Postcard shows the evening view of downtown Vancouver and the  north shore of False Creek. It must have been a lovely, lovely sight and I envy Bora for being there at the height of the Winter Olympics. Bora is a Cambodian student in the US and had traveled to Canada during his break to get a glimpse of the Olympics. He was my officemate, first at the local environment NGO ABE (Association of Buddhists for Environment), and for the second time at the IDRC's iREACH Project (Informatics for Rural Empowerment and Community Health). He left iREACH to two years ago to pursue a masters degree in the US and haven't been back since then but never fails to send me emails and postcards from time to time.

Bora is such a sweet kid, always helpful and his smile and energy is contagious, unlike one boy I knew way back when I was in Bora's age. This boy was very mean to me and called me names behind my back. I don't know, perhaps because I was a pimply girl and I was being teased to him. At that time, there was no internet yet to turn to so finding the best acne treatment was hard to do. Anyways, I didn't see this boy after our graduation and I went on to work in a television station. I managed to keep the problem at bay and, luckily for me, one of the perks about working in television is that you get an "image make-over" for free. One of the programs I was working in had a cosmetic clinic and hair salon for sponsors and I was given free facial and hair treatments. It did work its wonders on me. I hadn't forgotten the mean things this boy did so when I met him not long ago, I totally snubbed him. Served him right! *lol*

Enough of my teenage drama, let's go back to the stamps. There was only one stamp used:

The illustration on the left is not a stamp but one of the emblems of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games printed on the postcard itself (it's printed on the postcard, although it was also issued as a permanent domestic rate stamp) . The figure is a contemporary interpretation of the Inukshuk, a traditional Inuit sculpture that is said to provide guidance to travelers. On the right side is the stamp featuring Quatchi, one of the three mascots at the Vancouver Games. Quatchi here is a shy, adventurous sasquatch and plays hockey on this international rate stamp. Isn't Quatchi adorable? I want a Quatchi doll now! I was able to watch the opening and closing ceremonies and some skating events on television and I must say that so many years may have passed and yet the excitement and grandeur of the Olympic games have remained unrivaled. Don't you think so?