Today was our first day of volunteer work. Nick, Dr. Fredrick and I were marshaling the Triathlon in Zone 9, which happened to be the turnaround point for the cycling leg of the race. We were told that this was going to be one of the most exciting parts of the race, because you get to see the racers in action while they aren’t flying down the track. While we were marshaling we met a security guard named David. He has been living in Gibraltar for 21 years now and he was telling us about all the history on the island. One story was about the monkeys and how if the monkeys leave the rock then Spain would come back and rule the island from Great Britain. He also said that it would never happened because when Winston Churchill was running the show he had tons of moneys imported to the island to make sure that there was never a chance of them leaving the rock. I learned a lot of cool things from David and he was a very interesting guy. I found out that a lot of people on this island are really friendly and nice and love to ask questions. The guy would not stop talking to us for the whole time we were there. He gave us some fun facts about how the most expensive house in Gibraltar is around 180 million pounds. Also, David Beckham has a house on Queensway for 10 million pounds. The reason why the rich come to Gibraltar and buy a house is because the most you can spend on taxes for the house is 90,000 pounds. It is some sort of max tax rule they have here and it makes the most sense for the rich because that is nothing compared to what they pay in the U.S. So it was great learning about certain things in the country that you can’t learn from a tour guide or reading online. 

 I have had a great time so far. Seeing all the beautiful things Gibraltar has to offer. I have never been out of the country before so being able to experience all this my first time is mind blowing. It is such a small place that it is crazy to think you can walk to the other side of the island in just under an hour. We were able to go to Ocean Village to see the nicer side of town, we were able to go to a food festival as well, and we had the opening ceremony yesterday. I just really love learning about other people’s culture and asking questions to find out how we are different from them. So far these people are just so much nicer than most people in America and will give you the time of day to have a friendly conversation and get to know about you. I would most certainly come back to Gibraltar and show other people what a great place this is. 

 - Alec 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 6: Training & Opening Ceremonies

Image
Today in Gibraltar started off pretty slow. We had breakfast in Athletes Village before heading off to our Marshal training session. In this training session we learned exactly what our duties are going to be during the races. We will all be responsible for a small section of the course and our main duty is to keep vehicles and people off the track while the races are going on or cyclists are close. We are also supposed to direct riders if they are approaching a turn or warn them of caution ahead. They way we will do that is by waving a yellow flag as they approach. We can also wave a red flag but that is only under extreme circumstances and the only person that can tell us to do that is the race commissaire. If there is a crash in our area we can help move a bike out of the way if necessary but we are not supposed to touch or attempt to help the riders. If a rider gets injured and cannot get up we need to call for medical assistance and then we can stand in front of the rider and...
Read more

First Full Day in Gibraltar

Image
Hello everyone! Our first full day in Gibraltar was so awesome. We arrived yesterday at about 3pm in the afternoon. I, as well as everyone else, was immediately blown away by the huge rock and all the beautiful palm trees and weather in Gibraltar. Our flight from London was not very long but it felt like forever because we were all so eager to see this beautiful place! Now that we’re here it truly feels like a dream. We met so many people from England yesterday and they were so sweet! We went to their room to play uno and exchange different music styles as well as chat about our experiences in the UK as well as the USA. It was truly an awesome first day. Moving on to today.. Our first full day in Gibraltar! We woke up for breakfast which was so amazing and packed with all the athletes competing in the games. But what is more amazing is our view from the room. You can see Spain and Africa from our balcony. The water is as blue as the sky, and seeing the sunset made it all t...
Read more

Final Working Day - July 11

Image
After a long adventurous day in Spain, we enter our final working day. After working time trials and the Criterium during week, we find ourselves at the cycling finale- The Road Race. Our job as course Marshall’s are to ensure the safety of the riders and public by ensuring no breach of the course by cars; giving directions, cheering on riders, as well as to ensure everyone has a wonderful time. Most of the time the cyclist are going above 30 kilometers per hour ( over 18 miles per hour), so anyone interfering can be seriously injured.  Yesterday during our time in Spain, I felt very accomplished after putting my two years of high school Spanish to good use. While needing a medication from the pharmacy, I completed the entire transaction in Spanish only having to look up one word!  While working today I met this lovely couple that had lived in Gibraltar for over 30 years. I was very jealous to listen them brag about how they live in such a paradise every day. The...
Read more