For the past few years leading up to the Olympics I just thought of the event as being all about sports. I am not a sporty person, I don’t like being competitive and I hate running. In university I was talked into joining the intramural volleyball team and I got the award for the player who got hit on the head the most. So as plans and talk and media coverage ramped up I thought that these Olympics weren’t really for me, but for sports enthusiasts, like my husband.

Boy, was I wrong.

I caught the Olympic fever when my brother in law was asked to be a Torchbearer on the last day of the Torch Relay. We biked up to his spot to see him and that’s when it started. I cheered and felt an enormous amount of Canadian Pride when I saw Rob with the torch.

Later that day the Opening Ceremonies blew me away. The killer whales projected onto the floor seemed almost magical when they appeared to surface and blow water through their virtual blowholes. The number with all the fiddlers and tapping had me dancing and made me feel even more Canadian pride for my East Coast roots. Then seeing K.D. Lang sing Leonard Cohen’s song Hallelujah brought tears to my eyes.

The Opening Ceremonies and the Cultural Olympiad that was organized in conjunction with the Olympics have really been showcasing how creative us Canadians are. There’s a real celebration of the creative arts with free concerts, plays, and comedy shows every night all over the city (though the line ups are nutty) and there’s a beautiful showcase of hand made Canadian goods at the Canamade Winter Market. There is so much public art around the city right now, I wish it could all stay.

I think it’s wonderful that the world has been able to see that not only are we athletically inclined but we are also creative people – this is also evident in the way the medals were designed; each one is unique and part of a larger mosaic.

The vibe here has been unreal, there’s pretty much a huge street party every night downtown and it’s been a lot of fun just walking around and taking it all in. It’s been such an exciting and inspiring time to be in Vancouver and I am so glad I’ve had this opportunity to be living in an Olympic City.