23 Days in Vancouver: Rain + Early Start+ Hills = One tired Janice

Today was an early start. Steve, Chris and myself all started at 7am today. This meant having to get up at 5am. It is so hard to get up and get ready in the dark without making a sound! No one stirred so I was good.

Steve made us early risers French toast - that was a bit of a reward for waking up so early.

I took some pictures of the store this morning while we were still closed. The store looks so amazing. Elizabeth and the rest of the managers really hold their employees to high store standards but it pays off.

We receive over 100 boxes today. At first Purolator came and dropped off 17. I was like this is nothing. The store has a backroom door where they receive shipment. The doorbell rang about 40 minutes later. It was a different Purolator guy with 86 boxes - amazing!

It was a lot of fun getting through the boxes. I would open and receive while Chris would stock the floor and Steve would backstock. We also had Vinnie and Tyler who work at Robson helping us out and they are super fast. It totally felt like being back in Central during Christmas time.

While Purolator was dropping off boxes a whole wack of RCMP and Vancouver Police shutdown Robson. Everyone on the street stopped to see what was happening. We were watching out the receiving door. Turns out it was PM Stephen Harper. He was in the car waving out to everyone on the street. I didn't see anyone wave back - lol.

A little bit later same thing happened but this time it was Princess Ann - I have no idea who that is.

Everyone in the city is either wearing something that says Canada on it or Vancouver 2010. People are in a great mood and the streets are so busy. The Robson store was insane today. I can't tell you what we finished with but when they told me what we were at for the week (total sales since Sunday) I didn't believe them. People are just buying everything.

Today some Russian athletes came into the store to buy some Roots Russia International items. They were all at the Olympics in 2002 and remember the Roots brand. Next time I see Russian athletes I have to take a picture. They all wear the most insane red and white track suits. You can't miss them.

Starting early means leaving early (sort of). We left around 4pm. The three of us wanted to get something to eat. We went to a pub called 'The Winking Judge'. It is one block away from the Courthouse. There I enjoyed my first beer since I have been in BC. Afterwards I was exhausted and ready for bed! There hasn't too much time to get out and see stuff. When you are done work you just want to go home and relax and get ready for your next shift.

Tomorrow I am off early again but I will be staying downtown. Tomorrow night is the Opening Ceremonies and downtown is the place to be. The Ceremonies are taking place at BC Place which is a few blocks from the Robson store. It is going to be crazy there tomorrow. They have started shutting down the streets.

I plan on going over to Richmond with some others from 'the loft' where they have the 'Ozone'. It is a bunch of tents on the street that are makeshift bars. They have the Heineken house located there. It is supposed to be huge!

I am looking forward to having Sunday off. I want to go to Olympic Village and Stanley Park. Hopefully the weather is nice. It rained all day today. It's okay because even with the rain it is still warm and there is no need for a jacket.

Oh yah I mentioned the hills in the title of my post. We all hate the hills. To walk to the SkyTrain is about 10 - 15 minutes. In the morning no problem. There are about 3 hills you go up and down. When you are walking home after giving 150% at work that day the hills are awful!! We are all dragging ourselves home walking up these hills.

That's it for now.