Ok...I have it. Today was our final day off before our Olympic training begins. Tomorrow, we will be meeting at a hotel near the BOCOG headquarters to receive our first set of instructions and introductions for ONS (Olympic News Service). That's tomorrow. Today, a couple of us went down to Wangfuging - a famous shopping district and also home to the Olympic flagship store. Umbrella in hand, I walked into a building with a floor solely devoted to Olympic gear. If you wanted something Olympic - or at least Olympic branded - they had it. Chopsticks? You got it. Pins? Please...you want to buy a gold replica of the Bird's Nest to go along with it? Fuwa dolls (mascot)? They had an entire room devoted to them. I ended up spending way to much money in that store. The only real way to save money is to leave...which we all did five bags later. It was a fun day and I was able to cross off a lot of names on my gift list!
The rest of the day was spent back at the hotel relaxing before the frenzy. It will be very interesting to see how the city deals with the enormous influx of people. There's a subway station right near our hotel which has remained closed our entire stay so far. I'm hoping they will open it soon which will give us easy access to the Olympic venues. We have to provide transportation to and from our venues until July 20 when we will receive a pass for free travel until after the games. I am really looking forward to beginning my training and working for the Olympics!
For reference, here's some shorthand translations for the upcoming blogs:
BOCOG - Beijing Olympic Committe for the Olympic Games
ONS - Olympic News Service
NIS - National Indoor Stadium
IOC - International Olympic Committe
FQR - Flash Quote Reporter
Here's video of dinner one night on our BOCOG tour. Our lazy susan in the center of the table is used to rotate and share food around the table, but I used it another way. Check it out!
Ted
2 comments:
Ted, That was funny!
Mike Engle
You look like you're having so much fun!
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