I’ve been spending a lot of time watching the Olympics while I’m here, and someone suggested it would be a good idea to write about what it’s like to watch the Olympics while in another country, so I figured I’d give it a go!

To begin with, I’ve been following the Canadian athletes here on twitter and I had a good laugh about the giant “Canadian Moose” that’s on display in the London Olympic village. Its job is apparently to cheer on the Canadian team, and I think it’s quite a funny idea! It even has its own Twitter account (@CDNOlympicMoose). That’s what originally gave me the idea for this blog, but I also thought it would be a good title because of the nickname “Moose” that I enjoyed during my years in high school.

Watching the Olympics has been a labour of love while I’m over here. Most of the events take place between midnight and 6 am here in Australia, which can be problematic! I’m quite the night owl, but even for me, those times are pushing it! I have had a lot of fun watching them late at night though, and sleeping it off during the day.

I’m first and foremost a proud Canadian, and have been cheering our athletes on hard while I’m here. However, I’ve also enjoyed cheering for Australia as my “second favourite” during these games. Obviously, in a match between an Aussie and a Canuck, I’ll always be backing the Canadian. If a Canadian can’t win an event though, I’ve been cheering hard for the Aussies.

The Australians are actually having a rough Olympics by their standards, and I can tell you that the locals here are not overly impressed. At the time of writing this, Canada is actually ahead of Australia in the medal standings. That is pretty much the equivalent of them leading us in the winter games. Could you imagine if during Vancouver 2010, our quest to win the games had been vanquished by the plucky Australians? Yeah, neither can.

The games have certainly brought out my Canadian pride while I’m here, and people are really friendly about it. They love Canadians over here, so no one has anything negative to say. If I were cheering for another country though, it may be a different story.

Since this has post has made several mentions about twitter, I thought I’d encourage you all to follow me as well @CanAdelaidian. It’s a pretty clever name I think

I hope that everyone back home enjoys their long weekend and continues to cheer on our boys and girls in red and white!