Confusing Olympic cheer

I was wrong. On Saturday, the 8th day of the Olympics, Canada started winning medals. First day there were three: a gold, a silver and a bronze. Then the medal flood-gate opened for Canada and it's still pouring in, a few medals every day. We are a little shy on gold, but there's silver in abundance. Today alone there were three silvers and a bronze (silver: diving men 3m board, trampoline men, triathlon; bronze: athletics 100m hurdles women).

I already confessed to being crazy about sports. The Olympics, however, are emotionally confusing for me. I feel that I should be cheering for Croatia; after all, I spent more than half of my life there. My first memories, first love, first of everything I am today belongs there. Canada is my adopted homeland, and there are times when I feel that I don't quite belong here. When does a man start calling a foreign land his home? When does a foreign land stop being foreign? When he finds love, starts a family, finds friends? When he gets a job, buys a house? When he knows the names of the bars and restaurants in town? When he knows the names of the athletes competing for his country at the Olympics?

I read about the feats of the Croatian team at the Olympics: I don't recognize the names. The flag is familiar, but the faces are not. Even joy I should feel when they are victorious is just the excitement of an impartial observer: they are all strangers to me. When Canadians, on the other hand, hit the sports field, I straighten in the chair and grind my teeth as they struggle. I'm elated when they win and dejected when they lose. I recognize their faces even without the name tags, I know their stories, their injuries, their victories and losses. And, I admit, I know the lyrics of the anthem Oh Canada. Have I become a Canadian? Or am I just a well behaved guest here? I am not certain what the right answer is, but I know the Olympics are much more fun to watch when you have someone to cheer for. Go Canada!