Here I am in slightly mild, extremely wet Vancouver! The plane ride left something to be desired (note to self: don't sit over the wings). I felt sorry for my seat neighbour, who was trying to sleep as I kept having to dash to the washroom. But he was really nice about it. I was sort of in a daze when I got off the plane, stopping at every TV to watch snippets of the men's 500 m speed skating event. My cousin and her daughter Jessica met me at the baggage claim, and so I was able to go into auto-pilot.
It was an early start today, taking the bus from Capilano University to Cypress Mountain at 7:00 in the morning to watch the ladies snowboard cross. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, but driving up the mountain made me realize that there may not be much to photograph. It was like driving through oblivion, the fog was so thick. When we got off the bus, we walked for what seemed like miles through the clouds before we got to the security gate. Jessica and I were able to sneak in some granola bars, so that already felt like a victory. What took us by surprise was the size of the grandstand area. And the stairs. Holy crap, so many stairs. I'll post a photo next time, it's ridiculous. We found our seats, but due to the poor visibility, they delayed the start of the qualification runs from 10:00 to 11:00. That's when the rain started to get heavier. After a while, we both realized that our snowpants weren't as waterproof as we had hoped. So we headed back down the stairs and looked for somewhere dry. The only place available was the merchandise booth. We lined up to go inside, and then found out that the ponchos were sold out. We had to make do with the raincoats that we had brought. We bought cowbells mostly for the bag that we would later use to sit on. But the cowbells turned out to be very useful too.
Since we didn't want to sit on wet seats again, we hung out around the food/washroom area. Then they announced that the start was delayed again until 12:00. We passed the time by looking at fans from other countries who were dressed in an interesting fashion. First prize went to the Swiss with their umbrella hats emblazoned with the white cross on top. A close second was this impossibly tall Abe Lincoln look-alike, complete with top hat, and a hockey jersey that had "Lincoln" on the back. In terms of celebrity sightings, I noticed the very distinct hair of Shaun White waving a US flag several rows in front of me. I didn't see his face, but I was pretty sure it was him.
The sky cleared a little, and finally the qualification runs began. A number of the competitors fell, including the Canadians, probably because of the conditions. They had to hold the course a few times because the fog kept rolling in and out. Once we got to the quarter and semi finals, the sun started to come out. Maelle Ricker kept winning her heats, which kept everyone excited. During the final, everyone was yelling and ringing their cowbells, which was intense. When she crossed the finish line first, everyone went nuts! It was so amazing!
I'm warm and dry now, at my cousin's house. I think the whole experience is still sinking in. I was just at a Canadian gold-medal event. And, according to my cousin, I was on TV! I'm going to have to watch the re-runs tonight.
An excellent start to the Olympic experience. And I'm so glad I didn't buy the general admission tickets (which at this point have all been cancelled due to unsafe conditions).
"There's something 'bout the way the street looks when it's just rained"
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