On Sunday my 5-year-old Hannah and I attended the Closing Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. To get the tickets, I entered into the Canadian ticket lottery last year. You could request tickets to events, and back-up events, too. They tabulated all of the requests, and when demand exceeded supply, they used a random drawing. I requested tickets to the Opening Ceremonies and short track speed skating. My back-up events were the Closing Ceremonies and another short track speed skating event.

I chose short-track because my husband Jon was working at that venue. The speed skating events were short, so they seemed like a good choice for kids, and I assumed there wouldn’t be much demand for them. I was wrong – short track tickets were the 3rd most requested after men’s hockey and the Opening Ceremonies, and I didn’t luck out. But the Closing Ceremonies were a pretty amazing score, even in the nosebleed seats that I could barely afford.

I decided to take my daughter Hannah because Jon was sort of Olympic-ed out by the time the Games ended, and he wanted a chance to stay home. So Jon and 18-month-old Jacob got some quality time together and Hannah and I headed out on our own.

Hannah and I waiting for the SkyTrain

As it happens, we left the house about 3 minutes after the Canadian men’s hockey team won Olympic Gold. This was huge, I’m not sure that I can even say how huge it was. On our train ride downtown more revelers got on at every stop. I quickly picked up on the rule that when someone boards the SkyTrain decked out in a Canadian flag, or like a Canadian flag, or wearing a Team Canada sweater, everyone on the train has to cheer and clap and yell things like, “Gold, baby! YEAH!” That train was filled to bursting with national pride, so much that we spontaneously broke out into ‘O Canada’ at one point.

Our destination, BC Place, is right next door to General Motors Canada Hockey Place, where the gold medal game took place, and they share a SkyTrain station. When we got off there were big crowds milling around, cheering and carrying on and generally celebrating the win. It was fairly good-natured, and at just 4pm I don’t think anyone was too drunk (yet). I high-fived several strangers on my walk to BC Place. How could you not?

Canadian hockey fans high-fiving passersby after the gold medal win

The trip to the stadium was smoother than I expected. We got through security no problem, and there was a bit of a back-up waiting to get up to the main entrance, but it wasn’t awful. Luckily, Hannah was pretty patient and good-natured about the whole thing.

Hannah was very good-natured about all the walking and waiting

Waiting in the crowd outside BC Place

We made it to our seats with time to spare. We all received audience participation kits, which contained various props to help with the show. There were snazzy ponchos so that they could project images on to us, moose antlers, snow globes and big coloured paper cards. For the hour before the ceremony started there was a pre-ceremony show with periodic interruptions so that we could practice our roles. And then during the show there were audience leaders in the stands showing us what to do.

My audience participation kit, made just for me

It was pretty cool to be there, I must say. I didn’t get emotional as I expected I would, partly because Hannah kept interrupting the action to share a choice tidbit about her friend at school or complain about the noise level. She’s 5, it’s what she does. And then she sobbed for 7 minutes straight when they extinguished the flame, and that was no fun. But on the whole she enjoyed herself immensely, and I was glad to have her with me. I hope that it turns into a great memory that lasts her a long time.

The ceremonies begin

Being in the middle of the Olympics was a pretty surreal experience. I’m really glad I got to have it, because I won’t get another shot in my lifetime. Plus, now I have a snazzy poncho to wear around the house. What’s not to love about that?

Modeling the cool new wardrobe options that came in my audience participation kit

I’ve mentioned a few times that my husband, the fabulous Jon, is working with the Olympics. He is working for Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) at the Pacific Coliseum, which is where Short Track Speed Skating and Figure Skating are being held. His job mostly consists of rolling re-plays after the action has finished. He does slow motion, so if you see a figure skating lift creep across your screen, Jon made it happen. International broadcasters, like CTV and NBC, pick up the OBS feed and then add commentary and some of their own footage, but the majority of coverage everywhere in the world comes from OBS.

The job is 18 days in a row, but most days aren’t awful. Jon generally leaves the house in the early afternoon and comes home in the evening after the kids are in bed. In contrast, most of his co-workers traveled from Ontario or Quebec to be here. This is probably the easiest way to cover the Olympics ever, driving to the hotel where his co-workers are staying and catching the shuttle with them every day, but still being on hand to help me take the kids to the doctor.

With his media credentials, Jon also has access to the Main Media Centre at Canada Place, and was able to get in to visit some of his friends that are working at the International Broadcast Centre where the TV studios for the international television rights-holders are located. He also spent some time wandering downtown, in the middle of the Olympic fun.

I have considered taking the children down to soak it in, but the idea of bringing 18-month-old Jacob, in particular, doesn’t appeal to me. Hannah and I will be attending the Closing Ceremonies on Sunday, so she and I will have our Olympic experience then. In the meantime, I am living vicariously through my husband.

International Broadcast Centre, exterior

International Broadcast Centre, interior

Main Media Centre, exterior

Main Media Centre, interior

Jon poses with the Olympic cauldron

Olympic rings in the water off of Stanley Park

Crowds in downtown Vancouver

Jon’s seat for the Olympics

Incidentally, Jon took these photos on Monday, February 22, which was also the day when Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold medal in ice dance. Jon got to be there to see our Canadian skaters receive their gold medals – lucky, lucky man!

PS – Have you read the posts from yesterday’s link-up? They’re great! And one is in French, which makes me feel very exotic and international. Oh la la!