That was Fun

A professor of mine did a study concluding that the Olympics will leave Vancouver economically neutral, only providing a “feel good feeling.” This disappointed me, as it lacks the drama people like to talk about. The feel good feeling turned out to be worth more than we dared to hope for.

Canada is a young country that is criticized for not having culture and the Vancouver Olympics unified the country for the first time in my life. Brazil celebrates Carnival, India celebrates Diwali, and Canada doesn’t really celebrate much. I would love to be disagreed with but Canadians don’t strongly value holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, they are expendable to busy work schedules. The Olympics made me admire cultures that will passionately and unanimously drop everything to celebrate, like Mexico and the Day of the Dead.

Vancouver 2010 was reported as one of the most energized Olympics veteran reporters had ever attended. Vancouver residents looked bewildered today and are hoping the Olympics was the tipping point towards more festivals and celebrations.

Canadians are proud to share this beautiful city, the medals only gave us something to cheer about. Most report their favorite Olympic moment as just dancing in the freedom and excitement of the streets in a sea people.

Nicole Fisher, Vancouver British Columbia

Published Articles: nicole-fisher.blogspot.com

Olympic Exhaustion

The city couldn’t be more festive and I am equally exhausted. Tonight my creativity only extends to uploading photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/n2fl06/2010OlympicAlbum#

The Paralympic games are about to start and a lot of the Olympic venues are going to continue. Timeliness has gone out the window, as I am sleep deprived and returning to school tomorrow but there are still many exciting Olympic moments locked up in me that I’ll be sharing soon… the fun isn’t over yet.

Nicole Goes for Bronze

Last night I bought my cousin Danna in Saskatchewan an Olympic t-shirt. I had it signed by about 30 random people including my taxi driver, the Subway lady, a gold medalist, the manager of the Saskatchewan house, and more specifically, someone who seemed like he belonged to the Italian mafia.

The mafia fellow sold my friend tickets to tonight’s bronze medal men’s hockey game for a price 12% of the value stated on the ticket. It could definitely be a scam, but I am going to have a ton of fun either way.

Skeletons in the Budget

My athletic ability extends to running on a treadmill and when I look at an Olympic ice skater standing on the podium I admire their discipline and dedication. Olympic medal winners have succeeded at something I have chosen not to pursue. However, the average Canadian citizen has not been able to pursue some Olympic sports like skeleton racing which is very capital intensive.

Government support of Olympic athletes should be limited to sports that every citizen of the country has been given a reasonable opportunity to pursue. Most Canadians wouldn’t even know what skeleton racing is if not for the Olympics. When a skeleton racer mounts the podium we think “are they crazy?” and have to assume they’ve been introduced to the sport through another skeleton racer. It is an elitist sport that most are unlikely to have the opportunity to try. A ski injury is more identifiable to most than a tenth of a win in a skeleton race. The Olympics are about unifying a country and skeleton racing only makes me question how much skill is even involved.

Settle the Score

I didn’t end up going to the CANADA v. USA game, but instead watched it from Hotel Vancouver. It was obviously a friend’s choice to go to the most pretentious hotel in Vancouver, I had to call ahead to assure they wouldn’t be showing a polo match. Cutlery was the most predominant sound while watching the game as people ate their overpriced salads with 3 forks. I would have replaced the tie wearing waiters with people spilling beer on me at a noisy pub, call me simple.

I just watched the CANADA v. GERMANY game in Kelowna with my dad, beer and ice cream. We won 8-2. I am heading back to Vancouver early tomorrow for some final Olympic madness.

I would also like to say shame on society. All I keep hearing is “Canada isn’t doing very well” regarding how many medals we have won in the Olympics. Every time I look at the television Canada is winning another medal or embarrassing another hockey team. Perhaps we aren’t #1 on the world score board but I don’t even care to look, Canada is doing very well. We have a tremendous amount of successful athletes who are winning medals and making our country proud.

On a petty note, Russian gold winners receive 6 figure rewards, a car, and a full ride retirement at 35 and American athletes make millions. Canadian gold medal winners only receive $20,000 CAD and most work careers in addition to becoming world class athletes.

Quit looking at the scoreboard, Canada is doing fantastic.

Fireworks and a show

After watching fireworks and DJ show last night with my friends and family, I woke up and it is a beautiful summer’s day. I won't even make the comparison, I will just say that it is a beautiful summer's day.

I wrote myself out of the will last night for sure. I had a few people over on my Grandparents patio to remind this city what a beer garden looks like. Real estate prices may be going up elsewhere in this city, but we’ve been more popular with our neighbors. We had a lot of silly fun with good people. The fireworks were so close that a dud firework that fell from the sky and people actually jumped out of the way.

My Nana and I went inside the Yaletown Livecity venue during the day – it wasn’t overly impressive. You wait in line for up to several hours to get inside and tour sponsor exhibits while waiting for your concert (also audible from the other side of the fence, noted with a beer in my hand.)

Someone may have a first hand report of the CANADA v. USA game tomorrow…

Hockey, Eh

I watched the CANADA v. SWITZERLAND hockey game at a crowded pub tonight, we won in a shootout. It really made me feel like a Canadian, like one of the ones you see on a beer commercial.

After the game I strolled through Robson square in a sea of people who would periodically yell “CANADA” or just yell, and be received by plenty more people continuing to yell. I yelled, it was fun, but I’m not embarrassed to say that I would need to be drunk and giggling to keep that kind of momentum up. If you’re not standing in line for something, engrossing yourself in the crowded streets quickly loses its entertainment value.

The Yaletown venue has just erupted into a fury of applause, I can only imagine something as shocking as Michael Buble proposing to Miley Cyrus has happened. I don’t even care anymore, it’s time for a movie and popcorn.