A post of Olympic proportions

Marc and I have a long term relationship with the Olympics that continued this week. Like many of you, I have many Olympicentric memories. My first memories start in grade four when the Olympics came to Calgary and I was lucky enough to attend ski jumping, aerial skiing and a hockey game. My parents also went to the opening ceremonies and figure skating.Oh so cute Hidy and Howdy! (I thought their names were Heidi and Howdy but googling Hidy produced many more pictures) My dad was just telling me there was a similar vibe to Vancouver in Calgary on the C-train during the Olympics. He remembers a group of young men from Spokane taking very good care of my brother and I while we were headed to an event.

In 1996, Marc and I shared our first kiss in my parents basement while watching the Atlanta Olympics.

In 2002, I went on strike for the first time (the second time was after working three days here in Chilliwack) during the Salt Lake Olympics. In Alberta teachers are locked out of the school for a strike and I was able to enjoy the entire Olympics from my living room!

For the Men's gold medal hockey game that year we decided to head to a pub on Whyte Ave. Everyone else of course had the same idea but Marc brought in a table from the patio and put it directly in front of the TV for us, we had the best seats in the house!

I remember very clearly the day we found out the Olympics were headed to Vancouver. I had just arrived in Uganda where Marc was doing a medical elective. Internet cafes there at the time were very hard to come by but we found one in the town we were working in and I received an e-mail from my mom telling us the news. I remember thinking that we would probably have kids by then and how fun it would be to bring them to events. We ended up bringing one but it will not have the memory of it like I thought they would. ;)

Anyways, now to the current Olympics. Marc and I were lucky enough to attend some hockey as well as take in the amazing vibe in downtown Vancouver! Our friends Shawn and Karyn had tickets to the men's quarter final game between Russia and Canada and it was an experience that both Marc and I will not soon forget. The electric atmosphere, crazy cheering, amazing win and friendly fans all combined to make this a once in a lifetime experience!

Waiting to get into Canada Hockey Place

A sea of red

After one of the many goals!

Afterwards we headed downtown to take in the crowds and the sights. This was my second favourite part of the games (after the actual game). There were so many people everywhere and everyone was in such a great mood after Canada's historic win.

We were just about to head home on the sky train when we heard an announcement that there would be a laser show happening in Robson's square in 5 minutes. Marc got these great shots!

The second day we had tickets to the Women's Bronze Medal hockey game. After the great men's game the night before we thought this game would be a bit of a let down but it was actually really fun to cheer for both sides and not feel tense about who would win.

Sweden celebrating their goal to tie it up and send it into overtime.

In the end Finland won, just a few minutes into OT.

The agony of defeat

And the thrill of victory with a very large crowd to cheer you on.

On this most beautiful day we headed to Quebec House and ate poutine and then walked around downtown before finding a pub to watch the women's gold medal hockey game.

Athlete's Village on the left

While walking around and taking in the sights, both Marc and I felt like we were traveling again and not in our own country. People speaking other languages, taking public transit and all the walking we did definitely contributed to this. The first night on the sky train Marc and Karyn talked with some Russian men who had come for 4 days to take in some hockey. They didn't have tickets for the Canada vs. Russia game but were on their way to buy some scalped ones. On the second day we had an extensive conversation with a Czech ski jumper and almost missed our stop in the process.

I thought this picture was a bit reminiscent of the picture below taken in Kenya while traveling. The latte was definitely just as big!
On Day 3 of our Olympic experience we met up with Marc's cousins Rob and Ben and Rob's son Luke. While taking a bathroom break at the hockey game Marc was all of a sudden wrapped in a bear hug. It turns out his cousin Rob had been flown back to Canada from Namibia to celebrate his 40th birthday with his father and brothers at the hockey game!

We watched this drum line from Sardis Secondary here in Chilliwack. They were excellent!!

Marc and his cousins

Today I am going through Olympic withdrawal and wishing that the Olympics were still on! We had a wonderful experience and are looking forward to making more Olympicentric memories in the future! GO CANADA GO!!!!