Olympics!

I love the Olympics. I particularly love the Opening Ceremonies. I have always loved getting together with people to watch the event because its a presentation of what each nation loves about itself and wants to communicate to the rest of the world.

Tonight was especially great. I was having serious social anxiety about inviting my new colleagues over to watch the ceremonies. I had mentioned it almost a month ago (before I met anyone) on an online forum our class had established. Its easy to suggest events so far in advance but when it came down to this week I was being ridiculous about bringing it up again.

Training class is a little like a bubble. I am barely aware of the actual date or even day of the week sometimes; I just know what is on the schedule and what I need to be doing. However, the Olympics were always on my radar. I knew they were coming but quite a few people had honestly lost track of the dates. In my silly social anxiety I literally wrote the invitation e-mail three separate times and then closed the window because I felt silly.

After I finally worked up the courage to invite my whole class (90+ people) I was worried too many people were going to come. My apartment is a one bedroom and although its plenty large for me and Scott I was worried about hosting a large crowd. In the end about 25 people came and it was tight but it never felt too crowded.

I will reserve my judgement on the opening ceremonies themselves. I wasn't watching as closely as I usually would and I could barely hear the commentary most of the time. I will say, it was pretty interesting to think this was what Great Britain wanted the world to know about themselves. I have a Master's in History and I was pretty lost for a lot of the "historical" part. Also, there are a lot of scary characters in British fairy tales. And the Queen and James Bond? That was pretty awesome. I am going to youtube that later. Ok, so I judged anyway.

I must say, watching the Olympic Parade of Nations with my fellow brand new foreign service officers really brings a different element. In mere weeks we will all be assigned to one of the nations we saw celebrated on television tonight. We cheered for every country on our bid list and "awww-ed" at the countries we wish were on the list. The loudest cheer for each country came from the person hoping to be placed there.

At this point, we all just want to know. Where am I going to go? Which flag am I going to be holding on flag day? We really don't know. After some meetings today we have a better idea about where some of us might end up, but even then there are no guarantees.

No matter how Flag day turns out for me, I am going to be rooting for all the countries I hoped to be posted to, as well as the USA!