We win.

Just a quick shout out to my homeland. Congratulations, America! You won the Olympics! 

China was making me nervous there for a bit, but you pulled through.

Go team go.

Wednesday randoms (that have to do with London 2012).

As it's Wednesday, I've decided to briefly tear myself away from the BBC Olympics website (it's where I've been spending most of my free time lately) to post a couple of randoms.

Oh, Ryan Lochte. You're a great swimmer, which is why we can forgive you for this. But next time, let's leave the attempts at stringing words together to form coherent sentences to someone else, okay big guy? It's just better for everyone.

Olympic memes are taking over the Internet right now. But my two favs so far are McKayla is not impressed and One is not amused.

Brilliant idea: Since there's really no way for us non-Olympians to wrap our minds around just how incredible these athletes are when they're competing against other incredible athletes, they should have a regular person participating in each event. That way, we can better understand just how much stronger, faster, and more talented these people really are compared to the rest of us. Even some kind of a "normal human" marker (similar to the world record lines that they show during the coverage of swimming or track and field events) would do. That'd give us some perspective.

Speaking of track and field, if you ask someone about that here, you'll just get blank stares. Here, it's called the athletics. Which is kind of confusing, because I was under the impression that, this being the Olympics and all, pretty much every event was athletic...

Meet Boris Johnson, the mayor of London. He's a legend. The other day, he got stuck on a zip line in Victoria Park. He also did this once.

I got this in the mail yesterday, which means I'm finally able to cheer on my 'Mericans properly.

Ask any American to sing you the Olympics theme song, and they'll give you their own rendition of this. But did you know that it isn't associated with the Olympics anywhere else but the US? Because they don't play it during their coverage here, and hardly anyone I know has heard of it. Crazy.

Anyway, that's all for me. Happy Olympics!

Wednesday randoms - Olympics edition.

Happy August! Yeah, it's August...already. I know I say that like every month, but it's crazy to think that I've been living abroad for almost 11 months now.

I'm starting to really dislike NBC's prime time tyranny, because it severely limits my freedom to post about the outcome of Olympic events. I get excited watching the US women's gymnastics team win the all around team competition, and start to give them a Twitter shout out...then I realize no one at home (aka 90% of my Twitter followers) haven't seen it yet, and I don't want to ruin it for them. Lame.

Guess who got to hold an Olympic torch. That's right. This girl.

If you're here for the Olympics, or just planning to visit. Here are some good tips on how to blend in.

I was so so so excited to see the US women completely rock the team final (as in, I may have gotten teary-eyed). They were really incredible. It's especially fun, because the last time the US won gold in the event was at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and I was there. Now, I'm here in London and they win again. I think I'm good luck. How about an honorary gold medal, ladies?

Speaking of gymnastics, You've probably already seen this video, as it's kind of exploded onto the scene recently. But it's maybe the funniest Olympics vid yet...

Still on that topic (can you tell which Olympic sport has my heart?), I feel like beam mounts used to be so much more creative. These days, they just hop up and start their routines, but I remember when the mount used to be a major part of the routine. Can we bring that back, ladies?

This also made me laugh. She's just so cute, bless her. And I'm sure I'd be making those faces too if I were made to stay up past midnight at 86 years old.

Did anyone watch the men's beach volleyball game between the US and South Africa? One of the South African guys was named "Freedom," so of course we joked about how it was the US vs. Freedom. And when the US won, there was plenty said about how Freedom didn't stand a chance against the US, and how we destroyed/defeated Freedom. It got pretty ridiculous, but it sure was fun.

Found this article about the medals race between US and China, and definitely laughed out loud. 

That's all for this week. Hope you're enjoying London 2012 as much as I am!
  

On your mark, get set...

Here's a fun story from the Tube this morning. 

Right before a train leaves, an announcement will be made. "Please stand clear of the doors. This train is ready to depart." This happens every time any train leaves any platform, and it's always exactly the same.

So imagine my surprise today when this announcement came over the speakers: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Underground Olympic train races. Please stand clear of the doors, because the race is about to begin. Drivers, take your marks. Get set...go!"

And we were off. Everyone was smiling -- a rare occurrence during rush hour in Central London.

It was a nice little moment during an otherwise mundane commute. 

  

Olympic cyclists: blink & you'll miss em.

The cycling came right through Kingston today, so of course we had to go see it. We got there plenty early, and spent an hour or so watching official-looking guys walk up and down the road, telling people to stay on the sidewalk, as the cyclists could be there at any minute. Every so often, a non Olympic cyclist would pedal by, and the crowd would cheer and laugh.

We knew they were close when we saw the helicopter circling overhead. Everyone got really excited.

And then this is what we saw:

  

 

  

We were so close to the athletes. There were two groups (that video is of the first), and they were going crazy fast. It was pretty incredible how close together they all were -- one little mistake would surely cause the whole group to go down.

  

And it did, apparently. About five minutes after they passed us. Crazy.

Also, Chris Froome of Great Britain was lagging way behind (at least, we think that was him). Not sure why. But he got a huge applause when he finally came through.

   

  

Anyway, after they passed by, we booked it to a nearby pub to watch the rest of the race. And even though neither the US nor Great Britain medaled, it was still so fun! Our first Olympic event! And then we came home and gathered round the computer screens to watch other events for about six more hours. (Sidenote: Handball! What the heck?!) 

  

All in all, a great day.

 

Let the games begin.

When I first got here last September, I took this picture:

At that point, the Olympics seemed forever away. But all of the sudden, this has happened:

Zero days. Can you believe it? They're here! The opening ceremony is tonight. And even though I'm not venturing into Central to watch it (tickets for Hyde Park tonight are £60, and that's just not going to happen), I'm excited to be here, nonetheless.

Get excited, world. It's time for London 2012. 

(Oh, and go USA!)

 

Olympics, round two.

I was 8 years old when my family went to the Olympics in Atlanta. My memories are a bit fuzzy, but a few stand out: getting to see the women's gymnastics (that was the year the US won gold), playing in the Centennial Olympic Park fountains, the debut of Dippin' Dots (it was supposed to be the ice cream of the future, remember?), and going to see the torch as it made its way to the stadium.

That was in 1996.

Who would have thought that 16 years later, I'd get the chance to do Olympics, round two?

Ladies and gentlemen, get excited for London 2012.

I know I am.