Sochi Opening Ceremonies

Chicken Kiev verdict – It’s super yummy to eat but rather messy and involved to make. We probably won’t add it to the regular rotation but we’ll definitely do it again.

I love that the ceremony was indoors so the island nations could wear shorts and flip-flops. As for the US outfits, they weren’t the best looking ones. But what I want to know is who spends $245 on a turtleneck and $165 for fleece pants? I have $10 fleece pajama pants. The coats the Russian women wore were nice though. And while everyone keeps saying the German outfits were a political statement, the Germans have said they are not and they didn’t look like rainbows to me.

I really liked the way they projected an image of the country on the ground as the athletes went in. And seeing the former Soviet republics walking in was neat. I love the athletes that are the only representative of their country.

Go Heidi Kloser! She had to come in on crutches but she still came. And go unnamed fellow athlete who pushed her in the wheelchair when the crutches got too much.

I served my mission in Brasil. The mission home was in a section of town settled by Ukrainian immigrants. While I was serving in that area they had a heritage festival and I was able to attend and learn a bit about Ukrainian history from my mission mom, who studied Russian history. What are the odds! Watching the opening ceremonies I wished I’d been sitting next to her so she could explain it better than the US commentators who often just said, “this will mean nothing to you but it means a lot to the Russians and they will recognize it instantly.” Okay then, explain it to us. What are we missing? And they should be ashamed of themselves for calling St. Basil’s Cathedral the “Candy Land of Russia.”

The problem I’m going to have with the Olympics this time – Iddo’s bedtime is right in the middle of the broadcast. Brett handles the bulk of the bedtime routine but I still ran in at one point to help lay out the nighttime diaper and her pajamas and said “I need to hurry. It’s the Russian revolution. It’s going to get ugly. And I want to see how they portray it with ballerinas.” Which made Brett laugh. The irony was lost on Iddo. I’m glad they accepted and portrayed the ugly parts of their history though (for the most part). I did have to miss a half hour for her bedtime snack. Still made it back for the torch and the lighting of the cauldron.

Go Jamaica!