I can't resist commenting on the Olympics a bit more since it is pretty much the only thing people want to talk about here now. And why not? They are off to a roaring start. This morning I woke up as usual to watch the news and found that I had stumbled upon an hour long preview to the women's ten meter air pistol competition. Who doesn't get fired up for that tense test of... precision... and discipline.
After China failed to medal spirits were down, everyone around here was hoping to "open red" as they say, meaning having a great and auspicious (you will find I use the word auspicious more than you could ever imagine after being here) beginning. But luckily the melancholy was short lived as a hero arrived on the scene in the form of 4'10"(this is my guess) Chen Xi Xia, who lifted the hell out of some weights and gave a thrill to all the spectators who stuck with the event over the 2-3 hours it was taking place.
This is what we have all been waiting for folks... the action never stops. Next up Fencing and the parallel bars!!
On a side note, after she won the medal the announcers were saying, "look folks, all the hard work paid off, 2 and a half years without going home to her family, and its all worth it now." I heard this an thought I had heard it wrong, I asked someone next to me, "did she really not go home for 2 and a half years?" They were like, "yeah, of course, all of the athletes are like that, the coaches don't want any distractions to take away their focus. Even the people in the opening ceremonies couldn't go home for three months straight, just three months of practice..." Huh, That is a healthy method. The thing I find the most interesting is talking with groups of people who, after watching this event(most of them watching it in their house, with their family), talk about how worth it it all was for Olympic glory. Maybe it was, I'll never know since I just put away half a container of Pringles while writing this.
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