"Why didn't they just come out with the Chinese?"

My friend's girlfriend said those words as we sat in their living room watching the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. She was referring mostly to the delegation from Hong Kong. From that point on we basically commented on every delegation, Asian or otherwise, as not being included within the realm of China.

It was probably wrong of us to provide so much colour commentary (some of which really was inappropriate) during the ceremonies, but it really left us shaking our heads and wondering how this presentation could be perceived as an accurate representation of Canada and Canadians by the rest of the world. During the "cultural" portion, the guys were fascinated by the inclusion of Gandalf in the Arctic, mesmerized by the boy-girl "running" through the wheat field, and baffled by the punk rock fiddlers. There were some really nice moments though. Like when the whales swam across the floor, and when the trees rose up to create an Emily Carr-like backdrop for the dancers, or when Gandalf lit up the Northern Lights. But the cheesiness of some of the performances, the unfortunate faulty hydraulics which sadly ruined Catriona Le May Doan's torch moment, and the strange logistics of the outdoor Olympic cauldron (did anyone else think the security around Wayne Gretzky's pick-up truck was surprisingly non-existent?) left us somewhat disappointed. We had this chance to show the world we could put together a first-class event, and I think we fell short.

Well, despite the glitches, I'm still looking forward to seeing all of this up close when I travel to Vancouver on Monday. Stay tuned for the next two weeks and I'll try to keep up my blog during my Olympic adventure. Especially for the newer members of my audience (hi guys!).

"Moment is fading, one minute's past, but I've got this moment to make it all last"