15 things (and one bonus)

15 things that made for such an amazing, wonderful, memorable, delightful Olympics week in Vancouver. And an honourable mention.

1. My sister. Hostess to many MKs over the course of the weekend (and an MK herself, oddly). Shopping companion. Dining mate. Hockey connoisseur. I don't think I show her enough appreciation.

2. Other family - a nice lunch of dim sum with my brother Carlos. I'm sorry Mark couldn't make it. I'm sorry we didn't get up the coast. I apologize a lot for something that was a good time, I know. Sorry.

3. Chris. Read his blog already! Also, he'll kill me, but I will set him up with anyone who meets my exacting standards for awesome enough to be his match.

4. Brian and Giuseppe. We love these guys no end, and we're glad we get Chicago and Vancouver time with them. Bonus points to Brian for his past Olympics experiences to share with us. Bonus points to Giuseppe for introducing me to Dan Mangan's stuff and then for being so adorkably tongue tied around the man.

5. Dan Mangan.
OK, I wasn't wild about the woman who was on before him (OK, I was so unenthralled as to sit reading the Globe and Mail - a TORONTO newspaper, for crying out loud! - on my iPhone while I prayed for her to be done her set), but the man put on an awesome show. Among many wonderful moments, I loved that he halted "Pine for Cedars" to tell us how, when he was touring Australia, he had to explain the lyric about winning a home in a hospital lottery. So BC. Love him.

6. This sweater on me. I never said I wasn't shallow.

7. This scarf on me. In fact, I'm very very shallow.

8. Coffee at Safari. If I can't have a flat white, then this will do nicely, though I realize I forgot to go to the place Janet recommended. In May, when we return.

9. Seeing Canada's first gold medal on home soil - EVER! - draped around Alexandre Bilodeau's neck, and having tears running down my cheeks during O Canada.

10. Getting to dress in Swedish drag and be a Svenska fan for one hockey game.

11. The First Nations presence around the Games (photo from the Coast Salish carvers in a house at the Art Gallery). Wonderful, special. I've commented already. Conrad and I ended up buying a print from the Edzerza Gallery to keep in our Vancouver home. I'm stunned that Alano Edzerza designed the really cool Netherlands uniforms. Wow.

12. Curling. Never really played it, still love it. How can you not love a sport that opens sessions with a round of bagpipes?




13. The houses and pavilions. Best by far was Canada's Northern House, but I think I actually liked Maison du Quebec most for its entertainment and proximity, its' blue glow at night.

14. Vancouver in the spring sunshine. Yes, it was spring. Yes, I am still bitter about being back in wintry Chicago.

15. Sharing in it all with this man. My Valentine the night of the photo, but so much more, and every single day. Thanks SB!


Honourable mention (no photo): meeting Mark and Maureen, even fleetingly. Marie may be the one hosting people, but I felt more than a little pleased at having been able to lend our condo for one night to the brother and sister-in-law of a good friend. I hope they enjoyed their Olympics experience and greatly!

host nations

There are some things I steadfastly refuse to say the American way. The last letter of the alphabet is "zed", freezing is 0 degrees (Celsius, of course!), and the structure where you leave your car while parking is a "parkade".

I also tend seldom to use the word "Indian" unless I mean someone/thing from India. For some time now in Canada, "First Nations" has been the term in use, and I think it captures certain essences well. First Nations were here before the English and French and others. And they were and are nations with marvelous cultural traditions, systems of governance, language, trade, and more.

Did I always feel this way? No. As a young person in northern BC, I didn't always have the most understanding attitude. And I'm not so sure I have the broadest, best appreciation for the First Nations now - I sometimes wonder if I reduce them to creators and purveyors of gorgeous works of art.

Vancouver (and Canada) did some things very right with these Games, and the involvement of the First Nations has been one major thing. Oh, there were missteps with some merchandise, I know, and I suspect not all BC and Canadian First Nations have been so supportive. I can't and won't address the complex issues in this blog post. Let me just laud some of the good for now, and let me start with the Four Host First Nations.

In a nutshell, the events are taking place on land claimed by four different First Nations, and out of respect for that, the four nations are involved as host nations. Their leaders are being treated as dignitaries of the highest order, their art and artisans is being showcased, and I can only hope that there will be economic benefits that reach all members of the nations. The four nations were a prominent part of the opening ceremonies - and you can make penis jokes all you want, but the welcoming figures, the projected images/motifs, the dancers, and the participation by and support from other First Nations was one thing that impressed the heck out of me early on.

Still, there is evidence of involvement permeating the Games in many ways: the merchandise, the pavilions, faces seen around. Again, this isn't solving deeper social issues, but it is perhaps a good step made in good faith.

Some images for you, then, that show ways in which the First Nations, the host nations, share in these Games with all who have come to celebrate them:

From the Canada's Northern House (our favourite so far by a long shot), there were magnificent works of art such as, in a tall case,
a granite sculpture of a hunter and a polar bear facing off over a seal; a carved narwhal tusk showing scenes of the hunt;
that beaded blanket blazing on the wall;
masks;

smaller sculptures, crafts, and artwork. There were also northern people demonstrating some of the sports and games that have developed among their nations.

We stood a long while in line outside the 2010 Aboriginal Pavilion - immensely popular on a sunny Sunday - before ultimately deciding to dash through the gift shop and keep going so as to take a lot in.



I am keen to go back, though.

At BC Hydro, there are two welcome figures carved by a Hydro staff member, as I understand it. Yellow cedar? Tall, imposing, but such a wonderful sight. Welcoming indeed.

Design and motif in many places, like the Taiwanese-Canadian collaboration on lanterns and art on Granville Street. Of course, there is merchandise, too, and we are shopping. Non-Games specific, the First Nations art collection at Vancouver International Airport is stunning.




Again, this isn't solving deep issues within the Nations themselves or between each nation and the government of Canada. I'm not so naive as to think that. I simply appreciate all that I see of the First Nations presence, and am grateful that peoples with so much to give to the Games have had that opportunity.

really bloody tired

So we've been here not quite 36 hours, and here's the tally:

• two meals at Campagnolo
• one meal at the Club we joined
• one meal of sushi with Chris
• five pavilions, I think
• three live musical performances
• two trips to the Olympics Store at The Bay, and lots of stuff bought
• 5 km swim at the Club
• blogging and Flickr-ing

I'm really very knackered. I started swooning a minute or two ago. I need to get to bed.

There's tons more to write, I feel. It will come. A taste then of something that has struck me, impressed me: the conspicuous and welcome inclusion of First Nations participation in the hosting and staging of the Games.



Carvings from the Canada Northern House, a worthwhile stop we made this morning.

Bedtime. See you bright and early in the AM!

YVR art

Waaaaay back when I was young, in the age of the dinosaurs, Vancouver airport was, well, it just was. Far better shops/dining than O'Hare (and on the non-secure side of security, to boot), but just kind of meh when it came to its look.

Don't ask me to pinpoint when, but at a certain point, the airport authority took on the idea of building, renovating, redesigning, and redecorating seriously and enthusiastically. Nowadays, the arrival at YVR from the US is a small thrill, a stroll amongst museum-quality First Nations artwork. Many is the time I've seen fellow passengers stop to take photos.

Last Saturday Conrad and I drove out to the International Terminal to pick up Beloved Sister, arriving home from a vacation in Ireland. Given a bit of a wait, I slipped upstairs to the departures level to take photos of a magnificent piece, Bill Reid's Jade Canoe.



The Canoe, the companion piece to the Black Canoe the sits in the Canadian Embassy in DC, is there, out in the open, touchable. No, really. You can go up to it and touch it, really get a close look. Remarkable. And it IS remarkable work. I keep an image of a Bill Reid work on my laptop desktop and have done so for quite some time now. The Haida art stirs me greatly.

Conrad and I have a funny little in-joke about the canoe. On our first trip to Vancouver, we flew separately - I was staying in BC longer, and I was on a tighter budget back then. I told him we'd meet up, post-flight, at the canoe. He had a heck of a time figuring out where it was we were supposed to meet. Such a large sculpture that I evidently took a little for granted. I assure you, he knows where it is now!

Museum of Anthropology

It's not supposed to snow here. I trudged through a thin veneer of slush covering Granville Island on my way to the pool this morning. Ah, but we had it easy, as we discovered a handful of hours later. Downtownish, it's wet - it's still raining unrelentingly outside the coffee shop windows. Up toward UBC, it was snow falling. Wet, heavy snow, accumulating on the roads, weighing down tree branches. Messy as all get out.

In lieu of a jaunt over to Victoria today (the amount of travel versus the amount of time we'd have there before having to turn around to catch a sailing wasn't worth it) we all went up to the Museum of Anthropology this morning. I love the collection there, mostly for the First Nations arts and crafts they have. The Museum allows photography, and though it may somehow violate copyright to post it here, I think that if it inspires more of you to go see it, so much the better.






Best of all is Bill Reid's magnificent sculpture of Raven and the First Men, carved from a single block of yellow cedar. I was welling up seeing it again.