rebeccakool.com

Takeshi--on fire!

2010 Olympic Baby

OLYMPIC MARATHON: Requirements? Ability to watch unlimited television on small TV screen, without beer or popcorn, day after day, in new recliner.  Check.  Hockey, curling, speed skating, figure skating, ski racing, moguls….I’ve lost track.  Time to get out of the recliner, on the bus, and into Vancouver to experience the biggest draw of all—trying to identify all the languages you hear while walking around!

RebTak’s Great Adventure:

Catch the bus, then the rapid transit line which spits you out in the middle of Vancouver.  A painless, quick way to get there.  I normally cannot abide lines but I found myself lining up for all sorts of things.  What changed?  So many people in the same lineup, all chatting, some breaking into song/dance, still others wanting to know your life story!

Robson Square downtown, home of the zip line, constant entertainment, and accidental athlete photo ops.  The zip line lineup was about 6 hrs. long!  Kids of all ages waiting to get strapped into a harness and “zipped” across to a tower where they were unhitched.  For some, the closest thing to flying safely.  No thanks.

Lunch was found at the JAPADOG stand where the lineups were already long.  Japadog is a regular long hotdog topped with Japanese ingredients such as kimchi, ebi mayo, nori flakes…yummy. There was even a Kobe beef hot dog which Takeshi said was great.  $20 for two..

JapaDog Cart in Vancouver

After-lunch stroll down to the waterfront in search of the Olympic cauldron on the waterfront. The people…you know, “we the people”?….complained so loudly to the Olympic committee that we could not take a proper photo through the chain link fence surrounding the huge free-standing cauldron. We the people were heard;  some of the fence had been taken down and replaced by plexi-glass!  You be the judge (see photos).

Reb with the 2010 Olympic Flame

Next stop?  Hop on the skytrain to go to the Russian Pavilion.  By the time we got there it was pouring rain.  Of course, we didn’t go for the week it was sunny; we chose the only day that it rained, except for a few downpours at the start.  Lineup quite long, with everyone around us placing bets on how long it will take to get in.  Twenty minutes later as we got to within eyesight of the entry door I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned around to see an official motioning us to follow him.  Tak began to take his backpack off as we approached the check point and once again, we’re moved along with a head bob and a shoulder shrug that intimated we didn’t need to bother with this step.  Seconds later I literally bumped into the tallest, baldest KGB-like dude I’ve ever seen!  I bowed, like a good Japanese woman, muttering my apologies as I walked away.

The Russians really know how to have a good time.  The cossack-like guys, all singing bass-baritone, complete with handle-bar mustaches and roving eyes, were a delightful match to the woman, some of whom sang bass, too!  They danced, sang, and had the packed house cheering for at least 30 minutes.  Tak is viewing them standing on the spiral staircase while I’m nursing sore muscles sitting on a comfy chair within view of the chorus. We toured around and got acquainted with Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held.  Once again, languages everywhere.  The Vancouver Russian community was out in force having a grand time cheering for the motherland.

Russian singers and dancers

Time to eat again.  Chinatown was within a few blocks so we forged ahead to our favourite Dim Sum restaurant.  Imagine our disappointment to find a large note on the door “LIFE UNexpected” with details written in Mandarin. Closed.  Plan B: walk around until you find something that looks good and is full of the locals. After hot noodle soup that warmed our cold bodies, we left feeling tired and nourished.

Time to call it a day.  We caught the skytrain and settled into our seats.  The doors opened at the next stop and in comes a loud, boisterous group of Swiss, complete with a huge cow bell, lively songs, a barrage of yodeling,  followed by the cow bell for good measure . Tak and I were sitting in the two seats by the door so we got to be a part of their party instantly.  They were feeling no pain as they departed to applause from those in our car, again…. the cow bell.

After a full day on the street, I know you all have one burning question. “Where do you find a bathroom when there are hundreds of thousands of people on the street and no porta-potties?” I have the answer. As a big-city gal, new to Japan and unable to use Japanese-style toilets, I quickly discovered the best place to relieve oneself is in hotel lobby restrooms.  Just find a hotel, walk in as if you are a registered guest, make a right or left turn, and you can be assured of a loo.  Take this tip on your travels; it works in any city in the world.

Home a bit late, tired and very sore, but happy to have been a part of Vancouver’s big party. A hot bath with epsom salts, a couple of Tylenol, and 9 hrs. sleep left me feeling quite human the next day.

p.s. I’m going to do my best to post photos of our day in Vancouver but am under the gun to get packed and ready to leave tomorrow morning for a weekend in the north!  Whitehorse in the Yukon, home to the aurora borealis, freezing temps and snow.  So if you don’t see Olympic photos later, you’ll see them along with aurora photos next week!

p.p.s.s.  You might  be asking “what does all this have to do with her book”?  First, I did eat Japanese-style at Japadog.  Second, you recall that loo I spoke about in the hotel?  Well, we visited the gift shop, bought a few pins, and while fishing for my wallet out fell a copy of Fly Catcher Boy.  Oh, dear, how did THAT get in my bag?  The Japanese staffer was interested; she looked inside and was impressed.  She gave me the card of the hotel store buyer/manager; I gave her mine.  Which hotel would this be?  The FAIRMONT Vancouver, of course.  A 4*+ chain all across Canada.  A hotel that Japanese tourists love, both in Vancouver and Banff/Lake Louise, Alberta.  Strategy, folks, strategy.

Vancouver 2010 crowds

Who's that snowboarder?

Art Gallery all wrapped up for 2010 Games