Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Olympic Flame makes it's way through Canada...

I have always been a big fan of the Olympics. I don't watch any sports usually, mostly because I never have any idea what is going on, but for whatever reason I find the Olympics the most exciting thing ever. Next year, the Olympics will be in Vancouver, and while I am extremely sad that I am not going, I am extremely happy that they will be held in Canada. I'm looking forward to seeing a sea of Canadian flags at some of the events. And believe you me, I cry like a baby whenever a Canadian athlete wins a gold medal and the national anthem plays. Actually, I tear up whenever I hear the national anthem anywhere. Baseball game, school play...it just happens. I think one of the things I miss most about grade school/high school is getting to hear the national anthem every day. It just makes me really...happy.

Anyway, the Olympic torch is on it's way through Canada, making stops in several communities along the way. One of those stops was right here in St. Kitties.

I did have some issues with some things, like the Olympic t-shirts they were selling coming in plastic bags with MADE IN BANGLADESH written in giant bold letters. But all in all, I can look past these things because it was an event that really brought the community, and by extension, the country together.

Canada is a huge country, and sometimes it is hard to feel connected to your fellow Canadians when they live so far away. It's not like being Belgian or something. Events like the Olympics have the ability to really bring a country together, because we are all cheering for the same thing-for the Canadians to beat the Americans at something; at anything. :)

I liked the way the Olympic Torch Relay was organized, because it was made into a community event in each individual community. The Torch Bearers in St. Catharines were people that have made a significant contribution to this community. The man pictured running with the torch, Mike Accursi, is a local high school teacher and professional lacrosse player. Each person in the Torch Relay got to run with the Olympic Flame for 300 metres before passing it off to the next person. Seriously, how cool would that be?? It was really amazing to watch, so I can't imagine the emotion if you actually got to carry it.





Lighting the Olympic cauldron.





It was basically a sea of red and white and flags. Great to see.



Ice sculpture!



Elusive mittens that were extremely hard to come by! I waited in line for a long time, but when I got to the front they were sold out. Then today my co-worker came in and was like, "they had one pair left at Zellers, I got you some!!" Awesome!!

Bring on the bobsled Vancouver, I can't wait!!

5 comments:

carissajaded said...

How awesome that you got to watch this! I don't even know if or when or where the torch goes through the US. I would really like to see that. I love the winter Olympics so much...

And I'm super glad your co-worker found some mittens for you! How nice!

Kristen H said...

Check out my blog-post, my cousins wife got to carry the flame in Stoney Creek!!

http://threestridestudios.blogspot.com/2009/12/olympic-torch-run.html

Laura&Chris said...

Aww you scored some mitts!! awesome!!! I've been wanting a pair, but like you mentioned, you can't find them anywhere!

Anonymous said...

I wrote about this for Matador, so freaking cool. I admit I don't follow the olympics at all, but I came upon the flame run by accident when it was in Newfoundland and the excitement was incredible. So much patriotism! I'd love to be there in 2010.

ThinkGoHard said...

Awsome post. Makes my day look rather uninteresting...lol

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