I'm just curious. Where are you from?

iluvtodd · Apr 17, 2014

keasus said:
Another Philly/South Jersey girl. And iluvtodd, too!

Self-appointed honorary citizen of Copenhagen, Denmark, who lives and dies by how well the Danish national football team does.

Hi, there, keasus!

I have a cousin now living in CA who married a Danish guy. As a kid she loved playing with Legos, so perhaps it was her destiny. We got to visit Denmark a number of years ago, and enjoyed our visit very much.

Icey · Apr 17, 2014

Olympia said:
One fascinating aspect of our diversity that no one has commented on is how many people seem to speak, read, and write English as a second language. So impressive to find so many people who can communicate effectively in another language! I could never express myself half as well in my second language, which is French (from high school and college but rusty since then). My hat's off to all of you.

And thanks to the founder(s) of this site, who has given us all a place to meet and share the fun of skating (or alternatively of swearing at the judging and results, which is a sport in itself).

And they all do such a great job. I never would have guessed English was their second language.

ovaskater · Apr 17, 2014

I'm from Illinois, specifically near the Chicago area. Skating is big among some people, but most wouldn't know much about it.

mskitty · Apr 17, 2014

What a great thread and so much fun to see first time posts. I'll jump in too. I'm from the US, same neck of the woods as Plays in Dirt and a couple of other posters and feel very fortunate to have a rink in my community where I skate regularly, tho badly.

I've loved skating since I was a kid, have followed the sport off and on, and discovered GS while researching a novel set in the world of competitive figure skating. The book's done now and I expect it
will be out next year. I've learned so much from the very knowledgeable posters, enjoy the debates and I'm still coming back and learning more, even if I'm more of an observer than active participant.

nimi · Apr 17, 2014

mskitty said:
I've loved skating since I was a kid, have followed the sport off and on, and discovered GS while researching a novel set in the world of competitive figure skating. The book's done now and I expect it will be out next year. I've learned so much from the very knowledgeable posters, enjoy the debates and I'm still coming back and learning more, even if I'm more of an observer than active participant.

Wow, congrats on finishing your book!

Keep us posted - and keep posting

PlaysInTheDirt · Apr 17, 2014

mskitty said:
What a great thread and so much fun to see first time posts. I'll jump in too. I'm from the US, same neck of the woods as Plays in Dirt and a couple of other posters and feel very fortunate to have a rink in my community where I skate regularly, tho badly. I've loved skating since I was a kid, have followed the sport off and on, and discovered GS while researching a novel set in the world of competitive figure skating. The book's done now and I expect it
will be out next year. I've learned so much from the very knowledgeable posters, enjoy the debates and I'm still coming back and learning more, even if I'm more of an observer than active participant.

mskitty, apparently we are neighbors and fellow authors (although you'd never know it based on some of my poorly written posts). Congratulations on your book!!

Regarding all of our friends here in other countries - I have always been impressed by how well people in other countries speak English and often multiple languages. Some speak better English than people born here. :slink:

I love that this is a skating water cooler for the world.

merrywidow · Apr 17, 2014

Originally from New Jersey but have also lived in Nevada & Alabama but have lived more than half my life in western Montana, close to the Canadian border. Ethnically I am English, Irish & Welsh.

mskitty · Apr 17, 2014

PlaysInTheDirt said:
mskitty, apparently we are neighbors and fellow authors (although you'd never know it based on some of my poorly written posts). Congratulations on your book!!

Thanks, and I'll be sure to let everyone know when it comes out. It's great to meet another skating fan and author right in my own backyard!
Regarding all of our friends here in other countries - I have always been impressed by how well people in other countries speak English and often multiple languages.

I love that this is a skating water cooler for the world.

Agreed!

Jombi · Apr 18, 2014

Alba said:
It depends what you want most. I think Eurosport Ita are much more technical (really very much) with their commentary.
Ambesi himself told me that they decided to work as like Angelo is the Technical Specialist and Ambesi is the Assistant Tech. Specialist. It's true.

Wow, this sounds exactly what I need right now to upgrade my 'FS knowledge'. Thanks again for the recommendation!

Tutto · Apr 18, 2014

Hello CaroLiza_fan

Great to hear from someone on this island! I am in Co Clare, the 'Wild West' of the country as I call it (and didnt the weather proved me right this winter - the storms we had!!!) Many thanks for so many interesting details I will follow up that story about an Irish skater, a friend of mine who mentioned her to me, is away now for Easter. She herself is a former skater originally from Estonia, living in Cork and the only person who I can talk to about FS here. Unfortunately she got young family and not much time. So this forum is great! I could not believe that even Winter Olympics didnt attract any attention in Ireland- people hardly knew about it at all. I mostly follow American & Russian ladies but I was cheering for Jenna too in Olympics!
Hope for many interesting discussions in coming months - to fill in the time before the new season. .Thanks again for replying!

cvg16 · Apr 18, 2014

Im from Manila, Philippines. There are currently 3 skating rinks in the country, all in SM shopping malls within Metro Manila. i think there is another rink being built in Cebu, an island in the central part of the country about 1hr away from Manila by plane. We got great coverage the past 2 olympics thanks to ch5. But aside from that, we get zip coverage for any of the other competitions. Our nationals is only covered by an obscure local channel with commentators who usually commentate for basketball. Im pretty sure i know more about skating than them, thanks to the info i get here from GS.

I got into watching FS because for some reason, our espn channel always showed the US nationals. When i saw sasha cohen skate (i think it was her malaguena sp), i was hooked. Ive danced ballet for 20yrs and sasha was THE ballerina on ice if there ever was one. Then she screwed up her fp and MK was fab. Matt savoie and ryan jahnke were also great that nationals as well i think. Youtube wasnt big back then so i only watched the us nationals every year, plus a few random cheesefest that espn showed like campbells and marshalls. In 2006, i watched the olympics via youtube. I was expecting the same names to be on top when i when i watched worlds via youtube in 2007. Then i discovered mao and yuna and - wow! Ive been lurking here ever since.

And yah, FS is so not popular here. Only the rich can afford lessons and the rinks are always full. We've yet to see if MCM's relative success will have any influence on the coverage.

Olympia · Apr 18, 2014

PlaysInTheDirt said:
Regarding all of our friends here in other countries - I have always been impressed by how well people in other countries speak English and often multiple languages. Some speak better English than people born here.

I love that this is a skating water cooler for the world.

Your vivid phrase is the ideal way to describe GS!

And I agree about the admirable proficiency in English of so many GS posters from non-English-speaking countries, or from countries where English is just one of several languages spoken by its citizens. Tremendously impressive.

kasik8222 · Apr 18, 2014

Greetings from Poland:yay: Figure skating is not very popular here. Despite the fact that we hosted European Championships in 2007, I must say that average Pole has no idea about this sport. Saying "Figure skating it's not a sport" is very common here. Most polish people love ski jumping because of Adam Małysz, Kamil Stoch and their gold medals. Siudeks who won a few europeans and worlds medals, are hardly known for people not interested in figure skating. Siudeks, Grzegorz Filipowski and Anna Rechnio have never been as famous as football players (who suck anyway) or ski jumpers. The average Pole has no idea about new scoring system, does't know jump's name... Dorota and Mariusz are coaches now and they try very hard to develop figure skating in Poland. Their son loves skating as well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIzksdSQqX4&list=UU3maP4fZD54ZF71NjqtSzCQ:laugh:

yude · Apr 18, 2014

I am native Japanese born in Japan and live in Japan.
Despite of the populality of FS, I see only a few Japanese members here, haha... (maybe because we have the language barrier?).

catchie · Apr 18, 2014

Alba said:
I know where Riga is and it's a beautiful city. I do follow hockey as well, so I do know your team.

TMC said:
I've been there! One of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen, and the people are amazing

skatedreamer said:
I had the pleasure of visiting Riga while touring with my chorus about 10 years ago. I have fond memories of a performance at the town hall with a choir from Riga, especially the wonderful dinner they treated us to afterwards. Latvians know how to party!

Also spent an afternoon at The Museum of Occupation -- such an extraordinary place.

Altogether, a beautiful city with some of the nicest, most hospitable people I've ever met!

Thank you all very much! Very surprised that so many people have been there! And I agree that Riga is beautiful - I'm really, really proud of our Old Town (aka Center of Riga).

catchie · Apr 18, 2014

bartlebooth said:
Vasiljevs showed crazy potential at Junior Worlds! I really like him.

TMC said:
I agree, he was such a cute little sassball. Reminded me of Jason Brown at 14

BusyMom said:
Yes he is my favourite this year too. Definitely going to follow his competitions from now on.

I have seen him a couple of times live and the way he shows his emotions in every performance is just sublime. And the sass and cuteness doesn't hurt. :biggrin:

catchie · Apr 18, 2014

karne said:
There was a Junior Grand Prix there

Yes, I know, I was there. I have like ton of pictures. As this is the best we can have here in Latvia, I enjoyed every moment! Spent a lot of time talking to skaters and had such funny times with American boys (Moeller and Ma) !

They have such a bromance. Yeah, the JGP was definitely a highlight of the season for me.

Anna K. said:
I know where it is. I live there

Another Latvian fan? Am I dreaming? :eek:

kasik8222 · Apr 18, 2014

My best friend's husband is from Latvia but they live in Poland now

And I do know where Latvia is. It is not that far away from my homeland

BusyMom · Apr 18, 2014

catchie said:
I have seen him a couple of times live and the way he shows his emotions in every performance is just sublime. And the sass and cuteness doesn't hurt.

After JW, I searched for his skating video and found some of his performances from last couple of years. His progress is very exceptional not just from the technical aspects but also artistic sides. He definitely make your country proud in a near future.

Lota · Apr 18, 2014

Well, like I've posted in one of the first pages here, I'm from Lithuania, so it's not like I don't know where Latvia is either :biggrin:

Also, although I haven't met many (ok, any) skating fans for a while now (maybe I don't know where to look), but we have quite a few skating rinks throughout the country, most of them are in shopping centres. So even though I don't know people who enjoy watching competitive skating, I know loads who enjoy skating themselves. So in that regard skating is rather popular. And now that I think about it, when Tobias/Stagniunas were skating during the Olympics, they actually interrupted the news to show it, even though the couple is nowhere near the top. So it is kind of nice. The sport isn't completely dead here.

Oh, also something I just remembered, every winter when the weather is cold enough outdoor ice rinks are opened in several cities here, so that's quite nice as well ^^

I'm just curious. Where are you from?

iluvtodd

Icey

ovaskater

mskitty

nimi

PlaysInTheDirt

merrywidow

mskitty

Jombi

Tutto

cvg16

Olympia

kasik8222

yude

catchie

catchie

catchie

kasik8222

BusyMom

Lota

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