Olympic views - Wordless Wednesday

And it starts...

Being an expat I find I miss little things, little cultural understandings like understanding "Tim's double double" or being able to hum the old intro to HNIC. It is the reason why I sometimes get a little misty eyed when I hear part of 'Oh Canada' at the start of a hockey game when I'm listening to the podcast from my room in Tokyo, and it is why I've loved watching the lead up to the Olympics, and seeing how Vancouver has embraced it. It is why I've loved seeing the pride of the city and of the country as a whole. And it is why I loved watching the Opening Ceremonies and the celebration of Canada.

I'm excited to be back in Vancouver in the middle of this (at least for the next little while, before I have to head north for the real reason I came back - to pack up my stuff at my dad's in preparation for his move). I'm excited to be attending a couple of sports events (Curling and... MEN'S ICE HOCKEY, although only in the former will a Canadian team be on the ice). And I'm just generally excited to see how it all unfolds (hopefully there will be many success stories and no more heartbreaking accidents like the death of the Georgian luger).

As the Opening Ceremony began I started a project of my own. I've decided to join the knitting olympics. I don't want to push myself to finish within the next 17 days if that means missing out on everything else, so I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to finish, but I am excited to be working on a project for myself - a shawl in a gorgeous multi-colour brown yarn with blue/purple/orange/green. I'm looking forward to having it when the weather warms up in the spring, and having it as a reminder of the 21st Winter Olympic Games long after the flame has been extinguished in my hometown.



Let the games begin!

Things I love Thursday

Because it is still Thursday here I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon this week... here goes!

Things I love this Thursday:

- The fact that the three weeks I could take off between everything else happened to correspond with the Winter Olympics.
- The fact that my dad is in the process of moving back into the house I grew up in in Vancouver.
- Sleeping in my old bedroom after nearly 15 years and discovering that the view of the night sky from my bedside window hasn't changed although the trees have grown beyond belief.
- Discovering that our old favourite brick oven pizzeria is not only still open, and offers non-tomato pizzas, but that it also has a delicious roast lamb special.
- Artichoke and asiago dip, pita chips, goat cheese, spinach and feta pizza, Montreal-style bagels...
- Seeing Vancouver - buildings, people, storefronts, cars... decked out in Canadian flags.
- Seeing the torch relay - my favourite (retired) hockey player passed off just before the torch entered the Indo-Canadian neighbourhood, which was full of sari stores with gorgeous red and white window displays displays and blaring Bollywood tunes.
- Seeing my favourite hockey player!!!! (chatting briefly with his brother but not managing to get a decent photograph)
- Watching hockey on TV with my dad.
- Walking into a clothing store and instead of discovering all the clothing was way too small, being told the jeans I was about to try on were definitely too big for me and that because I was "lean" I should go down at least a size if not two.
- Toothpaste boxes with scratch and sniff stickers - that actually smell like the toothpaste they contain.