One of the first things that was said to us when we arrived here was, "cherish the sun." I like the sun anyway, but after the intermittent drizzling that I am sure will only get worse, truly sunny days are something to be cherished. I woke up early on Tuesday morning to this.
This is the view out of my window in both directions. Those boats are canal boats, and people live in them. They roam all over the city just staying places for a week or two and then moving on. They are really cool! I went for a run in Mile End Park, the path goes on the other side of the canal that morning and a little further up canal there were like 40 of them, double docked. But I didn't bring my camera on the run, so you will just have to imagine. (Kyle, I am working on taking more pictures. Slowly but surely we will get there.)
I then did menial tasks like laundry (which is so expensive! 2 pounds for one wash!) and went to the grocery store. As I have been on a kick of making American food for my room mates, who have never had it before, I decided to make some chili. I have never actually made chili before, so my continued goal of getting better at cooking an trying new things was also appeased. I made some pork chili and had to use some chilies I have never seen before and improvise with certain ingredients, but it still turned out very yummy. I bought an entire pork shoulder, so I made it again on Wednesday night, and it turned out better and I have left-overs. Success!
Wednesday I designated as my day to explore. After being helpfully directed towards Time Out London, (they have one for LA, as I now discover, but it is far less helpful) I saw that Artistic Gymnastic World Championships were being held in London only two tube stops away from me! I had to go.
It is held at the 02, which is where gymnastics and basketball will be held for the 2012 Olympics. So it was really like an Olympic preview. It was awesome. (During the breaks they showed time lapses of how they changed the soccer pitch and the arena into a gymnastics training quad and performance arena.) I bought the cheapest ticket and was sitting way up in the nosebleeds. It was cool to see the whole arena from this perspective. And to watch all the rotations at the same time.
During the break between rotations they fixed the floor. And I decided that as there were several open seats down near the front, I would make my way there. First attempt, guy checked my ticket. Fail. Then I got some lunch and walked into a different section with my hands full of food and sat down as close as I could get. Success!
Gymnastics is always entertaining to watch on TV, but to see it in person is just amazing. They really do flip that high. Those girls are so teeny and they hurtle themselves through the air. It is really quite startling to realize how fast they are moving, how high they are jumping and how much torque they are putting on their bodies. I couldn't do it.
Something that you don't get to see on TV is all the slightly lesser gymnasts, the ones from Egypt and India and other places you don't think of as having gymnastics programs. You also don't get to see people fall as much. As sadistic as it sounds, the uneven (or as the Brits say the asymmetric) bars are the most entertaining to watch because when they do it right, its amazing, and when they fall, they fall HARD. It's like Sports Center highlights plus American's Funniest Home videos all at the same time.
The support for all the Great Britain gymnasts was amazing. I mean, AMAZING! It was qualifying rounds, during a school day, and there were so many little girls in their uniforms, the union jack flags in hand, screaming at the top of their lungs. The girl sitting next to me was 4 1/2 and hearing her little British accents say some of the most outrageous things.
"Mummy, her feet weren't together in that spin, she's going to get marked off for that"
"When I grow up I want to be like Beth Tweddle, but without the braces alright Mum?"
"Mum, why is that girl in pink? (In reference to a Russian gymnast wearing a more personalized leotard) Pink isn't a national color." Her mother responded, "Well, sweetheart, that is just that gymnast's choice. She's from Russia." "Oh all right. No proper English gymnast would dress like that."
I was giggling at them the whole time.
I got some pictures of Beth Tweddle, a UK gymnast in her routine. She fell pretty hard right after this, but she was really good. She didn't end up qualifiying though. This was my seat partner's favorite gymnast. She told me this was the best picture.
After experiencing the British home support, I think I understand a bit more about British sports culture. They are sports fanatics. Fanatics. If someone from their country is competing they are behind them 110% regardless of how well they are doing or are expected to do. I feel like this is not the case in the US. We want winners. (So do they obviously, but we expect winners I guess) Most people in Britain play sports of some kind, usually in a minimal capacity. But there are no sports scholarships, no competitive university sports, nothing like the sports culture that we have at home. So when you see an athlete at the peak of performance in Britain it is amazing to think how they go there.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the gymnastics. It was a great day out and about town.
Now I have to finish my homework before class. :)
1 comment:
i really enjoyed this one this morning, especially the bit about americas funniest home videos. xoxox
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