The Best Curler in the World

Hello Everyone,

Tonight was a special night.  In Canada, and especially Newfoundland, Curling is a pretty big deal.  Canada consistently has the best team in the Olympics when it comes to curling, and the Canadians make sure that they have a free spot in there schedule when curling comes on the television during the Olympics.

Tonight was special for a couple of reasons:

1) I had the opportunity to get curling lessons at the local curling facility, which was amazing.  Next time curling is on in the Olympics and everyone is wandering what the heck the sport is and why it is considered an Olympic game, I will know why.  I'll know that everyone with a television up in Canada is passionately watching their team go for the gold.

2) I was able to meet one of the gold medalists on the 2006 Olympic Curling Team, Jamie Korab.  I've never even heard of the guy before, but everyone in Canada has!  He gave me a couple of pointers while I was "throwing the rock" and also let me hold his gold medal!

3) After my group had been practicing for a while, we challenged another team to a game and won.  To have the experience of curling is awesome to begin with, but to be able to win a game was the icing on the cake.

4) After the 2 hour session was over, I ended up sitting down and eating with Jamie's wife, and next thing I knew, she was asking me if I wanted a picture with the gold medal on!  This was so amazing.  The coolest part of it all is that when I first saw that Jamie would be there with his gold medal, I thought to myself, "how cool would that be if I could try it on."  I never would have thought that I'd actually get to wear it, and especially not without my asking.  Crazy.

                                                                

During our game, one of the opponents was talking to me and our coach about how he remembers exactly where he was when the 2006 Olympic  Curling Team won gold.  He said, "not to compare it's importance with 9/11, but  just like 9/11, I remember exactly what I was doing when..."  A couple of other people kind of jumped in and agreed with him.  This doesn't down play how the Canadians viewed 9/11, though.  They act as if 9/11 happened in their own country, to their friends and family, which is a good window into how caring the Canadians truly are.  Canadians were a huge help to many of the people on flights that had to get redirected because of what happened in New York.  Many Canadians opened the doors of their homes to let people stay with them that unexpectedly had no where to go.

On a side note:

Fall break is upon us here in Newfoundland, which means a break from school and a celebration of thanksgiving.  For the next few days, I, along with 13 other people will be heading out to Gros Morne National Park, which is on the west coast of Newfoundland.  Ever since I arrived here, people have been telling me that I must go out to Gros Morne, so I'm super excited to see this national park that people say is so beautiful. We will be renting a few cars, driving 8-9 hours across the island, arriving at our beach home for the break, and keeping our eyes peeled for the abundant and out of control moose population.

It's time to drop all of the stress of school and get back into the present moment again.  I can hardly wait!

When thoughts become reality.  Haha!

Resting with thanksgiving,

Benjamin