Trying to watch the XXX Olympics in Grenada...!

The Summer Olympics are one of my favorite things to watch.  Obviously Track & Field events are my favorite, but swimming, gymnastics and the rest are clearly incredible too.  Just imagine being at that level of athletic competition and among that much greatness and dedication, not to mention the uniqueness of the cultural, ethnic, and background diversity represented by the 205 countries in this year's games.  Inspiring is an understatement.

There were also several Georgetown athletes (3 current students and several alums) in contention at the track trials in Eugene, Oregon this year, which made things interesting.  My family (who had to deal with me rushing to get home to watch the trials several times in late June), knows how excited that made me!

Interesting facts about the 2012 Olympics:

- There are 300 events and 205 countries competing
- London is the first city to host the Olympics 3 times
- This is the first time women's boxing is included
- My favorite: For the first time in Olympic history, women are represented on every country's Olympic team.  The 3 nations that never had women before - Brunei, Qatar, and Saudi Arabi - are all bringing female athletes this year.  There is plenty of controversy surrounding this fact, i.e. these women did not meet the same qualifying standards and were given leeway just so that the IOC could ensure that each nation had a woman athlete, BUT it is still a great step in the right direction, in my opinion.

Now for the excitement of trying to watch in Grenada.

First - check schedule online - NBC is airing the opening ceremonies at 730pm EST, check.
Second - invite people over for a party to watch
Third - buy food and drinks
Fourth - convince people to make and bring fun snacks and be as excited as I am
Fifth - everyone arrives in time
Sixth - there seems to be coverage on NBC...and then...at 7:29pm...
BLANK SCREEN...MESSAGE: only the GBN station in Grenada has rights.
um, great.
but wait!
Seventh - Kim finds that we do have GBN, so it seems, crisis averted.
for a few minutes.
AND then...
True Grenadian "style" comes through, and there are incessant ads for Grenadian products, dancers, music, tourism, etc. interspersed with 2 second snippets of Olympic coverage
okkkkkk....
everyone think....
Eight - Plan B.

Computer!
Find a youtube recording of the ceremonies.
30+ people crowd around to watch my VERY TINY LAPTOP perched on top of the TV playing this.
We're all invested...for a little while...
and then,
the 1hr30 recording is almost over, and
the countries have not even started to enter the stadium yet!

UGH!

Everyone is being great sports and having fun chatting, eating, relaxing, (and sweating), so it's fine, but this is such a typical Grenada scenario - good thing we have all learned to go with the flow here.

Eventually, the live stream of the whole thing from an NBC site is discovered and a handful of us watch the countries enter one by one.  Loved it.  Our geography skills were tested a little bit as we tried to guess the next country in alphabetical order each time.  You know I loved that game :) Grenada even has 10 athletes in the games this year, including Kirani James, the runner who everyone is really excited about.

Well, perhaps it didn't all go as planned (but what really does anyway?), and I do believe everyone had a good time just hanging out and socializing regardless of the technical hiccups.

I DO hope the actual events are aired, but either way, this will be an unforgettable attempt to watch the Olympics, that's for sure!

Oh Grenada.