广阔天地, 大有做为!

(6th speech at Podium Toastmaster)


Madame Toast master, welcomed guests and fellow toastmasters. In my last speech about the shuttlecock and hacky sack, I said it was the time to wrap up my ski season. I jumped the gun. because the week after, I had a chance to travel to the west of Canada, I stayed one week at RioTinto, Alcan in Kitimat, North of British Colombia. On my way back to Toronto, I stayed one day in Whistler, the ski resort that I was longing to go. That was an unforgettable trip for me.

On April 16th, Friday evening, I flew from Terrace back to Vancouver. From the air, I saw miles and miles of snowy mountains of this Beautiful British Colombia province, as an Ontarian, I was pround to discover this <“Best Place on Earth”>. At Vancouver airport, I picked up my rental car, then started to drive to Whistler in the rain. My GPS confused me, because it displayed my car was on and off the Hwy 99 several times. There were many sharp curves on the Hwy, the speed limits varies from 50 Km/hr to 80 Km/Hr. So I had to pedal the brake constantly. Sometimes, there is barrier in the middle, sometimes not, so I was very careful while changing the lanes. For the whole way, I was driving cautiously and with a kind of uncertainty. Finally I arrived whistler village, saw the Statue of Inukshuk, I started to be become excited: Oui, Whistler, J’arrive ! It was already midnight.

The next day morning, the weather was cloudy, the forecast said there will be raining later in the day. I thought that was too bad, but since I carried my skis all the way to Kitimat and Whistler, I definitely want my skis to touch the same season of the snow that Olympic athletes had played with. I went to the Guest Relation and picked up my pre-booked EDGE card, this is a discount card only for the residents of Canada and Washington State. I took the blackcomb Gondola, then changed to Excerlerator chair, then shifted to Jersey Cream Lift. Then I reached to the Peak2Peak gondola Blackcomb side, it is the longest lift of its kind in the world at 4.4 Km and longest unsupported span of 3.024 Km. The ride between Blackcomb and Whistler is 11min, the velocity of the Gondola is 7.5m/sec. I skied a few rounds of the green trails to warm up, then I went to the Whistler side by that Peak2Peak Gondola, the views were beautiful to both sides and the valley. When I got to Whistler side, it started to rain. Slowly there was foggier and foggier, I took the Peak Chair Lift to get to the top the Whistler mountain, then I found it was worse, the visibility was only 3-5 meters. I had to quickly follow up with the front skier, otherwise, I was totally lost, I had to found out the way by myself by the flagged poles on both sides of the trail. I was really scared, I didn’t know if I would rush to the cliff or somewhere, all sorts of ideals came to my mind. I even remembered that Polish President’s airplane was trying to land in the fog. To calm myself down, I remind me to: “ski slow and steady then back to Toronto safely”. Sometimes, because the fog was so thick, I did not know where to go, so just sit on the snow. I took some photos at that moment. These pictures are the most unforgettable moments of that trip. If you can not see it, it doesen’t matter, you can just look a piece of white paper, they are the same. I was thinking sometime in our life, there is also full of fog in the way, like the passengers stuck in European airports because of the volcano ashes, a toastmaster speaker stand up doesn't know what to say. We need to find a way out, the life still goes on, we need still to move forward. Although today’s ski is not a good physical exercise for me, but it was a good mental training.

Many years later, I believe all the present fellow speakers will still remember 2010 Winter Olympic Games. For me, the plus is I will never forget that driving in dark and ski in the white experiences in the year 2010.