Let me fill you in briefly. I just attended World Gymnastraeda 2011. It was held in Switzerland. For those of you who have never heard of it before (I didn't really know until about 2 years ago), this is the biggest "sporting" event in the world. In fact, there are more participants from around the world than at any Olympics. Now, please be aware that I am not comparing the two. I truly believe the Olympians are athletes, and those how attended Gymnastraeda were for the most part "performers", mixed in with the odd "athlete". This event had 19,000 participants, with an additional 7,000 supporters (coaches and managers). The average age of participants was 30 years old.
I also need to add a quick side note that Nate is upset I am blogging about my days in Switzerland. The blog is called "Jes & Nate Vs. The World" and Nate wasn't with me. I think he is just upset because he went on a bunch of incredible hikes in BC and Alberta while I was gone and didn't write about them, therefore, they will not appear on the blog. Neither will his video of a mouse crawling out of the hood of his car while he was driving on the highway, unless he decides to write about it!
Travel Days:
July 6th and 7th became one very, super, ridiculously long day. It started with me getting out of Nate’s car at the airport wearing a ½ a bagel with approximately 2 tbsp of melted peanut butter on my pants! The peanut butter was spread far and wide even covering parts of my fleece. This was quickly cleaned up with a bottle of water and Nate’s traveling pillowcase. I departed Regina at 10:15 am after a minor panic attack …. Ok, maybe two. In order for the athletes to travel international without both parents, they need a notarized letter stating that both parents agree to allow their child to travel ½ way around the world with me. Most of these letters I have in hand prior to leaving except one. This athlete did not have it done in time to send in the mail, she was to bring it to the airport herself. Before even getting on the airplane in Regina (approximately 15 minutes before boarding), she approaches me and informs me that she has lost her notarized letter! This child cannot leave the country without it! She informs me that she had it in her passport when she handed it over to the lady at the check-in desk. I quickly contacted the first Air Canada personnel that I could find and set her on a mission to find the missing notarized letter. In the meantime, the humungous hoop, which is a key instrument in the girls World Gymnastraeda routine will not fit into the plane. It is made of solid steel and used to fling athletes around; it could not be bent to fit into the cargo hold of the plane. Full-blown panic sets in for the entire team. The enormous hoop is the routine! Luckily one of the girls parents works for Air Canada. She had us organized to ship the hoop to Calgary via West Jet, and Fed-ex it to Lausanne, Switzerland the following day. Phew, crisis averted, hopefully. In the meantime, our other handy Air Canada personnel had found the missing notarized letter and we are all boarding the plane! With this start, all I could think was … let the games begin!
The rest of the travel day was very long, but ran smoothly. We had a two-hour layover in Toronto followed by a one-hour layover in Montreal. At 6:30 pm Regina time, we departed Montreal for Geneva, Switzerland. I was lucky enough to catch a few hours of shuteye before landing in Geneva at the local time of 10:20 am. This is where day one starts blurring into day two. On the bright side of our first day, everyone’s luggage arrived. This includes 4 hockey bags full of extra clothing (to be sold by Gymnastics Canada), and 3 extra bags full of equipment. I should clarify, by all, I mean everything except the massive hoop that is our World Gymnastraeda routine. We hopped onto the bus and headed to our school in Lausanne (40 minutes from Geneva). Upon arrival we were read the riot act and handed an air mattress, pillow and blanket and left to set up camp. I am staying in a classroom with 9 15-17 year olds. Oh the joys. These will be my roommates and tour group for the next 9 days. After setting up camp, having a very lengthy Team “Sask” Canada meeting (There are 12 teams here from Canada), the girls nestled in, and I headed for a shower feeling unbearably grimy after “two” days of travel. While I knew I was staying in a school, and sharing a classroom for sleeping accommodations, I failed to realize this meant communal showers! UGH! GROSS! I was not mentally prepared for this. There are over 600 athletes and supporters (managers & parents) staying at this school. Privacy was going to be non-existent! The other adult chaperones scoffed at my mention of shyness. They clearly have no problem getting naked in front of the athletes. Myself was glad to have brought my bathing suit. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a super huge problem showering naked in front of a bunch of women, it’s the kids that makes it a little weird! Apparently, the other chaperones did not understand my worries one bit, and very quickly stripped down to their birthday suits and jumped in. This was going to be a long week!
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