Here am I. Send me!: Sochi 2014

Confession: I'm an Olympics addict! I love them. I love hearing the stories, watching athletes put everything they have physically, mentally, and emotionally into their sports, and I love the fact that the world comes together in peace to celebrate and cheer on the best of the best in each sport from around the world. I love watching the traditional and main sports as well as the more obscure ones. I love hearing about and watching the torch relay and the opening ceremonies. I just love the Olympics.

I know this love begins with my parents. They watch the Olympics every time and introduced us to them through that. I remember hearing about and knowing about Olympics prior to 1996. However, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics sealed the deal for me. I will forever love the Olympics because I got to personally experience the Olympics! I didn't know how rare an opportunity it was at the time. I knew it was special and a once-in-a-lifetime experience but I just didn't understand how they only come every 4 years (or 2 if you watch both winter and summer like I do) and are held throughout the world and that it is very difficult to win a bid to host the Olympics. It was a special time and I remember so much about that time.

My mom had the incredible opportunity to carry the Olympic torch in our town as it made its way to Atlanta in 1996. I remember having to get up really early that morning but it was worth it. It was an incredible memory for me. The Australian rowing team also stayed in my town practicing on our lake prior to the Olympics. I'm pretty sure they were the first Australians that I ever met. And then the Olympics started and my parents worked hard to make sure we got to attend some events. We also went to Centennial Olympic Park to experience the atmosphere surrounding the games as well. It was a special time and I was hooked.

This year the torch relay made some incredible trips!

Well since then I have kept up with all of the summer games extensively and watched and followed somewhat each of the winter games. But I've also had the rare opportunity to be around another country preparing for the Olympics as well. I lived in Hong Kong in the 3 years prior to the Beijing games. I actually moved back to America right about 2 months before the games began in Beijing. I watched the building of the stables for the Equestrian competitions in Hong Kong, saw the banners posted prior to the Olympics, and even got to experience a second torch relay as it made its way through Hong Kong on its way to Beijing. I even met another torch bearer and got to hold the Olympic torch that she used. I wish I could have attended those games because they seemed incredible and were a special time for China in particular. However, I loved experiences the building up as well.

I also spent a few days in Chicago on the exact same weekend that the IOC was there visiting when Chicago was making a bid for the 2016 Summer Games. I saw all of their banners and the excitement that comes with the possibility of hosting the world for such a special event.

And then I found out a few weeks ago as people were preparing for the Sochi Winter Games that in 2018 South Korea will be hosting the Winter Games. I am so excited and seriously considering staying the 4 years here so I can attend and be part of the games here! I can't wait to hear more and more about the upcoming games in PyeongChang.

Like I said, I'm an Olympics addict. And this year I get another unique Olympic experience. I get to watch the Olympics in Korean. The 2006 Turin Winter Games happened while I was in Hong Kong but I wasn't able to find a lot of coverage on the games. I also didn't follow the Winter Olympics as much at that time as I do know. But this is just different. I have absolutely no clue what the commentators are saying. I actually put it on mute a lot of the time and just watch. Thankfully when they post the results the names are usually in English and I can figure out a lot just from the flags and uniforms of the competitors. I'm also ahead of Sochi so I get to watch a lot of events live. I also feel like Korea just shows all of the competitors. They obviously talk more about Korean competitors but they seem to show all equally. They just show as much of not all of the events being shown. Now, I have yet to see hockey and its not a big sport here so its probably that they don't show it. However, I've been able to see a lot including the Opening Ceremonies. I love it!

One of my favorite parts of each Opening Ceremony is watching them bring in the Olympic flag and raise it. To me is a clear symbol of the world coming together. We are all represented by the one flag.

So below is my observations from the Sochi Opening Ceremonies as well as some pictures I took of my TV during the opening ceremonies :) I'm excited that I can watch them at all. I also watch some of the live feeds on NBC. (My apologies for the terrible quality of the pictures but its the best I can do when taking pictures of the TV screen.)

Observation 1: There was very little Korean commentary throughout the opening ceremonies. Sometimes they would pop up a box with Korean that I assumed was explaining what was happening but for the most part they didn't really talk about what was happening. Instead you just got to enjoy the show that Russia was putting on.

Observation 2: It's different not having a clue of what is happening. My knowledge of what is happening is severally limited because I don't know Korean. However, my skills of observation seem to increase the longer that I am here and I've been able to put together a lot of information that way for the Olympics and even on a more daily basis while at work.

Observation 3: I liked the simplicity of the lighting of the torch. I love when they are unique and spectaular (think shooting a flaming arrow into a ring of natural gas to light the caldron), but I also love the simplicity. Mostly I just like the torch relay and the lighting of the caldron. There is just something amazing to me to realize they take the flame from Greece around the world to the opening of the games peacefully. It connects the world and allows personal experiences for many that will never attend the Olympics. As you can tell from the number of pictures below, I really love this part :)

I love that the people who performed in the Opening Ceremonies got to see the torch and be part of the lighting. They were spectators as much as they were participants in the Opening Ceremonies.