Olympic Games

Sochi 2014 Olympics

Leave a Comment / Family Memories, One Room Schoolhouse / , ,

sochi

Warning: Parents, please preview all links provided to ensure they are suitable for your family’s viewing.

The Sochi 2014 Olympics completely snuck up on me and now they are all over the news. We are not a sports crazy family, but we enjoy watching the Olympics. I have some heartstrings tied to Russia because I lived there for several months, many years ago (before marriage and children). Russia will always have a special place in my heart.

Opening Ceremonies

Depending on where you live, you may be able to watching the opening ceremonies here:

Sochi 2014 Olympics – Opening Ceremonies

Hiccups to the Games

Some of the things people are complaining about don’t seem that unusual to me (because I lived there, not in Sochi, but in St. Petersburg) and they bring back fond (often humorous memories) and prompt discussions with Jonah and the kids.

Toilets

There were a few complaints about people having to share a toilet room with 2 toilets, which is certainly something we are not used to in Canada (or the USA). When I was there, some of the public bathrooms only had holes in the ground and no toilets. Other bathrooms had scary toilets and no seats. Even if a bathroom had a toilet and a seat, I was warned never to sit directly on the seat because of disease.

Water

When I lived in St. Petersburg, I was warned that I should not drink the water without boiling it first. It always looked yellow. Hot water was another curious thing while I was there. Hot water was centrally heated and turned on and off at will (and you never really felt clean after a hot shower or bath).

Road Safety

When I lived in Russia, the roads were riddled with potholes you had to swerve around, and the military stood in almost every intersection. If the lights turned red while you were travelling through the intersection you had to stop where you were and the other cars would drive around you. (Let me just say, I was always a passenger and never a driver).

Internet Safety

Personally, I would not assume that my data was safe if I went to Russia. When I was in Russia, I had to order my long distance phone call 3 days in advance and an operator listened to my calls.

Venue Safety

There have been some questions regarding the safety of the Venues in Sochi. I am praying that there are no serious injuries or deaths due to unsafe venues. If the the hotel construction and other issues that are occurring are any indication, then hopefully my fears won’t be justified.

Other Resources

Joannie Rochette Wins Bronze!

1 Comment / Family, One Room Schoolhouse / , , , , , , , , , ,

We have been following some of the 2010 Olympic Games on television. We are not really “into” sports around here, but we got some Olympic fever when we watched the Opening Ceremonies. Instead of read alouds we have been watching the 2010 Olympic Games in the evenings.

Tonight, as the kids were falling asleep on the couch and the floor, ladies figure skating came on.  We had not seen much figure skating yet and settled in for an evening of dancing on ice. It was amazing (and heart wrenching too).

The commentators were discussing Joannie Rochette and how her mother passed away earlier this week. As I watched her skate tonight, I couldn’t even imagine the courage it took to press through the grief and push through all of those emotions and bring home a medal for Canada. Amazing. Simply amazing!

If you have not heard about Joannie Rochette, you can catch up on the rest of the story at the following links:

If you want to show your support (or send a card) to Joannie and her family, you can check out these links to get in contact with her:

Have you been following the 2010 Winter Olympics? Do you have a favorite moment?

More Olympic Fun

1 Comment / One Room Schoolhouse / , , , , , , , ,

We have been watching the Olympics and quite enjoying it. It has been very interesting watching sports that we have never seen before. I know we are in Canada, but many of these sports are unfamiliar to me.

It all started with bringing the television up from the basement and hooking it up to the cable that has been sitting there unused for almost a year. We watched the Opening Ceremonies as a family (with grandma and grandma too) and enjoyed it.

In an earlier post (Let The Games Begin), I gave more information about the actual Olympic Games.

Today, one of my readers alerted me to this really cute page about The Quatchi Kid. It is a very creative facebook page about “The epic journey of the Quatchi Kid’s search for his long lost brother, Big Quatchi.” The quote is from the facebook page. Just a little bit of Olympic fun.

When I was viewing the above page, I found Quatchi Watch.  This page shows random images of Quatchi, in all of its various forms (cartoon, costume, artwork, etc). It was a very cute page to view. More Olympic fun.

Do you have a link or resource to some Olympic fun?

Scroll to Top