Vancouver 2010

The hype of the last few weeks has died down and things seem a bit more back-to-normal, although I still see cars driving around with Canada flags flying out of the windows. I suppose it's only been over for a few days so it's okay. We can still be proud to be Canadians!

I have to say while I didn't attend any of the Olympic events, it was sure fun watching some events from home and keeping tabs on the medals. I did go downtown one day to mill around and be in the atmosphere of the crowds. It was really crazy, but fun too seeing all the throngs of people in red and white, some in other colours cheering on their countries, and experiencing Vancouver in a different way. It was quite neat to see and hear the Canadians cheering for Canada even after Canada lost the hockey game to the USA (not the final gold medal game).

The strangest thing to me was that while it was definitely the winter Olympics, the weather sure was spring-like. The day I was in Vancouver, the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, and jackets were almost non-existent. I've got pictures to prove it...

Spring flowers outside a building

Our youth even got into the spirit of the Olympics as we hosted a games night as only youth can do. Teams dressed in their colours, participated in crazy winter-ish events, and cheered each other on. It was a riot!

Probably the most exciting time for me of the Olympic season was the men's gold medal hockey game. Our church hosted a lunch after church that Sunday and had the game playing on a big screen in the gym. Since I had only been watching from my home, by myself, on my small computer screen, it was super fun to be in a crowd of people watching the same event on a big screen. Sitting near the back, I was able to see the reactions as goals were scored or not, and the tension mounted as the 3rd period drew to a close. What fun!

Here are a few more pictures of downtown.

The cauldron

Me...in front of the cauldron...you can kind of see it in the distance... We weren't going to stand in line to get closer just to take a picture... :)