Woke up early this morning to attend Xuan's Citizenship ceremony. I've never been to one before. I wasn't sure what to expect. It started off a little sketchy. Our ride woke up with a really sore back and was unable to drive us there so we wound up hoofing it and we arrived on foot, out of breath and 10 minutes late. Thankfully, this is government bureaucracy at it's finest and they opened the doors 45 minutes late. After that it took another hour before they had all of the candidates checked in. The ceremony officially got under way close to noon.
It was a pretty light hearted event. Although it had it's fair share of pomp and circumstance the overall event wasn't as "official" as I had expected. As the ceremony progressed I became more and more proud to be Canadian. By the time Xuan got her certificate I was absolutely beaming. I'm so happy for her. It took so long to get this piece of paper. Over a year. Now she can get her passport and go see Mariela in Mexico.
We celebrated with some soup and sandwich and then home for a nap. The evening would be filled with Olympic coverage. Women's bobsled, women's speedskating and culminating with men's hockey against the super talented Russians. It was good showing by the Canadians tonight. Clara Hughes set a track record before being overtaken and winning a Bronze to close out her amazing Olympic career. The ladies finished 1 & 2 in the bobsled with an interesting backstory of two of the athletes, missing the podium last time around by 4/100ths of a second. Very happy for those girls. And the piece de resistance, the Candian men trouncing the Russians 7-3 in a contest that was supposed to be much closer and showcasing two of the best players in the world, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. The Russians were supposed to be more talented, better rested and favoured to win after getting a bye into the quarterfinals. The Canadians proved their mettle by shutting down Ovechkin, playing with more heart and more hustle than I've seen all tournament and were rewarded with a huge win. I think losing to the US was probably the best thing that happened to the Canadian squad. I think it really made them realize as much as hockey is "our game" the world has caught up and the parity of the international teams is much, much closer. We certainly always have a chance and certainly always considered one of the perennial favorites but victory is never a sure thing.
All in all, it was a great day as a Canadian. My friend became one and a great day at the Olympics for Canada.
It was a pretty light hearted event. Although it had it's fair share of pomp and circumstance the overall event wasn't as "official" as I had expected. As the ceremony progressed I became more and more proud to be Canadian. By the time Xuan got her certificate I was absolutely beaming. I'm so happy for her. It took so long to get this piece of paper. Over a year. Now she can get her passport and go see Mariela in Mexico.
We celebrated with some soup and sandwich and then home for a nap. The evening would be filled with Olympic coverage. Women's bobsled, women's speedskating and culminating with men's hockey against the super talented Russians. It was good showing by the Canadians tonight. Clara Hughes set a track record before being overtaken and winning a Bronze to close out her amazing Olympic career. The ladies finished 1 & 2 in the bobsled with an interesting backstory of two of the athletes, missing the podium last time around by 4/100ths of a second. Very happy for those girls. And the piece de resistance, the Candian men trouncing the Russians 7-3 in a contest that was supposed to be much closer and showcasing two of the best players in the world, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. The Russians were supposed to be more talented, better rested and favoured to win after getting a bye into the quarterfinals. The Canadians proved their mettle by shutting down Ovechkin, playing with more heart and more hustle than I've seen all tournament and were rewarded with a huge win. I think losing to the US was probably the best thing that happened to the Canadian squad. I think it really made them realize as much as hockey is "our game" the world has caught up and the parity of the international teams is much, much closer. We certainly always have a chance and certainly always considered one of the perennial favorites but victory is never a sure thing.
All in all, it was a great day as a Canadian. My friend became one and a great day at the Olympics for Canada.
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