Here We Are

So I've been here a week now and just have been too busy to keep this blog until now. For those of you who don't know the Paralympics are the Olympics for disabled persons. Sometimes it confused with the Special Olympics but that's for mentally disabled folks. These athletes here are physically disabled. Some may have paralysis from an accident, some are amputees due to accidents, some have birth defects such as missing limbs, some with conditions such as CP while others may be visually impaired. Depending on the sport they are categorized with like disabilities.So I have been assigned the Mountain Village which we affectionately refer to as the MVL. I'm the transportation person who organizes all transportation and is the contact for the Local Organizers (Sochi2014) and their transportation. We have a fleet of cars that we basically rented but there is also buses and shuttles that run regularly to get athletes/ coaches/ staff between villages, to competition venues and to/fro the airport. The Coastal Village sits right on the Black Sea. During the Olympics this area hosted all speedskating, ice skating, hockey and curling so all the indoor venues. I haven't seen too much of these facilities but they look pretty from a far. Very different from what they did on TV during the O-Games. For the Paralympics the Coastal Village hosts curling and sled hockey. It's about an hour drive directly east to get to the Mountain Village and the Endurance Village. I look out my office window at MVL and looks north and can see the Endurance Village although it is like an hour drive to get over there because it means a drive down into Rosa Khutor and then up to the Endurance Village. During the O-Games the MVL hosted all alpine and snowboard events while the endurance village hosted biathlon and nordic events. For the Paralympics there are alpine events such as downhill and super G as well as Snowboard Cross. One of the athletes, Amy Purdy, is here and spending about 3 hours every afternoon with a dance coach from Dancing with the Stars as she will premier on DWTS on March 17th. As for the Endurance Village, they host biathlon and cross country events for Paras.

The Mountain Village
 



The Coastal Village

My Working Space in MVL