Bittersweet feelings

Well the Olympics is almost over and the fact that this time was really almost over hadn't really hit me until last night when I received a phone call from one of our ski jump workers as she was sitting in detroit waiting for the plane to leave for lexington, at that point, knowing that we had Asburians who just a few hours earlier were in whistler were now in the states, it started to hit me, this time is almost over. As I recieved the text saying the plane had landed in Lexington KY, I realized that reality is back and it came back hard. Over the last 24 hours we have had people leaving heading back to the states now you would think this would be an exciting time but yet it's not as we have to go back to the busy schedules of classes and what not and also leaving the people we have met up here who we may never ever see again. It's bittersweet because work finally stops and we can some time to rest, however we have all fallen in love with this little town called Whistler to the point most of us would be quite happy living here. Now comes the time to leave what has been our home for the last three or four weeks. You wouldn't think you could call a place home in that short amount of time, but we could. I can see many of us returing to this place one day as we continue our journy through life. For me Reality strikes back Monday evening as I'll fly back to the states. However we may have postponed reality for one more day as on tuesday night many of us are going to try and get together and just have one last night of not worrying about classes or homework or what has to get done, as I have said in other posts we have had an incredible experience up here and we hate to see it end, but we all came into this job knowing that it was only temporary and I feel like that is one thing God has taught many of us, is things change all the time and they are not always easy as there are 50 of us going through another major change in our life. Well I will try to write tomorrow but may not be able to in which case I will be back in KY tuesday morning.

The Beginning of the End

Well this as been an Incredible Experience for all 50 of us Asburians that are up here. Today Feb. 25th was the last day for the ski jump venue where Asbury currently has 5 students working there. This hereby marks the beginning of the end. Starting at 1:15am Friday morning our first Asburian leaves Whistler, over the next 5 days the 50 of us will leave at different times. You would think this would be a bittersweet time being that our work is over and we can go back to life as it was. Well it is actually much more of a bitter ending as many of us have met and made friends with people from other countries who we will probably never see again. In talking with a friend about all this the biggest thing tugging at our hearts as this all wraps up is, were we a good example of Christ? Did we show anyone Christ? These are questions that we may never know the answers to until we get to heaven. We have all loved the experience we have had up here, we have had great times and yes there have been a few bad times but all in all this is something we will never forget for the rest of our lives. As we begin to leave we realize that we have to make another culture change. Now you may think "culture change? but you're going back to the states." Well yes we are, but we are going back to Asbury which is a culture all on it's own in a good way. We have gotten use to the way of life up here finally and now it's almost time to go back so I would ask those reading this to please pray for all of us as we start the end of our stories. Like I said we have one person leaving Whistler at 1:15am friday morning and the last one to leave does not leave until Tuesday Afternoon, I leave Sunday night on a red eye. Please pray for us as we travel back to school with very little or no sleep and pray for us as we make another adjustment in our lives and tell our stories to friends and families back in the states

God's Beautiful Creation

So I had the day off today. I have been wanting to do this Gondola ride called peak to peak for some time now. You take a Gondola ride up to the top of Whistler mountain and then another Gondola from the Peak of Whistler to the Peak of Blackcomb. Well myself and a friend of mine really wanted to do this but were waiting for nice weather. Today for both of us it was our last day off so we decided to do it regardless of the weather and the money. God blessed us and we got to do it for free but that's a story for when I get back to the states and see all of you. As we embarked on the 25 min. Gondola ride up the mountain we could see the earth beneath us and clouds above us, when we arrived at the top of Whistler moutain it was sunny and clear with Blue skies. This amazed us how this was even possible. We took the Gondola across the two peaks, it was breathtaking, we were literally surrounded my mountains, if only I could of took a 360 degree picture you could see it. Pictures just don't do this experience justice. It was amazing to see God's Creation like this. We got to go to the top of Whistler and Blackcomb mountain 2 of the most intense/famous mountains in the world. I am so glad I finally got to do this while I was here. It was wonderful also being with a fellow asburian because we could both see just how amazing this was being able to see this. Many people dream about being able to see mountains like my friend Rachael and I did today. You know those movies and dreams where mountains are everywhere, yea it was like that. We even got to walk around a bit on the top of both mountains and look out over the world, it was quite an experience. I tried to upload a picture to here, but it's not working, I will try again later, there will be pictures on my facebook of peak to peak after the Olympics are over

O Canada

Well I didn't realize it's been a week since I last blogged, it's been quite a busy week as things have really started to take off. I have learned that Alpine Skiing is a very very fast sport and extremely competitive. Skiers are within one hundredths of a second of each other and that is the difference between Gold, Silver, and Bronze. I have been fortunate enough to be able to watch the race live which has been really cool to see. The end of this week us Asburians begin to head back to the states. As we start to realize we have to go back soon we realize how much we do not want to go back and would like to just stay in Canada. We have encounter so many people up here and all Canadians are extremely friendly and willing to do whatever they can to make your stay in their country better and no one is ever in a hurry they are all just happy to be here. Many of us are starting to realize that we soon have to go back to the hussle and bussle of the states and the culture of people only caring about themselves and no one else. As I sit here and type this I begin to think that it would be so cool if those of us that have been up here go back with totally differnt attitudes and decide to be just as nice as canadians to people we pass and meet on our flights back and whoever we may run into as we continue our lives in the states. Canada is a really awesome country where everyone just looks out for another becuase after all they're all living here so why not get along. If only the states had that same attitude it would be wonderful. So as we all prepare to start heading back soon, for some of us only 6 days, some 8, some 10, as for my I have 8 days, I hope and pray that we all could have a "canadian attitude" so to speak about our country and those we meet. Well some of us are meeting for dinner soon so it's time to get off of here now

Cultures coming together

So Today was the first day that my venue actually had a race since we kept getting canceled because of weather. I got to stand on top of the grand stand and watch the race with other broadcasters. It was so cool to actually be at an event that was being broadcasted to the entire world. However it was much more of a culture experience today than a media experience which is how most days have been. It was so neat today to hear people yelling and cheering as each skier came down the mountain. The cool thing was people cheered for every skier no matter what country, so it was countries cheering for other countries which I found amazing and thought, see this is how it should be, all the countries just getting along. There were no loud outburst of something not going right or anyone complaining, something we are too used to in the states. Everyone was just happy to be there and just had a good time enjoying a sporting event. So many cultures are in on town up here right now, and yet they seem to be getting a long. Yes there are the few protestors, but the majority is just happy to be up here and experience the games with the rest of the world. This experience has already been incredible!!

Blessings

So Today was a short day since Training was canceled because of bad weather I was done by noon. So I started to sit and reflect on a conversation I had last night. The plan last night was for a bunch of us to go walk around whistler last night, well it started to rain, so me and a very good friend sat in her hotel lobby and talked. The topic came up about how blessed we are to be up here and how all the nations are here with us. Today I thought about this a lot and started to see what she was talking about. Every big nation and even some small are here working with us everyday side by side. God has given us this amazing opportunity to be a light of Christ to other countries without having to even go overseas. We talked about how it is sometimes very hard to share Christ with others when so much is going on, but then we realized it's all about your attitude and your actions because that is what people notice the most. I have been thinking about this all day and it is very true, us Asburians right now are extremely blessed. There are people who spend their entire career trying to get where we are right now. I wake up everyday and go to work and see the beautiful mountains and it blows me away every time that I am actually here in Whistler working for the Olympics. The Games have not even started and some of us are starting to realize just how amazing all of this is.

Whistler Village

So Today we got off very early, just after lunch because there was bad weather on the mountain. Snowing so hard that the town at the foot of the mountain was not visible yet down in the town it was not snowing at all and much clearer. So being that I got off early when some others get off we are going to go walk around the village, it is such a cool little village, it reminds some people of downtown Disney, but to me it reminds me of a Christmas Village with everyone out and about during the night even in the cold. The really cool thing though is that not a single person is every in a hurry. Everyone just kind of goes about their business and even talking with people as they pass although they don't know each other. Everyone seems to treat others like they are old friends up for a visit, this is something America does not understand. Canada has realized that since we are al living in the same place, lets be friendly and get along. Up here everyone walks everywhere and used public transit much more in the states. Yes I have been to Canada many many times before this, but I was always pretty young, this time I can actually very clearly since the difference in the culture and the people, Canadains are so proud of their country that they want you to feel welcome, it is a really cool expierence. It makes a lot of us not want to go back to the states becuase we know it just won't be the same. Maybe that's something we should all work on when we go back, to be more friendly with people we meet and pass on the sidewalk, well that's all for now.

I'm here

As my plane landed in Vancouver I became extremely excited as I was entering another country to work the Olympics. I was able to go through Customs very smoothly. I was met by some Asbury people upon arriving at my hotel who helped me go pick up my credentials so I could start work the next day. It's been really cool to see how even in Canada us Asburians greeting each other with friendly hugs as we see each other for the first time after traveling across the country.

Today was my first day of work we got done early today so that gave me a chance to see the town of Whistler in the day time. Whistler is a nice little town, everyone walks everywhere and it is very much a ski town with people sitting outside on patios in 20 degree weather.

After work tonight a bunch of us went out to eat right here in Whistler and just had a good time chatting about our days and what positions we have and just fellowshipping. Now I believe it is time for bed as we start around 8:30 tomorrow morning, actually later than this morning.

Sureality

Well I landed in Chicago early, Thank the Lord, because I just made the flight, the gate was on the opposite end of the airport and Chicago airport is HUGE. I arrived in Seattle a few minutes early so I had time to grab lunch and just sit back and relax for the next 30 min. while I wait for the plane to arrive. As I made my descent into Seattle it all started to hit me even more, I am on the west coast going to work the biggest event in the world and one of the biggest venues there. This is something I have dreamed of ever since coming to Asbury and have heard stories from tons of people and now the time is finally here, and I will start my story as I experience the largest event in the world firsthand.

The Begining

Well I am now sitting in the Lexington airport waiting to get on my flight that leaves at 10:46am eastern time, I had to get a later flight so my dad and brother would make it here before I left. My dad and brother made it to kentucky with my passport at 5:30am this morning and slept in my room for an hour before heading out to the airport this morning. I got through security very smoothly and KY security guards are very nice, they are just a bunch of older gentlemen that are enjoying their job. This still all feels like a dream that I will wake up any moment. I cannot believe that I am actually going to the Olympics to work there!!! I am way beyond excited, a little bit of nervousness is starting to kick in, I mean after all this is the biggest event on the face of the earth. However the excitement still outweighs the nervousness. I will fly to chicago, then to seattle, where I will finally fly into Vancouver and then take the bus into Whistler where I will be staying and working.

A Phone Call Changes everything

So I was sitting in my room with my good friend Kenton watching a movie. All of the sudden my room phone rang, which is very rare since not many have room phones anymore. I decided to answer it to which I hear, "Hi Carlton, this is Jim Owens" I instantly knew what he was calling for. He went on to say "I have a job for you, can you be here by sunday night. So I called my parents and booked my flight and now leave Sunday Morning at 6am Eastern time.