So, Uh, It's about that Time

1,000 days to go until the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics!  Hard to believe, I know, but you'll forever more be able to keep track thanks to the official countdown clock of the 2014 Winter Olympics, brought to you by OMEGA.

More interesting than clocks, of course, were the events that commenced across the country to mark the celebration:

The city of Sochi and the whole of Russia celebrated the milestone with a series of events and festivities under the banner of "The Marathon of 1000 Good Deeds". The main themes of the day were: the environment, healthy living, education, and culture.

Some of the events that took place were:

· "1000 Olympic Lessons" were held at schools in Moscow, Krasnodar, Khanty-Mansiysk and Novocherkassk.

· Moscow, St Petersburg, Omsk, Volgograd, Krasnodar and Novorossiysk hosted a sports festival called "A 1000-Metre Dash Towards the Olympic Games". On top of this, volunteers instigated a huge flash mob called "The Olympic Warm-Up", which saw thousands of people taking part. In Volgograd, the warm-up was led by Olympic champion weight-lifter Aleksey Petrov.

· A "Friendship between People" Festival was held in Moscow, Kazan and Tomsk, to reflect the cultural diversity among Russia's nationalities. Volunteers at Kazan State Technical University organized an immense hot-pot banquet with 1,000 national meals for the public to sample.

· In Tomsk the Sochi 2014 Anthem was performed by 1000 musicians from three combined orchestras.

· Krasnodar, Moscow, and Ufa launched a number of social initiatives for the elderly under the title of "1000 Smiles". In addition, a programme called the "1000 Children's Drawings on Asphalt" was organized, where streets were decorated in brightly-coloured drawings created by children taking part in the event.

· Environmental events and “green initiatives” were held in Vladivostok, Tver, Sochi, Pyatigorsk, and Arkhangelsk. Numerous trees were planted alongside the Olympic avenues, and flower beds were arranged in the figure of 1,000.

· The students from the Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University also climbed to the top of Mount Mashuk, which stands at a height of 1,000m, and cleared its slopes of litter. The students began their ascent of the mountain from five different starting-points, one for each of the Olympic rings. The event also saw the Sochi 2014 Flag planted on the very summit of Mount Mashuk.

So, what's your favorite event?  Personally, I really want to know what an Olympic flash mob looks like.  Did 1,000 people simultaneously pretend to throw a discus?  Also, always excited about the '1,000 Children's Drawings on Asphalt'...just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?  Sarcasm aside, I'm always interested the activities around the "Greenest Olympics Ever;" looks like the Russian authorities participated in their favorite activity to celebrate the countdown: arresting hooligans who stand in the way of progress.