The 13th of February

I hope most of you can understand my last post in French (its a good occasion to practice) I am not sure when I will have the chance to translate it! Yesterday I went out to my normal Saturday morning skating session at Kits rink. There were some video cameras there. They were a Brazilian group I ''think'' it was a Brazilian roller skater, trying skating for the first time and making a TV segment about it. He was pretty good. By the end of the session we was doing axels! After that I waited a bit at home. I was supposed to meet up with an Ottawa friend (doing an internship in Victoria and in town for the weekend) to do some free Olympic stuff. So I headed out to Richmond to meet up with them, it took quite a while to get there, there was a line up to get onto the Sky train, luckily it didn't take too long. Once in Richmond I checked out a few things in the Ozone. They have a BC street with tourism booths from different regions in the province. The also have an ice wall (sculpted and with different colours and with an internal refrigeration system). I went over to check out Holland House (or Heineken House) but the line up was hours long and just a bit later it was declared full and they only let VIPs or dutch nationals in! I checked out the other stuff, like the BC health tent (got a free pedometer, useful so I can track how much I walk in a typical day, which is lots!). They also had large screens showing Olympic events. A children s electronic playground (really cool!). I also went into the Richmond Public library, which is the most gorgeous well laid out library I have ever seen! Then I hoped back on the Canada line to head to Granville Island and la place de la Francophonie. I got off at the Athletes village stop and got on the Olympic line (a free Bombardier Street car borrowed from Belgium that runs between the Athletes village and Granville Island). I went to see the Place de la Francophonie pavillion, they had exhibits about different francophone societies. They had one about northern Ontario and I noticed that Sudbury will host the Jeux de la Francophonie Canadienne in 2011, so I was chatting with a lady and gave my info about getting involved. She also gave me her business card telling me if I needed any help finding a place to live or anything like that that she had lots of contacts in Sudbury, Nice! I went to check out a bit of the concert by Chic Gamine, a franco Manitoban group. Then I went to the Granville market to get a bit of food (a cheese and pesto focacia from Terra Breads) then headed back outside to the Air Canada stage to get ready for the Mes Aieux concert. As they were setting up they were playing Olympic events on the big screen. Its quite exciting to watch the events with such a large crowd. Most of the people at the concert were in my age group. For those of you who dont know Mes Aieux, they are a group from Quebec that could be considered a Québécois equivalent of Great Big Sea, traditional music with a bit of a twist. A great group, you should defiantly check them out! And as an added bonus, the concert was introduced by the astronaut Julie Payette, being a science nerd and having worked in a science museum for many years, I am a huge fan of hers. It was poring for most of the concert, but it was still lots of fun and they did sing my favourite song Dégénérations. After that I headed home, soaked to the bone but happy!

This morning I got up early to head to China town for the Chinese New Years parade (its the start of the year of the Tiger. There were lots of people out. The parade was composed of different Chinese groups, lots of drumming and dragons (I will post a link with pictures soon, I took lots). I got some red Envelopes with Chocolate coins for good luck for the new year (apparently its not good to wash yourself today since you will wash away all the good luck for the next year, good thing I took a shower yesterday!) Micheal Ignatieff was there for the parade also. I stopped at T & T for some Chinese baking, a sesame seed ball with black beans inside (yum) and a coconut bun (amazingly delicious). Now I am back home for a break before heading out for my volunteer shift. Today is BC day, there will be medal ceremonies and a concert by Nelly Furtado

To explain the madness of Vancouver during the olympics, think of Canada day in Ottawa (everyone dressed in Canada or other country gear) but that lasts 17 days and is hundreds of times bigger!

You probably already know, but it is now sunny in Vancouver, YIPEE!