Post-Olympics

That’s it! The reading week has passed, the Olympics are done… I really miss all the time I had for myself. The hardest part is to sit down in class knowing my break really rocked.

On the break, I took advantage of the free concerts that happened around the city. It was good to be exposed to so many Canadian artists and bands, and especially to the ones I already knew but never realized they were from Canada! Though I planned on going to every single gig, I actually only went to only one: Our Lady Peace @ the Ozone. New happenings I’ve been interested in because of these Olympic gatherings are Mother Mother, Mariana’s Trench, Ryan Dahle, Hey Rosetta! and many many more. Hey, and Canada rocks, officially, with the new gold medal record! I watched the last Canada versus USA came at Steamworks.

I was watching Patrick Chan at his semi-finals on TV when my family and I started to contemplate on the nationality of a person and to what pride they belong to. We laughed, we questioned each other, and we all sort of knew what the other would say… even though at that moment I couldn’t feel good about any of the options. Basically, if I were an Olympic athlete, which country would I represent? Canada, China, or Taiwan? To my parents that have lived a little over half their life in Vancouver, they’ve already committed as Canadians and call this place home. If they were to represent, China would be first because of “economic and democratic” reasons. Something about letting China have their time to shine while they move up the ladder. If the Chinese team sucked and needed as much talent as possible, they would consider giving a ‘helping hand’.

However I think China has already been on fire lately. To a place like Canada, the majority of this place is top-notch, and First World, and satisfied. To win a gold medal here is pride but most of all for self-worth. To win it there, is flying home, getting free cars and homes and other privileges, and being an extreme national hero, and like.. no questions asked. Just shining like gold.

To me, I couldn’t really say. If it was about appreciation, I’d say Canada… but that doesn’t work as the only factor. This is the problem I face: I have very little clarity of how much pride I possess over the country that mothered me, or my bloodline country. It comments on my process of growth which largely consists of exploring culture, because I can’t help but want to define myself. I’ve been thinking that defining is tiring, and it can be very unnecessary when I strain myself with loads of questions that never truly will be answered. And what is a fact, what is a truth? Aren’t they all just suggestions made my other people that turned into the truth?

Mother Mother in Vancouver

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