening! Here are some pictures that share a VERY small portion of what I experienced:

Preparing the Coastal Olympic Village for the arrival of all the participants. I worked in the Coastal Village, not in the mountains.

The first welcome ceremony was for team "Kazakhstan."

The stadium for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. You can see that the flame is not yet burning, so this picture was taken before the start of the games.

Speed Skating Stadium

Hockey!

Ready to Burn!

Team Korea welcome ceremony.

I had to drive up to the mountains to scout out fancy restaurants for the Korean team to take their invited guests. While there, the Olympic flame ran right past me. I was very surprised!