The torch just went out in the Olympic Park in Sochi, and I'm really, really sad. Mostly because I know I won't have as much fun as we had for another 4 years, but I'm also sad that something we've been planning ever since we left London in August 2012 is over! We'll be even MORE prepared in Korea!
I'm planning to post a video with all of our photos soon, so watch out for that!
In the meantime, I'd like to hand out some awards and recognize some great quotes:
Favorite Event: Snowboard Cross. It was so exciting when they would all pop up over the last hill, and all the crashes and races made it fabulous. I'm definitely getting tickets to as many "races" as possible at our next games.
Favorite app: Sorry Sochi 2014, you're close second, but the translator app all the Russkies were using to communicate with us wins. Questions about "molesting" us and other hilarity I SHOULD have photographed made for much better laughs.
Favorite Foreign Fans: The Russians. They cheer in a lower voice. They want to be best friends with USA! They were the ONLY country to party with us when biathlon got cancelled! (Vincent, too, but it's possible we held him hostage). The Aussies take a close second for me. Every person we met was friendly, chatty, and they cheered for us sometimes (Canada, take note! You can redeem yourself in Korea!)
Favorite Christenson Sister: Lara. She tried to stay with me when they were taking me away in an ambulance. I gave her noravirus and she forgave me. She woke up early with me every day, no matter what time we got to bed, to make it to events on time so that we didn't miss a minute of the precious time we'd been purchasing tickets for over the past year. She napped with me on the train. She forgave me for dropping her cowbell into oblivion when we still had events left. I love my sister.
Favorite American fans: Ben and Heather. They were on their HONEYMOON. Who needs Sandals when you can drink beer at "halftime" for Super Combined with other Big Ten grads, do snuff, have a "photo shoot" at Austria House, and get free tickets for Ski Jump that night? We'll see you crazy kids in Korea!
Favorite Olympic Athlete: Mikaela Shiffrin. USA had a hard Olympics from a medal perspective, so her teenage optimism was refreshing and she never gave up hope!
Favorite kids: Russian kids, duh. They're awesome. They never whine, they behave like little angels (even in MUSEUMS), and they adorably don't smile in photos. Individual award: The Australian kid who "went for the Colts", had the biggest toothy grin, and agreed that he was the luckiest kid in the world. The worst was the kid from NYC who had been on the Today show, came with his dad and was going to all kinds of events, and when I suggested HE was the luckiest kid in the world, he said "Why?". Wrong answer, bucko. Gulag for you.
Favorite conversation overheard: Russians telling a Czech that Obama had pushed propaganda into the American media about not coming to the Olympic games, and that's why there weren't many Americans there. It sounded a lot like the stuff you hear our media saying about Putin, so it was pretty funny.
Favorite mascot: I have to agree with Putin, the snow leopard was the coolest.
Some fun quotes:
"It's the Notre Dame of the world"--Lara, on no one cheering for China
"You're a lesbian"--Russian guy's answer when we asked him if he knew what the rainbow ribbon around my cowboy hat meant. We tried to tell him it meant I was a supporter, but he was really non-chalant about it anyway. None of the 30+ Russians we took photos with that night had a problem with it.
"No more 8's??"--Heather, on the lack of her favorite beer. 8 was wheat beer, 7 was lager, 0 was ALCOHOL FREE. They always had plenty of those, but ran out of lots of things pretty regularly. Especially during "halftime" of super combined.
"So washing hands after the bathroom is an American thing?" ---Lara, on the Russian propensity to NEVER wash their hands in the ladies room. It was weird. They seemed to be doing it in Moscow, so maybe it's only at sporting events?
"Russia is like kryponite for Americans"--Jessica after every American fell at half-pipe
"What's with the slow motion of him eating an apple? Is it for the ladies?"--Lara. For some reason, on Valentine's Day, they were showing slow motion videos of the skiers eating apples and bananas on the big screen. It was ODD. And awkward.
I'm going to miss our Russian brothers, they were the best hosts to us. I'll never forget our time in Sochi, and the bar is set very high for Korea! Can't wait to bring you all there with us!
Jessica
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