Last Weekend's Sporting Event

What does this stand for?


It's the official symbol for the Paralympic Games! We were able to get tickets for the alpine skiing events that were held at Whistler last Saturday, and we had a great time. As you might expect, the athletes were amazing. I can't describe the impressed and amazed feeling that I got from watching the events. Let me share a bit about some of the American athletes...


Here's Monte Meier - a Minnesotan! It was cool to cheer him on, especially since he grew up skiing at Afton Alps. This was his fifth Paralympic Games.


This is Heath Calhoun, an American soldier who lost both of his legs while serving in the Iraq War in 2007. I loved watching his family - his wife and three children - cheer for him as he raced.


Our favorite event was the visually impaired alpine skiing. They even did the slalom events. It was incredible. In case you're not familiar with the sport, let me explain. Two people go down the mountain at the same time for this event, but they are not competing against each other. Instead one is a guide who is speaking into a mic and telling the other person - the visually impaired person - what to do at exactly every moment. The spectators are actually asked to remain quiet until the skiers have crossed the finish line in order to make sure the skiers can hear their guide. Can you imagine the trust that you'd have to have in a person to follow their every word in that situation, let alone just being willing to go down the hill? The bronze medal winners in one of these events were Rob & Danielle Umstead, an American husband and wife team.


The women's super combined (meaning Super G & Slalom) sitting event resulted in gold and bronze for the United States. I loved how the announcer described it:

"It's an American Oreo with Austrian cream!"

This just out...

Our Olympic Outing

Many have emailed, facebooked, or simply asked if we've gone out to experience the Olympics, so here is a photo journal of our Tuesday!

First stop - the cauldron. John decided to take full advantage of all the tourists around (who somehow disappeared for this photo!), and asked if he could have his picture with the Mounties.


We wanted to see the cauldron without the fence and glass in our way, so we got in line. It was only a 25 minute wait at the time, and we passed the time by chatting with others around us. One volunteer we talked to had come from Ottawa just to volunteer at the Games!

Do you know who this Olympic mascot is? (answer at end of post)


Once we got to the top of the viewing station, it was incredible. We could feel the heat coming from the cauldron and we were 10 meters away!


Then the walking began... On our way to all the activities, we saw the vehicle below - an official Olympic car carrying Russian athletes. At the time we thought every country would have cars such as this, but later we learned Russia had special cars because the next Winter Olympics will be held in Russia.


The 2010 Winter Olympic symbol - surrounded by flowers?


The Official Countdown Clock! Not really sure why it says Day 10 because it was actually Day 12, and even if you take the evening Opening Ceremony into account, the math still does not add up. Oh well, it is a count down clock, not count up!


We kept our eyes out for famous people, and this is the only one we saw - Tamara Taggart, a CTV news anchor that we instantly recognized but you probably don't.


Here's the center of the downtown action - Robson Square. Below the glass dome you find an ice skating rink, in front of which you find street entertainers, and above - you can see one in the picture - you find a zip line which sends people across all the fun! Instead of standing in line for 6-8 hours for the zip line, we enjoyed being in the crowd.


Hudson Bay store - where many of those red Olympic mittens you're seeing on TV came from.


A trip into Vancouver is never complete without visiting Granville Island. We actually went to the island for a different reason, but because it is home to the best donuts found in British Columbia, my husband needed to stop. Normally their donuts are all made early in the morning, but with all the extra business, they've been making two batches! We waited outside the window of Lee's Donuts, watching the donut chef at work. And yes, of course, we did get one of these donuts in the picture after it was cooked. You cannot find a better donut than one of these when they are fresh & hot.


The real reason for our stop at Granville was for raclette, a Swiss eating experience. (Yes, a lot of our activities are chosen by our stomachs!) "Raclette" means "to scrape" and refers to a delicious Swiss cheese. What you do is melt it, scrape it off, and then adorn bread, meat, potatoes, onions, and more with it. The House of Switzerland had it on Tuesday and we were not going to miss it!



Next stop - Olympic Village. If you click on the photo, you'll not only see many flags on the flag poles but also on the balconies.


We visited Canada's Northern House which had some great information about the northern territories of Canada. Our favorite exhibits:


1) Build your own inukshuk.
2) Experience a 7-foot narwhal horn pointing directly at you.


By the time we were ready to go, it was night. We ended our outing back at the waterfront to see the Olympic rings aglow.


You've surely seen Canada Place and the big white sails during the day or the blue & green lit-up sails at night. When you get up-close and personal, you see that there are different sports on each sail. Below - biathalon!


Final stop - the cauldron. It really is almost inspiring when you see it.


*This Olympic mascot is Quatchi, a British Columbian sasquatch.

Disappointment found in the Olympics

As many of you probably have, we've been spending lots of time in front of the TV watching the latest Olympic events. One opportunity that we have that you probably don't have is to watch coverage from both Canada and the U.S. No, we don't watch all the events twice - we just get to watch them when we want to (more or less). We do, however, get to see the different opinions and ideas broadcasted to the two countries.

There have been a variety of complaints made about the Olympics by other countries so far. Those most often heard about are the Olympic Sliding Centre is too dangerous and non-Canadian athletes weren't given enough time to practice at the venues. Of course, there's also the criticism over the fifth part of the torch not rising out of the floor at the Opening Ceremonies. Maybe you haven't heard this one, though - British newspapers commented on how the totem poles at the Opening Ceremonies looked like penises.

It's been interesting to be here and to hear different negative comments. You've surely heard about the first one - all the attention and money the Olympics have received while the homeless have been overlooked. My upper level ESL Writing class actually studied this in one of our modules! Have you heard about all the controversy over the Olympic Village? The results are definitely not what was intended with regards to both who will be able to live there afterwards and where all the money came from. Or what about all the transportation problems for commuters before February 12th? While there is still anger and some protests about all of these issues, the most hotly debated issue now is the Opening Ceremony and its contents.

We personally enjoyed the Opening Ceremony. John loved the part with the boy going from plain to plain. The fiddling music took us back to our honeymoon in Nova Scotia, where we attended a ceilidh. The mountain they made at the end seemed so familiar - that's what we see when we drive anywhere on a clear day. Plus, watching it with Canadian friends added to the fun!

I did wonder, however, how much it actually represented British Columbia and Vancouver. There was emphasis placed on the First Nations, but what about the huge Asian population that resides on the West Coast? You may not know this, but Vancouver actually is the most Asian city in North America. They are often referred to as the "visible minorities" in Canada - Asians, blacks, and other non-whites - but they weren't visible in the Opening Ceremonies.

There have been requests from those groups to make them visible in the Closing Ceremonies, but they've been told there's not enough time to change. There is one thing, though, that might change: the amount of French you hear that night.

Despite all the French you heard, including the Games being opened first in French and then English, the Heritage Minister and others are displeased with the lack of French. Canada has two official languages - English and French - and those that speak French believe there should have been more. They believe it so strongly that there is an "investigation" going on. I asked my colleagues what would happen if they found there wasn't enough, wondering if VANOC was going to get some strange fine, but the only obvious thing that may change is more French in the Olympics, especially the Closing Ceremony.

Now I don't mean to simply pass over any of these complaints, especially the first few that relate to people's health and safety, but this situation just shows that no matter what, people will never be satisfied. Uhh, what a sad reality.

To sign off, I must include a criticism of my own. Now I try to keep my blog very neutral about Canada & the U.S., but I feel like I can point out one negative thing about one Canadian today because I constantly hear about the negative aspects about the U.S. and Americans. Okay, here goes:

Tonight John and I were watching Canada's broadcast of the men's figure skating event. The news anchor Lloyd Robertson interrupted the broadcast and said, "We're going to switch now to the Victory Ceremony to see Canadian speed skater Christine Nisbitt receive her gold medal. We'll come back to figure skating later. Don't worry, you won't miss any skaters of significance."

Russian Figure Skating

The Russian Olympic figure skaters have been practicing in a town 25 minutes away from Langley. We went to watch for what we thought would only be 20 minutes but there weren't as many people there as we had guessed, so we were able to watch for an hour & a half!


This is Ksenia Makarova, the 2010 Russian National Champion. She had the ice completely to herself while we watched.


Watching on the television just doesn't do figure skating justice. The speed at which she went around and around the rink was incredible. You can't see that speed on the tube.


After she practiced the Russian ice dancers came out. Not only were the two couples on the rink but also one of their choreographers and one of their coaches. It looked crowded to me but no one ever ran into each other!


After they had warmed up they took off their outer layers and just wore their costumes...one of the Recreation Center workers said this was the first time she had seen that!


The costume display did not last long, however. As soon as she could, Jana Khoklova (pictured below) donned a T-shirt. After she and Sergei Novitski went through their entire program, she grabbed her jacket and put it on backwards, holding it up to cover her mouth. We don't really think of them getting cold while they're skating but they obviously do!


And for those of you who want to see us too, here we are - John, me, and my prayer partner, Becky! We had such a great time!

The Olympic Torch

Now if you're not living in British Columbia, you probably haven't heard too much news about the Olympics. If you are living in British Columbia, you know that about 75% of our news the last month has been Olympic-related, and it is really nice to know that things are getting underway.

The Olympic Torch reached and passed Langley today! My school took a field trip to the big celebration.


There is more than one torch - there are actually HUNDREDS of them. Every torchbearer carries a different torch. However, there is only one flame. There are even keepers of the flame, a group of nine First Nation teenagers that have been traveling with it all over Canada. The flame goes into a special lantern each night, so it never actually goes out. So, what are they doing with the torches? Each torchbearer has the opportunity to purchase his or her torch for $300. This is, of course, after something has been done to it so that it can't be lit again. I just looked on ebay and there are torches on sale for over a thousand dollars. A THOUSAND DOLLARS! Can you imagine?


Anyways, there was a Canadian Olympic snowboarder, Dominique Vallee, signing autographs. We didn't wait in line for that, though, because there was a spot where you could hold a torch! (Reminded me of when my older sibs & I ran alongside of Lake Bemidji carrying the Olympic torch a long time ago...)


As is very obvious from my dress in the above photo - it's pretty warm out here! Many British Columbians do not understand why the Winter Olympics are being hosted in the warmest part of the entire country. In total, we have had three days of snow this winter in Vancouver & the surrounding areas. I think that was back in December. I guess there have been some travelers arriving at the airport wearing huge down parkas. Were they ever surprised!


Finally the torch arrived. Can you see it in its circle far back on the stage? Go Canada!