Canada Day Gold

It is almost impossible for me to believe that I am sitting in the Vancouver airport where I arrived over three weeks ago, getting ready to leave this amazing city. What an adventure and once-in-a-lifetime experience this has been for me. I struggle to find the words to sum it up and describe how I’m feeling right now, but here’s a recap of my last day in Vancouver and some final thoughts on my Olympic experience.

After a great night out in Yaletown at “Hub”, Taryn and I said our goodbyes to our good friend and fellow volunteer, Heather. I may not have mentioned that Heather’s job as a volunteer was working at the Canada Line station in Yaletown, standing outside in all weather conditions, all day long, and answering the same questions regarding directions – day after day. She is such a trooper. I was so sad to say goodbye to her as we had so many laughs together and spent much of our free time exploring the city. She really helped to make this experience a great one for me. I was sorry to say goodbye to her before we got to experience the gold medal game together, but we’ve already agreed that we’re going to volunteer in London 2012 and share a flat – plus, she lives in Oakville so I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other sooner than that.

On Sunday morning, Taryn was the trooper and got up at about 8am to start scoping out places for us to watch the game. Imagine my surprise when she called me at 8:50 and said there were lines outside the bars already! We decided to divide and conquer so I set out on the sky train about 9:30 and headed down to Waterfront to scope out the scene there. I ran into my friend Kurt and his girlfriend Linda (who I’d just had breakfast with on Sunday) in line at Steamworks and I opted to join them in line. Taryn stayed in Yaletown in line at Hub, and we were trading texts about the outlook on our chances of having a place to sit and watch the game come 12:15. Waiting in line at Steamworks paid off as Kurt, Linda and I were able to scoop a table on the heated patio, right in front of the TV. I gave Taryn the word and she headed over to meet us. By 10:30am we were ordering coffee with Bailey’s, and moved on to beer and nachos at about 11:30am.

And then there’s the game. How can I describe what it was like to sit on a patio with a crowd of Canadians, on the last day of the Olympics, and watch Canada defeat the US in a nail-biting game on home ice for Olympic gold? I just can’t. The strangers around us became friends as we erupted in cheers after every single save, every single goal, every single face-off. We hugged and high-fived everyone on the patio after the game, and you could hear the simultaneous eruption of energy and excitement throughout the entire city the second that Sid the Kid scored that golden shot. AMAZING. We stepped out onto the streets shortly after the conclusion of the game, and it was absolute insanity and chaos of the best kind. Car horns going, high-fives for every pedestrian, “Go Canada Go” chants at the top of our lungs, Canada flags waving everywhere and random break-outs of the national anthem in the middle of the streets. It was a feeling that I will never forget.

After the game, Taryn was off to the Closing Ceremonies (she got a last minute ticket from a friend for half the base price!) and Kurt and Linda were off as well. I walked down waterfront with the crowds down to the Olympic cauldron which was packed. It’s a beautiful view there of the mountains, and the Olympic rings in the harbor that had already turned gold. I just sat on a bench there by myself and took it all in – the people, the celebrations, the Canadian pride – it was incredible and I have never in my life felt more proud to be Canadian. As the sun started to go down, I headed home to have a last dinner with Judy, Helen and Gord and to watch the closing ceremonies. I didn’t tackle the crowds downtown for the night celebrations – I don’t think anything would have topped this afternoon and my body was begging me for a rest. But it was so hard to leave downtown and waterfront….I tried to take it in as long as possible….

This has been such an incredible experience for me and there are so many things that I will miss: the people I met (Heather, Luc, Taryn, Jodi, Sara, Peter – the list goes on), the excitement of not knowing what each day was going to bring, the “Go Canada!” chanting and cheering every day at the Sky Train, the view of the mountains from downtown Vancouver, the waterfront, seeing the Olympic cauldron, the sea wall at Stanley Park, the hockey, the wonderful, friendly people of Vancouver, the Olympic rings in the harbor lit-up in gold when Canada won a gold medal, the market at Granville Island, the view of Russia House, BC Place, Canada Hockey Place and Athlete’s Village on my way in on the Sky Train, the restaurants in Yaletown, friendly conversations with complete strangers about my volunteer experience and my blue jacket, spontaneous singing of our national anthem breaking out anywhere and everywhere, high fives in the street, the drunken obnoxious hockey fans on the sky train at night (yes, I will miss them too.) Most of all, I will miss the passionate, boisterous and unexpected display of Canadian patriotism that enveloped the city of Vancouver and I suspect, the entire country, these past few weeks; it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen anywhere. Even these two Americans sitting beside me in the airport said they have never witnessed anything like it back home, having experienced Mardi Gras and New Year’s in NYC. They even witnessed a few pedestrians taking it upon themselves to close off a main road after the hockey game on Sunday night, and pick up a spontaneous game of road hockey. If that’s not purely Canadian, what is!? All of it has been just amazing and I’m very sad to be saying goodbye. Those of use who have had this experience have described it as once-in-a-lifetime and it truly was. While I hope to volunteer again in 2012, I’m not sure anything will compare to the pride I felt being part of this experience with fellow Canadians in my home country, and contributing to the ‘hosting’ of the entire world. And the fact that our athletes performed so well and did, genuinely, ‘own the podium’ on home soil, is the icing to top off this very delicious cake.

As I got on the Sky Train for the airport today, the platforms were eerily quiet – it was like someone had pushed the ‘stop’ button on our party and it hit me that it was all over. THANK YOU to everyone who has followed along and commented on my blog during this adventure – I hope you enjoyed my sometimes lengthy recaps of the days, and that it gave you a fun insider’s perspective to my experience here. Heather, Taryn and I are already on the hunt for a ‘flat’ in London to rent when we volunteer for 2012…let me know if you have any leads! : )

I started this post at the airport in Vancouver but have just finished it here in Honolulu. I will likely write a few posts this week about my time in Hawaii, but will be turning my cell phone off and trying to ‘vacay’ as much as possible before I head back home on Sunday. The time has gone whizzing by, and it does not feel like I’ve been gone three weeks already – I haven’t had time to be homesick. But, I have missed my friends and my folks and can’t wait to recount all my adventures in person…

So goodbye Vancouver, aloha Hawaii!

P.S. Click here to read a great “Thank You” note to Canada from NBC News Anchor, Brian Williams.

P.P.S. I am working on uploading some of the videos I took to You Tube. I’ll let you know when they’re view-ready.

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