Day 9 (Saturday Feb 20)

Lots going on today!

I met Maria Ana in the morning and we went for waffles at Norway House. Let me just say TAKK to the Norwegians for my delicious breakfast! We had gone to Canada House first for their pancake breakfast, but got there a little late to eat, so we changed allegiance and visited Norway! I have to say, however, that it is very cool to be a Canadian at our Canadian Olympics. We have definitely seen a surge in patriotism this year! And what I love, too, is that I have never in my life been embarassed to be a Canadian. In fact, I've always been darned proud. There are other nationalities that should be ashamed of themselves and their general behaviour, but not us Canadians. We are the BEST! And being among so many happy Canadians has been so much fun! Having the opportunity to be together with a mass of other proud, happy Canadians when we win a medal = So Awesome.

After my waffles, I went to Creekside to meet up with my crew. We drove up to watch the men's cross country. I hadn't attended a cross country event before; and it was pretty cool to watch. The athleticism of these guys - holy cow! And the stadium is beautiful.

Here is a snow sculpture in progress at Whistler Olympic Park. It was so warm up in the Callaghan - 11 degrees Celsius!!! I had dressed in all sorts of layers based on our ski jump chill, but I ended up shedding all but my long sleeved T. Our guy DNF, so it was a quiet car ride home.

Once we got back to the village, I was happy to do a couple of mundane tasks like picking up Andorra's mail and getting a little shopping done in the athlete's shop. I found the tuque Mike has been looking everywhere for, so he was pretty happy once I got it to him later that night! It's the one like our Canadians have been wearing on the podium. I also found a place that repairs ski bags in Whistler.

Here is the Truce Wall in the athlete's village. This is the wall the athletes sign to adhere to the Olympic Truce, to promote peace at games time. Last duty before leaving was to translate for our physiotherapist. It involved some medical terminology that I had no idea how to translate to French! But we muddled through anyway, and I think she was happy I was there.

I got back to the cabin sometime after 6pm. Mike, his dad and Connie had made dinner plans with friends so we got ready. I needed Tylenol after squinting into the sun all day (wah, wah, poor me - too much sunshine!!!) but we had a nice dinner at La Rua. Unfortunately, we texted back and forth with Aaron all night but never connected. Mike and I went to check out the ice bar at Monk's after dinner, but I got psyched out from going inside after I saw the parkas they were putting on everyone. It cost $20 to borrow a parka, head inside the giant freezer, sit on an ice block and sip freezing cold vodka. Hhhmmm. Maybe sitting in front of a fire at home is better? Yup. So home we went.