February 6-So, what is different about watching the Super Bowl in Iceland versus watching it in the United States? First, it was mostly a Monday affair, hence the title for today's blog. Second, it is a REALLY late affair here, even worse than watching Sunday night football on the East Coast. Third, you miss all of the Super Bowl commercials and instead get to watch the Brits puzzle over the the intricacies of the rules of American football.
Ironically, I actually had not intended to watch the Super Bowl. Last week the kids were flipping through the channels on the TV in the apartment and came across an advertisement for the Super Bowl. I only caught a portion of the ad, but it sounded like they would be broadcasting the game live, so I knew that there was at least a chance of watching it here. However, kickoff was at 11:30pm Sunday evening, so I did not figure it made much sense to stay up for it. However, just before going to bed, curiosity got the better of me and I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. Lo and behold, there were the captains and there was the referee flipping the coin! So, I figured I would stay up a bit, while Sally finished her powerpoint presentations for lecture the next day.
The British TV station BBC1 was broadcasting the game feed from NBC, complete with the commentary that was being shown in the U.S. However, whenever there was a commercial break, BBC1 would cut to a discussion of the game by three men: a British sports anchor, an American sports writer, and a wide receiver from the St. Louis Rams. The anchor encouraged viewers to send in tweets and he would read some of them. These came in from all over Europe, leading me to think that BBC1 may have been the only source of the game in Europe. It was somewhat jarring to go from the NBC coverage to the BBC1 coverage, because the intended audiences were so obviously different. For instance, early in the game, when Brady got called for intentional grounding in the end zone, resulting in a safety, the NBC crew basically announced it, expressed surprise, and cut to the commercials. Europeans subsequently got to see the British anchor look bewildered and say, "OK, explain that to us." The two Americans then explained the intricacies of the penalty and the reason it resulted in points for the Giants. This exchange and others like it during the game really highlighted the differences in sports culture between America and Europe.
Since I did not care who won, I kept rooting for the team that was ahead, hoping for a blowout, so I could go to bed satisfied I knew the outcome. Sally finisher her lectures and we popped a beer in a half-hearted attempt to emulate a proper Super Bowl party. If the Broncos had been in the game, we would have found chips and salsa somewhere and gone all out! As it was, Sally ditched me at halftime, and I stayed up for the rest of the game. I doubt that I will ever have the chance to watch the Super Bowl like this again, so I figured that it was worthwhile to stay with it to the bitter end.........at 3am!
But, I sure did not feel that way when the alarm went off at 7am! I walked Spencer to school and was invited to stay and have coffee, bread, and cheese, since it was national
"Leikskólinn" day in Iceland. Leikskólinn translates to "play school" and means schools that teach preschool and kindergarten. I got to sit around and talk to some of the other parents, while I let the coffee work its magic. I then hightailed it over to Sally's office to get some more coffee in the faculty/staff lounge. Fully caffeinated, I managed to make it through the day.
The others had more sleep, so they did better, but everyone's daily schedule tends to become later through the weekend, so Monday mornings are always a little tougher on us than the rest of the week. By the time everyone came home in the afternoon, though, we were all back up to speed. Based on a translated e-mail, Sally thought that the school kids at Bifröst were invited to the rec room on campus to play games with each other, so she took the girls over shortly after the bus dropped them off. No one else showed up, but the three ladies played foosball together and had a good time anyhow. We figured out later on that the mother who was assigned to oversee the kids was off in Reykjavík celebrating, because she had graduated from Bifröst with her law degree this past Saturday. With any luck, the girls will still get the chance to play with their friends in the rec room in the future.
The weather was apparently trying to make up for Sunday, with heavy rain and strong winds. However, the sky cleared just in time for the gönguklúbbur to get together for our weekly hike. The winds were still plenty strong, so the rest of the family bailed and only Shan joined the trek. We hiked down to the nearby lake, Hreðavatn. The recent spate of warm water has thawed some of the ice and the rest of the ice was too thin to walk on, so we just turned around and came back to the campus. It was a short hike, but a short hike is better than no hike!
The whole Varmaland school is having a themed week that revolves around the environment. This means that their established schedules get heavily modified, since they add in a number of unique, one-time activities. Joslyn is taking it all in stride, but Alex is somewhat bothered by it; she prefers a more rigid schedule. To make matters worse, her favorite classes (knitting and cooking) will not be taught this week in lieu of the special activities.
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