V-Day Massacre

Well, the geography-showdown rematch was certainly a nail-biter. Jeremy and I each took a half an hour or so to study the world map, took an hour break to let the information "settle," and then the contest began. By the time we'd each done Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America, I was up by seven points. But Africa is my Achille's heel. I needed to correctly label 23 of the countries to tie Jeremy, and I needed 24 for an outright victory.

All I can say is, thank goodness for Swaziland.

Rachel wins!

Here's the final breakdown:

Africa: 24/53 (R) 30/53 (J)
Asia: 27/32 (R) 28/32 (J)
Europe: 36/46 (R) 32/46 (J)
M. East: 15/17 (R) 16/17 (J)
S. Amer.: 19/20 (R) 14/20 (J)

Overall, we improved our collective knowledge of the world (even if the "-stans" are still tricky and even though we more or less rejected Oceania as a region worth memorizing--sorry). Instead of knowing, on average, 45% of the world, we now lay claim to about 72%--at least for today.

I don't know of a better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to engage in cutthroat geographical competition. Love is in the air...

UPDATE: We decided to do Oceania as a potential upset region, but Jeremy is now rueing the rest of his day, since I got 7/22 versus his 6/22. Valentine's Day is the best.