National Volunteer Appreciation Week was celebrated at the game on Saturday for our Whitecaps FC Volunteers. To show our appreciation for them as an organization, they were given cupcakes and a Whitecaps Scarf as a thank you gift. There were plenty to go around and there were many shocked and happy volunteers as a result.
It was also the first day of Trivia Challenge. I have made up at least eight trivia challenges in which volunteers will have an option of taking part in randomly throughout the season. Correct answers go into a draw at the end of the night for three Whitecaps swag prizes. The first trivia challenge was a Whitecaps Word Jumble. Twenty Whitecaps soccer related words that needed unscrambling. It was interesting to see the level of skill of our volunteers. Some found it easy while others found it "challenging". But it was fun to see everyone huddled around their tables with their teams trying to figure the words out. You could tell they were having fun.
The three lucky winners were extremely happy at the end of the night and I received really great feedback from the Team Leads about the trivia challenge from their own teams. As far as the soccer game went, the Whitecaps FC went on to draw Dallas FC 2-2. Overall, it was a fun night. Looking forward to surprising our volunteers with more trivias and giveaways throughout the year.
The awards were last night and they were wonderful. It was everything I had hoped the actors would bring.
I didn't stalk the actors at the airport like most people cause I hate crowds and didn't want to stand for hours just hoping to get a glimpse of someone famous. I instead waited until the day of the awards to stalk them. Well, not really stalk. Earlier in the week, Abishek Bachchan and Aish Rai Bachchan showed up with Shiamak Davar, the choreographer of the actors and of TOIFA. Once they landed, they took a tour of BC Place and got aquianted with it. After, they headed off to the Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada Place, where all the actors were staying, to relax and get ready for rehearsals the next day.
The trio of Aishwarya, Abishek and Shiamak Davar took pics all throughout the tour. They were the first bollywood actors to arrive on the scene. You can see the stage in the background.
As actors trickled in during the week, they would sign autographs and take pictures with people. My cousin's daughter got a picture with Ranbir Kapoor who actually took the phone from her and took the pic of them himself. Nice guy.
So, when Saturday, April 13th rolled around, I headed over to the Pan Pacific hotel to see if I could catch a glimpse of someone. I was there for maybe 30 mins and saw two famous stars. The first was Prabhu Deva. He's considered the "Indian Michael Jackson Dancer". He came out and shook hands with everyone, gave autographs and said hello. I managed to get a pic of him.
I also saw Boman Irani. He didn't come out towards us but he walked from the hotel to inside of an awaiting car that transported him to BC Place. I have a pic of him walking over to the car and another of him sitting in the car with the window rolled down waving at us but it's still on my phone. After that spotting, I decided to head to BC Place and get ready for the night. My shift began at 4:30 and I was to work the Guest Services Desk inside the bowl on the floor level. Apparently, the fact that I can speak in hindi, urdu and know some punjabi along with being trained at Guest Services earlier, had something to do with me getting that sweet job and I got to sit down. :)
The awards were supposed to begin at 8:00pm but instead ran on "Indian time" and started at 8:30pm. I made friends with a TOIFA people who needed assistance in various things. I sat with ticketmaster and we worked together in solving all sorts of issues that arose. I actually had a couple of young girls, dressed to the nine, come up to me and ask me where the entrance to the red carpet was because they wanted to walk out with the stars. They held up their tickets at me and showed me the "VIP" on it when I gave them a puzzled look. I explained to them that the VIP didn't entitle them to the red carpet walk but that wasn't what they wanted to hear. So I wished them luck! The ticketmaster people and I had a good laugh over that one!
The stage looked beautiful. It had Vancouver components in the design with the Cherry Blossom trees and Stanley Park totem poles.
The night started off with the opening video for TOIFA which my friend had a hand in directing. It turned out amazing. Way to go, Baljit Sangra. :)
Anuksha Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor, along with Boman Irani hosted the event. They were amazing as always. Lots of energy and lots of laughs. There were many performances from Priyanka, Katrina Kaif and Aishwarya Bachchan.
At one point of the night when I went on break to the second level to grab something to eat, I was walking back to the ramps to head back down to my station, when I saw Abieshek Bachchan walk by me and into the tunnel I was just watching the show from. He had four Genesis Security guards and four TOIFA security with him. He was to go into the tunnel and dance down the stairs and onto an indian truck called a "lorry" which took him around the stadium and towards the stage. Here he is standing at the edge of the tunnel waiting for his segment to start.
Although that was pretty cool, the main reason I wanted to work TOIFA was to watch my bollywood favourite, Shah Rukh Khan. He was the second to last performer and danced to a medley of his hit songs over the years and he absolutely killed it. He had the stadium screaming at the top of their lungs and showered him with Indian love. It was absolutely amazing.
This is him when he first showed up to the song Badshah. Picture is from Style Me India. The video is of the fans going crazy when he was introduced by Anuksha and Ranbir. The response was deafening.
BC Preimier, Christy Clark and Finance Minister, Mike DeJong were also there. They were on stage and each got to be a part of the ceremonies. Bowman Irani and Mike did a little skit where Mike ended up dancing and saying a line from a Salman Khan movie in butchered hindi. Mike also made the mistake of calling the award a "TOFI" instead of "TOIFA" when he presented it to the winner. Of course, the winner made fun of that in hindi.
The Best Actress went to Priyanka Chopra who took her ill dad up on stage with her.
The Best Actor male went to Ranbir Kapoor who told kept repeating over and over again for two minutes only one thing. "I love you! I love you! I love you!". After Ranbir sat down, Boman came on stage and chuckles comedically "We love you too, Ranbir."
All in all, it was a great night for everyone. I was happy cause I got to watch all my bollywood actors perform. I even ran into old friends who were on the floor. King Khan brought the house down and everyone went home happy. Thank you TOIFA for coming to Vancouver. You made 38,000 people happy last night. Till the next indian awards!!
The Supporters were out in full force. The picture you see above, is courtesy of the Curva Collective supporters. It was very impressive.
Whitecaps played Toronto FC on their home opener for the second time and just like tradition, they beat them to a win of 1-0. The only goal came from Gershon Koffie in the second half.
After the first five minutes of play, an injury occured to Captain, Jay DeMerit. He suffered a ruptured achillies tendon. After undergoing a successful surgery, he tweeted from his hospital bed.
Our fearless Captain will be out for the remainder of the season healing. He's also getting married this summer to Ashleigh McIvor. Get well, Jay!
I didn't work for Whitecaps this shift. For the month of March I will be working as a Host in Section 242. I get to watch match again just like my Swangard days when I ushered the Grand Stand.
When I start my shifts with the Whitecaps in April, I will be in a new position this year. I am the Volunteer Development and Recognition Coordinator. So, I have actually been busy coming up with new and exciting ideas to keep the volunteer crew excited and engaged for this season. I'm so ready for this challenge.
Anyways, there's a game on later today. So, I better get some sleep. Its 4:30am right now and I need to get up early and head down to BC Place for my shift at 2pm. Whitecaps vs Columbus Crew! This should be an easy game for our 'Caps!
Since Ryan Kesler's been sidelined again with a fractured foot, he's found some spare time on his hands to model the Vancouver Millionaires Kit the team will be wearing on March 16th!
Here are some pics of the team also in the kits at a recent photo shoot.
So, this is what Bieksa was up to during the NHL lockout. He lent his face to animation world. Not. But it is a great likeness to him. It makes me smile when I see it. Its his angry face. :)
I miss him. Out with a groin injury. Canucks have won only 1 out of their last 6 games. The only game they won was when Bieksa came back early after missing two games from the injury vs LA Kings. 3 Losses after. Coincidence? Team obviously needs him. Heal fast and come back asap! They don't have anyone to tie up the goal or get the game winner!!!
I have a feeling Juice will play against the Columbus Blue Jackets on this road trip. Could use him in Minny, though. Oh well.
It was officially announced this morning that 102nd Grey Cup 2014 will be hosted by Vancouver. Rumours started swirling earlier this year that Ottawa, who was supposed to host next year's Grey Cup, would not be able to due to their stadium not being completed in time for the event. So, naturally, it had to come back west and it was agreed that Vancouver was going to host it for the 2nd time in 4 years.
I had worked on the Grey Cup Events Management Team in 2011 when we last hosted it. I had a blast. I know that when we get our team going again, its going to be another fantastic event made that way by the fans and the volunteers that I've worked with for so many years now.
Working the Venues....
Great memories of the win....
BC Lions Appreciation Party....
The Sales after the win and getting to hold the Grey Cup!
So, the March 2014 NHL Heritage Classic is rumoured to be held in our beautiful city of Vancouver. The venue of course will be BC Place. At least we can be warm and dry. BC style. Why suffer like the rest of the country does? Take advantage our west coast weather. The cities in question is between Edmonton and Vancouver but seeing as Edmonton recently had one, it will more than likely be Vancouver's turn to host.
I can't wait since I work at BC Place as a Host. I'll get to see it all happen. If I got to pick the two teams I want to go head to head here, it would be the Vancouver Canucks (obviously) and the Winnipeg Jets. Just because we don't get to play them very often and because the eastern fans living in BC can be annoying at games (ie, Toronto).
So lets hope the Heritage Classic looks like this.
