Like A Day From My Past

When I was younger, I read and read and read. Really, all of us kids did. We got it from my dad. He takes a book, magazine, something everywhere he goes. My family would go on vacation and he'd read three, four books in a week. He doesn't just read the books, though; he remembers their content for years.

One day in fifth grade, my teacher pulled me aside and said, "Charlotte, I need you to stop reading during class. I know you're not having any trouble in school, but it sets a bad example for the other students. They can't read one thing and learn something else at the same time." I had all different ways of hiding my reading, but obviously my teacher did have eyes in the back of her head!

In middle school I'd stay up late reading Lurlene McDaniel books. I was addicted to them. The plotline of all the books was something like this:

1) Main character, who was a teenager, had a deadly disease.
2) MC either had a wonderful, loving boy/girlfriend at the time or gradually grew into just such a relationship.
3) Meanwhile, the disease became more and more serious.
4) In the end, MC either recovers and the relationship holds much promise OR MC dies and the boy/girlfriend promises to do certain things in the MC's memory.

Granted, the plotline may not sound like much, but to a middle school girl, could there be anything better? (Yes, I do still get teased about these books by my older sibs.)

In college, reading for pleasure decreased a bit because of all the school reading that was required. However, I did spend almost an entire weekend just lying in my loft freshman year, reading Pride and Prejudice. And of course there's the afternoon Sonia and I read the play The Importance of Being Earnest aloud to each other from atop her bed.

Yet today was like a day from my past. John's gone this weekend, so I read for five hours today. Five glorious hours. Five glorious hours with Anne Shirley. Now there's a story that was enchanting when I was young and still is.

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!

Happy Valentine's Day!