Vancouver – Olympic Life in the Olympic City
So we’re more than a week into the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games, or, to use a sports metaphor, wll into the home stretch. Our muscles and wallets are sore, but it’s so, so, so worth it! The city just feels energized, and it’s freaking fantastic.
The pavilions, shows and events set up all over the downtown core gives the whole place a theme-park like feel (you line up for a long time, go on a short ride/see a short show, then walk to the next attraction, past souvenir and snack carts and street performers). And speaking of line ups, at this point I think people are lining up for the sake of lining up. The wait times at pretty much everything are multiple hours long. Even just to get into the Granville st. Bay to buy your official team Canada tee (completely disregarding that we have tons of other Bay stores in Metro Vancouver, just a short skytrain away) is like three hours, and that doesn’t come with any guarantee that they’ll still have what you want in your size. The longest line by far is the zipline, where, according to Radio Canada, a couple recently set the record for waiting more than 9 hours. The ride is only ten seconds long!!!! Think about it people, you’re turning waiting in line into an experience in itself, because you’re not doing anything else all day! I made it into LiveCity Yaletown with only a 40-minute wait, and I was there right at opening. God knows what it was like by 6! Even the fabulousness that is the unique Japadog gourmet hot dog cart has a massive wait for your street meat. By the time you get to the front, you’re ready for dinner, while you’d lined up at lunch.
But the coolest thing is the overwhelming “We are Canada, we’re loud, proud and we ROCK!” vibe that permeates everyday life here. Just sitting at work I see tons of people each day wearing their Canada tees, stupid (or stupid awesome) Moose toques, and flag capes. Vancouver has become Disneyland all of a sudden, a place where you can wear all sorts of stupid, furry things on your head, your cape has become regular office attire and the world will cease to exist when the puck drops tonight on the Canada versus Germany showdown. Even the random stranger that approached us yesterday asking for a light said “Go Canada Go!” by way of a thank you, and those were probably the only English words he knew.
We’ve definately upped our international reputation, which was pretty good to begin with. Unless you ask the British, of course, they’re really hammering us, but I think they’re just trying to call our games a failure (yes, they are really using terms that harsh) to make London 2012 look better. They’re also forgetting that this is a Winter Games and they’re hosting the Summer, hardly an equal comparison, but whatever. I’m Canadian, I know our games are fantastic, and at least my country has never been bombed, so the Brits can suck it.
Even Though we still have days to go before the closing ceremonies and the start of the Paralympics, I already know I’m going to miss the Olympics once they pass. More than anything, in the past week, people have been happy. All the time. It’s just a permanent smiling-at-strangers good mood that I don’t want to let slide once the torch has been snuffed. It’s a pleasure to be in Vancouver. Even more than usual. And that’s saying a lot.