What is not being seen on TV coverage of the Olympics is also worth appreciating. The side stories that are making up this adventure are a worth a some retelling. To name my top 10:
1. Protests and silent protests-Lots of Vancouverites who refuse to watch the games due to its impacts on the homefront
2. General cacophony - the overall acoustic outcome of having over 200, 000 visitors come from all over the world into tiny Vancouver. The linguistic outcome of this, mixed with patriotic upheaval in those their native language can be a sonic journey.
3. Coffee culture - people grounding themselves in a cup of joe is worldwide phenomenon. When people are away from home on an adventure like this, what is that feeling they get when they sip a good Vancouver coffee? You know, that feeling of the first sip of the perfect coffee in a far away land? It's incredible, even if you are homesick, coffee relinquishes a sense of homefulness instaneously, if only momentarily.
4. High Fives - The high five hardly remains a gesture limited to the sport stadium. It is a gesture we use to communicate a collapse of the ego for one split second in time. The "clap" sends equal shivers and shockwaves of enthusiasm down the bodies of the people involved, a bridge if you will, between souls. Now imagine this happening by the thousands, every hour and minute here in Vancouver....between strangers! Imagine you had a giant ear that could hear all of them once?
5. Red - I would generally regard red as a fairly intense colour. Deep red is even more intense. Now consider that most of the merchandise available is that deep patriotic red copious like blood in the body and that every fourth person I come across here is draped in redness., However there does seem to be a scarcity of these collector gloves
http://blushstopshere.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/2010-red-mittens-flying-off-the-shelves/).
6. Tent City - A makeshift city of tents was devised near the downtown core to to show the solidarity of the homeless in Vancouver. The hundreds who stayed there were all housed in small tents and given access to clean water, food and sanitizing stations.
7. Helicopters - lots of them over Vancouver. Doing what helicopters do:being noisy, invasive and sometimes good in times of emergency (case in point, did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci is credited with the first helicopter blueprints
http://www.livescience.com/history/davinci_bestideas_top10-1.html)
8. National Anthem spontaneous outburts - about 12 Canadian national anthems heard a day on the streets can be a little much considering the alcohol usually associated, and the fact that no one seems to sing the Quebecois version
9. Amateur Photographers: everywhere! With the advent of affordable digital SLRs comes the inevitable tabloid effect. Everything is being photographed here.
10. Dancing in the Street: Spontaneous outbursts of kinesthetic enthusiasm and flash mobs that involve dance are a good thing (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzVuLTPYtk4)
