Here's my photo from my fabulous virtual visit to Saskatchewan! I'm offering a special reward to whomever can identify the water and the landmark of where I'm standing.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
My virtual visit to Saskatchewan!
Here's my photo from my fabulous virtual visit to Saskatchewan! I'm offering a special reward to whomever can identify the water and the landmark of where I'm standing.
Poverty Olympics - Truly a world sport!
Just discovered http://povertyolympics.ca/ "End poverty. It's not a game." I can tell you not everyone here is a fan of the Olympics.
To simplify and paraphrase: They argue that the money being spent would be better spent on people who are homeless, mentally ill, struggling to get more and better work, and related issues.
The statistics offered on the site demonstrated that resources provided by the City and Provincial governments declined for those in poverty as building and planning for the Olympics gathered momentum.
Here's the website for the Olympic Village http://www.6717000.com/1616columbia/ condos going for $450,000 - $6 Million and selling well from what I read. From what I've seen of the people in downtown Vancouver and the downtown Eastside, it's likely that they can't afford them. It's truly a shame that some of those condos couldn't have been utilized as transitional housing at the very least.
Given the brevity of my visit and my limited knowledge of the situation, I can only say that it seems that not everyone benefitted from Vancouver, BC hosting the 2010 Olympic Games.
To simplify and paraphrase: They argue that the money being spent would be better spent on people who are homeless, mentally ill, struggling to get more and better work, and related issues.
The statistics offered on the site demonstrated that resources provided by the City and Provincial governments declined for those in poverty as building and planning for the Olympics gathered momentum.
Here's the website for the Olympic Village http://www.6717000.com/1616columbia/ condos going for $450,000 - $6 Million and selling well from what I read. From what I've seen of the people in downtown Vancouver and the downtown Eastside, it's likely that they can't afford them. It's truly a shame that some of those condos couldn't have been utilized as transitional housing at the very least.
Given the brevity of my visit and my limited knowledge of the situation, I can only say that it seems that not everyone benefitted from Vancouver, BC hosting the 2010 Olympic Games.
Just another day at the Olympics!
I'm off to a bit of a slow start. Hoping to meet a friend for lunch and then visit all of the Canadian province houses (and whatever other ones I can find) before volunteering at the Saskatchewan Pavilion this evening. I can hardly believe my week at the Olympics is almost over. What an immersion program! All of the commuting by foot, bus, and Skytrain has given me an appreciation for how some Vancouver residents may be annoyed by all of the extra visitors.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Going for the Gold - It's on!
Lucky me! I got to leave a bit early tonight from The Pavilion. I had another amusing evening promoting my adopted home away from home. Canadian hockey victories - particularly the men's team - seem to bring out the beast in some of the fans especially males. One of the women - out with her boyfriend - reminded me that it's always the guys who ask me where to stand in line for the beer. She is so right!
The pin trading was good tonight, but not as plentiful as I'd liked. I've acquired an apple and maple leaf from someone who picked them up at the Apple store. I need to go to the Apple store to get some help with my battery issues. I'll troubleshoot first though. The weak battery has kept mobile posting to nearly nothing. My other fabulous acquisition is an Omega pin from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. (I have to believe that the pin is a reproduction of the original pin. As you may realize, Omega is our time keeper at the Olympics. I also have a pin from the aboriginal youth at Nunavut House.
Notice the 1980 and pin trading theme here? Well . . . After standing in line for an eternity, I finally made it into the "official" Olympics store at The Bay Company on Granville. I picked up souvenirs for family and also had a chance to talk with some pin traders extraordinaire. One of them said he'd been to 12 Olympics and that the Vancouver Olympics were the worst trading he'd seen. He was giving kids pins for a smile. (No, he wasn't creepy!!!) Another collector had two 1980 US Hockey team pins that were originals. I tried trading, but didn't have good enough bait. Some of these collectors had thousands of pins.
For those of you who don't follow hockey, now's a great time to get in on the Olympic race for the gold. Tonight's 3-2 victory over the Slovaks shows us it's on. We're about to see the most celebrated Gold Medal game in Olympic history (at least since the US versus USSR at the 1980 Olympics) - Canada versus United States on Sunday, 2/28 12:15 p.m. (Pacific Time). I'm definitely planning on catching the game. As much as I love Canada, I think I've got to cheer the US on for Sunday's game. I'll be a nearly lone fir amidst the maple leafs. I'm women enough for the job though.
The pin trading was good tonight, but not as plentiful as I'd liked. I've acquired an apple and maple leaf from someone who picked them up at the Apple store. I need to go to the Apple store to get some help with my battery issues. I'll troubleshoot first though. The weak battery has kept mobile posting to nearly nothing. My other fabulous acquisition is an Omega pin from the 1980 Moscow Olympics. (I have to believe that the pin is a reproduction of the original pin. As you may realize, Omega is our time keeper at the Olympics. I also have a pin from the aboriginal youth at Nunavut House.
Notice the 1980 and pin trading theme here? Well . . . After standing in line for an eternity, I finally made it into the "official" Olympics store at The Bay Company on Granville. I picked up souvenirs for family and also had a chance to talk with some pin traders extraordinaire. One of them said he'd been to 12 Olympics and that the Vancouver Olympics were the worst trading he'd seen. He was giving kids pins for a smile. (No, he wasn't creepy!!!) Another collector had two 1980 US Hockey team pins that were originals. I tried trading, but didn't have good enough bait. Some of these collectors had thousands of pins.
For those of you who don't follow hockey, now's a great time to get in on the Olympic race for the gold. Tonight's 3-2 victory over the Slovaks shows us it's on. We're about to see the most celebrated Gold Medal game in Olympic history (at least since the US versus USSR at the 1980 Olympics) - Canada versus United States on Sunday, 2/28 12:15 p.m. (Pacific Time). I'm definitely planning on catching the game. As much as I love Canada, I think I've got to cheer the US on for Sunday's game. I'll be a nearly lone fir amidst the maple leafs. I'm women enough for the job though.
Day Making Up for Lost Time - Fri. 2/26/10
At last the much promised blog is live! More entries and photos to come . . . Now, it's back to finding out how to build my pin collection. It didn't take me long to learn that if someone asks for a pin. Your first response is, "What have you got to trade?" The best addition to my collection is a pin from Korea House, which is especially coveted because of South Korean skater Kim Yu-Na's gold medal finish in Women's Figure Skating. Curious about pin trading? Check out this link:
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/curious+custom+trading+tokens+tales/2610820/story.html
Even with pouring rain, the excitement in the city in palpable especially after the Canadian women's hockey gold medal game! Trust me when I say you haven't seen hockey until you've seen it played in Canada (and at the Olympics)! I had such fun watching the final moments of the Canada-Russia elimination game outside the entrance of the Molson Hockey House since I wasn't willing to spend $750 Canadian for a VIP ticket! (Yep, you read it right that's 75 with a zero!) (The Pavilion was packed without room even for a fabulous volunteer like me!) The lessons learned here are building on what I learned while visiting Austin, Texas last fall during a home football game for the Texas Longhorns i.e., you haven't seen football until you've seen it in Texas!)
Today's schedule includes a volunteer stint at The Saskatchewan Pavilion at Concord Place. The tent and its fabulous dome are next to the Maison Quebec. (Je'taime Quebec, but why would you build a house with no roof for the Vancouver 2010 Games?) Maison Quebec has tres manifique creme brulee Wednesday night, I listened to French rap about First Nations peoples. Great times!
We had our 100,000 visitor to The Pavilion yesterday! Go Saskatchewan! Jeff's video blog at http://www.saskpavilion.ca/ is a great way to see my fellow volunteers in action!
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/curious+custom+trading+tokens+tales/2610820/story.html
Even with pouring rain, the excitement in the city in palpable especially after the Canadian women's hockey gold medal game! Trust me when I say you haven't seen hockey until you've seen it played in Canada (and at the Olympics)! I had such fun watching the final moments of the Canada-Russia elimination game outside the entrance of the Molson Hockey House since I wasn't willing to spend $750 Canadian for a VIP ticket! (Yep, you read it right that's 75 with a zero!) (The Pavilion was packed without room even for a fabulous volunteer like me!) The lessons learned here are building on what I learned while visiting Austin, Texas last fall during a home football game for the Texas Longhorns i.e., you haven't seen football until you've seen it in Texas!)
Today's schedule includes a volunteer stint at The Saskatchewan Pavilion at Concord Place. The tent and its fabulous dome are next to the Maison Quebec. (Je'taime Quebec, but why would you build a house with no roof for the Vancouver 2010 Games?) Maison Quebec has tres manifique creme brulee Wednesday night, I listened to French rap about First Nations peoples. Great times!
We had our 100,000 visitor to The Pavilion yesterday! Go Saskatchewan! Jeff's video blog at http://www.saskpavilion.ca/ is a great way to see my fellow volunteers in action!
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