The MAnderson Report: unbelievable 24 hours!

so friends....the past 24+ hours has been such an incredible span of time. everywhere you look around this city, the level of excitement and pride and anticipation is on full display! yesterday (tuesday) i spent the morning at the olympic family hotel, helping the new ticket sellers for that venue get settled in and ready to start work. the olympic family hotel is basically the hotel that all the IOC members and many of the national olympic committees from around the world stay. there was such an exciting energy to be there and see them all greeting each others and watching as the different countries were sighted throughout the lobby!

me and the hall of flags at the olympic family hotel.

after that, i headed out to the VANOC headquarters for some managers training - and while we were there, it was mentioned that the OLYMPIC FLAME would be coming to make a special appearance for the vancouver olympic committee's families and friends. SO OF COURSE i had to stay to see the torch arrive! and while we waited, i got to meet 2 of the mascots and get pictures, and laugh with some new friends and FEEL the excitement build in a crowd comprised of many people who have been working on this dream for 8 years or more!

VANOC CEO carries the torch. so. awesome.

after the torch evening, which was just incredible....and i'm not even going to try to explain because words would fail me....they were offering the chance to get a picture with the flame (in a lantern) so i waited a bit but the lines were ridiculous so i ended up heading out to catch the bus. at the bus stop, i started chatting with a really nice couple, close to my age, and we were talking about the games and the event we had just been at (after we realized we were both at the same torch event) and different things about vancouver and washington dc. we continued our conversation on the bus, and were having a great time, and i mentioned a friend of mine here who is dealing with all the US athletes each day - getting them checked in and dealing with some big names....and the gal said, 'yeah....but did she get to hold a silver medal today?' and then in a strange twist of thought that went something like this: "what? a silver medal? what are you.....WAIT A MINUTE DID YOU JUST PULL A SILVER MEDAL OUT OF YOUR POCKET!?!?!?!?!?" come to find out, sister was at the torch ceremony as a 'past olympian' and is pretty much a big deal. she was a rower - won silver in the women's eights race in 1996 in atlanta. I. WAS. DYING. torch. mascots. medal! amazing.

i mean come on! perfect ending to an incredible day!!!

and to top it all off - tonight i ended up watching a good portion of the final dress rehearsal for the opening ceremonies. i mean - THE OPENING CEREMONIES!? of the OLYMPICS!? WHAT!? it's true. i pinched myself - and i pinched again - and it kept coming back to me. indeed - this is all real. and has been such a fantastic experience so far!

now we are down to one day left until vancouver 2010 is under way...and i won't give anything away...but i will say this....congrats, canada! you should be pretty darn proud!!!!! and thank you for being an INCREDIBLE host!