Olympics Etiquette

Found this etiquette guide for Olympics visitors that the Guardian has compiled sooo funny!  Full list below or on the link above.

How do you hire a Boris bike? Why are Brits always saying sorry? Do you look a bit like a terrorist? Find the answers in this guide for foreign visitors

The 8,000 volunteers who will welcome international visitors to London 2012 have been issues with a 66-page instruction manual, covering everything from foreign etiquette to uniform care and advice on dealing with journalists.  But what of the visitors themselves?  Could they not do with a manual outlining the customs, manners and practicalities of the islands they are visiting? We hereby present a simple guide to UK etiquette for the 2012 Olympics.

• Welcome, and before we begin – please accept our apologies. Your four-hour nightmare wait at passport control should not be taken as a symptom of Britain's contempt for foreigners.  It is merely a symptom of a woeful lack of spending on a key aspect of travel infrastructure in the run-up to a hugely important event.  In other words, it's the government that hates you.  Don't worry, they hate us too.
• Canadians: I'm afraid that while you are here you will be repeatedly mistaken for Americans and blamed for all sorts of stuff you had nothing to do with.  Unless you can think of a quick and simple way to distinguish yourselves at a glance – flower in lapel?  Saddle shoes?  Maple leaf eyepatch? – then you are just going to have to suck it up.
• Americans: While you're here, why not pretend to be Canadian?  Very few Britons can tell the difference, and it will allow you to rescue yourself from awkward conversations about the death penalty.
• Under no circumstances should you ask your taxi driver how excited he is about having the Olympics in London this summer.  It's not that he will be reluctant or embarrassed to offer a personal opinion on the matter.  That is not the problem at all.
• You will repeatedly hear that the East End of London, where the bulk of the Olympic events are being held, is an "up and coming" area.  You may wonder what this odd English expression means when applied to your immediate surroundings.  You are quite right to.
• Nobody here can answer any questions you have about fencing.  Google it.
• Pay no attention to those bow-tied etiquette experts you sometimes see on CNN International, telling you how to behave while in Britain.  These people are generally of dubious provenance, normally live in California and tend to peddle advice that is either irrelevant or out of date.  For example, they will often say that Britons love queuing and are so fond of apologising that they will often say "sorry" even when something isn't their fault.  In reality, Britons are just as likely to jump to the front of a queue and then punch the person behind them for coughing.  It all depends on how muggy it is.
• British people may seem to apologise a lot, but it doesn't quite mean the same thing here.  In the UK, "I'm sorry" actually means either a) I didn't hear you; b) I didn't understand you; or c) I both heard and understood you, and I think you're an idiot.
• You might expect locals to be, in the circumstances, a bit defensive about the weather.  But it's true: it really doesn't rain like this every summer.  This is exceptional, which is why it's so cold in your hotel room.  There aren't normally this many soldiers in the streets either.  No, honestly.
• Britons love bleak humour: that's why all the hire bikes are branded with the name of a bank currently being investigated for fixing interest rates.  It's supposed to be funny.
• London's bike hire scheme couldn't be simpler, by the way: just go up to the terminal at any docking station, pay by card and take away one of our so-called "Boris bikes".  When you're done with it, simply throw it into the nearest canal.  They're disposable!
• If you have arrived early, you might just be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the final leg of the Olympic torch relay.  Or you might be at a riot.  Ask yourself the following questions: are there lots of people holding flames, or just one?  Is everybody running in the right direction?  Does the nearest branch of Foot Locker appear to be having the craziest sale ever?
• None of us is officially allowed to speak to members of the foreign press.  We have all been instructed to avoid eye contact while referring your queries to a team of dedicated information managers who don't really exist.  The same policy applies to ministers from totalitarian states and anyone who turns up at the airport holding a Pepsi.
• Do not ask a policeman the best way to get to the West End or how to use an Oyster card.  He wants to help, but he's from the West Midlands.
• Please aid the Olympic authorities and organisers by demonstrating at all times that you are not a terrorist.  Do not perspire, take off your shoes, smile in a weird way while texting someone, or point and shout: "Hey! Look at all those missiles on that roof over there!"  In fact, if you're not using your hands for anything, it's probably best if you keep them in the air where everybody can see them.
• We here in the UK want nothing more than to provide you, our guests, with a fantastic experience this summer, combining the best in international sport, brilliant facilities, fantastic entertainment and a cultural legacy that draws on centuries of excellence in art and architecture.  If you ended up with four tickets for the wrestling at the ExCel Centre, well, better luck next time.

Modern Man?

I have just stolen this picture from my husband's friend's Facebook, I couldn't stop myself (sorry K!). This is their pre-game snacks - fruit and rosé wine. Maybe they bring out the beer and the crisps when the football starts?!

Ball Girl

For some reason this photo makes me think of football. I think it's the socks and the slippers (and less so the dress, as it's in tennis women still wear skirts, right?). Maybe Isolde will grow up to play football like me (and not quit at 16 like me)?

Go Sweden!

Rooting for the Swedish ladies who are doing so well in the football world cup (next match on Sunday).


Via Anna's iPhone

Little Swimmer

Yay, Blogger is back in action! Looks like my last post that looked lost is back, however the comments may be gone (?). I have a few Show & Tell posts on the way (have been slagging lately), but in the meantime, here are some photos and a video from Isolde's first swimming "lesson".

She likes when we bathe her at home and the pool was no different, well, even better of course. At this rate she'll be an Olympic swimmer next year some time! :) Almost all the other babies were crying at some point (and the changing room afterwards was a cacophony...) except Isolde who was just enjoying herself (and watching the screamers with big eyes when we were showering). All three of us are really looking forward to next week (well, Peter can't come along then unfortunately as it's our moving day!).

When Valentine's Day coincides with that important football match...

Show & Tell: Exercise

Sparkling's fourth theme is exercise. We had a similar theme, sports, last autumn, which I thought I'd link to for further information.

Sparkling has four questions for us:

Do you exercise regularly?
Ehum...not really. I'm really bad actually. I sort of do it in bouts and then I don't mean the ten-minute bouts of exercise followed by a two-minute break before doing another exercise bout. No, I manage to keep up going to the gym two or three times a week for a month or so and then I fall into a period of lazyness before going at it again.

Image from dynamicchiropractic.com

Have you done regular exercise or sports previously?
Yes, but a long time ago. Played football between the ages of 9 and 16, see my previous Show & Tell post, but otherwise... see previous question.

Image from Wikipedia

How important is exercise?
Very important, especially for one's health but also for one's self-esteem. Self-esteem comes from within but carrying around 20 kg extra doesn't help whilst losing 20 kg can be a huge boost.

I struggle getting the balance right. I don't want exercise to be something that interferes with my social life but if I don't plan and schedule exercise into my week, it doesn't happen. I don't want to have to say "no, can't meet you on Tuesday because that's when I go for my spinning class". I want to remain flexible. But maybe I will never get to the gym that way?

My new plan is to take walks in the mornings before work - Peter and I will walk together for about 45 minutes 2-3 mornings a week. I have a 15 minute walk to work as well but that's not that much even though it's obviously a positive thing. We will also re-start our weekend badminton routine again and I will keep my gym membership so that I can go there when I feel like it too.

Is there a form of exercise that you want to try?
I also want to try tennis, as I discovered last March when we were on holiday in the Canaries that I was pretty good at it. Thinking of joining a class once a week. Because we're having such good winter weather this year (snowing as we speak) I see lots of cross-country skiers out-and-about every day. I haven't had any skis since I was a young teenager but I'm seriously thinking of getting some now. Should do it before it's too late and the snow melts I suppose.

Do you think it is important with stylish clothes when you exercise?

Not really, it is more important with functional clothes. That said I just don't wear an old oversize T-shirt or shorts with holes in them.

Speaking of fashion and the body I read that one of the latest trends in Hollywood is to get a "boobfacial". I.e. giving your cleavage a spa treatment, for example a exfoliating peeling and a face mask. So that's my tip of the day; you don't want a wrinkly décolletage, do you?! ;)

Show & Tell: Sports

Erica's second theme is Sports: Do you have any favourite sport? Do you practise any sports? Is there any sport you absolutely do not like? Do you prefer doing sports yourself or watching it on TV?

I'm not going to answer those exact questions, instead I'll tell you about some sports that have featured in my life and still do in some way.


Badminton

Image from bendigo2004.thecgf.com

I really associate my childhood summers with playing badminton at our summer house or in the garden (belonging to the house where my parents still live). I played either with my dad or my friend Malin*. I can't really remember playing with anyone else. Well, when I was really young I think I played with my grandfather at the summer house. I did play a little bit in school as well, you know, once a year when it was friluftsdag, i.e. "sports day".

These days I don't play very often at all, only a few leisurely games in my parents' garden in summer, but last winter Peter and I started going to the university sports hall on Saturdays or Sundays to play, a habit I hope we take up again this winter. Actually, I did play indoors in similar style when I was living in Brussels back in autumn/winter 2002/03 (against some hardcore Danish badminton players), but before that I had hardly played between leaving school and last year.

Tying into Petchie's recent post on right- and left-handedness, I can proudly tell you that I can play badminton with both hands! I'm right-handed but for some reason I can play badminton pretty well with my left too. I can't really remember how it happened. I think I just started doing it at a young age to make the game a little bit more fun and interesting. I don't have the same strength with my left so I can't smash and my lefty serve is pretty bad, but I can play (when it comes to tennis I can play a little with my left, but not as well). Actually, when I think about it I played brännboll (rounders) as a left-handed person for years until someone told me that I was "doing it wrong". So I can still do both (though I haven't played rounders for years so maybe I have lost the skill?).

Football

But the closest relationship I have had to a sport is that with football. I started playing when I was nine years old - I still remember the yellow-orange jumpsuit I wore to my first practice. I started playing for the team Västertälje before joining (or maybe we merged?) with Tälje, both Södertälje teams (none of which exist anymore it seems?). Tälje was a club with girls' and women's team only, which had its advantages and disadvantages. I continued playing until I was 16 and in upper secondary school. By then I had acquired other interests, especially politics, and I didn't really have time to practice as many times a week I would have had to do in order to get to play matches on the weekend. Also - and here's the main drawback of playing for a women's only club, not to mention being a woman in a man's world, which football was then and still is today, unfortunately - it's not terribly motivating to practise on lower quality grounds (read: gravel pitch) and worse times than 12-year boys. So I quit.

I have lots of fun memories from my football years - especially the trips we made to Oslo for Norway Cup and to Gothenburg for Gothia Cup. On one of those trips I slept next to a girl who talked in her sleep and scared the crap out of me. I was pretty new on the team so I understand why they put me next to her! :) But I also remember pressure and the feeling you have when you don't think you're good enough for the team, or that you could be if your heart was 110% in it but it isn't really. So the decision to quit** was right even if to this day I can still miss playing and often become nostalgic and remember the good times.

But my football career wasn't completely over yet, as you can see in the picture above. I have actually been known to play once in a while over the years. I never played at university in Stockholm, Uppsala or London (unless I have completely blocked out the memory..?) but at Oxford I played both a little bit of indoors five-a-side and some regular football, and then as goalie, which is not really my thing but what do you do when your friends are begging! So I'm the one in the yellow shirt above in case you haven't spotted me already!

And in my current job I have played once a year when we have our traditional game against the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which I have written about earlier)! Several times I have contemplated with the idea of joining a Korpen (= local, amateur) team but in the end I always decide that no, I have other things to do. A dose of football once in a while suffices! And I will always watch football of course! Even though I have played myself I have never been much of a football supporter - when I lived in the UK I watched a lot of matches at the pub but never actually went to watch a live game (I wish I had though) - but I watch most of the Swedish national team's matches (including the one against Denmark two days ago, which in all likelihood means Sweden won't qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa), and sometimes local games, mostly on TV but sometimes live.

When I was growing up, even though I played football, I preferred watching ice hockey. This seems really strange to me now because nowadays I find it rather boring. Football provides much more "eye candy" as well. You can see the players' bodies, which is nice considering they are usually really fit, but also because I want to see them playing, their technique, etc. Ice hockey players are covered in protective gear and layers and (because of it) they are all sweaty and disgusting. And they seem to have either no teeth left or their teeth covered in snus (Swedish snuff). The only exception seems to be Henrik Lundkvist!


Lastly I want to tell you about a new sport that entered my life about three and a half years ago when I started my present job...

Corridor Cricket

Image from Getty Images

This is what you need:

• an English-speaking workplace (preferably)
• a batsman and a plastic bat
• a bowler and a ball (soft version)
• something that works as wickets
• a long corridor
• at least two fielders

You can then opt to follow simple or elaborate rules. Corridor cricket is usually played at around 4.30pm and it's really difficult to get out of it if the boss has already spotted you at your desk. Everyone must bat and bowl respectively at least once. It's fun and a time for bonding.

Actually, cricket is not brand new for me. At Oxford I did attend one cricket practice, but after that one time I decided it wasn't for me. I would much rather play baseball ,which is actually happening, both in terms of playing and watching (read: one game doesn't take three days!). Corridor cricket can be pretty exciting though, especially when it turns out some of your colleagues are of rather competitive character!

* I have similar memories of playing tennis. Malin and I used to play on the parking lot or against the wall of our block of flats. I played with my dad's old wooden racket. All that playing, again, matched with playing in a real tennis hall once a year on sports day, apparently gave me sufficient skills - or maybe I'm just talented - because earlier this year when Peter and I went to the Canaries we played tennis almost every day and I was pretty good! :)

** After I left the team I went to one or two rugby practices - as one of the girls from the team who had also left started playing rugby instead - but it wasn't really my thing. A bit too rough for me!

The Fun Theory

Sweat or Sweets

Before last week I hadn't been to the gym for almost 6 months (and admittedly, before that I wasn't a regular either, except perhaps last winter when I was reasonably good). But now I've been to the gym three times in the last six days!

To keep this up I need your help! The gym has a "drive" they start every new term: if you go at least twice a week between September and December they give you something. But a bag with the gym's logo isn't going to motivate me really (maybe if it was a shirt or a voucher towards new trainers or something but an ugly bag??). Hence I need you.

If you have a look in one of the right-hand columns you can see that I've started logging my exercise sessions under Anna's Gym Challenge. I don't ask for much, just a quick glance at the log once in a while and an occasional cheer! :)


P.S. But for those who abhor exercise and want to order Swedish sweets (I'm thinking primarily of them expats!), I have found the perfect site for you! (They sell other Swedish stuff too, not just edible things, so it's safe to have a look even if you're trying to stay away from the good stuff!)

The Icing on the Cake

Last night I went to an ice hockey game for the first time in 15 years or so! My hometown team Södertälje played the Stockholm team Djurgården. Södertälje hasn't won a single game for the last six games (out of 15 matches played since the beginning of the series) but last night they won with 5-3!! I guess this means I need to go to all the games for the rest of the season since I clearly bring some luck! (Especially since they are still at the bottom of the league and need to win a lot more matches!)

Peter and his two friends who are Djurgården fans (though not huge fans; none of them had been to an ice hockey match for a while either) were not that happy of course but they still enjoyed the game since it was quite a happening one with lots of goals, beautiful play (mostly by Södertälje) and some action (read fights).

We were seated quite close to the Djurgården supporters and I must say that despite the fact that I had to cover my ears a lot for the shouting, it was quite interesting to watch as some sort of social study.

So a fun night for me and I may go again soon!