The End!!

Firstly, some prizes to hand out!
Congratulations to Curtis C., Anna T., Jessica J., and Elissa W., for your awesome contest entries! They were all such great entries that we’ve decided on a 4-way tie!

Now just to remind you, this blog began 2 months ago. The first post was written January 20 and there were just 2 views that day. Announcements were made, links were posted on Facebook, and by the end of the week there were 93 views. Since then the blog has exploded with over 2000 views one week and an average of over 100 views each day! 71 posts from our excellent moderator team and 460 comments from you our awesome and much appreciated blog followers! Business cards were printed, posters were posted and over $1500 of Olympic and Paralympic Prizes were given away!

There have been a lot of ups and downs throughout the Winter Games and this blog. There were lots of concerns when we first started up this blog but the team rose to the challenge and met them! Doris, Jessie, Bianca, Jane Lynn, Liz, and Sam have all done an excellent job covering the games from their points of view. After all has been said and done, it really is all about the experience. The experiences shared by the moderators and the experiences shared through all your great comments. This blog truly enhanced my Vancouver 2010 experience and I hope it did the same for you!

This is the last post of this blog but that doesn’t mean you can’t comment! We’ve loved reading your thoughts and opinions and we’d love to see some more as the blog comes to a close! You’ve heard the closing thoughts of our moderator team, so please share with us yours! Let us know what you think, for old time’s sake!!

It has been a pleasure to work on this blog and I thank you all for helping make it such a great 2010 Student Experience (I just had to throw that in somewhere!)

When the world descended on us

Time goes by, things happen, memories are made. Its been almost a week since the Olympics and Paralympics and the nostalgia is just starting to settle in. My experience here at the blog has been a very interesting one. I remember our meeting like it was yesterday, Lizzy and Bianca being dragged in ever so willingly to blog about our 2010 adventures. Just yesterday we celebrated our official last meeting with a pizza party, meetings where silly traditions have been forged, my turtle-dragon drawing on the office whiteboard and Lizzy’s obsession to have a lollipop every weekly meeting.

I know I haven’t blogged as much as I should, tiredness from post Olympic/Paralympic partying. But start to finish, it has been wonderful to share my experiences. Many memorable souvenirs have been gained, both in material goods and in memories. Stuffies and t-shirts may wear down over time, but that feeling of excitement and fire of pride and passion will keep on burning.

I started this blog with my first blog post as the Olympics coming to my doorstep with Vancouver as host, and I’ll finish my time here with the Paralympics departing and all the winter games slowly being deconstructed. It was a fun party while it lasted and life is finally beginning to return to normal. 2010 bliss, however, will always remain our glowing hearts.

Preparations to welcome the world Vancouver, photo from my first blog post, Olympics at your DoorstepPost party clean up after the world has departed

TTFN

Wow, I can’t believe this is my last post already. The olympics and paralympics went by so quickly. I’m kind of sad it’s over. The other day when I was walking by the curling rink, it was depressing to see how they were taking down all the olympic things. The government wasted so much money on the decorations and now they’re going bye-bye. So depressing. Well, I thought the blog was a great experience and being able to go olympic and paralympic events was amazing as well. I’m glad I decided to join the blog team. I’m amazed at how so many people actually have seen our blog and commented tons of great comments. This experience was totally worth it. I’m gonna miss blogging anyway..  ta ta for now. TTFN !

It’s over already?!

Hey guys can you believe it?

The 2010 Games are officially over. Remember starting 4 years ago, when all the construction began taking place? How for some of us walking to school meant getting our ear drums blasted out by jack hammers drilling away, running across   because cars were swerving to miss the big, concrete slabs of temporary road block?

It seems just like yesterday that the Canada Line was being built, the most obvious sign of the Olympics for me.

I had the good luck to be in Korea when the World Cups took place in 2002 in Seoul, co-hosted by Tokyo. The buzz there was incredible. Even though I was only 10 back then, I can still remember strangers hugging each other at every goal, cheering, and basically subdued anarchy everywhere. That was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

then I had the good fortune to move to Vancouver, host city of the Winter Olympics / Paralympic Games. I had the good luck to be in what’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime situation 2 times; having such a major and global event happen in their city.

In turns of cheering and fan support, I’ve got to say, Canadians were AWESOME. Don’t try to tell me otherwise; if you’ve been downtown at anytime during the Olympics (not as much during the Paralympics S:) you know what i’m talking about.

The unusual amount of red / white on the streets?

Random guys singing the national anthem?

FLAG CAPES?

and people wearing Olympic merchandise.

It was truly amazing experience… even though school essentially ruined most of it for most of us public school students.

I urge you to get your hands on a souvenir – it’s not too late. Most places still sell Olympic merchandise. This is a memory that you’ll keep forever – so perhaps start a journal or a diary, too! Maybe you can do what we bloggers are doing here; let the world know what you think!

we got to say goodbye to the cute little mascots.T^T

guys, do you still remember them?! Miga, Quatchi, Sumi; our 2010 olympic mascots.

They have been around us so often in the past few weeks, perhaps they need to go home now. But, let’s tell them, “we will remember them forever. “

although we are leaving them, and the 2010 winter olympic, don’t be so sad. I hope that Canada is going to hold another olympic soon. >_<

I just found a funny little contest on mascots, check it out and make it as our last memory of these cute little creature: http://www.vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/game_mascotquiz.php

*remember to leave a comment and share “which mascot are you like”. Let’s see which mascot we have the most in here~~Enjoy!

Memories of the Olympic & Paralympic Games

It’s kind of sad to say that this is my last post, but during these nearly 30 days, we did have lots of memories. Honestly, though the Olympic Games were so exciting and commanded the attention of world, the Paralympic Games made a more indelible impression on me.

We had an opportunity to watch the Alpine Skiing and Wheelchair Curling in person last week. It was great fun and changed my mind.

Usually people pay more attention to the Olympic Games than the Paralympics, though we do know that the athletes participating in both of them are hardworking and have great persistence.

I can remember that during the Alpine Skiing, people were all cheering their favourites on. Athletes were guided by another person who gave them instructions with words. But once we were required to be quiet a little bit, because the athletes who was having the game is not only visually impaired but also has difficulty in hearing. Before I went to watch the Paralympic events, I felt it was a pity that I couldn’t get a chance to watch Olympic Games in person. But after watching the Paralympic Games, I started to feel sad and regret. It was really a sorrow to see those paralympians fall down and some of them even couldn’t stand up by themselves.

Vancouver has bid farewell to the tenth Winter Paralympics yesterday night. People have started to look forward to the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi.

Thanks Canada, thanks Vancouver and Whistler, thanks all the athletes, thanks for giving us the best ever Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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BTW I’m gonna share some photos and video I took during the Wheelchair Curling games with you guys. Hope you like them..

A perfect ending to a rocky start

Wow…. Has it already finished? Or am I just dreaming?

I think for many of us, the past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions. From Patrick Chan coming in 5^th to both women’s and men’s hockey team winning gold. Everyone must admit that at one point during the games, you’ve had one of the most fun, memorable, exciting times of your life. Even if you hated the Olympics at the start, it was sure to of converted you over to loving it. I will never forget going downtown at night to scream down the road “GO CANADA”, high five random people along the way, and sing the national anthem with everyone on the sky train. It was a once in a life time experience and a memory that we can all cherish from beginning to end.

Well as for the blog, I’m going to miss it and I must give my thanks to Janelynn for dragging me into the meeting and getting me to sign up for it. If it wasn’t for her and the blog, my opinion and experience on the Olympics wouldn’t have turned out the way it has.

Finally, thank you to all of you guys for taking the time out of your day to read up the blog and comment on the things we have posted. I hope you have enjoyed our blog and had the time of your life during the Olympic and Paralympic games.

Till next time… Liz Biz is outta here. Peace. =)

2010 Paralympic Winter Games will be end in 19 hours

can you believe that? The 2010 paralympic winter games will be end in 19 hours.

time goes so fast, that we can’t even catch it. But, camera can capture our memories. Now, let’s review the exciting moments for canada in the paralympic games.

photos are from CTVolympics.ca

Update

The Paralympics have been in town for a few days now, and Canada has already emerged as one of the top five nations. Currently, we hold the number 4th place in the medal count and even today, Lauren Woolstencroft won gold in the giant Slalom for Canada (Yay!). Perhaps if we cheer the athletes on harder and attend the events more often as we did in the Olympics, Canada can climb its way to the top at Number 1. =D

Alpine Skiing In Whistler

Most of the international students in hamber had a field trip to Whistler today. We watched the Men’s and Women’s Giant Slalom-Sitting/Visually impaired. Because of the foggy, rainy, and freezing weather, we almost got wet through, but  athletes all did a good job.

Here are the videos and photos that I took in Whistler.

hope you guys like them!

Yay, we’re third so far !

The other day I was driving home from the airport, I noticed the olympic lights were different. I was amazed at how the olympic circles turned in the paralympic symbol. I feel so jealous because I missed the paralympics opening cermony and I wasn’t in the country when the paralympics started. ):  I heard it was really good and less boring compared to the olympics opening.  Oh yeah ! All you people who have been waiting to zipline.. can finally zipline now.  The 5hr wait is now an 2hr or less wait. I don’t know if its even two hours, it could be less. So if you couldn’t go ziplining cause of the 5hr wait, go now !  Oh yeah, if you didn’t know..  Brian McKeever won the men’s 20-kilometre freestyle visually impaired event yesterday morning ! So far we’re third right behind Ukraine with 2 gold medals 3 silver and 1 bronze ! Go Canada Go !

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=2686762#ixzz0iLRGCAsE
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difference?

The Olympics have come to a close and Vancouver has become but a murmur compared to the booming excitement that had engulfed our city only a few weeks ago. Now, it is happening again, however with a different style of excitement. For the Olympics, this style was one of rowdiness, rampaging shouting and patriotism while for the Paralympics it is one of more modest approval, enthusiastic cheer and support for the athletes. I believe that we should put more effort as a city, to increase the amount of support these athletes are getting, as right now, the patriotism has been washed away and is rarely ever seen. It is too early to take down the Olympic decorations, and we should support the Paralympians just as much as the Olympians. 

 

The Paralympics Have Arrived!!!

So as you may have guessed from the title of this post, THE PARALYMPICS ARE HERE!!!!

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies. My pictures aren’t up just yet but keep an eye out for them! It was a pretty amazing experience not just because it was the Opening Ceremonies for the first Winter Paralympics held in Canada but also because I’ve never attended an event where every member of the audience became a part of the show! It was a lot of fun and it sent shivers down my spine when I saw the sea of flashing red lights in the audience as everyone enthusiastically waved their light up pom poms!

I think my three favorite parts of the whole ceremony would be…1) Nikki Yanofsky and the 2,000 or so children’s choir singing yet another great song; 2) “Lazy Legs” dancing was just flat-out amazing; 3) and finally the piece on Terry Fox recognizing all that he’s done and honouring him followed by his parents coming out to help light the torch was simply the best way to end the ceremony and open these games!

What was your favorite part about the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies?

Comment Winners!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

A big congratulations to Audrey, Alice, Becky, Danny, and Curtis for being chosen as our blog comment winners! They have each won a set of tickets to Wheelchair Curling on Sunday!

Keep commenting on these awesome posts for more chances to win tickets and other cool Olympic and Paralympic merchandise!!

Also don’t forget to check out our LAST CONTEST being released on Monday! It’ll be your last chance to win super awesome prizes!

Finally, congratulations to Dominic L. for winning Contest 3! Check out his great entry here!

Paralympics, a community event

As Sam and Sarah mentioned earlier, the Paralympics are coming and it’s such an amazing event that no one should miss.

Yesterday I had a chance to be part of the Paralympic torch relay that was being held at Riley Park Community. Many. many people awoke early during their spring break to help set up for the very special event. Hundreds more showed up to watch and participate in torch and community activities around the center.

As I and other volunteers made tin foil medals for kids, handed out hot chocolate, tea and coffee and set up, Paralympic Torch bearers met up to plan what was going to be monumental moments for many of them, including those who would be holding the torch themselves. As noon time rolled around, Ontario St. in front of the center was shut down and became a street party with musical guests and street performers. The torch itself, would be carried by ,I think, 20-30 some odd very special people and carried around Riley Park in what looked like to be about 15 laps. Child day camps were there, parents were there, teenagers, todlers, babies, seniors, and able-bodied and disabled. Everyone turned out to see an historical event unfold in front of their very eyes. This was truely a community event that everyone enjoyed.

Although I am completely able, the Paralympics seem like a much more personal and local event. Although the crowds much not have been as large as the Olympic crowds, the Paralympic crowd is amazing it’s very own way and strikes a much more intimate feeling in everyone who was there.

Paralympics aren’t important, eh?

The Winter Olympics have past and the Paralympics are soon to be here…

Well in my opinion, the paralympic athletes deserve more praise. At school there are people who say “no one cares about the paralympics!”. But I say this is rubbish. These paralympic athletes have worked their bodies to the limit DESPITE their handicaps! Just imagine – would you be willing to go down a slope you’ve never been to before, completely blind, only replying on your sense of hearing and a guide? I surely wouldn’t.

Would you be willing to discharge a gun just based on noises you hear?
Would you be willing to cross-country ski, not knowing if you’re going the right way every second?

These athletes have achieved more than Olympic athletes. Without saying, of course, both types of athletes are downright impressive. I can never accomplish their feats… but the Paralympic athletes are something to muse at.

So tell this to your friends who say nay; “Paralympics are here in Vancouver. Why isn’t it just as important as the Olympics? It’s the same thing, with the addition of braver, stronger, and determined(ER) athletes!”

So. Conclusion.

CHEER ON TEAM CANADA!

PS: or whatever team you might be cheering for.

The Paralympic Torch Relay

The Paralympic Torch Relay began on March 3^rd in Ottawa, Ontario – the capital city of Canada.  Its 10-day journey across Canada will feature ten celebration communities, including two cities in Ontario, one in Quebec and seven in British Columbia (for a full list of locations and dates, visit www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/more-2010-information/paralympic-torch-relay/about-the-paralympic-torch-relay/celebration-communities/).

The Paralympic Torch design is identical to the one used in the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay – except  the 2010 Olympic logo is replaced by the 2010 Paralympic Games emblem.

Want to know more about the Paralympic Torch Relay?  Check out my top six Paralympic Torch Relay links:

6)  The torch will be at Riley Park this Wednesday!  It’s March Break, so get up early and go check it out: www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/more-2010-information/paralympic-torch-relay/daily-highlights/march-10—vancouver-(riley-park)-and-maple-ridge_264444tg.html.

5)   Former Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan doing the ‘Turin Twirl’ during the 2008 Torch Relay: www.samsullivan.ca/sam-sullivan-paralympic-torch-relay-photos.html.

4)  Official Facebook page for the Province of BC, featuring real-time updates of the Paralympic Torch Relay: www.facebook.com/YouGottaBeHere?ref=ts

3) Photos of the torch relay – check out the fancy blue suits the runner’s wear: www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/more-2010-information/paralympic-torch-relay/torch-relay-photos/torch-relay-photo-gallery_303802Gg.html

2) The torch in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ccitZWO1IY

1) An interactive look at the torch.  Make sure you click on the fire in the top corner to light it! www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/more-2010-information/paralympic-torch-relay/about-the-paralympic-torch-relay/paralympic-torch-interactive-animation/

my favourite paralympic sport..

The Paralympic Games will soon be celebrated in BC between March 12 to March 21, 2010 and it will be the second time for Canada to host the Paralympic Games, following the 1976 Summer Paralympic Games in Toronto.

There will be five sports in the X Paralympic Games, which are Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Wheelchair Curling, Cross-country skiing and Sledge Hockey.

Among all these exciting events, my favourite one is sledge hockey. Last time in Turin, Team Canada got the Gold Medal. I found a video about that on Youtube. Let’s have a look! =]

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BTW.. Here’s the calendar for the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games which I got from Wikipedia. Hope you all enjoy the games!

Our memories from those 17 days.

I just found a great video on the Vancouver Winter Olympic Official website. This video is the last “daily host video” for the Vancouver Winter Olympic, and it simply concluded this wonderful 17 days in 5 minutes. Enjoy it!  >_<

Blog Comment Winners

Congratulations to Henry from Churchill Secondary and Vincent and Rachel from Hamber Secondary for winning 2010 mascot keychains!  They have won prizes for leaving a comment on the blog.

Remember to check out our latest contest for a chance to win a prize pack valued at $200!

Keep on commenting!

Go Spring Break go!

Contest 3

Don’t forget about the awesome contest that ends on Monday March 8 at 8pm!!!

You can win 3 Paralympic Opening Ceremony tickets AND an awesome official Vancouver 2010 Tote Bag!!!

Go and enter today!!!

WE are from DIFFERENT countries, but WE celebrate as ONE country!

” A: what’s one of the Canadian culture?!

B: hmmm..let me think about this..culture..

C: hey! why do you need to think about this!?

B: we..we..got so many people come from other places, and ..so many culture..what’s, what’s our true culture?!

C: other places..other culture..so..our culture should be..

A & B & C: we combine all the cultures as one culture?! o_0 wow~ we are so special…what’s that word we called it….mmm…” MUTI-CULTURALISM!”

yes, we combine all cultures as our own culture, we always have people with different ethnicities walking by us and talking to us.

but when it comes to olympic, what we can see in downtown is people who are from different ethnicities are wearing Canada’s flag! Isn’t it amazing that people from DIFFERENT countries celebrate as ONE country and cheering for Canada?!

Maybe, Canada is not the motherland for some of us, but it is the country we love, we support and we cheer for. Olympic Game, is an international game; and Canada is like an international village.  

GO CANADA GO!

Missing the olympics..

It’s been 4 days since the olympics ended. Traffic is busier now and the bus routes are back to normal. Everyone’s going back to work and back to their studies. No more crazy canadians cheering everywhere. I miss the olympics. I liked how the olympics made the streets of Vancouver so lively. Even though there are still the paralympics happening soon, it just won’t be the same. Anyway, I can’t wait to watch the paralympics. I think it’s going to be incredible and Canada’s going to do very well. Go Canada go !

Memories of the Games..

I can’t really believe that The 2010 Winter Games have already been over, but the memories of the Games are still drifting into my mind. As what people say, having the opportunity to cover the Olympic Games in our own country doesn’t happy too often — never mind our home city.

Over the course of 17 days, the Vancouver Winter Games not only captivated the hearts of spectators and visitors, but it also showed us the support and encouragement the families gave to the athletes.

I have been witnessing the pride and joy of the families of the Canadian athletes, watching them compete against the best athletes in the world, after years of emotional and monetary sacrifices by family members. I can see how proud the family members were when they were watching their loved ones compete. They were cheering them on, willing them to win. Even though they might not get a medal, their families were still feeling proud. They were smiling and applauding because they know that their loved was the best.

I know that many factors influence an athlete’s performance during competition, but one stands above the others – family support. I read an article on the newspaper, it says “Mellissa Hollingsworth’s father held her hand the night her dreams of Olympic gold were shattered, just as he waited alone at the airport on the day she didn’t make the cut for the 2002 Canadian winter Olympic team. Whether the families are waving flags, as skeleton racer Jon Montgomery’s parents did when he won gold, or offering hushed words of encouragement in the shadow of disappointment, parents of athletes play a critical, often unheralded role in the competition.” (TheChronicleHerald.ca) I suddenly realized that the Olympics, is not only showing us the spirits of the athletes, but also letting us know how important families are to our athletes. Getting their dreams come true on the Olympics or Paralympics stages must be the most memorable moment in the athletes’ life, and there’s not a better way for them to celebrate this success than with their families cheering them on live from the sidelines.

Win or lose, athletes’ families will always be there..

Win or lose, athletes are always their pride..

A Picture Perfect Finish

First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS ANNA T. on winning Contest 2 – The Newest Mascot with her new mascot for VANOC, Maki!

Don’t forget to check out our NEW CONTEST that starts today to win tickets to the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies!

Crosby celebrates the gold winning goal!!

What a day! It feels like I’ve been saying this a lot throughout the Olympics but there have just been so many fantastic days!!! There has always been a great story to tell at the end of the day from the very first all the way up to the very last. And speaking of the last, what a final day it was! Could anyone have scripted a better game?! Good play on either side, fast paced game, great saves, and a dramatic finish! With the net empty, 30 seconds left, the US ties it up forcing overtime! Could anyone have dreamed up a better finale then to have the face of Canadian hockey, Sidney Crosby, score in overtime?? Maybe it could have been better if he scored from his knees while carrying 4 USA players on his back while they slashed him with their sticks but from a realistic standpoint, this is pretty much as good as it gets!

With that gold, Canada sets a new record for gold medals at any winter games! With glowing reviews from all over, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics has come to a close and all in all, I think Vancouver looked really, really good! Maybe the ceremonies weren’t as flashy and amazing as others have been but the excitement, electricity and energy the flowed through the streets and the people was simply amazing!

It doesn’t have to end though, we still have the Paralympics coming up so lets keep up the great spirit all the way through to the end!

More good news, the blog will be running through April! So don’t worry, just because the Olympics are over, that doesn’t mean there won’t still be awesome posts each day and cool contests every other week so stay tuned!!!

Go Canada Go. As I was watching the Men’s Hockey game all around me were patriotic Canadians cheering on Team Canada. Thinking about it, I realized, never before have I ever seen Canadians so patriotic. Even grannies and grandparents were screaming their hearts out in the downtown core of Vancouver. It was is an experience that we will probably never have again in Vancouver, but it is one that has been sweet from beginning to the end. 

Chills

What a day!!!! An amazing 4 medal day for Canada as the women capture a silver in curling, the men capture gold in the short track 5000m relay, and in the men’s 500m short track Francois-Louis Tremblay won a bronze while Charles Hamelin won his second gold of the night! Don’t forget Canada’s fantastic win over Slovakia in men’s ice hockey to advance to the gold medal game against the USA on Sunday!

I just want to share a couple things I’ve thought about this past week and just as the title of this post might indicate, they both gave me chills.

Firstly, the medal race between countries. At the beginning, I was really into which country was winning more medals, more golds, etc. I was really disappointed when Canada started with a slow start in their medal wins but the other night I attended the medal ceremony where Ashleigh McIvor received her gold medal. During this ceremony it really hit me how much these medals mean. It’d be great if Canada ended up with the most medals in the end but that night I no longer cared if we did because I saw on the face of Ashleigh McIvor how much these medals meant to each olympian and I was just filled with such a sense of pride and joy for them! I saw the face and excitement again when Canada won the two medals in women’s bobsleigh. This was especially evident when Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown’s faces lit up just to have won silver. This excitement gives me chills! The latest happening of this came about just tonight when I saw Charles Hamelin jumping into the arms of his girlfriend Marianne St-Gelais in celebration and then going back to celebrate with fellow Canadian Francois-Louis Tremblay when it was announced that he won the bronze. I got chills watching these two images!

And that brings me to my second “Chills” thing. Now a lot of people have been telling me how much they’re starting to get sick of “I believe” by Nikki Yanofsky. At the start of the Olympics, I thought I’d be sick of it by now too. With CTV, Sportsnet, and TSN all using portions of the song for every commercial break and highlight recap and the song on the radio too, how could it not get tiresome? Well I was wrong. After all this time, I still love the song and I feel inspired and proud to be Canadian whenever I hear it! Most especially, when it’s played in the background of video montages highlighting Canadian victories and medals, I get chills all over and it’s the most exciting thing to me! I give a lot of credit to Richard Dixon for writing such a great song! Inspiring, versatile in how it can be used, and just all around awesome!!

Go Canada GO!!!

Medals Update and Livecity Yaletown!

Alright everyone! Haven’t posted in awhile and hope everyone is having a good day!

Medals Update!

So whoopee! Canada just earned two more medals today! This leaves Canada currently ranked 4th in the medals standings, with 17 medals, just 2 less than Norway!

Women seem to be dominating at Olympics this year, as most medals have been won by Canadian females.

Joannie Rochette, placed bronze place in figure skating. Skating to  Camille St. Saens’ “Samson and Delilah,” it was an amazing achievement for her even just to skate today because the passing of her mother just 4 days prior. This is the first time Canada has won an Olympic medal in figure skating since Elizabeth Manley took silver at the 1988 Calgary Games.

The Canadian women’s hockey team also defeated U.S.A 2-0 in the gold medal final, giving Canada a sixth gold! In the first period, Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and goaltender Shannon Szabados made 28 saves to give Canada victory over the United States.

In curling news, both Canada’s women and men’s team will be playing in gold medal final games after advancing from their semi-final games. The women defeating Switzerland to play the Swedes, the men defeating Sweden to play Norway. The gold medal women’s curling game is set to start Friday at 3:00pm, the men’s Saturday, also at 3:00pm.

Livecity Yaletown!

Alright, for those who are still awake at 3am (which probably isn’t many), Eric Hamber will be heading down to Livecity Yaletown in a few hours! I had a chance to go with my P.E. class on Monday which was pretty cool. Since we were part of the schools program, we got to jump the line which stretched down the block, around the street corner and down the other side.

There’s not much to do there except the cooperate pavilions and Vancouver House and you if go there at the right time, maybe a conert. But there is A LOT of free stuff you could get (free coke from Coke place ). I thought the Vancouver House was pretty cool, it features very nice interior design and awesome environmentally friendly products and fixtures. I love the chandeliers they used, one of which was made completely of plastic clothes hangers. Outside of livecity, there are different provincial houses and the Molson Canadian Hockey house you can visit to try out different food and experience different culture. I also to Concord Pacific showroom where you can trade pins and take a look at very, very nice architecture, some of which is being developed in Vancouver. By the water, is something I call Inukshuk-land, where there are hundreds of tiny Inukshuks built on the water’s edge. There are rocks there where you can use to build your own.

One last thing, congrats to Hamber for winning an Olympic Torch replica from Birks at livecity on Monday as part of the schools program!

Gnights and I’ll probably be seeing most of you in a couple of hours in Yaletown! (:

Wheelchair Curling Prize Giveaway

Congratulations Dominic L. from Eric Hamber Secondary for winning a pair of tickets to Wheelchair Curling!  Dominic won for leaving a comment on our blog.

You can win tickets by READING a comment posted by our moderator team, CLICKING ‘leave a comment’, and SHARING your thoughts.  We will be giving out various Paralympic tickets over the next few weeks, including Opening Ceremonies, Sledge Hockey and Wheelchair Curling.

The Paralympic Games start in a couple weeks – our blog will continue to be updated through the Paralympic games, with even more contests and comment prizes. 

GO CANADIAN PARALYMPIANS GO!

What a wonderful day!

Well ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls

Incase you have been living under a thicker rock than me, today was a BIG day. You know why?

CANADA has won 4 MEDALS TODAY!!! WOOOOOOT WOOT!

Aw come on, old chap! Don’t sit there and read this boring piece of text! I want you to GET UP, and say “TEAM CANADA ROCKS!” five times.

Finished? Hey! You only said it 4 times! GO! DO IT. NOW!!

GO GO TEAM CANADA! WOOOOOOT!

So to sum up today’s events, here you are!

Bronze cross in speed skating: Clara Hughes

Hockey: Canada beats Russia! Do we really need to remind them who’s game they’re playing?

Silver medal AND gold medal in WOMEN’S BOBSLEIGH!

Now go out and celebrate! Actually don’t if you’re reading this you’re probably underage and it’s already past 10 P.M. So don’t get in trouble. But CHEER CANADA ON!

We are now in 4th place! WOOT WOOT!

Victory Ceremony ft. Billy Talent

The victory ceremony last night was amazing. I’ve never been to a big event like this before, so it was a great experience. Everything looked fantastic. It was awesome to see how everyone was so excited when we saw Ashleigh McIvor get her gold metal for coming in first in the women’s ski-cross.  It was quite interesting to listen to different country’s anthems too. Which one’s your favorite ? I think Canda’s anthem is my favorite. Did you know, the band Loverboy, a candian band, wrote the American anthem for the United States ? And in the end, Billy Talent ended the ceremonies with an incredible performance. While going home from the ceremony, it was hilarious. There were tons of amazing canadians roaming around the streets singing our anthem, cheering, and doing a bunch of crazy things. One guy who was wearing the canadian flag as cape saw another man across the street with a flag as a cape too, and he yelled, ” HEY  MAN, LET’S PARTY IN THE CENTER OF THE INTERSECTION!”  Haha, it was so funny because everyone wanted to join him and you should’ve seen the police officer’s face, it was priceless. I feel so proud to be canadian.

Photos from Downtown~whu~~@_@

As Jessie mentioned yesterday…i’ve got some photos for you!

well..i just took it today..and ..i didn’t really have time to Photoshop it..so.everything is real..>__< Let’s see if you can guess where did i take that photo.. 

    this train is really old~~~~~~~

 somehow..i love this plate..

 the olympic holly fire..

 hats..with all the country names on it..which one do you like..

 this is really a cute one for sports..

 did you see all those ppl sitting on the stair..

well…those are my favourite photos for today……it really takes time..for me to put pictures on the post one by one.  so…instead of putting up all of them all at once..i am going to share some of it every time on my post..

>__<

 hmm..i think that’s it for today.. hope you can enjoy the olympic!

the2010studentexperience Hits the Airwaves

Our very own student moderator Sam will be a guest speaker tonight on the Youth in 57 Minutes radio program (www.y57.com) at 7 p.m. on 102.7FM in Vancouver.

Youth in 57 Minutes covers local youth topics and this month Sam is the guest for the Youth of the Month segment.  He will be speaking about the 2010 Games and his experiences as student moderator for the2010studentexperience blog!

GO SAM GO!

SUPER SUNDAY..?

Guys.. I’m here again.. = =

Today is DAY 10 and we had several games in curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey and so on.

So, what happened today?

Let’s have a look on the good news first..

Our excellent skater, Kristina Groves, took silver for Canada in the 1500m long track race, when Canada’s speed skating team needed a dose of reassurance. Though Kristina said that was so difficult, so gruelling, that you “can taste blood in your lungs”, she finally made it. This was her second medal of these Winter Olympic Games.

Also, Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir got to the first place after flawless original dance in Ice Dance event. Virtue’s voluminous red skirt flew like a cape as they lived and breathed the flamenco. They delivered their finest moment and earned a personal-best score of 68.41 points, putting them in first place in the original dance and first place overall with 111.15 points. I really enjoyed their perfect performance and I’m pretty looking forward their free dance tomorrow. I hope that they can bring us another gold medal. Good luck!

However, to our disappointment, U.S. men’s hockey team claimed first win over Canada in 50 years at Winter Olympics today. Lots of Canadians screamed out their love of hockey into a passionate roar and created an ocean of red and flag-waving support for Canada’s long-awaited Olympic showdown with the United States. But they got frustrated at the result. It’s so depressing but we still have a chance. GO CANADA!

And in the curling event, after five straight wins to open the Olympics, Cheryl Bernard’s rink finally suffered its first loss, a  6-5 extra end decision to the reigning world champions from China. With the loss, Canada dropped back into a first-place tie with Sweden at 5-1 while China moved closer to the leaders at 5-2.

Tomorrow is the 11th day of the Olympic and we have several event which deserve our attention, such as ice dance, curling, freestyle skiing and so on.

GO CANADA!!

GO WORLD!!

PS: Doris is gonna share some photos with us tomorrow. please check it out if you are interested. =]

Blog Comment Winner – Billy Talent Victory Ceremony

Congratulations to Alfreda Y. for winning three tickets to the Billy Talent Victory Ceremony happening this week!  Alfreda was selected at random for posting a quality comment on our blog.

You can win tickets to the Olympic and Paralympic games by sharing your thoughts on the2010studentexperience.  Read a post (or two!) by our moderating team, click on ‘leave a comment’ and tell us what YOU think!  We have Olympic Victory Ceremony, Paralympic Opening Ceremonies, Wheelchair Curling and Sledgehockey tickets to give away until the end of the 2010 Games.

Remember, Contest Two closes tomorrow morning at 8am.  The winner will receive a Chapters Gift Card and 2010 prize pack (including Paralympic Opening Ceremonies tickets if you live in the Lower Mainland).  Design a new mascot for your chance to win!  Full details available in the ‘contest’ section.

If you are a student at Eric Hamber, check out Hamber Olympic Fest at lunches this week  in the Drama Studio for your chance to win tickets, merchandise and high five’s from the Community Schools Team.

GO CANADA GO!

Congratulations to the Eric Hamber moderator team for doing such an awesome job on this blog for the past four weeks!  We will continue posting our thoughts and giving away awesome prizes until mid-April.

Jessie, Doris, Jane Lynn, Bianca, Sam, Liz and Ted are AWESOME moderators, don’t you think?

THE 4TH GOLD..!!!

Well.. It seems that Ted had already mentioned this yesterday.. but since Jon Montgomery’s such a proud of Canada.. I’m gonna talk about this a little bit more.. LOL

Jon Montgomery got his gold medal today and that was the 4th gold for Canada.

Jon pipped Latvian Martins Dukurs for gold yesterday in the men’s Olympic skeleton.. He successfully made his Olympic debut at 30 years old and took the chance to earn a medal in his home country.. =D

At the evening medals ceremony.. Montgomery did his now-trademark standing leap onto the podium, then belted out “O Canada” .. Hundreds of Canadians flags waved, and the crowd roared in appreciation.. That was so suprising..

In addition, tonight in the men’s short track 1,000 metres race, brothers Charles and Francois Hamelin finished fourth and fifth. They didn’t got a medal but they are always the proud of the country.. Lee Jung-Su of South Korea won in an Olympic-record time of 1 minute 23.747 seconds, adding to the 1,500 gold he won a week ago.. His teammate Lee Ho-Suk was second and American Apolo Anton Ohno was third..

On the women’s side.. Zhou Yang from China easily won the gold medal and set an Olympic record in women’s 1,500-meter short track speed skating, well ahead of Lee Eun-byul and Park Seung-hi of South Korea, who earned the silver and the bronze. =]

Thus Korean short track skaters have got 4 medals tonight and Chinese has got their second gold in women’s short track. xD

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I’m so much looking forward to the Ice Hockey game tomorrow at 4:40 p.m. between Canada and America.. They may be NHL teammates during the regular season, sharing plane rides and going to group dinners, but when it comes to the Olympic Games, there’s absolutely no love lost between these two rivals.

GO CANADA!!

GO WORLD!!

The Richmond O Zone

So let’s start off by congratulating Jon Montgomery for his awesome performance to win Canada its 4th Gold Medal!!!

GO CANADA GO!!!!

Now back to business. Today I visited the Richmond O Zone. I know a lot of people who have been there a few times and I’ve been told that there are long line ups to get in and it’s pretty awesome when you get in. I was pretty excited to go but to be honest I was pretty disappointed once I got there. Luckily there wasn’t much of a line up (I think it’s because DRUM! and The Canadian Tenors weren’t as popular as other performers) so we got in right away. I found out later that the main attraction other than big name performers at the O Zone was Holland’s Heineken House. I hear that’s pretty cool and that there are things to do there OTHER than drink beer so all you under-aged kids and people who just don’t like drinking, don’t worry! But back to the O Zone itself, there was over priced concessions, a pretty cool outdoor skating track with$2.00 skate rentals, the outdoor stage, an active living area, and an interactive Olympic Games Dome tent with a really long line up. To be fair, I think everyone accepts and understands that concessions at these places will always be overpriced and that for anything remotely kind of cool, like an interactive Olympic dome, there will be a decent line up if not a ridiculous one. I thought the outdoor skating track was really cool especially since outdoor rinks are unheard of on the West Coast (I think Robson’s rink is super cool too!). The active living tents were sort of interesting. Sponsored by the Richmond Olympic Oval and Act Now BC, one tent had an elaborate jungle gym type of equipment for kids and the other tent had some exercise equipment and stations to try out different forms of being active. The exit to the second tent had a sign up table for Richmond Oval registrations with a picture of what the Oval is planned to look like after the Olympics (it looks pretty interesting…) and a table for Act Now BC to hand out their free SWAG (did you know that stands for Stuff We All Get?) and get people to sign Be Active Pledges! The coolest part of these two tents for me was the 3D information board Act Now BC had about different drinks and their nutrition values. In case anyone was wondering, Red Bull is listed as a “NEVER BUY THIS” item!

I guess in hindsight, the Richmond Oval does have some cool stuff to offer. I guess I was just disappointed because I expected more? The new turf field provides lots of space for audiences to attend the free concerts though and I can see it being a lot of fun if it’s a performer I like! My disappointing experience may also have stemmed from me not giving the interactive Olympic Games Dome a chance since I didn’t want to wait in line. I remembered after I got home too that there’s a “BC Street” and a cool display of Ice Art around there too. I guess what I’ve learned from this experience is that I need to do better research of the venues before I go visit them and that I should budget more time to line up for things like the Games Dome.

I’m curious to know about your experiences with Olympic venues so far though.
Have you been to the Richmond O Zone? What did YOU think about it?
Let us know what other Olympic venues you’ve been to and which ones are the ones that everyone just has to check out!

For more info on the Family Fun activities (Ice Zone, Games Dome, BC Street, and more) check out the O Zone website here.
For pictures from the O Zone, check out our photo gallery.

Prizes! Prizes! Prizes!

Our second contest closes Monday morning!  If you are a student in the Lower Mainland, you can win tickets for the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies.  We are asking you to design a new mascot and friend for Muk-Muk, Quatchi, Sumi and Miga – full details available here.

Remember, you can win tickets and prizes by leaving a comment on the blog.  Steps: read a post (or two!) from our moderator team, click on ’leave a comment’ and share your thoughts!  Blog comment winners are selected at random from a pool of QUALITY posts!  Check your email often to see if you are a winner.

GO WORLD GO!

So excited now. :)

Today, I decided to watch the olympic events on t.v.. I wasn’t really into the olympics before, but after watching a couple events.. I felt so excited ! Skeleton was amazing, they were moving so fast I kind of felt sick from watching haha. Hockey was incredible. Canada vs. Switzerland. It was a close game. Canada wins !  I had to keep switching channels because I was watching figure skating as well. Waiting for Patrick Chan to go on hehe. I never thought the events would be this interesting and exciting. So all you people that haven’t be watching the events, you should start watching them ! I’m pretty sure you’ll be excited too !   Don’t forget to check out the free activities available ! I don’t know if you guys can see this I found this on facebook : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=290697317778&ref=mf  ,  it tells you all the free activities you can do. Check that out !

To keep you connected…

Today has been an eventful day.

Unfortunately I just got off my stringent tutour schedule and I wasn’t able to watch most of the events live. However, I sit here, writing this post, distracted by the CTV feed of the events going on right nwo and what happened while I was busy studying Math D:

So, what happened today?

US Snowboard star Shaun White wins the half pipe gold. This was much anticipated and even expected. Some of the tricks pulled off in this event were spectacular,

Short Track for women: China wins, with Ms. Wang in the lead. It seems that Asians are excelling in the skating events!

Speed Skating 1,000m ‘s champion, Davis defended his title. Korea put in a good fight but wasn’t close enough to snag gold to their home soil.

America took home both Gold and Silver medals from the Alpine Skiing events. Lindsey Vonn took home gold, and Julia Mancuso took the silver.

No new medals for Canada, unfortunately. D:

USA is in first place with 14 medals, Germany coming up close with 10 medals. France is coming up with 7 medals, Canada close by with 6, and Korea right on Canada’s tail with 5 medals.

Anyways, to keep you connected, Canada Line is in service. I’m sure you were aware of that a looooonnnnnngg time ago though. If you haven’t been on it for a while though, be prepared! The line up to the Canada line has become ridiculously long.

Almost all trains are near full capacity, and getting on and off are harder than ever. Here are some pointers to keep your trip safe and short!

1. Get to the Canada Line, Skytrain, whatever station 15 minutes earlier than usual. The before / after event rush hours can extend the lines up to 30 minutes!

2. Be polite. Let people step off the train car first before you attempt to get on. It’s much easier for both of you that way.

3. -Take off your backpack! There are tons of people that still wear backpacks on crowded public transportation vehicles. This crowds up the interpersonal space even more and frustrates people when they get hit. Plus, your things are more vulnerable to thieves. Kindly take your backpack off, and hold it by your feet. Be a model citizen!
   

4. Speaking of which, watch after your belongings! If a thief succeeds in getting an item out of your bag or your jacket, it’s going to be very hard for you to chase them down. Make sure that nothing weird is happening around you.

5. Try to avoid over crowded stations. These stations include Waterfront Station, Vancouver City Centre, and Oakridge Shopping Centre. Be aware as line ups could get long!

Oh, and there are police officers / transit officials at every station. If you spot suspicious activity or find random packages lying around, please alert officials of this.

Now on to something new and exciting!

the OLYMPIC LINE!

What is it?

It’s a cool new street-car concept model. It is currently connecting Olympic Village (fittingly) and Granville Island. Between these two stations, a mini-skytrain looking street car will travel in regular intervals at your service. The tram is free of charge and open to the general public. This is a 60-day demonstration test project to see if it could be applied to the streets of Vancouver. I rode on it just a few days ago and also on February 6th 2010, and I’ve got to say, it’s wayyy cool. Try it if you’ve got time. If you don’t, make time! It’s only here for 60 days and it’s been here 27 days already. It’s going to be open for only 33 MORE DAYS!! Go check it out!!!

For more info, please visit:

http://olympichostcity.vancouver.ca/gettingaround/publictransit/olympic-line/

Now go out there and be a model citizen! Try out all the new rides and go to the free venues!

But perhaps most importantly, cheer Canada on! (Or whatever country you decided to cheer on.)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

PS: I’m sure you know already but if you want to see all the official info, check it out here:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/

The Road to Gold

What a great start for our men’s hockey team yesterday in an 8-0 win against Norway, GO CANADA! It started off slow in the first period but slowly build its way to excitement. In the second period that excitement kept us on our feet and cheering.Yesterday was no exception to the great playing by the Canadian Hockey team, only a few days ago, the Women’s Hockey team for Canada Dominated with a score of 18-0 against Slovakia and also a 10-1 against Switzerland. The next game for the Woman’s Hockey team is today against Sweden and for the men’s, it’s tomorrow against the Swiss. Do you guys think it’s going to be another easy breeze this round for both the men and women’s hockey team? 

Maelle Ricker, our Second Gold at home!

I just got home and turned on the TV..

and what i see is Maelle Ricker walking on the gold stage for snowboarding on Cypress Mountain again.

go Canada go! we are waiting for your third gold at home.

(i think Cypress..is one of our lucky places for this olympic..@__@ since we got our first two golds there)

more or less..

i still want to mention about our chinese figure skating team last night.

This is the FIRST chinese figure skating gold. so…go china go…at the same time..>__<

Actually..go every country go..lol

Canada’s first gold medal at the Victory Ceremony

Tonight I went to the Quebec themed victory ceremony at BC Place. Supposedly, each victory ceremony is to be based on a province, yesterday being British Columbia with Nelly Furtado and today, Quebec with Gregory Charles. I know, I’ve never heard of him either, but he’s suppose to be popular with Francophones.

Quebec Celebrations

Before the medals were awarded, we watched and listened to the Quebec celebration, which featured French music and interpretive dance. After the Olympic anthem, the long-awaited medals to be awarded! I think they presented all the mountain sports today including one very exciting one. Men’s mogouls was the first set of medals to be awarded, bronze, then silver, then, you guessed it! GOLD! and to Canada’s very own and Montreal native, Alexandre Bilodeau too! I had a chance to experience the awarding of Canada’s very first gold medal on home soil! In person! How amazing is that? I wasn’t the only excited fan however. BC Place exploded and roared with cheers, claps and cowbells! Red and white covered the stadium, giant Canadian flags studded throughout the crowd. It was one of those moments where you were truly proud to be Canadian!

After the very exciting presenting in BC Place, the victory ceremony from Whistler aired on the three giants screens in BC Place. At first many were confused, as they were having technical difficulties with the audio, but soon was fixed later on. The Europeans seemed to dominate at the other sports, seeing the Swiss up on the podium quite a few times and the Germans having two athletes up at the same time. Once each medal was awarded, fireworks went off and came down the giant white projection fabric to reveal Gregory Charles who was set to perform.

Special effects lighting during the concert

Part way through the concert, I felt kinda bad for Gregory, as much of the crowd began to leave early. It must have been because he was singing in French. It wasn’t bad singing either, I thought it was good and I actually liked it. Is it just me or is Canada so intolerant to other languages, or french? Even though it’s our official second language? As the night progressed, the many people had left. But the crowds who stayed enjoyed many, many great songs performed in ENGLISH. Gregory Charles was a wonderful performer who got people moving and dancing in the stands. Special effects were really cool and featured fireworks and a laser light show. I’m looking forward to the next victory ceremony to see which province is featured next and how many more Canadians will be awarded gold.

Contest #2 is Posted

The second contest is posted! 

Create a new mascot for the Vancouver Games for your chance to win tickets, merchandise and a Chapters gift certificate!

Click HERE for full details!

To view McCoy’s winning entry from Contest One and his delicious and healthy meal, click HERE.

Alexandre Bilodeau

CANADA WINS ITS FIRST GOLD ON HOME SOIL!!!!!

ALEXANDRE BILODEAU = AWESOME AND AMAZING!!!!

In case you missed it, Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada’s first gold of the Games and first Gold EVER in Canada today in the Men’s Freestyle Skiing – Moguls. Needless to say, Cypress mountain has exploded with excitement as has downtown Vancouver and my guess is the rest of Canada too!

GO CANADA GO!!!!

To keep you updated…

For those of you lovebirds enjoying Valentine’s day or celebrating Chinese New Year or celebrating the Winter Olympics or all three….

Winter Olympics are here and this, is a thing you do NOT want to miss.

For all of us Vancouverites, as cliche as it is, it’s a ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY! For all those of you who do not have work or school, I urge you to go on and cheer on Team Canada! Even for those who do have work or school, I still urge you to cheer on. Go to a free event, scattered all throughout downtown! If you’re lucky enough to have snagged a ticket, scream your lungs out for CANADA!

Now that that’s been said, there are those of us who still live in the stone age. Those of us that have yet to get a television.

Fortunately enough for us, live feeds are available through on the CTV website. You can watch it here:

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/ctv/index.html?cid=sbctv

This gives you live feed of current events and statistics. You can also scroll back a little and watch, say, what happened 30 minutes ago. On top of this, the CTV website presents the winners of the past events.

For those of you who have an iTouch or an iPhone, there is also a Vancouver 2010 Guide application. This cool application keeps you updated on all current events, future events, and past events. It shows you where to go, where the events are being held, and even has a map to show you where you are and where you should be. The application is free.

Do not pay for any other applications. This is the official application sponsored by Bell and in my opinion, the best one.

You can get the application when you type in “Vancouver 2010″ into your search box on your iTouch / iPhone’s App Store.

Those are two ways to just keep in touch with the Olympics when you’re on the go or at some place that you don’t have a television available.

Of course, for those of you in Vancouver, Olympics are being televised just about everywhere. Oakridge Shopping Centre has a television set up broadcasting the Olympics, as well as Metrotown. There are numerous celebrations downtown with big-screen TVs broadcasting live feed.

Wherever you are, keep in touch and cheer on Team Canada.

Go Team Canada!

IT’S FINALLY HERE!!!!

Finally finally finally!!!! After years and years of anticipation, road closures for construction, new buildings, new policies and all sorts of more new things…it’s finally here! A lot of things have happened in the past couple of days and I mean a LOT. There are so many different things that I could talk about in this post! Yesterday (Feb 12) saw the Terminator kick of the 106th and final day of the longest domestic torch relay in history as it came to a suspense filled end with Rick Hansen passing the torch off to Steve Nash, Nancy Greene, Catriona Le May Doan, and Wayne Gretzky to be the 4 final torch bearers to light the Cauldron together. Of course this was during the exciting Opening Ceremonies which excitingly kicked off the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games! Feb 12 was also a day of disappointment, fear, courage, challenges and grief. Much of this disappointment and anxiety came when the columns that would make up the Olympic Cauldron inside BC place malfunctioned and only three of the four columns rose into place leaving Catriona Le May Doan without a pillar of the Cauldron to light. Some of the day’s challenge came from handling this problem which I personally feel the organizers did well. However, much of these feelings came earlier in the day on a training run through the fast paced luge course on Whistler where Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed off on of the turns. Grief ran through not just his family, friends, fellow teammates and country, but also athletes from other nations, Canada, and the world. There was immediate fear and concern for the safety of other athletes and there were many challenges to be faced with such a tragic event on the day of the opening of a great symbol of hopes and dreams. These challenges were faced with courage and class as the whole Olympic community responded. Athletes paid their respects as new friends and competitors expressed their grief and committed to competing in his honor. Nodar’s fellow athletes from Georgia opted to remain in the Olympics in honor of their countryman and also compete in his honor as they wore black scarves for him as they entered BC Place in the Procession of Nations as the 80,000 audience members in attendance respectfully offered a standing ovation to them. Finally, the Opening Ceremonies called for a moment of silence twice for Nodar and remembered him again in the speeches. A tragic story was met with an inspiring response that resulted in an event which did a good job balancing tragedy, grief, celebration, and excitement.

Today, Feb 13, marked the beginning of the slew of medal opportunities for the aspiring Olympic champions from around the world. Among these podium hopefuls were some big Canadian names; Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Jenn Heil, and Charles Hamelin. These were not the only three Canadian athletes of the day but they were the most anticipated because they were considered to be the three athletes who had the best chance at being Canada’s first gold medal in Canada. Manny Osbourne’s chance at the first gold medal for Canada was denied him by the weather as his event was postponed to Monday. This, of course, caused quite a few problems for many disappointed fans who could not get refunds from VANOC for postponed events and could not schedule in the reschedule due to other conflicting events or simply not being around long enough.

Jenn Heil was the second last competitor in Women’s Freestyle Skiing and she executed an amazing run down the moguls with the best time of the night and with beautiful aerials that pushed her into first place with only one competitor to go! The excitement was ridiculous and you could see it in the eyes of the fans that they just knew this was it although no one dared say a thing to jinx it! Hannah Kearney of the USA launched into her run and sped down the course with her pigtails bouncing. She stuck her first jump and sped down the middle section where she whipped out another awesome jump before finishing the run with the new best time of the event. As her US teammate excitedly mobbed her, Jenn Heil looked on and the Canadian fans were silenced. Everyone knew it was a spectacular run, but would it be enough? The scores were announced and it became official. Hannah Kearney won the gold and the many USA fans in the crowd exploded. As she celebrated with her bronze medal teammate Shannon Bahrke, the disappointment was evident in the faces of the silent fans and in the face of Jennifer Heil as she stood alone and tried to put on a good face. I felt so bad for her as you could see the pain inside her as she stood for pictures between the two excited Americans as she had no one to share her disappointment with. As if it wasn’t enough to be disappointed with not winning the gold for yourself when you were so close, she also has to deal with the disappointment of an entire nation.

Finally, Charles Hamelin had his turn to win that first gold for Canada. I have no elaborate and exciting story here as I unfortunately was unable to watch the event. So long story short, Charles Hamelin, who was a strong favorite to at least medal in the men’s 1500m Short Track Speed Skating, found himself 7th overall with teammate Olivier Jean finishing 4th.

Do not fear though fellow Canadians, there was a bright spot for the country as Canada’s Women’s Ice Hockey Team dominate Slovakia 18-0 and broke their own Olympic record (16-0) for the most lopsided victory. Their 18 goals doubled Slovakia’s shot total of 9 as Jayna Hefford and Meghan Agosta recorded hat tricks.

Other Olympic highlights from today included an exciting Men’s Ski Jump where Simon Ammann made for a thrilling conclusion to the Normal Hill Individual competition in the same fashion as Hannah Kearney as he edged out Silver medalist Adam Malysz as the last competitor to win Gold.

I also had the opportunity to watch the Men’s 5000m Long Track Speed Skating where the lead changed hands multiple times. This very exciting event saw Korean Seung-Hoon Lee win Silver (a great accomplishment as asian skaters are traditionally not known to be strong at the long distance events) and more amazingly also saw Sven Kramer, win the Gold as he was expected to while breaking the Olympic record on the sea-level Richmond Olympic Oval, something experts insisted would be near impossible as the altitude made the track slower than others to skate on.

All in all, it was a VERY exciting day in Vancouver. Downtown was ridiculous as most of Robson street around Granville and Burrard is shut down to traffic, countless numbers of Canadian fans are roaming the streets in the Team Canada gear, international visitors are beginning to appear, and random “Eh Oh Canada Go” cheers are being yelled out. The streets are packed and the atmosphere is electric!

I had many exciting and favorite moments over the past couple days because of the Olympics. Share some of yours with us!

Feb.12.2010 , Another Glorious Day in Vancouver’s History

Now, in Downtown Vancouver,  There is a special event going on. —- The opening ceremony of the 2010 olympic. After over 100 days of Torch relay, the holly fire finally lighten the Vancouver city tonight. Our homeland, Canada, had two olympic games before, 1976 at Montreal, 1988 at Calgary. But, we never win a medal at home. SO!!! this is the our time to show our strength, and this would be another glorious day in the Vancouver history.

Canada goo~~~

now…let’s watch a Vancouver Olympic Ceremony Host video on the official website.

let’s enjoy it.

Gonna watch TV lahh~~see you later, guys!

Blog Comment Ticket Giveway 2

Congratulations to Laila A. from Churchill Secondary who has won two tickets to the Women’s Hockey Game on Wednesday night!  Dimos K. from Hamber has also won three tickets to the Victory Ceremony on Wednesday night.

Laila and Dimos were selected at random for posting a comment.  If you are a high school student  in the Lower Mainland, post your thoughts on the 2010 Games for your chance to win!

TORCH RELAY PASSES HAMBER..!

Hey guys.. I’m back.. =]

Today is February 11.. which means.. only 1 day left..!!! wow I’m so excited about that..

The Olympic torch relay entered the city yesterday and,  today, it went through Vancouver. At about 15:15, it passed Eric Hamber Secondary School. Lots of students were there, cheering and running with the flame. Here are some pictures me and my friends took right before the torch bearer came.

And then, the torch relay went to Cambie st. and Langara and then went all the way along 49th Avenue. It’s so lucky that my homestay is just at Oak 49, so I got a video of the bearer and the excited crowd of people.

The torch relay was so awesome and I’m now pretty looking forward to the Opening ceremony tomorrow..(Oh no.. it’s today.. TT^TT it’s so slow to upload those two videos..) I’m pretty sure that it’s gonna be a fantastic one!!

Let’s say Welcome to all the athletes and visitors from other countries!

=[]=

Torch Relay Tidbits

Hey everyone!

Alright not much to say except we got to see the Olympic torch today! Some of our teachers like us out early today so we could get to the streets to see the flame come by in time. I just wanted to share some tidbits of what happened today, enjoy!

Here is a quick, 10 second, impromptu interview with Kyle Mitchell that we managed to get before the flame came by. He was one of the morning torch bearers.

The torch finally comes!

This was the scene in front of the RCMP center on Heather st. along the relay route as we followed the flame.

We followed the torch to 49th and Cambie and witnessed the hand off as well!

Those who were also able to experience this amazing event, leave us comment to share your thoughts!

Torch Relay ending

The Olympic Torch, the vanguard of the Olympics, has finally reached Vancouver. Its cross-country journey across Canada has finally come to its conclusion as the Winter Olympic Games draw closer to its start. I believe that Vancouver is finally ready and preparations are coming to a close. Downtown Vancouver is no longer recognizable to what it was formerly and has now become an even bigger spot for nightlife to include the quarter million immigrants and athletes who are arriving in Vancouver. Not only is the Olympics promoting extravagant night life, partying and celebrations, but is also bringing out the hidden patriotism in everyone. Tomorrow, February 11th, the torch will be passing Eric Hamber and I can feel the excitement in the air around the school. Have you seen the torch relay yet? If not you better get out there and start cheering cause this is a one in a life time opportunity!

Mr. Sehmbi’s Guide to the Spectators of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games

This will be my 3rd Olympics as a spectator and I have learned few things that I would like to share with you before you embark on this 34 day odyssey of sport and culture and fun.

1) The Olympics and Paralympics are about Relationships
Everyone has a story at the Olympics. Whether it is an athlete, family member, official, media person or spectator everyone has a story that needs to be heard. Meet the people behind the stories and take the time to listen. You’ll be amazed with who you meet and it will make your 34 days that much more enjoyable.

Mr. Sehmbi with some Aussie Fans at the Athens Olympics

We met these guys outside the venue, they didn't tell us they had a giant Indian flag. We were immediately best friends with the pro-Indian crowd.

2) Fall in Love with the City. Olympic host cities are alive and full of amazing things to do. Take advantage to every night and get out and see as much as you can. Free concerts, arts exhibitions and live shows. If you aren’t in to big crowds, walk around and just take in the sights. Host cities are beautiful during the Olympics.

The Vancouver skyline from behind the nine o'clock gun in Stanley Park.

The Richmond Ozone Fireworks... home to some great concerts in the next few weeks

3) Support someone… anyone…
Cheer… cheer loud.. and cheer often. Cheer for whomever you wish, but make sure they hear your voice, you know you’d want to hear someone cheering for you. It is also the easiest way to make friends when you go to a venue.

I became an adopted Greek when I was in Athens... a definite fan favorite

"We're Red, We're White our Team is Dynamite"

Hopefully these little bits of knowledge will help the spectators enjoy the 2010 Games!!!

Mr. Sehmbi

Airport tight security at the first Olympic event

The Olympic sized line at the Opening Ceremonies dress rehearsal

Alrighty everyone! Congrats to our winners and we’re hoping to have a lot more soon!

Okay, so on Monday I had a chance to go one of the very first Olympic events in Vancouver. My friend is performing in the closing ceremonies, so he was lucky enough to obtain free tickets to the opening ceremony dress rehearsal and take a bunch of friends with him! Although it was only the dress rehearsal, I still thought the show was amazing and the Olympic security was still displayed at full force. Although we’re suppose to keep the details of the show a secret, I can tell you what happened before and after the actual event.

First part of our Olympic event day was to get to the venue. The dress rehearsal was being performed at BC Place and it was set to start at 6:00 pm. Although we had hours before it started, we were advised to arrive at the venue 3-4 hours prior. Getting there was no problem, hop on the Canada line, get off at Yaletown-Roundhouse station and walk a little. It turns out however, that the Canada line was jammed packed at my station and even more people waiting at every other station along the way. Its expected that transit for the Olympics could be comparable to every concert, sports event and other big event ending at once! After we got off at Yaletown, we thought it would be a short walk to BC Place, but in actuality, all the sidewalks have been re-routed to take you through certain paths and get you directed to the gates. Olympic volunteers however, were very helpful and helped to guide us the right way.

Once we got to the venue, we had to go through security. But even before we could get through security, we had to wait in long line ups. There were several gates that we could go through, express screening, regular screening and accredited screening. I went through the regular screening line. Once you reached the screening tent, you had to go through an airport styled set up. The usual, put your bags in the bucket to get it x-rayed, walk through the metal detector and have the metal wand waved around you. My friend got through without a hitch, but his dad, my female friend and I got the beep and had to be double checked. Another friend also had to dump out his drink, as food and liquids aren’t allowed. I set off the detectors with something as small as a memory card, my friend’s dad had a metal belt buckle and was asked to take it off. My female friend might have had the worst problem when the metal in her *undisclosed clothing item* set off the detectors.

Once we got through security it was smooth sailing from there. Another semi-complicated walk to the gates and we were in! Our very first Olympic event! Even though it wasn’t a full house, the venue was still very, very busy. After the event ended, it seemed to get even busier.

The streets were crowded and transit was crammed. So we decided to go get food. The Canada line announcers had warned us earlier that we might get separated from friends and family. And with crowds all over downtown it happened, but somehow we managed to meet up again, as well as bump into others that we knew. About an hour after the rehearsal was over, we finally hopped on the Canada line to home, somehow still bustling with people.

I thought this experience was amazing and I have some tips to make your Olympic experience amazing as well!

The Athletes Village, on my way to BC Place

Tips

• Plan ahead - If you plan on going to an event the same day as work or school, know your schedule ahead of time to get to the venue on time. Try to get going earlier to avoid crowds. Also try to bring only the necessities or better yet, ditch your entire bag at work, school or home. This will make the screening process a lot faster.
• Make sure you have bus fare – Security is super amped-up and if you think you can hitch a ride for free think again. The Canada line staff might not check your fare, but the transit police will and if you’re caught, you face a $150 fine.
• Look out for Olympic volunteers – they will guide you to where you need to go and help you if you get lost. They will also give you directions for shortcuts to shorter screening lines.
• Eat before you go - or even better, eat while your waiting in the screening lines (That’s what we did.) This will get rid of food that you have to throw away anyways, and once your inside the venue, food and drinks are expensive.
• Carry light and no cameras – try to bring whats necessary and avoid wearing any metal if possible, ie. metal zipper flies, belt buckles, *undisclosed clothing items* with metal components. No photography is allowed once your in the venue. This will speed up the screening process and you won’t have to be double checked.
• Enjoy the show! – if you get pass security, enjoy yourself! It’s a once in a life time opportunity.

Hope you find these tips helpful! Leave a comment, win a ticket and have your very own Olympic experience.

G’nights everyone~

Congratulations to our Week One Winners

Our weekly blog comment winners are Sarah W. and Vincent C. from Eric Hamber, along with Kevin L. from Point Grey.   Each winner has won a pair of tickets to the Victory Ceremony next Monday! 

Each week, tickets will be given away at random to a high school student in the Lower Mainland who LEAVES A COMMENT  on our blog.

 How to LEAVE A COMMENT:

1)      Read an entry from our team of moderators.

2)      Click on ‘leave a comment’.

3)      Leave a comment for your chance to win tickets and other great prizes.

Our contest winner for the week is McCoy M. from Churchill Secondary.  McCoy’s well-balanced meal (posted later week) looked delicious!  McCoy has won four tickets to the Victory Ceremony next Monday, a $25 Subway gift certificate and a prize pack of Olympic merchandise!  Way to go McCoy!

Our next contest will be posted on Monday, February 15th.  You can win prizes this week by posting comments on the blog.

We look forward to seeing your posts this week.

Join the conversation, win tickets, and share your experiences.

” I Believe – Nikki Yanofsky “

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v0o27BPIIk&annotation_id=annotation_533720&feature=iv

Here’s the theme song and music video for the olympic torch relay. I really like the lyrics, they’re so inspiring. And there’s only 5 more days left til the games begin ! Enjoy  ”I Believe ” by Nikki Yanofsky  !  I hope you guys will get inspired too.

Count down! Only 6 days left~~ o(≧v≦)o

Actually, I am not going to give you any more radio or pictures today,  

BUT a big “6”!

Why?!

 Because it is only 6 days left!!

Yeah~~time..goes by really fast..

          Do you still remember the Beijing Olympic game? It means a lot to Chinese, like what it means to Vancouverites. On 2008.8.8, the holy fire shined in Beijing; on 2010, 2, 12, the holy fire is going to be the brightest light on Whistler and in the city of Vancouver.

           Vancouver, a home of almost 250,000 Chinese, will continue the Beijing’s wonder and give us another exciting Olympic game!

LIGHTS!

So I was driving home from Richmond today and on my way home, something in the distance caught my eye. Lights. Not just any ordinary lights, they were searchlights. Now normally, seeing searchlights around Vancouver isn’t really anything new or anything to get excited about. However, these lights were different. 20 beams of light stood tall in the dark Vancouver sky. Unfortunately the cloudy weather obstructed my view of these columns of light. At this point I was pretty excited and curious. Was it the Curling venue near Hamber? Or maybe it was BC Place? It was at this time that I decided to go on an epic adventure!! I decided to track down these lights and discover the source of my exciting discovery!

So here I am driving down the roads towards these mystery lights. Turning left and right heading north towards the source. As I got closer I started to get a better idea of where the lights were coming from. At one point, just before downtown (at Granville and Broadway) I thought about turning back to avoid having to drive through downtown during the evening time. However I caught another glimpse of the lights just as I turned right to go home and decided I had simply come too far! I made another left at the next intersection and headed towards the bridge to get me downtown! On the bridge my excitement continued to rise as I could see to my left the base of the columns of light which disappeared into the clouds. I safely stole glances at the lights as I crossed the bridge mapping out in my head where about they were and how to get there. I looped through a bright and beautiful downtown Vancouver in the nighttime which was not nearly as busy as I had dreaded it to be. Finally I headed back towards the magical lights to reach my long anticipated destination! And so, as I made my last turns through the residential Kitsilano area, I stopped in the parking lot of the Vancouver Maritime Museum and got out of my car as I looked over a park at the source of those magnificent lights I had seen! I followed a path that followed the water and found those glorious lights that had sparked my 30 minute adventure through Vancouver. The powerful lights shone through the sky, illuminating the rain that fell in their paths and looked like something out of a dream.

I discovered these lights are an interactive artwork that allows participants from anywhere in the world to light up Vancouver’s sky the way they want to for 12 seconds. Vectorial Elevation was commissioned for the Winter Games and from their site, anyone around the world can submit their own design pattern for the searchlights to move into. This will be available from February 4-28 which explains why I had not seen the lights before today! From the website you can also watch your pattern live via 4 cameras placed around the searchlights for different views on your display.

I’ve learned my lesson and from now until April I plan to carry my camera with me at all times just in case I find another epic adventure! All I had with me was my phone and the pictures on there simply DON’T do this awesome artwork justice! Go check out these amazing photos of Vectorial Elevation!

Olympic Torch Relay

Can you believe it? The Olympics will be here in just over week! Can you remember the excitement the city felt when the IOC announced that Vancouver won the bid to host the Olympics back in 2003? Seven years of planning have all lead up to just a couple of months for the actual event. In just over a week the cauldron will be lit and the games will have officially started.

The Route

The sacred Olympic Flame is lit in an ancient ritual in Olympia, Greece, site of the first Olympic Games. After a short run through Greece, the Olympic Flame arrives in Athens, where it is handed over to a representative from the Host Country.

From there, the Olympic Flame will make a trans-Atlantic flight and arrive in Canada, signaling the start of the longest Olympic Torch Relay to take place in a single country.

The Olympic Flame will travel more than 45,000 kilometres across Canada — some by land, air and water; and some by other means. During its journey towards Vancouver, the Olympic Flame will pass by some of the most pristine and stunning landscapes in the world. And at each turn and twist in the path to the Olympic Games, excited Canadians and visitors will gather to share in the experience. It is here, at the heart of Canadian communities, that our nation will celebrate the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with glowing hearts.

The national relay route will link together over 1,000 communities and places of interest. In order to share the experience with as many Canadians as possible, and to include as many communities as possible, the Olympic Flame will be carried by torchbearers in the more populous centres and transported between communities.

Participate in the lead-up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games by joining in a community celebration or watching the Olympic Flame as it passes through an area near you. The list of communities may be updated and adjusted as route planning continues. Route details will be released closer to the flame’s arrival in a particular community.

Be sure to grab a seat by the route to get a look at the flame itself! And don’t forget to check out the contests page to win cool prizes!

Bus route changes..

Today is February 2nd and.. only 10 days left..! WOW!!

Yesterday, I heard that the road closures, which began taking effect this week around Vancouver, led to significant changes for many bus routes. Many bus stops are affected by these re-routes, but there are some signs posted on the stops, notifying customers of the change and, where possible, directing people to the nearest stop location.

—————————————————————————————————–

The followings are the routes which have been changed this time =]

✪ DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER

The majority of these route changes are downtown, where celebration sites and security zones have a number of streets closed.

☼ #5 Downtown & N6 Downtown: trips turn off Robson onto Thurlow, then take Smithe and Burrard to Pender

☼ #15 Cambie/Downtown: avoid the zone around BC Place and Canada Hockey Place, it travels on Smithe until Seymour, rather than turning on Cambie to Robson; it returns southbound along Richards rather than Cambie.  (No service on Feb. 10, 12 and 28 and March 12–Cambie Bridge will be closed between Noon and Midnight.)

☼ #17 Downtown: will only come as far as Davie Street.

✪ VANCOUVER OLYMPIC CENTRE

☼ #33 29th Ave. Station / UBC: will be routed away from the Olympic Centre at Hillcrest Park (the curling venue), going via King Edward between Cambie and Main.

✪ UBC

☼ #25, #33, #41, #43, #49, #480, C20, C22: will all be routed off Wesbrook south of the UBC Loop and 16th Ave. west of Blanca

☼ #25 and #33: will use University Boulevard and Blanca

☼ #41, #43, #49 and #480: will use Southwest Marine Drive and Northwest Marine Drive.

☼ There will be no stops along the re-routed areas.

☼ There will be no bus service to TRIUMF.

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I don’t really know about this but I do see more buses on the road these days.

Hope that there will be more buses available and less “SORRY NOT IN SURVICE” there. =]

Road blocks and more buses, yay.

Hi guys,

Today while I was driving to school, I noticed many roads were blocked off. Good thing it was still pretty early so it wasn’t that bad. Also, today is the official start of getting fined for talking on your cellphone. So remind your parents if they need to make a phone call make sure they pullover, or else they’ll have to pay the fine. When I was waiting for the bus today, I noticed there were way more buses. Usually I would have to wait a while if I missed a bus, but today the buses came right after another. I could see like two or three more buses coming after I got on. I think there are more buses now cause of the olympics and I like that. Makes my life easier. Don’t forget to check out our FIRST contest ! Good luck !

Fire with Fire

*First CONTEST will be posted today!*

Fire with Fire

Commissioned by the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, this piece of street art takes over an entire building.  Isabelle Hayeur, the creator of the video installation describes her work best:

“The beauty and violence of spectacle takes us back, and the future is built from its wreckage.  It’s always a small thing: innocuous, innocent.  Canadian Pacific Railway workers, clearing space for new growth, levelled a wooden city in less than an hour.  After the summer inferno, the city’s population quadrupled before the year was out.  Residential hotels in the downtown core make way for newcomers once more.  At 112 West Hastings Street, a smoke signal speaks across distances of space and time, halting citizens in mid-step. Awe-struck bystanders gather in a circle, without beginning or end.  This is nothing but a play of light, an illusory loop – but the Great Fire is still ablaze.  The Olympic flame swept across the country; reminding us that fire is theft.  A dazzling, sensational heist.”

My friends and I stood watching the video installation for the better of half an hour – watching the fire grow and ebb.  We discussed the significance among ourselves and other onlookers.  One individual had done his research and provided us with the artist’s interpretation.  We agreed she made her point. 

It was interesting to see that VANOC had part of its Cultural Olympiad occurring in an area that was ‘off the beaten path’; the Downtown Eastside is a place where vulnerable populations congregate.  To me, the ‘Fire with Fire’ video installation takes on the meaning of the people of live on Vancouver’s downtown eastside – it reminds me that lives are lost on a regular basis in this area.  These deaths are not covered in the paper, or talked about on the nightly news, but they happen.  The people who die have a story and this fire, this destruction, it represents their voice.

What does ‘Fire with Fire’ mean to you?

Excitement!

We are in the midst of some very exciting times. We’re a week into the launch of the blog, we’ve had some excellent posts, the Olympic torch is currently making its way around BC before reaching Whistler in just 6 days, Abbotsford (approximately 65km from Vancouver) in 8 days, and then passing through the Vancouver School Board area as it travels near if not right beside VSB schools as it makes its way into Yaletown in downtown Vancouver for a celebration a mere 11 days from now. How exciting! In just 12 days, the Olympic flame will have completed its journey around Canada that began 93 days ago on Vancouver Island and the Olympic Cauldron will be lit during the Opening Ceremonies!!

If all this STILL isn’t enough to get you excited, how about the new Athlete of the Week being featured? Or better yet,  the launching of the first blog contest on Monday?!?! I can’t give you any extra information yet, but it’s going to be awesome! And the prizes are pretty special too!

I was scheduled for a retail shift in the heart of downtown Vancouver today but I can down with something awful in my stomach and was unfortunately stuck at home recovering all day so I couldn’t go out and check out the city and meet the international visitors arriving early for the Olympics so instead, I’ll leave you all with a video like the one Liz left us with yesterday. As I’ve been watching commercials, TV specials, and Youtube videos about the Olympics and Vancouver, I’ve been feeling an overwhelming sense of excitement and pride in both Canada and Vancouver.

Here’s to the city!

It’s almost the end of January, and wow has time flied. I still remember my grade 5 teacher saying to the class how exciting the Olympics will be, but are we actually excited? I was out around town the other day, and to be blunt…we really suck at showing the Canadian spirit. Where is our Canadian pride?!?! I bet half the people around the world didn’t even know that Canada was its own country and not part of The United States. This is terrible, people! It’s our time to shine as hosts for the Olympics, and yet we are just blending in with the rest of the world. Show some spirit and pride! For example, use the word “eh?” when talking, show off your amazing French-speaking skills and check out the song “Oh Canada” by Classified~~! 

Olympics at your Doorstep

As the days wind down to the Olympics, new structures have been going up. Day in and day out, on my way to and from school, I lay witness to something new every time. It may come in a couple days or just in a few hours. I leave in the morning with something that’s been the same for a couple weeks and on my way home after school I see something completely different. Recently, construction crews have erected a 10ft. fence enclosure around the park across the street form my house. A couple of days later, the 30 ft. curling sign has been put up. In the midst of all the Olympics decoration, more functional pieces have also been added. Just a couple of days ago, I’ve walked home to a ticket/information booth and a bus stop on a residential side street. I find it all very interesting. Its kind of a real life version of the game “Spot the difference”. Who knows, something else might appear tomorrow and the day after that.

Set to be the place to host curling events during 2010

Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre

Upon the start of its construction in March 2007, the landscape of the Riley Park-Little Mountain neighborhood has been ever changing with the addition of the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre.

The centre is located in the middle of Hillcrest Park, along side Nat Bailey Stadium and the Millennium Sports Centre. In its early days, construction of the centre has been a controversial one, taking up park area where soccer teams play, little leaguers practice and home to other recreational activities. Because the new centre takes up precious park space, nearby curling centre, ice rink, pool and rackets club has been slated for demolition and returned to green space.

However, all is not lost. The Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre will be opened to the public after the Olympics. The centre will be converted into a multipurpose recreational centre that includes an outdoor and indoor pool, ice rink, curling rink, gymnasiums and library.

What are your thoughts on the changes occurring around the city? Comment and let’s hear what you have to say!

Excited for the olympics.. ?

Hello guys .. and girls !  :)

Only a couple of weeks until the olympics ! Are you guys excited ? I know I am. Isn’t it cool to have such a huge event happening in vancity ?  Since vancity isn’t that big, that means you might be able to bump into famous athletes, like Patrick Chan, when you’re at the mall or walking down the street. That’s why I’m so excited, haha. There is something I’m not excited for though, and that is traffic. Getting to school will take a while, which means you’ll have to leave your house earlier.. sadface ): Anyway, I want you to  click comment , to tell us what you’re excited and not excited for during the olympics ! Or which athlete you would like  to bump into.

Don’t forget to comment ! Peaceasy !

The Cultural Olympiad and Lunarfest

A close-up of the metal trees and lanterns decorated by children.

My first blog post ever!

Over the next two months, I will be your roving reporter visiting a variety of Olympic and Paralympic sites around the Lower Mainland – for those of you from outside of BC, the Lower Mainland is Vancouver and its surrounding cities, like Burnaby, Richmond, North Vancouver and Surrey.  If you are from Ontario, you can compare it to the Greater Toronto Area.  These cities that make up the Lower Mainland are hosting a variety of events to celebrate the 2010 Winter Games; my plan is to visit at least one event each week and share my experiences with you.

The Cultural Olympiad is a series of events hosted by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) that features performances and pieces of work from the global arts community.  Check out www.vancouver2010.com/cultural-festivals-and-events/ for more information.

LUNARFEST

On Saturday, I went to LunarFest – a Cultural Olympiad event.  LunarFest is a celebration hosted by the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association that celebrates the Lunar New Year and 2010 Olympic Spirit.  Granville, a major downtown Vancouver street, is closed off for an entire block for this event.  In the centre of the street there are several large lighted sculptures, and several metal ‘trees’ decorated with thousands of lanterns made by school children.  It was beautiful!  The collection of trees created the illusion that we were in a forest far away from the downtown urban core.  See www.lunarfest.org for more details.

I am excited for the unique cultural experiences that go along with being a host city for the Games.  On any given night for the next two months, I can choose from a variety of concerts and plays to attend.  I can take a walk through the downtown and see buildings decorated with large murals, or sculptures on corners.  The Lower Mainland is a cultural showcase for the next two months, and I plan to soak up as much of the global community as I can.

If you have an event suggestion for me, please let me know!  There is SO much going on and I need your help deciding what cultural events to attend.

THE FIRST WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the First Olympic Winter Games, were held in Chamonix, France.

◆ It was a winter multi-sport event and was held between 25 January and 5 February 1924.

◆ It was organized by the French Olympic Committee.

◆ Beginning with the 1924 Games, the Winter Olympics would continue to be held in the same year as the Summer Games until 1992.

◆ Medals were awarded in 16 events, and 7 sports:

Bobsleigh, Curling, Figure skating, Ice hockey, Military patrol, Nordic skiing(Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and Ski jumping), Speed skating.

◆ Athletes from 16 nations competed in the first Winter Olympic Games.

The participating nations were Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, United States and Yugoslavia.

◆ 1924 Winter Olympics Medal Table

Here’s a video of 1924 Winter Olympics.

=D

A special day —- July,2,2003.

      Lets look at a radio first.

    

      This is the Vancouver/Whistler bid video for the 2010 produced by The Vancouver 2010 Bid Committee.

      On July,2nd 2003; at the 115th IOC Session held in Prague,Czech Republic.

      Vancouver won the bidding precess to hose the 21st Winter Olympics by a vote of the International Olympic Committee.

      The moment when  Jacques Rogge, IOC president,anounced: “Vancouver”, what do you feel like?! Were you excited about it, because there is finally an Olympic game hold in your own city? OR were you concerning about how the traffic would be like during the Game? Do you still remember how Vancouver looks like on that night?! 

      Remeber..in 2003, I was still in sitting in my Grade 3 classroom in China, writing my final exam of the year. So, tell me about what Vancouver looks like, I am so curious about it.

     @____@”

Changes- for the good or bad?

Over the past few years, us vancouverites have been through many difficult changes. The changes of the city, the streets and the transportation have all caused so much controversy; so was this all really necissary for an event that lasts only 2 weeks? Have a thought for a minute, all the detours around the city due to construction, stores on cambie street losing bussiness, was it worth the trouble? On the other hand think about the aftereffects of the Olympics: better transit, better recreational facilities and of course the Canada line. Has the Olympics only caused the city pain or is this the event that will change Vancouver permanently for the better?

Launching the Blog

Hey everyone,

So there’s only 21 days left until the 2010 Winter Games start!! With 3 weeks left, it’s really exciting seeing Vancouver undergo the final preparations for the Games!

Just so everyone has somewhat of a backgrounnd about this blog, allow me to tell you a little bit about what it is exactly. We created this blog because we wanted to have a place where students across Canada come get a real perspective of the Games from other students who are experiencing them first hand! We believe that this is not just a great experience for Vancouver, but for all of Canada and so this blog is a place where everyone can share that experience!

The West 1 Community Schools Team is based out of Eric Hamber Secondary School in Vancouver, we’re only a few blocks from the Olympic Curling Venue and short transit ride away from many other venues. Our team and many of our high school youth leaders are highly involved in the community around us.

There was a school wide event held at Eric Hamber in November called Athletes of the Future which brought in fantastic guest speakers like Patrick Anderson and Donavan Tildesley. To start off the day, we had a torch relay with homemade Olympic torches, the Torino 2006 Olympic and Paralympic torches, and a Vancouver 2010 torch. The torch relay led into our Opening Ceremonies, and after that we had workshops for every one of the 2150 volunteers and participants! Workshops ranged from soccer skills with players from the Vancouver Whitecaps, to making Olympic whistles, to trying out wheelchair basketball!
This blog builds off Athletes of the Future by maintaining the theme of connecting youth to the Olympics. Another important theme the two share is the youth involvement. Athletes of the Future had over 200 youth volunteers helping to plan, coordinate, set up, and deliver the event and in the same way our blog team consists of a number of youth from Eric Hamber!

I can’t wait for the Winter Games and with the official launching of this blog, I’m only more excited!

That’s all from me for today, but stay tuned for more updates!

Welcome!!!

Hello readers!!

Are you excited for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver? We are!!

We are very excited to be launching our 2010 Student Experience blog!! Here you’ll find some really cool stuff like links to the sites and blogs of Canadian athletes who compete in the Winter Games, and awesome contests with really cool prizes!

Quite possibly the best thing about this site, however, is that we’ve assembled a team of student moderators to help us share all the exciting experiences, observations, and news around the city and the Winter Games!

So bookmark this site, make it your homepage, and tell all your friends! Experience the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games with us from anywhere in Canada!

-The 2010 Student Experience