Yellowknife- Day 6 Update

Friends,

Solo in the cold north had a surprising successful note to it.

Had the usual early morning (7 am) and a quick trip to the gym. Nothing major, but two gym days at a hotel is a first for me.

Decided to go to sports/places I had not been before in search of new surveys. It worked. I was able to get twice as many surveys as I estimated/hoped. Getting to a point where I can pick out travelers from locals within the same bleachers/stands.

Made it home in time to see the terrible Habs/Sens game. Got the chance to talk to Jitka just as her birthday became official. What a lady.

Tommorow is the last full day, and I plan to try and beat the assessment goals we set out. Running out of places to go, as many have been surveyed and I am known as the survey guy with a palm pilot in my holster, at the ready. People are giving me collector pins for free after our chats and many go from being reluctant to talk to telling me their life story. For the most part, I love it.

I actually spoke Swedish a lot today. All the danish Greenlanders and Swedish Sampi people understand my Swedish very well, and they enjoy my efforts. I throw in english words in the middle of my questions because, I'm not that good. However, it makes it easier for them to "forstad". :)

The International Artic Games committee is in full force, and they do not know about the assessment. I surveyed a couple who were defensive and on a high horse. One old lady from Alberta almost became the first old lady I ever punched. The woman talked for five minutes straight, babbling on about the greatness of the games and how she knew the true economic value of the games to the community.

I weather was -25 today and it was still very enjoyable. No wind means no problems for this guy. It's a different cold here than in Ottawa.

Looking forward to the conclusion of the trip. Great experience.

Yellowknife- Day 5 Update

Friends,

Another day of surveys.

Tony left during the middle of the day, and it is tougher doing it on your own. Although we work the areas separately, it is nice to meet up, chat, and the travel between places at nice go by faster when talking to someone.

Alone on a business trip.. boo freakin hoo! I sucked it up and did about 30 surveys today, almost all from out of town. Hope to do 20 more for both Thurs and Fri, but I am starting to see the same people more and more.

A creature of habit, I got takeout from Taste of Saigon tonight. The prices are great the the food is great.

Going to try and catch up on some COC stuff.

Yellowknife- Day 4 Update

Friends

-Surveys all day.. getting close to the target
-Mr Fisher heads out tomorrow, meaning I will be winging it alone till Saturday. Makes it tougher
-Breakfast at the hotel, dinner at "Taste of Saigon" again.
-Steam room once again was great for the skin

Saw some great spirit and competition today. You have to realize this is the Olympics for these kids, and it's been a great simulation.

-Saw an amazing basketball game. Yukon versus NWT. The two point guards dominated the game. With the NWT holidng a three point lead, Yukon steals the ball gives it to a player for a wide open three.. and hits the rim. The fans were crazy during the whole game

-Saw a Northern Alberta athlete compete in the snowshow event. Tony saw him as he rounded the final turn and said "That kid doesn't look very could". Sadly the kid took a spill a mere five feet from the finish line. Unable to stand, he had to be coaxed to crawl past the line or face disqualification. I've been tough as a coach, but I probably would have gotten the paramedics involved sooner. I am not sure if the athlete is okay (removed on stretcher), and I hope he recovers. Very scary moment, and my understanding of the stress snowshoe racing causes is much more clear.

Saw the third period of the Montreal- New Jersey game. We're in first in the eastern conference. Yet another thing to remember this town by.

Miss the Jitty.

Yellowknife- Day 3 Update

Friends,

Successful first day of assessment. Tony and I hit the venues and did much better than our/my conservative estimates.

Quick notes

• You'd be amazed at the size of the Asian population in Yellowknife. There are many Japanese tourists, but many more live here. There are Muslim cabbies, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and Japanese.
  
• These games are very inspiring. You know I am cynical, but Tony and I were impressed with the sportsmanship. facilities, and volunteer dedication. Money is being well spent, and the athletes are all enjoying themselves. This is big for them.
  
• Rick Mercer is in town, and you can expect something on Monday Report next week. He actually called up our favorite spot last night (Bullocks) while we ate. He demanded they stay open after nine, and they rejected him. They claim his response was "But I'm Rick Mercer" They said he could come the next day and that was that. Pretty Funny.
• There are athletes from Greenland, northern Alberta, Alaska, Nunavut, NWT, Nunavik Quebec, Russia and Sammi (a collection of northern people from Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish). The Sammis are fascinating, and I hope to survey more of them tomorrow.
• The Alaskans were great to deal with, and I met their President by accident. Very cool key.
  
• People have been offering me their teams pins.. very nice gestures and unexpected.
• We ate at a great "taste of saigon" restaurant. Highly recommend it.

It was a long day with a lot of walking. It was about -15 to -20. Going to have to cut this short to ensure a successful day tommorow. I say that knowing I will look at my Olympic stuff right now.

Miss the Jitty.

YellowKnife- Snow King Castle Pictures

I call this one "Glass Cage of Emotion"

Friends,

Here are some pictures of our visit to the Snow King and his castle. Enjoy.

Me Texting the Jitty!

Far shot of the Castle

Tony and The Snow King

Every Monarch needs a statue
Manning the Fort

Yellowknife- Day 2

Friends,

Bit of a much needed slow day here in the big town of Yellowknife. We managed to escape the snowstorm of Ottawa, but our bags failed to make it. No big events plus no luggage means walking around in search of socks.

Here's the rundown

• Enjoyed the weekend buffet at the yesterday inside our hotel- The Chateau Nova. Very good brunch- Lots of items and variety and well made. Price was about 20 bucks each, but the fresh fruit and scrambled eggs were well worth it.
• Tony Fisher and I hit the streets in search of toiletries and the famous "outlander" store. Shoppers Drug Mart is open and has equal prices to Ottawa. Outlander is closed, but from the window we can tell that this is the "nice store"
• We hit the local mall and are happy to see some stores open. I pick up some very nice swany gloves (mitt style, can zip them and have gloves that allow great dexterity. Not knowing if the bags we come, we get some very necessary socks. Zero cognitive dissonance here.
• We see many people with AWG team jackets on. I think the impact of these games will be tremendous given everyone around seems involved, but we can't just determine that by sight now can we.
• Everybody drives and walks on ice roads... that is on the frozen lakes. It's still quite shocking.

• After checking back to the hotel, we decide to go see the SnowKing. The monarchy in question is a man who moved here twenty years ago and wanted to build a snow fort for his kids. It just got bigger and bigger, and now he has a snow castle built every year on one of the lakes. He now has a $40 000 budget and a snow festival.

Me and The SnowKing!

Walked to an outdoor hockey rink that welcomes all and showed how diverse the population of this town is. Every NHL jersey from Canada was represented. Everybody has to take a turn shoveling.
Tony and I at Pilots Point

• We then went to pilots point for some city wide views. Met an official from Grand Prarie, and I obliged to take a picture with her to "make her husband jealous". She was just kidding, and it was nice to meet her and others on the trek

• The sun is so bright up here.
• I'm having a hard time buying stuff for people. It's the place and the people and the experience of being here (good and bad) that I'd like to give to others.
• We had supper at Bullocks again. I had Artic Charr and Caribou. Can't wait to get some pictures up of all the events
• Baggage is finally here and I am trying to relax before going full tilt tomorrow with the assessment.

Things to do still
-See the northern lights
-Man a dogsled team

Moment for a decrepit house that was once the house of "Frenchy" Cyr and his wild card parties in the 1930's

Yellowknife- Update #1

Friends,

Welcome to my new blog. I'm going to try and update all with my travels in the coming year. My first trip was today, a 12 hour plane adventure from snowy Ottawa Ontario to sunny Yellowknife North West Territories.

Steven Trainor

Tony Fisher

Why am I headed up north in the middle of March? I'm joining colleague Tony Fisher of the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance to do an economic impact assessment of the Arctic Winter Games. It still sounds crazy, but I had the financial incentive to go as well the long desire to see this area and this great part of Canada.

Here's a rundown of Day 1

• Leave Ottawa at 6 AM amid thousands of sun seekers. Curse you jerks! Airport is too busy for 5:00 AM, not to mentioned we were in the midst of a snowstorm
• Delayed takeoff in Ottawa and Toronto because the planes needed to be de-iced (on the wings). Many connections missed, and people got nasty upon arriving in Toronto. I laughed at these people.
  
• Flight to Vancouver seems long. I watched "Dan in Real Life" (good movies) and several sitcoms. personal TVs on planes are awesome
• I sit with a Brazilian during the Toronto- Vancouver trip who literally came from Sao Paulo to Toronto to Vancouver for a month of language training. Name is Sergio, and he worries that people will only speak French in Vancouver. I ease his concerns.
• Wait patiently for the Yellowknife connection in Vancouver. Van city is super sunny and warm. AS if I didn't miss Jitka enough, I am in her hometown and it is beautiful.
  
• Yellowknife plane has a middle aged blonde lady with suntanned complexion and a "Bring-A Bong" t-shirt. We hear her talk to everyone about her Aussie travels and we think she is crazy. Little do we know..
• Some of Team Russia from the AWG are on the flight. Fun stuff... managed not to boo them.
• We get to Yellowknife. Super sunny, -1 degrees, people are wearing long sleeve sweatshirts. Unreal.
  
• We are met at the airport by a Yellowknife city official (Lisa) who is originally from Cape Breton. Showing great maritime hospitality, she takes us to our hotel. Sadly, our bags are delayed so we have little to check.
• Lisa then takes Tony and I to get our VIP accreditation and gives us a complete tour of the city. We then have one of the most incredible meals of my life. It's a place called Bullocks Bistro, owned by none other than Bring A Bong Girl herself and her husband. Reader's digest called it the best in Canada, and I had the best cod and caribou (came as a combo grilled in front of me) that I have EVER tasted.
  

That's pretty much it. Only wish Jitka could be here to experience it as well. Will try to send daily pictures and updates. Internet issues in room right now, so this is coming from "the business center".



Cheers,

Steven









Tony Fisher with a Czech Beer in Yellowknife!!

Bullocks Staff making Potatoes