YOG was long over..so this review probably isnt so much a review anymore, as my thoughts about it have unfortunately faded quite a bit. Anyway I guess its safe to blog about it now? (The volunteer's handbook did say we are not allowed to tweet or blog about our work but everybody does that anyway)

I was an accreditation officer, stationed at the YOG Headquarters, where my jobscope involved distributing passes to whoever comes to collect them. Fullstop. Other duties such as issuing temporary passes and replacement passes are always handled by my leaders because they have to do check the stories, communicate wif other venues etc etc. So volunteer's work is just to sit in front of the comp and stone. I am serious. Plus I was feeling so sleep deprived during that period (it was not very long after float and I guess I havent recovered), the room was air-conditioned and I have a hard time not falling asleep. Sudoku puzzles saved me sometimes, and one Sunday afternoon when there were zero customers I just K.O-ed. Times like this, which was to me, a horrible waste of time, made me feel like "Oh please let me finish up my work and go back to attend to uni+hall stuff", because even though I tried bringing lecture notes there, it didnt really work out the way I imagined it to. 

The up side was the complete exploitation of free transport during the period. Used it to go everywhere, especially when dad was around one weekend :D :D. Food was kind of mediocre in the HQ (and I thought HQ might get better treatment). Was lucky enough not to experience the "pasta in soya sauce" which my colleagues frequently complained about..apparently there is a pasta meal everyday without fail. The people working at Main Media Centre at Marina Bay Sands get all the nice food! $28 worth of food voucher everyday I heard :S. 

Went to the Youth Olympic Village on my last day of work..since nobody really comes to collect cards anymore so the leader decided to close office early and we all went for a trip to NTU. Embarrassing scenes during the trip there (and in fact in the office the whole day as well), conjured up by two 20 year old KIDS. Seriously. I dont understand how going through NS and everything people can dont know how to behave properly in public, in a YOG uniform in front of some athletes and officials as well. They just irked me to no end. Anyway. Back to the story. I thought YOV was kind of nicely done. If I were a NTU student I would have complained but I am not so yep lol. They did their best to make it happening and I must say its not too bad. Tagged along with my two leaders and the two kids so couldnt explore everything (must follow mah) but did manage to take a few pics. 

AYG's Appreciation Party brought us to Stefanie Sun's pre-concert "rehearsal". YOG did a completely different thing. Each volunteer is entitled to enter UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE one night for free. Before tat I heard that rides arent open at night, so I was kind of expecting some performance or some crap in there. But then when I went (was an hour late coz was waiting for MF and his colleague) I was surprised. ALL the attractions are open for us (except the Battlestar Galactica duelling roller coaster ride which was still under maintenance). Way too cool! Didnt manage to go to the Lost World (the Jurrasic Park section etc), or dine in some of the restaurants (the people we went with decided on a normal food court in the end and we had a $9.80 chicken rice set. There goes the $10 food voucher T.T) but the rides we went on were nice! :) Still waiting for the pics though coz I very naively believe that my phone camera will suffice but it isnt. Sigh. Nice experience in there overall. I still like the Stefanie Sun one tho :D

To sum it up my experience wasnt what I imagined because of my role which requires me to sit in the office whole day. Looking back, I supposed I have to be content with it because I dont want to skip too many classes anyway. Though in the first place I wasnt given a chance to do something else, something nearer to the sporting action. Like victory ceremony, or some technical officer, or even a tennis ballboy. Oh well. YOG is gone and I dont think any sporting event as big as this will ever return to SG. Maybe SEA Games...

YOG was marketed as a big event (I still think it is) even though international coverage was pathetic at first. I think it sort of got better in the end, but I guess I am kind of annoyed at how little support some locals show, blowing up minimal issues. I would have thought the amount of money they spent was reasonable, though I have doubts on the returns. I hate all politics associated with it, like covering up the less known negative stories or paying some kid to "chase after the Olympic flame" in a lousy attempt to hype up the whole thing, but then again, politics are everywhere and you cant hide from it. (True, the football team fought their way to the bronze medal but well, 3rd amongst 6 relatively unknown teams isnt really a great achievement.) In the end, its kind of a shiok sendiri thing. Grab any volunteer or worse still, paid staff and I bet maybe only 1 out of 10 can tell you the Olympic values. Heck, even Olympic giants such as US are sending sub-par athletes and got owned. 

Sadly speaking this time round all the things I took back from YOG are material. Uniform, cap, pouch and a few complimentary pins (shouldnt have bought any in the first place argh). No great memories (maybe Universal Studios count but that is not really YOG), no new friends made (not even Facebook friends, that's sad) and I suppose that's all about YOG to me.