This one has taken me awhile to write...only because every time I try to talk about home I get overly emotional and can't quite find to words to say what I want to say. It's been 10 days since the Winter Olympics began in Vancouver and that's why I'm writing this I guess...to reconnect with my heritage after feeling so disconnected with being away for so long.
Last Saturday myself and my co-workers got together at a Canadian owned bar in Seoul to watch the opening ceremonies. We got all decked out in all things Canadian including flags, the Olympic red mittens and jerseys. I couldn't be more excited, this is something I've been waiting for for ages and it was finally starting except I wasn't home to see it. Not like I live in Vancouver but there's nothing like being home and witnessing it all happen on your terms and your turf. It became a big celebration for us, something we had to do and see for ourselves...watching highlights just wouldn't have been the same. So we watched...we laughed and got excited and although ther performance was hours long it felt like minutes. I don't know if it was Canada, the people I was with, ther performance but something really struck me and ever since I've been super emotional about the Games and obsessed. Like obsessed as in I wake up and my homepage is the Vancouver 2010 website, I check CTV, CBC, CANOE, TSN, even NBC just to get the full perspective. I get to work and I check incessantly all day until they would be over in Vancouver and even then I check out of habit. Not having tv and that instant gratification of finding out what I want to know and seeing what I want to see is torture so this fills that void.
There is nothing about the Games that has struck me as a failure or as a disaster as so many critics have been saying to bring negativity on such an incredible moment in Canadian history. The thing with bringing hundreds of people from all over the world to one city is that shit will happen and there's nothing you can do about it. This is obvious but for some reason so many people expect perfection but when have we ever had perfection at an Olympics in the past. You can't control the weather, you can't avoid crashes and falls and you can't change things that happen unexpectedly but you can make it better for the next person or the next event so that it doesn't happen again. Not only is all the criticism coming from a country that I am partly connected to but its coming from people who aren't even there, or who's athletes aren't placing so really is that objective. If you read comments and watch footage from the people who are there then you'll see that the only problem is really the beautiful weather when its supposed to be cold to keep the snow and ice....otherwise it's all smiles and smooth sailing and when something does go wrong it gets fixed. It's called problem solving and as Canadians we're good at that and we don't freak out when it happens, we go with the flow and we take it step by step. I don't know why it bothered me so much and why I took it so personally but I did and I felt really sorry for the people who didn't get Canada and what we're all about and more so for the people who are so closed minded that they don't care but here's what I know.
It takes being away from your home, your country, to really miss it and remember all the wonderful things about it. Being Canadian isn't just how I'm known everywhere I go in the world but it's in my blood and that sense of pride and respect is ingrained in me from birth. Canada is the second largest country in the world filled with only 33 million people from every other country in the world. Canadians are peacekeepers, we're problem solvers, we're laid back and we have humility. We take the criticism but we defend ourselves with dignity because we have nothing to ever be ashamed of. We're educated and we respect not only the place we come from but anywhere we travel to. We have a whole lot of pride for our country but we're not obnoxious about it or over bearing (unless we're watching hockey). In Canada we curl, we drink a lot of beer, we spend most of our time outdoors even when its cold but we can take it, we consider hockey a religion and it's true, we do say EH! I am proud to be a Canadian and proud to know that these Olympics and these 17 days will have such a huge impact on Canada for the better.
We support our athletes and when things don't go according to plan we get ready for the next game when we can do better. We have faith in our athletes and we know that sometimes other teams are just better despite how good we are and that's really what it comes down to. You can never regret your best performance and if you work your ass off then you can't be upset....half these athletes are superhuman anyways so there's only so much we can expect from them.
I know I'm rambling, I can't help it when there's so much to say but I'll try and pull it together now. Until I came to Korea I never really thought about it but I consider myself lucky to be from Canada. I don't know any other country in the world that I would rather be even in the dead of winter with 10 feet of snow but I would be home. So eff those critics and all the criticisms cause they can get the hell out of my country, we don't need the bad vibes especially now when there's so much good happening at home...so much love and so much support. I know where I'm from and I couldn't be more proud. So for the next 7 days I'll wear my red Olympic mittens with pride, I'll obsess about the latest news and I'll be watching the closing ceremonies because that's the difference between Canadians and everyone else in the world....we can always find reasons to celebrate and to come together to show our pride for our country!
▌♥ ▌GO CANADA GO ▌♥ ▌
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