Well, it’s been 22 years since Canada last held an Olympic Games. I was around for that one but I was less than attentive. I am finally old enough to actually remember the experience and I am not even in the country.  Now, I never planned on going to Vancouver for any part of the Games, but I can imagine that even in Ontario a feeling of excitement and nationalism was in the air. I can’t say I had that feeling here.

With Ron living a couple hours away, there was no chance of getting together to watch a game, or a match, or an end, or a run. My housemates and I watched a few ends of curling, and a few heats of boarder-cross, but it just didn’t have the same emotion as a room full of Canadians.

I tried to catch as much of the Olympics as I could, but the 8-hour time difference between here and Vancouver made it a little hard. Most live events didn’t air on TV here until about 11PM. All of the evening events, like hockey and figure skating, were on at 3AM! Now, I can stay up pretty late but starting to watch something that could last a few hours at 3AM is too late, even for me. I checked online every day to see what had happened during the night, and my friends’ statuses on Facebook usually kept me updated on medals won. The last day of events came pretty quickly and I was excited to read that the final Hockey game would be airing at noon in Vancouver, which is 8PM here, a very reasonable viewing time.

That night my housemates and I played scrabble and watched the beginning of the hockey game. After scrabble ended, the living room cleared out and I was left to watch the game alone. I did, and it was a hell of a game. I am not normally a hockey fan, but when it’s Canada versus another country, I can actually watch, and enjoy, a whole game.  The afterglow of the win was a little anti-climactic, however, since it was almost 11 o’clock on a Sunday and all my housemates had retired for the night. I went to my computer where my Facebook news feed was flooded with excited Canadians. I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t watch that game!  My friend Mike wanted me to make a video running up and down the street with my Canada flag, but it was too dark for that. I was very happy and proud, for sure, but I just didn’t have the opportunity to show it like I might have if I were at home in Canada.

Since I’m the lone Canadian here, I decided to show my patriotism in my own way! You guessed it, wire, baby! The Olympic rings don’t overlap like they should but let’s just call it artistic license.