U-S-A!! U-S-A!! U-S-A!!

Hi there, remember me?  Life's been busy these past few months; the blog was the first to get neglected....sorry.


So - after 21 months of life in Malawi sans TV, we finally bit the bullet and invested in cable for one reason and one reason only:  THE OLYMPICS!  I absolutely adore the Olympics; there's just something magical about them!


Victory, defeat, heartbreak, joy, sweat, tears....seriously, what's not to like?


It's fascinating watching the Olympics from abroad.  I always knew that coverage in the US was very US-centric, but I did not know that the "Olympic music" (aka the music that I 100% associate with the Olympics) is purely an NBC thing and is not an Olympics thing.  Who knew?


Some other things that are worth mentioning:

• For the most part, I'm able to watch things live/real-time. (Awesome)
• But...I can't talk about it with any of my friends at home since they're all waiting to watch on tape delay (Not-so-awesome)
• The commentary is very different - different people and different content/overall coverage (Not awesome, but not not-so-awesome either)
• Olympic coverage here is quite extensive.  On Sunday, women's gymnastics qualifier rounds were on for a total of 10 hours.  TEN HOURS!  And I got to see athletes from countries other than just the gold-medal contenders.  (Awesome)
• There aren't any commercials during Olympic coverage (Awesome)
• There also aren't any fluff pieces during Olympic coverage (at first, I thought was awesome; now I think it is not-so-awesome.  How can I connect with that random archer/fencer/volleyballer/rower if I don't know about the incredible obstacles he/she had to overcome en route to the Olympics???)
• If my friends here are any indication, it doesn't appear that other countries are nearly as patriotic (or obsessed with winning) as the US.  (Interesting)

It has been fun watching bits and pieces here and there.  B and I will actually be stateside for the last few days of the Olympics so maybe I'll get my American fix of the games after all?