(belated) Insiders' looks into the Olympics

Sorry for the delay, but I have been amassing photos to put on here, and trying to sort and label them before I do so. Thanks to Adeline, Sandy, Marc and my mom, here are some photos of the Vancouver games for your viewing pleasure. This is the insider's look, with photos taken by real people who were actually at these places, checking out exhibitions, watching events (though very little since only rich tourist could afford tickets, I think!) and experiencing and enjoying the life and atmosphere in the streets!

Thanks to those of you who have posted some comments about the whole experience--I'm sure all the non-Vancouverites have enjoyed reading about them!!

At the Royal Canadian Mint~

Paralympic medals

Million dollar gold coin

Lucky Loonie

Exploring the streets of Vancouver~

Robson Square lit up at night--must have been incredible to go skating there!

The cauldron--what an impressive sight!

Granville Street lanterns

Traditional First Nations dress

Saskatchewan and Quebec houses

Russian Tall Ship in North Vancouver

Sochi House (AKA Science World)

Aussie athletes are here...can you tell?

Queue of eager people!! For what??? A glow-in-the-dark plastic bottle, yay!!

The mystery stone artists pay a tribute to the now well-known Inukshuk

Huge queues along False Creek...

A familiar face shining in the distance

Inside the shiny dome, the beaverlodge isn't looking so Science-y anymore...

Corporate sponsorship transform this ordinary classroom space

A look at a not-so-big event: medal presentations~

Victory ceremonies

Speedskating awards

Snowy hike up Peña Cabarga

Okay, so I'm a bit behind on the postings, but I didn't want my Olympic posts to be bumped if I updated, and really I was pretty occupied being in front of the television and jumping around and doing the wave! ;D

So here is a hike that we did on Feb. 14th up Peña Cabarga, even though it was a cold, dreary, grey and non-perfect hiking day. Ruben's brother David was in town and they wanted to spend some time outdoors, so of course I was gung-ho. Hey, you gotta love mountains! It was an atypical hike, but really enjoyable despite the temperatures and slippery slopes in my running shoes... ;) It took us about 1.5 hours running up the mountain (rather than taking the paved road, which is easier, but longer and less fun and rugged, hehe) to reach the peak, and from there we saw.....not too much through the fog. ;D Lol. Oh well, see below for image recaps.

Now which way do we go?

In the snowy Spanish forests!

The peak of Peña Cabarga in the foggy distance

Fighting to survive

View of the Cantabrian valley below

On a completely unrelated note of course, here are some funny photos I took of a few ducks who were out and about when I went to catch the train one morning. They usually live under the bridge, but I guess they needed to go into town for a few groceries that day. I disturbed them on their journey and they were too afraid to continue as I trudged my way in their direction.....so in the end, they waddled quickly back the way they came, flapping their wings in a huff as I chased them back to the far end of the bridge. Perhaps they restarted their journey later when they were sure the coast was clear....

An early morning stroll on the boardwalk

What's over here?!?! And here?!?!

Making and eating sushi delicacies!!!

Sushi feast at Ruben's family's house two weekends ago. His brother was keen on sushi when we talked about it one day, so we thought it'd be a fun idea since he was back in town for a week. Their parents didn't know much about it, and were surprised at the process, and enjoyed it, despite their mom being a bit weary of some raw veggies.... ;) Overall a welcomed change that was fun, healthy and delicious!

Our chosen ingredients of the day

First, a demonstration

The 4 time sushi-making expert in action

The artist patiently working on his masterpiece

The head chef approves of his pupil's progress

Revealing the final products

A huge look of pride at his works!

Closeup of the beautiful creations--big applause for the successful inside-out roll!! :)

Practice makes perfect!

Demonstrating noodle-lifting with chopsticks

Commentary of what's happening....

A separate non-sushi, non-food photo......other than eating, of course the Spaniards love football (aka soccer) so since their team (Real Racing Club of Santander) made it into the semi-finals, even the town hall had to show team-spirit and get onto the bandwagon. So here is city hall sporting the green and white Racing stripes. :)

At the end, unfortunately, the modest team from Santander suffered defeat, despite winning the last game...... The fans were satisfied with them making it so far, even though passing into the finals would have been a dream, of course!

Let the Games begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winter Olympics, Vancouver and Whistler 2010, Feb 12-28 has officially started!!!

You may be thinking, well what the heck does this have to do with my foray into Spanish life?? Well, I am on a mission to educate my classes about the wonders of

a) winter Olympics ("Huh, this exists??"),

b) beautiful British Columbia and

c) international ice hockey.

I do love the other sports, but what can you say, hockey is hockey and at the highest level such as the games, it's the biggest thrill!

So thanks to Desi and Carlos (yay!), I have a bit of a start on Olympifying my classroom:

Don't forget there are also the Paralympic Games in March!!

False Creek sure has changed!

Science World in transformation---now known as Sochi House (Russia hosts the next winter games in the city of Sochi)

Canuck representatives on the teams of many countries--sorry guys, I don't follow them so much anymore to know exactly all the players, but I'm sure they are great. :) I like this because it shows all the important games......

So the plan is to try and catch some Olympic action, though with the 9 hour time difference, it will be very difficult!! I may stay up to watch some of the important hockey games, depending on how the standings shape up to be..... :) On Friday the 12th, I stayed up to catch the Opening Ceremonies at 3am Spanish time....not going to bed until it was over, by which time it was 6am. Oh well, Saturday morning means no work to worry about! Here are some bad photos taken with my webcam, just to prove I was watching it on tv!! :D

Here comes Team Canada!!!!

Fly that maple leaf high and proud!!

The true north strong and freeeeeeeee.....

Those floating sculptures/tree trunks/salmon-spawning river things were amazing!! I loved the special effects!!

THE OLYMPIC CHALLENGE

Guess which country will win the most medals, which will win most gold, silver and bronze and who will make it to the Men's hockey finals.

Post your comments, updates and thoughts about OUR (oh, so proud) Olympic Games, since I'm not there to provide a live commentary on what life is like in town during these next few weeks. Would love to get some roving reporters out there giving some insight to everyone, so post away!!! :) Pretty please and thank you!! :D

Host a party--simple, right??

I don't know about most people, but when I organise a party, I invite a few people and of course everyone offers to bring something. With my friends, we usually do potlucks, which means someone brings drinks, others starters, others desserts, others snacks, and the main host is in charge of the main dish. Everyone arrives at various times, lugging their contributions and you munch away into the night.

So it surprised me tremendously when Ruben invited his friends for a dinner two weekends ago, and explained to me their way of hosting, extreme-style. Translation: all or nothing. No one needs to contribute anything because whoever's house they go to is the person in charge of all the food. Let me see if I understand--you provide the location, prepare, cook, serve, clean and all your guests just enjoy while you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off?!?! Where is the logic in this method?!?!

I went along with this crazy plan (what choice did I have in this matter?), attributing it all to Spanish insanity, and we brainstormed what seemed to be a simple and easy to pull-off menu: some pinchos (toasts with various toppings), Spanish tortilla and sushi to start, then homemade pizza of different sorts and finishing off with a cheesecake and chocolate fondue. All munchable things that people can pick at, so that it's more informal than a sit-down dinner

Friday night, we went for a huge shop at the supermarket, and also made the cheesecake, from Ruben's aunt's special recipe. Easy and tasty, though not dense and thick like the New York style cheesecake that I'm used to making.

Saturday, we thought we'd start at a leisurely 5:30pm, since people were going to arrive around 9:30pm. I made dough for 2 pizzas so that they could sit and rise for a while and then bake while the other things were being made. Time flew and guests started pouring in, while we were still frantically finishing sushi, baking pizza, organizing appies and greeting everyone, all with flour all over the place of course. ;)

The beginnings of toasts with ham, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and balsamic-glazed walnuts. Missed the photo of the final product since we were too busy running around!

One pizza done and waiting while the other continues in the abnormal oven....

The crowd, finally all present and accounted for by around 10:45pm....

Chopstick-usage 101: the students study the technique intently

Fingers and brains in knots from concentration

Maybe if I wave it around really fast it will work.... ;)

Mmmm...chocolate fondue--the perfect way to end off the meal

The night didn't end until about 3:30pm when finally the last guests left (they were looking super sleepy and ready to spend the night....). We were left with piles of dirty dishes, of course, but not a mountain since we had to wash some in between the main course and dessert. :) It was a successful and fun night, with non-stop chatter and everyone really enjoyed themselves, and were mightily impressed at our efforts and resulting products. A resounding win for the amateur experimental cooks! :D