i am experiencing a truly spring olympic games. vancouver is spectacular! very charming, indeed. the cherry trees are blossoming and the sun is shining. no clouds. i run just in shorts and eat sushi sitting on a bare ground in a park. grouse mountain slopes on which i still skied in april two years ago are green and i doubt there is any good skiing possible up there. but the olympics are still going on and it is, i have to admit, somewhat exciting to be in the city while the olympics are happening (especially that poland won their third medal today, which makes it the best record in the history of winter olympic appearences!).
i feel i am close enough to all the olympic madness, i can go there, feel it, touch it. it's only a bus ride away, no time difference, no jetlag, perhaps a little bit of hangover, but that is another story. downtown is buzzling with life and different national colours. it's especially fun to watch the excitement accompaning a hockey game. i also live about 10 minute walk from pacific colloseum, the venue where the figure skating and short track speed skating events are held. i am definietely close enough. but i am not too close, i am not caught up in the midst of it, as i expected, and perhaps feared a little. i am far enough from all the madness too. i manage to keep myself far enough: i study in my basement, explore the town with lara, bike and run on the streets that few olympians have heard of. it's good this way for i feel i am taking most out of the two completely clashing world - vancouver with and without the olympic games.
