Whistler

After a long and tiring Friday, it was good that Saturday was my next day off. My host family were going skiing in Whistler, and had invited me to go with them, and I was pleased to be able to accept. The journey up the coast wasn't as picturesque as it could have been due to rain and low cloud, but I did get glimpses of the beauty and splendour of the 'sea to sky' route as it's known.
On arrival in Whistler, my host family went off skiing whilst I headed into the village to meet Carolyn. It was good to catch up with her after a week, and to hear how the chaplaincy is going in the Athletes' Village in Whistler. This is where all the snow-based Paralympians and their support staff are located. As there are more teams and athletes here, it is busier than the Vancouver Village, and a good number of athletes have dropped into the Whistler Multi-Faith Centre, even though attendances at Prayer and Bible Study sessions haven't yet been that great. It was also interesting to note that some things which seem to work well in Vancouver don't work so well in Whistler - which just goes to show that chaplaincy, and indeed all Christian ministry, needs to take account of its context in order best to fulfil its aim.
After Carolyn left to begin her shift at 2pm, I explored Whistler itself, including the Aboriginal (First Nations) Centre and the Austria House. The latter was built on sustainable and energy efficient principles and after the Paralympics will become part of the legacy to the Whistler community. During the Games, it is home to the Austrian Paralympic Committee, and as part of that it offers tasters of Austrian food and hospitality. To do this it is staffed by a lecturer and group of tourism students from Austria and, as such, is an example of how the Games can also provide all sorts of opportunities outside of sport. I also enjoyed a longish walk around one of the cross-country ski trails. Although there is a lot of good snow in and around Whistler, especially at higher altitudes, the cross-country ski trails have closed a few weeks early due to the warm weather last month.
After my host family returned from their skiing, we ate together before going to the medal ceremonies for the day's snow events. At these Paralympics, as with the preceding Olympics, these ceremonies are conducted in the evening to enable more people to attend them. We also visited an exhibition highlighting some of the developments and innovations that have taken place in Paralympic sport over the years, before returning to Vancouver in time for me to conduct a live telephone interview with BBC Radio Solent's Sunday morning programme - it was really strange speaking on a Sunday morning programme whilst it was still Saturday here.....