I'm Feeling Olympic Today!

I can't believe we've been in Japan for four weeks now.  It still feels a little surreal but I am sure it will feel that way until our stuff gets delivered and school starts and we have a regular routine again.  We've been without a TV for all this time but it really hasn't been that bad since we try not to watch (at least during the day with the kids) too much.  The kids have been watching DVDs that we brought or that we've checked out of the library here on the computer during afternoon snack time and before bed.  I was good with this arrangement until I realized the Olympics were fast approaching and our stuff was not. 

We were able to borrow a 20" TV (not a flat screen) from the Housing office and Matt got us signed up for cable with a DVR and hooked it up Tuesday night (July 24).  The kids were so excited when they woke up on Wednesday to see some of the shows they forgot they missed I let them have a picnic breakfast and watch for two hours straight until they had their fill.  (I figured two hours in a four week period was OK.)

Eating breakfast and watching Bubble Guppies.

The cable here is not the same as the US.  It is offered through a company on base, Americable, but it doesn't have the major networks.  It has about ten different Armed Forces Network (AFN) channels that show various network shows at different days and times along with movies and sporting events.  I'm hoping when the summer is over and the Fall season starts again there will be regular days and times for the few shows we watch (How I Met Your Mother, Hawaii 5-O and Glee).  Incidentally, all the commercials on the AFN channels are all military-related.  No ads for coffee or IHOP or the like.  The Japanese versions of the different Fox channels are my favorite because they show American shows but with Japanese subtitles and Japanese commercials.  There are also regular cable channels like ESPN, the Food Network, HGTV--even Oprah's OWN--but no USA network, which is a major bummer because we are avid followers of a lot of their shows (Psych, White Collar and Royal Pains).  There is also no Disney Channel let alone Disney Junior, which is the kids' favorite channel. Streaming video from the Internet does not always solve that issue because we have a Japanese ISP so many websites redirect us to their Japanese version (dot jp versus dot com).  Some, like Google, allow for English translation (which is a good thing otherwise I'd never be able to write my blog) and some, like Amazon let you chose which website you want.  Others, like Disney, just think you are Japanese and when we tried to watch Disney Jr. shows like Doc McStuffins on the Internet they were all in Japanese.  All the writing is in Japanese too so it's not even easy to navigate.  It sometimes makes it harder to purchase things online to retailers who will only sell to US billing addresses--I have to go through an extra step.  The worst is Netflix won't stream to Asian ISP addresses so we had to switch back from streaming to DVDs but I can't even access my queue.  That's a problem for another day, though.  Right now, it's all about the Olympics.

So now we have a tiny TV, cable and a DVR box and just in time too.  The Women's Soccer match that was played on July 25 at noon on the East Coast of the USA was played on July 26 at 1am in Japan.  Through the magic of the DVR, though, I was able to see it and the game today/(yesterday in Scotland).  The US Women's Soccer Team rules!

Goooooaaaal!

 I watched the opening ceremonies Saturday morning after breakfast and was pleasantly surprised the kids allowed me to watch as much as I did.  My favorite parts were James Bond with the Queen and Rowan Atkinson's Chariots of Fire bit.  Did any one else note the glaring absence of Elton John during the British music montage?  I mean, as Matt pointed out, he did change the lyrics to his song for Princess Diana's funeral.  I'm just saying....

So life here is not "normal" yet but at least we can cheer on the USA here.  Leah loves to chant "U-S-A! U-S-A!" whenever the soccer team scores a goal or we point out that a US athlete is competing in a race.  So three cheers for the Red, White and Blue and let's all enjoy the next two weeks!