I am sure that most of you have been watching the opening ceremonies so I don't need to write about the cool visual effects or the giant bear that came out of the floor of the stadium.

The obvious underlying message of today was to poke Americans in the eye for the way they act in this world. We have always done this and we always will do this. Anyone who has been to Canada can tell the difference right away.

Most of the show was talking about how people from any origin or country can live together happily in Canada. The USA segregates their immigrants and Sweden is somewhere between the two. I can't answer the question of how we became this way but it could be due to the French. As you may know, Québec, a province on the eastern side, threatened to separate from Canada in the 70s unless they became recognized as a minority group in the country. Since then, they have continued to argue in government for this recognition. During the 80s, Canada changed their immigration policies to allow more people to come in. Since we only have 33 million, one would think that there is lots of room for more people. But one has to think whether this openness started because of Québec. Sort of like this...if we recognize Québec we recognize everyone else.

So what about nature? Well, around Toronto where I grew up there are 10 million people to share nature with. Det går inte. Sure you can find little green areas around to go for a walk in the 'forest' but nothing like what is next to me here in Göteborg. Nature depends on where you are. In the Rockies, of course you will be impressed.

If you have any Canada questions, just ask. You can even email them to hejchris2 @ gmail.com if you do not want to comment.

Even if the flame lighting didn't go quite like the planned, it was still a good show. And I really appreciate that they left out Celine Dion...