We all reported a good night's sleep. I think we were all awake around 2 am but we politely didn't let anybody know until this morning. Zack, Jerrica's friend, (and now our friend, too) is like a Jack Russell terrier. He is SOOO excited to be here and ready to go! If I call him Zack Russell, you'll know why.
The apartment looks like the advertized photos but it is a Chinese apartment amongst Chinese nationals. It's a little farther from the Water Cube than promoted but a taxi ride is about one dollar so we aren't complaining too much. Zack, Jerrica and I have been to the local supermarket. Strangely everything sold there is in Chinese. We bought stuff that is obvious like noodles or items that had pictures on it. We had a yummy dinner of Ramen noodles. Then we hoped to coordinate a visit with Dave. Unfortunately, he couldn't really tell us where he was and we didn't really know where we were so that was a bust.
This morning we were all up by 6 am - had instant coffee, PPJ and steamed rolls (Chinese style) for breakfast. We planned our day and headed out the door. The Best Western Stadium Hotel is on the corner so we went there first to get an address card to show taxi drivers. We figured if we could get to the Best Western we could get home. Then we started walking toward the Water Cube. We have varying opinions on how long it took us but I think about half an hour - dodging people, cars and bikes.
We met David - he looks good and says he is swimming fast. The pool is awesome according to him, but we couldn't get in to see it yet. We had tickets to pick up at two different locations. Zack was great at hailing a taxi and we were on our way. Zack speaks some Chinese - understands more and the speaking is coming back fast. He is helping us feel more comfortable in our surroundings. We got our tickets, then we got lost trying to find the subway station. We went down some very narrow streets and saw how the Chinese live. Eventhough we did get turned around we have felt safe. There are security guards, policeman or officers everywhere. We found our way out of the labyrinth and headed to the Pearl Market. CRAZY! This is 6 floors of booths that sell just about anything you can imagine. Zack helped me get one vendor down from 450 RMD to 80 RMD - the conversion is 68 US$ to $11. We were a bit overwhelmed and might go back with a list and a plan.
Zack says there is a flea market that might have better deals. Guess my family knows what they are getting for Christmas - souvineers from China!
We ate at a MacDonalds' - their hamburgers are a bit spicy. We found a Starbucks and had coffee. So far no gut problems with the local food. But we took Imodium with us just in case.
The temp is warm today - a bit hazy but we did see blue sky - not like in Wyoming or Colorado but still blue. It is more humid though.
We might venture to the Water Cube again tonight - it changes colors and pictures are projected upon it. Kinda cool. We can see it from the street so that is neat. The Olympic newscasters showed a big building that has kind of a curly Q top on it. It is across from the Water Cube. We saw the building called the "Pants". There is some unusual, fun architecture here.
Oh, on the plane ride over, I sat next to a woman who is a journalist for the Games. She writes for the "Palaestra" a magazine which features adaptive sports. Her regular job is a professor at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. She is a professor for Physical Ed with an adaptive twist. She knows quite a bit about about adaptive sports and the classification system of competition works. We hit it off beautifully. Strangely enough, in this huge city with hotels everywhere, she is staying at the Best Western Hotel that we can see from our bedroom window.
That's the news for now.
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