Chinese New Year/Olympics 2010

I know it has been a very long time since I blogged. It has been a pretty busy two months so far in the year 2010. Work has kept me busy because of the long hours I had to put in especially in January. I was really looking forward to two weeks off in February during the Olympics. With the two weeks off, I was really happy that I got to enjoy the 2010 celebrations of both the Olympics and Chinese New Year. Other than enjoying the festivals and events, I had a really productive two weeks doing a lot of house cleaning and catching up with friends whom I haven't seen for a while.

The Winter Olympics held here in Vancouver was definitely one of the best events because it showed the world how patriotic the Canadians are. After watching the games and the medal/victory ceremonies especially when the Canadian athletes podium'ed, it was the most emotional moment that I have ever experienced. I am so proud to be a Canadian. What a great thing to have the Olympics here in our homeland!!! To all the athletes, two thumbs up and a job well-done!!!!

However, I was rather disappointed by the Opening Ceremony. Comparing to Beijing 2008 Olympics, it was quite boring especially at the Opening. I was a little relieved and glad about the Closing. Michael Buble was one of the performers and his performance definitely lit up the ceremony with a group of dancers dressed as RCMP performing in the center stadium, along with giant RCMP models. A group of skaters dressed as hockey players simulated a hockey game and pretended to fight with the giant models. Followed by that, there were women dressed as giant maple leafs, dancers in canoes, giant beavers and giant moose. Now, this is how it was supposed to be done. I'm sure we could have done better but other than that the venues with free concerts and performances were great for everyone to enjoy.

I also had a great time celebrating the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Tiger. My family got together for a big feast on CNY eve at my parent's house. It was definitely good food and good company. Ray and I went to Chinatown to see the Lion Dance parade on the first day of CNY. I hope this year will bring everyone lots of blessings, joy and prosperity.

During the last weekend of the Olympics, Ray and I went up to Grouse for his Yeti World Snowshoe Championships where he competed with 15 world athletes from places like USA, Japan, France, Italy, Australia, etc. We had a chance to see the famous mountain runner Jonathan Wyatt from Australia. It was definitely a cool experience to be competing with them. Ray was placed 31st/86 overall and 19th/33 in the age group 20-39 for Males with a speedy time of 1:03:26.