All Good Things Must Come to an End

Well, I can hardly believe it, but it's over. The Paralympic Closing Ceremony (which was amazing, by the way) has taken place. The StudentsLive experience, awesome as it has been, is also almost over. :( I prefer not to think about it too much, because it is too depressing. Then again, there's always London 2012. A couple of us had the idea to fundraise for money to go to the Summer Olympic Games in London in two years. And I am determined to make it happen!

The fact that ordinary (and somewhat boring at times) life is about to take over is slightly depressing. But, of course, I don't have to wait for another Olympic Games to keep up the blog. After all, exciting things happen every day-you just have to know where to look. So... I AM GOING TO KEEP UP THIS BLOG EVEN AFTER THE GAMES ARE OVER. The challenge is finding the time to write and finding things to write about. But you (the people who read this blog, few as you may be) can encourage me to do so. However, given that I have been writing since I could hold a pen, that shouldn't be a problem. Grosso modo: This doesn't have to end if I don't want it to.

However, I want to summarize these Games. Of course, all the words in the English language wouldn't be enough to properly describe the experience, but I'm going to attempt it by creating a sort of virtual photo album. So, without further ado...

The Students Live Experience:

And They're Over... :(

As quickly as they had come, the Olympic Games are now over. After all the excitement of the gold medal hockey game and the Closing Ceremony, I feel kind of... sad. The Games are actually finished. The Cauldron is extinguished. No more events, no more crazy crowds, no more hype. Vancouver will go back to being the city that goes unnoticed. Or will it? No, it probably never will. The legacy will remain. Let's hope that the memory of the Games will stay with not only us, but with tourists around the world. It's been an incredible two weeks. I will never forget them. The only thing that cheers me up at a moment like this is knowing that the memories that I made during the Olympic Games will stay with me forever... and the fact that I still have the Paralympic Games to get excited about!!! That will be a whole other wonderful experience. But for now I just want to go over some of the best moments in the final few days of the Games (anything that happened after I wrote my list of memorable moments thus far).

So..

The 5 Most Memorable Moments in the Final Days of the Games:

5. The Canadian Curling Team won gold!!! And even though a lot of people like to poke fun at curlers, I believe that this sport is pretty cool. We are all so proud of our team, led by Kevin Martin. Way to go, guys!!!





























4. The women's hockey team winning first place against the U.S.A. And even though the women's hockey team doesn't get half of the publicity men's hockey does, that doesn't mean that their win is any less important for Canada. I think that hockey, no matter who plays it, is Canada's game. The U.S.A has baseball and football. Hockey is ours.






















3. Canada winning fourteen gold medals- more than any one country had ever obtained in any of the previous Games. We're proud of our athletes, of course. But we are also proud of everyone that made it possible for the athletes to perform as well as they did- from John Furlong to the volunteers to the people that built the equipment necessary for the Games to take place. We appreciate it!




















2. The clown at the Closing Ceremony. Who doesn't love a country that knows how to laugh at oneself? I couldn't think of a more adequate way to put an end to the Games- we are not ignoring the hydraulics fail that happened at the Opening, we are choosing to laugh about it and focus on the positive. That is the way Canada is.
























1. The Canadian Men's hockey team winning gold. OBVIOUSLY this event is where it is; the celebratory crowd after the game was like nothing I've ever seen before, comparable only with the crowds in Times Square. The happiness of the population was felt everywhere you turned. The fact that the situation in overtime was so perilous added to the excitement after the final goal was scored. And, if you check my other blog post about athletes that stand out, who did I predict would save the gold medal hockey game? None other than my favourite player and now the national hockey hero of Canada, Sidney Crosby!!! It was a wonderful game, in every way. To win the gold medal hockey game on home soil was more than anyone could have expected!!!

The Olympic Games in Vancouver... In Photos

I'm going to switch gears a little bit and make this blog post entirely out of pictures (well, except for this brief little explanation). An artistic compilation, of sorts. So here are some pictures I took of the Games in my hometown- of people, buildings, events. Enjoy!

Je vais changer de direction un peu et faire cette entrée de blog entièrement de photos (sauf cette courte explication). Quelque chose d’artistique. Alors voici sont quelques photos que j’ai pris pendant les Jeux Olympiques- les immeubles, les personnes, les événements. Alors, amusez-vous !

Five Olympic Stories You Probably Haven't Heard About

We all know the scores and we all know who's leading in the latest hockey game (we are!). But what about all those little stories that do not make the front page of the Vancouver Sun, but are just as (if not more) interesting. So here are some of those stories that make the Olympic Games be about so much than just sports.

5. Oprah Winfrey saw the infamous red mittens on TV and mentioned how much she liked them to a journalist. The Hudson's Bay Company then sent her three hundred pairs, which she distributed to her audience. The mittens are going global!















4. The Russian House had a major party yesterday, celebrating the fact that the next Olympic Games will be in Sochi, Russia. I had the opportunity to be there last night, because my family was invited. Prime Minister of BC Gordon Campbell and the current mayor of Sochi, Anatoly Pakhomov, were both there, talking about the Games on stage. A couple of Russian athletes that recently won gold medals (Nikita Krukov, for example) were also spotted, dancing to the music. It was quite a party!












3. As was expected, during the duration of the Games, a bunch of protesters were arrested by the Vancouver Police. Notably, a group of people wearing masks and hoodies had a little run-in with the police when they were caught smashing windows in the Bay and spray-painting cars. Now, I might not know anything there is to know about protests, but I believe that a protest has to show something. And what does breaking a window do to anyone? Nothing, really. But anyways, public protests weren't that big a problem during the Games. They expected worse.













2. Joannie Rochette, a figure skater from Montreal, performed her routine beautifully, going on to win third place. What's truly remarkable, though, is that she performed so beautifully less than forty-eight hours after her mother's, Thérèse Rochette's, death. I am amazed at her strength and perseverance and I admire her like I admire very few people in this world. Way to go, Joannie!











1. The Richmond Oval has also experienced some problems... The zambonis kept on breaking down. On numerous occasions the athletes were at the Oval, ready to compete, but the ice wasn't ready, because the zamboni experienced a breakdown and wasn't able to resurface the ice properly. Now that's a pickle no one counted on! Luckily, emergency zambonis were quickly driven in from Calgary and the athletes were able to compete without delay. Whew!

Men's Hockey

Olympic News (Or the Stories Behind the Stories):

Canada beat Norway at men's hockey... though that's not surprise. You probably all know that we won 8-0, according to the news. It's when the score's this uneven that you know that it wasn't a fair match. Canada's team is obviously a lot better than Norway's, so this was almost like a warmup practice for them. I'm probably going to get bashed for saying this, but I think that our boys should have let the Norwegians score just once, for the sake of being nice. Stroke their egos or something. After all, it's not like there's any doubt about which team's better. Now when Canada and Russia play against each other, that will be a nail-biting game. Oh well, at least it wasn't as crazy as the women's game against Slovakia: 18-0. Granted, I'm no hockey expert, but I didn't even know scores like that existed in hockey.

Canada won gold for the second time during the games. Yay! Congratulations go out to Maëlle Ricker, a West Van native, who won her first Olympic gold medal for the snowboard cross.I'm sure we are all very proud of her and wish her all the best. One interesting fact you probably didn't know about Ricker is that Brother Jorli was member of the Canadian snowboard team in the early 1990s. So it runs in the family...

More updates to come!

The Games

I'm back! Sorry it took so long to make my first official post after the start of the Games, but I was out and about doing stuff for most (no, all of the weekend). On Saturday I hung around downtown and- OH MY GOD. Vancouver has NEVER looked like this before! It used to be this quiet city that tourists liked because of its peacefulness. Well now there are literally hordes of people moving about everywhere! "It," in the words of a person I talked to on Robson street, "looks just like New York." Is that good? Well, depends on what you like, of course. But I, for one, love New York. It's my second home.

So, if you were a tourist in Vancouver at this time, what would you do? Does flying over Robson Square on a zipline sound like fun? Well, you can do just that IF you're willing to wait SEVEN hours in line! Seven freaking hours! I was all excited about trying out the zipline until I found out about the wait. You'd have to be crazy to waste a day just to spend thirty seconds flying over the square! Then again, the fact that there even IS a seven hour wait speaks for itself. Has everybody gone crazy?

Another fun thing that you can do in the city is check out all of the free concerts. Just today, I was in Granville Island listening to a free Garou Concert. Garou is a Quebecois singer with this amazing bass voice. Sponsored by Air Canada, he gave a free concert. It was a great concert, regardless of the fact that it started to rain halfway through. And guess who was amid the crowd, singing along and waving his arms in the air just like everyone else? Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister of Canada. I managed to sneak a few pictures of him, while he was being interviewed. :) And then I got interviewed myself. What happened is this- when the concert was over everyone started dispersing rapidly, because of the rain. We, however, stayed behind to buy a hot dog. All of a sudden a woman is running up to me, asking "Parlez-vous francais?" So I said yes and she asked if it would be alright if she asked me a couple of questions for a CTV news special that she was working on. So she recorded me teling her tape recorded what I thought of the concert. Cool, cool. I've never really been interviewed before.

And then of course there are the non-free concerts, like the Victory Ceremonies. But the cost is relatively cheap($20-$50). I went to the Nelly Furtado one with my colleagues from Students Live. I would definitely recommend going- you get to watch the athletes get their medals AND listen to some great music. Only thing is, you'll be out of your seats many a time, because the national anthem of the country of the person that won a gold medal will be played each time the winners are announced. :)

OLYMPIC NEWS:

Protesters have been going at it, breaking windows and splashing paint all over the sidewalk on Granville Street near the Bay. In fact, a twenty-four hour glass repair company has been hired to be there at all times, fixing whatever the protesters decide to break.

Tickets to the Gold Medal Hockey Game currently cost $3,500. Prices are expected to rise. That's more than a ticket to the opening ceremonies. That's enough for a freaking car. A pretty crappy car, I'll give you that, but still. What kind of audience are they trying to sell those tickets to? Because from what I know, an average person does not have three thousand dollars to spare.

Canada won its first ever gold medal on native soil. Alexandre Bilodeau, the Montreal native, managed to get first place, beating out all of the other competitors.

And It Begins... Et on commence...

English:

Hello, everyone. It is February the 12th and I have so many things that I want to write about.

Less than an hour left before the official 2010 Opening Ceremony. Wow! But the funny thing is, it still doesn't feel like the 2010 Olympic Games are actually here. After all the preparations, the excitement, the changes in the city, the Games cannot possible be here yet! Or can they? But they are, as we can see by the obvious amount of hustle and bustle in Vancouver and its surrounding areas. Tonight’s the night, Canada. The night it all begins.

I don't have tickets to the Opening Ceremony. I wish I did, but being a grade twelve student and a part-time English tutor doesn't pay all that well, so I obviously do not have that kind of money to spare. Hopefully, however, the T.V. will provide an awesome equivalent to actually being there in person. That's just one of the glories of our ever so quickly developing technology. I cannot wait to watch them and relate my experiences.

On a sadder note, the Olympic Games didn't exactly get off to the best start. I would like to pay tribute to the Georgian luger who died today, while training in Whistler. Nodar Kumaritashvili, twenty-one years old, lost control of his sled near the end of the track, flying over the track line and colliding with an unpadded pole. They are now investigating the accident, trying to find out what could have caused it, who is responsible and so on and so forth. But really, I am less concerned with who is responsible for the accident than with how his family is going to take the news. I mean, Nodar is just four years older than I am. To have something so tragic happen to someone so young is just heartbreaking... I offer my deepest condolences to his friends and family.

Luge is a dangerous sport, that much is clear. To be honest, I did not know all that much about this sport until I researched it after running into the Czech luge team in Vancouver. But after reading up on it, I came to realize that you'd have to be pretty fearless to be a luger, because nearly every moment of a luger's career is filled with life or death situations. Which fills me with that much more admiration for Nodar Kumaritashvili. But is luge too dangerous for the Olympic Games? Should, in light of what happened, it be taken out completely, no longer be a part of the Games? Or just be removed from these Games? Personally, I don’t know. But what do you think?


French:

Bonjour! Aujourd’hui, c’est le 12 février et j’ai tellement de choses desquels je veux parler dans le Blog.

Il y a moins d’une heure qui reste avant le commencement de la Cérémonie d’Ouverture de 2010. Wow ! Mais la chose qui me surprend, c’est que je ne croix encore pas que c’est finalement le temps pour les Jeux Olympiques. Après tout ces préparations dans la ville, ca ne peut surement pas être le temps pour les jeux maintenant, n’est ce pas ? Mais c’est le cas, comme on peut voir par le montant d’action à Vancouver et dans ses banlieues.

Je n’ai pas de billets pour la Cérémonie d’Ouverture. Je serais très heureuse si je pourrais les obtenir, mais comme étudiante et «tutor » d’anglais, je ne gagne pas beaucoup d’argent. Je n’ai pas les moyens pour acheter ces billets, qui coutent un peu plus d’un mille de dollars. J’espère, quand même, que le reportage à la télévision offrira une version qui n’est certainement pas pire de celui à BC Place. C’est ça un des privilèges de la technologie qui évolue si rapidement. J’attends avec enthousiasme pour regarder les Jeux et relier mes impressions dans ce Blog.

En fait, il faut que je mentionne quelque chose de très triste. Les Jeux Olympiques ne sont pas commencés d’une très bonne note. Je parle du lugiste géorgien qui est mort aujourd’hui, pendant qu’il pratiquait pour les Jeux à Whistler. Nodar Kumaritashvili, qui avait vingt-et-un ans, a perdu le contrôle de son luge près de la fin du piste, a été jeté dans l’air et a ete frappe conte une perche. Les officiels essaient d’investiguer l’événement, de trouver le responsable. Moi, je ne suis pas trop intéressée de qui est responsable. Je pense de sa famille, de comment ils vont prendre ces nouvelles. Il y a juste quatre ans de différence entre moi et Nadar. D’avoir quelque chose de si tragique arriver à quelqu’un si jeune est assez navrant. J’offre mes sympathies à sa famille et à ses amis.

La luge est un sport qui est dangereux, ceci est évident. Mais il faut que je sois honnête, je ne savais pas trop de ce sport avant que j’avais rencontré l’équipe de luge tchèque il y a quelques jours. Après ceci, j’ai fait un peu plus de la recherche sur le sport et j’ai réalisé que les lugistes doivent être très courageux. Chaque moment de leur carrière est remplis des situations dangereuses! C’est pour cela que je suis encore plus remplie avec l’admiration pour Nodar Kumaritashvili. Mais, après ce qui est passé, est-ce que la luge est trop dangereuse pour les Jeux Olympiques? Est-ce qu’il faut qu’ils l’éliminent, s’assurent que ce n’est plus un sport qui fait partie des Jeux? Personnellement, je ne sais pas. Mais les autres, qu’en pensez-vous?

Olympic Torch Relay

Well, they are carrying the Olympic Torch through Richmond in... one day. That's exciting. That's especially exciting because they're carrying it right by my house. Well, not right by my house (as in you cannot see it from my bedroom window), but pretty close to my house. And then at seven there's this big Olympic Celebration happening at Minoru. It's like a big party to kick start the Olympic Games. :)


Coca-Cola is sponsoring the event and they're giving out free bottles of Coke to the spectators. But what really shocked is the fact that you have to be fourteen years old to get a free bottle of Coke (I found this out from someone who lives in a place that has already had the Olympic Celebration). So now there's a legal age limit for drinking Coke? That's taking it too far.

But, anyways, it sounds like mucho fun, so I will definitely be at the celebrations tomorrow!

Come one, come all.

Road Closures

Well, the Olympic Games are nearing at unbelievable speed and the effects of the Games are being seen far and wide. Like the Canucks' Olympic Break. Or all of these foreign news stations suddenly talking about Vancouver. Or the major road closures all over downtown. Which is particularly what I want to write about.

Check out this link.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/01/29/bc-olympic-stadium-raod-closures.html

It's going to be hectic in the city during the Olympic Games. But it's not like we didn't know that already. I guess that's what you can expect when an event this large comes into town. What is not so ordinary is the fact that it's going to be nearly impossible to get anywhere in your own vehicle. You'll have to rely on public transportation a lot more often if you want to get to the Games. Will P.T. be an efficient and a relatively rapid way to get into Vancouver during the 2010 Olympic
Games? We'll just have to wait and see. What do you think?

En français!

Brief heads up: Someone suggested that I write a few of my blog posts in French, so that's what I'm going to do now. If you want to read this, learn French. Or hire a translator. ;) Et maintenant, en français....

Bonjour! Je vais écrire cette entrée de blog en français, pour ceux de vous qui sont francophones. Pour commencer, je m'excuse pour ce qui concerne mes fautes d'orthographe- le français, ce n'est pas ma langue maternelle. Oui, ça fait assez longtemps que je l'apprends, mais malgré tout ça j'habite quand même en Colombie-Britannique. En dehors de l'école, il n'existe pas beaucoup d'occasions pour pratiquer cette langue.

Je commencerai par vous racontant un peu de moi. Je m'appelle Veronika Bondarenko. J'ai dix-sept ans et je suis en douzième année à l'école secondaire Hugh McRoberts. C'est une école bilingue, qui offre un programme qui s'appelle l'Immersion française. J'habite à Richmond, une banlieue de Vancouver. J'aime bien Richmond, mais j'espère d'allez voyager ou vivre quelque pars d'autre lorsque je commencerai mes études secondaires. J'espère d'entrer dans une programme d'arts a UBC et plus tard, lorsque j'aurais eu la chance de terminer quelques semestres a UBC, d'aller faire un semestre en Europe ou a New York. Quant à futur, je veux être journaliste. Ce métier combine les deux choses que j'aime faire le plus- voyager et écrire. C'est la raison pourquoi j'ai voulu être un journaliste-étudiant pour les Jeux Olympiques de 2010, pourquoi j'écris ce blog. L'écriture, c'est ma passion.

Maintenant, parlons-en des Jeux Olympiques. C'est assez incroyable qu'ils s'approchent aussi rapidement. Je me rappelle du jour ou ils ont annoncé qu'ils auront les Jeux de 2010 à Vancouver. J'étais en école élémentaire et l'an 2010 semblait d'être quelque chose de très lointain… Et voila, c'est déjà 2010. Les Jeux de 2010 sont presque la. Suivez mon blog pendant que je couvre les Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2010, en anglais et en français.

Veronika B.

Hey there...

OK, I know that I haven't written in a while. And that is unexcusable. But, I am going to try to update more often. So... Updates.

They put up Canadian flags all over my school and all over the nearby community centre where I eat my lunch on a daily basis, in spirit of the Olympic Games.

Sort of like this, except more flags, all in the school foyer:


And that is all good and well, of course, because I am personally excited for the Games. The problem is, what if someone is against the Olympic Games? How would they feel, seeing these babies everywhere? Not to mention that, patriotic as they may be, huge flags in a tight hallway is kind of... tacky. And what happened to the whole "Go World" idea? Or are we only cheering for Canadian athletes now?