February 15, 2010

Olympic Fever

Josh and I aren't big sports fans. The only televised sporting events we regularly watch are the Super Bowl and the Cal-Stanford football game. But when it comes to the Olympics, you will find us glued to the TV for hours. So when Josh was invited to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver games at the Canadian embassy on Friday night, we couldn't pass that up.

It took us forever to get there, as the Metro was only running every 15-20 minutes, even during rush hour -- and at one point we were squeezed so tightly into the train that I was having flashbacks to riding the Tokyo subway with my parents when I was 13. We weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a huge event with hundreds of people. After going through security, we were herded to an outdoor plaza with the TV broadcast projected on a giant screen and guys on snowboards doing tricks on a trampoline. Next to that was a large tent that appeared to have food and drinks, but there were so many people crammed in there that we forged on in hopes of finding more food inside. They had a room set up with Wii playstations where you could play the new Mario Winter Olympics game -- and, thankfully, a bar area with fruit and cheese. A sign lead us down a series of corridors to what must be the cafeteria, where they had another bar, more food, and several big-screen TVs set up. We managed to snag some seats at a table, and were able to watch most of the opening ceremony from there while we snacked on sliders, pasta, and some Canadian treats: Nanaimo bars and poutine. Neither of them are particularly good for you, but boy are they tasty!

Since the Metro was closing early, we had to duck out before the ceremony ended, but I did snap a couple photos with my phone on the way out (I didn't bring my camera). They had some cool ice sculptures outside, including this bar. Of course, Josh couldn't resist...
We also ended up with some neat souvenirs -- official Olympic mittens! The Canadian Olympic team was wearing these in the opening ceremonies -- as were Wayne Gretzky and the other athletes who carried the torches. They are lined with fleece -- very toasty!
With all the snow and wacky work schedules, we never got around to making plans for Valentine's Day, so we spent most of the day watching the Olympics. Not very romantic, but we enjoyed the opportunity to just relax...

Today our friends Jason & Elizabeth brought their stir-crazy kids over to play in Josh's snow cave. It turned out neither of them was that interested in it, so their mom played in the cave instead.
We ended up having a big snowball fight, which was fun for everyone, including 2-year-old Patrick.
His mom tried to photograph the proceedings while dodging snowballs from her husband and daughter. I soon gave up on taking photos and joined the fight.
We had brunch at a nearby restaurant and then had another snowball fight on the way home before they ushered the kids into the car to get them home for naps -- just as it started snowing. Fortunately, this afternoon's snow was just a dusting, so it didn't add much to the massive piles of snow that we're still trying to dig out from. Fingers crossed that we're done with major snowstorms for the winter...

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