Time for transition. . .

This is a picture of the Closing Ceremonies at the Olympic Stadium (can't take credit for this one, it's from the Torino 2006 website!). I wasn't at the closing ceremonies, I was taping them in our technology area. It was sort of surreal – I was watching the fireworks on the screen, but feeling and hearing them at the same time. It’s hard to believe that the Olympic Games are over already!

But, that doesn’t mean it’s all over. Ever since closing ceremonies, we have been in a transition phase from Olympics to Paralympics. Most of the operations will be the same, albeit in a smaller scale. We have 55 American athletes with disabilities that are coming to Torino to compete in the Paralympic Winter Games from March 10-19. There will be over 500 athletes with disabilities from 41 different countries competing in 4 unique sports (alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, sled hockey and wheelchair curling). So, my time in Italy is counting down to March 22 (after packing up is done for Paralympics). I've added a link to the U.S. Paralympic website for yall to learn more about it.

After all our Olympians depart and before our Paralympians arrive and we start working the Paralympic Games, I am hoping to take a trip to somewhere else in Italy. I’ll know more in the next couple of days, so please stay tuned for more posts!

Competitons and meals

Wow, what a fun night! Last night, I was at Short Track Speed Skating for the men’s 500m and the men’s 5000m relay. Apollo had the perfect race and skated his way to a gold medal in the 500m. In the last event of the evening, our men’s team won bronze in the 5000m relay. I believe that sport represents a lot of things to a lot of different people. For some, playing organized sports while growing up taught them teamwork, dedication, commitment, and work ethic. For those of us who weren’t as athletically gifted, we developed those skills and characteristics through other venues- for me it was through the military. No matter how gained though, it’s a pretty emotional scene to witness those characteristics come to fruition at the highest level. Patriotism needs something to keep it burning, and National identity at the Olympics seems to work just as well as any other fuel at times.

After lots of jubilation and celebration, we left Palavela arena close to midnight in search of dinner. We stopped in at a little Pizzeria on our way back to the hotel and got a great slice of pizza for 2 euro! As is quite often the case, the place was run by a husband and wife team. They couldn’t speak much English and we couldn’t speak much Italian, so it was a little awkward at first trying to share our enthusiasm with each other (the Italians have done quite well during these Games also!). We stumbled around broken pieces of language for a while until they noticed the U.S. flag on our coats and wanted to know what state we were from. We answered that we came from Colorado and the husband got quite excited and went into a back room. When he returned he came out holding a postcard. After much sign language and laughter, we determined that he collects postcards and wanted us to send him one from Colorado! After the ice was broken with the postcard, we managed to communicate and laugh for quite some time before making our way home. Once again, the hospitality of Torino shone through and we got so much more than just a meal.

Torino - The good, the bad, the ugly!

As the Games are winding down, some of our staff is starting to depart back to the States already. Reminiscing over our experiences in Torino and the uniqueness of this city, we’ve come up with the good, bad, and ugly of Torino, Italy.

The good – almost too numerous to mention!
- Without a doubt, the pasta (never overcooked)
- Chocolate
- coffee (oh, the coffee!)
- wine
- architecture
- public transport
- leisurely dining
- divine gelato
- lots of walking
- families hanging out together
- recycle bins everywhere
- friendly folks
- family-run restaurants (like being at home, but you don’t have to do the dishes)

The bad
- even with many areas of beautiful, historical architecture, Torino is still a polluted, industrial city
- leisurely dining (a double-edged sword!)
- Italian driving (notice the car parked on the sidewalk in the picture)
- warm milk (and forget about finding skim)
- no breakfasts (unless you consider coffee and cigarettes a complete meal)
- no dinner before 7:00 p.m.
- afternoon siesta (will always fall at the only time you have available to conduct business)
- invisible street signs (do they really think a stone sign with 12-point font letters stands out against stone?) Try to find the street name in the picture of the street corner. Now imagine trying to read that at 60 kph with cars honking all around you!

The ugly
- Kleenex full of black, pollution-saturated snot at the end of each day
- public transport (another double-edged sword!)
- dog poop on EVERY walking surface in the city
- pointy shoes (OK, matter of personal opinion)
- relentless traffic noise (Italians love their horns!)
- although not as common as in more Eastern countries, I’ve run into a few of these toilets in Torino (see picture). You don’t bring reading material into these unless you’ve got thigh muscles like Hercules!!

Olympic pins

The Olympics is like a circus that rolls into town. It’s not just the Games that are happening, there’s the whole spectacle of the Games that happens. One of the more amusing (and sometimes annoying) side shows of the Olympics is pin trading. Every country, sponsor, sport, etc. has its own pin for the Olympic Games. The designs range from national flags and sport emblems to cartoons and works of art! There are official pins and “renegade” pins, but each has its own character and some are more coveted than others. Everyone in the USA delegation is issued about 15 Team USA pins and 15 USA sport/staff specific pins.

The professional pin traders present a much more enjoyable experience than the SWAGgers. The “professionals” are people who come from all over the world just to trade Olympic pins. If you check out ebay, you’ll see that Olympic pin trading can be big business. It seems that for the most part though, these folks do it just for the fun of it. I’m not really into the whole pin-trading scene, but just to see what some of the ones from other countries look like, I checked out one guy’s collection. He saw one of my Team USA pins and asked which pin of his I’d like to trade it for. When I told him I’d just give it to him, he actually seemed disappointed that I didn’t want one of his in return!

The official definition of the acronym SWAG is “sundries, wearables, and gifts” used by marketing departments to describe free stuff they hand out as promotions. To everyone else, it means “stuff we all get.” The SWAGgers are the people who feel that they are entitled to your Olympic pin. SWAGgers can be your waiter or the security guy running your stuff through the metal detector. It’s always awkward when you only have a couple of pins on you and your saving it for some little kid who recognizes the American flag on your sleeve and smiles at you or the waiter who patiently takes 20 minutes to explain the menu to a group of people who can’t speak a lick of Italian.

Just thought yall would like to hear a little bit about the side shows of the Olympics!

A night to celebrate!

Last night, quite a few of us USOC staff went to the bronze medal women’s hockey game. Even though there was some lingering disappointment on our team that they were playing in the bronze medal game instead of the gold medal game, they came out fired up and ready to go. They would’ve preferred to be playing a different team for a different medal, but the team really rallied and posted a 4-0 victory over Finland for the bronze. The stands were full of USA fans, so being a spectator was really exciting!

After the game, we all went to our favorite local restaurant- Trattoria da Gaspare. The restaurant is named after the owner, Gaspare. Just like most of the restaurants around here, it’s a family-run business with Gaspare as the host/waiter, his sister a waitress, and his mother the chef. When we go in as a large group, we ask what his mother feels like fixing that evening so we don’t make her mad!! Although there are menus in English, no one reads them. Gaspare’s delivery of the daily specials is the highlight of the meal! Did I mention how good the food is there also?

Every region in Europe seems to have a specialty after-dinner drink. On the island of Crete, Greece it was ouzo (no use explaining that one, you just have to experience it!). At this one restaurant in Athens during the Summer Games, it was a cored out lemon with DiSorono. At Gaspare’s, it’s a sugar cube soaked in 180 proof alcohol served with a coffee bean on top. Just to make it more interesting, the sugar-cube is lit on fire and consumed during combustion (funny, I never see the locals light their sugar cubes!)!! This picture is of me about to have my sugar cube lit for consumption!

Don’t worry, Mom. It may seem like I’m still up to my old shananagans, but the quantity and fanfare surrounding these stunts is much less than it was 10-15 years ago!!!

So, do you ever work?

I was reading over my blog and realized that if all you had to go by was this blog, you would never know that I actually am working while I'm here!
This picture is of my co-worker Lance in a corner of our video room. We tape every minute of every event so that our teams can review performances before and after they compete. It's not a hard job, but you have to be diligent so you don't miss any coverage. It's Murphy's law. . . the 3 minutes you miss will be an American, gold-medal winning performance or the critical play we need to scout an opponent. For those of you who saw the pictures of our set-up in Athens, these recorders should look familiar. When we packed out of Athens for the Summer 2004 Olympics, we shipped all this equipment straight to Torino for these Games.

The electrical grids in Greece and Spain seem to be much more fragile than those in the U.S. After the first few days, we got our power draw fined-tuned enough that we weren't causing outages anymore. In Athens, we kept blowing power from a whole college campus, at least here we're only blowing power from our own work areas! Power-surges aren't unusual, but we seem to be well-adjusted now to the ebb and flow of the Italian grid! Our set-up isn't quite the nightmare of EP-3s, but it can be almost as frustrating at times.

On the nutrition side of the house, a few of our teams travel with their own RDs. The food in the Athlete Villages has been quite disappointing. The food is great for the average person on the street, but not great for elite athletes about to compete in the Games of their lives. At this point, it's all about providing the athletes with some alternatives to Village eating (which the team RDs are doing), and helping them make healthy choices when the Village is what they've got. And of course, there's always McDonalds in the Athlete Villages (read my sarcasm here).

So, I just wanted to mention work once in a while so yall will know that I'm not really out here just for a vacation!

Take the #18 Tram to the #72 bus. . .

My friend Terri and I took the tram to downtown Torino in search of a castle that was supposed to be in in the Piazza della Repubblica. We bust out the map and make our way to the Piazza - no castle. That's OK, we'll walk around a bit and see if we can find it. We stumble upon the scene in this picture, the Porta Palatina (gate from the 1st century AD that was one of the entrances to Roman Torino). Pretty cool, but not the castle we were looking for. Then I think "Hey, this looks familiar, I think there's a great chocolate caffe around here!" So, up 5 blocks to the big pointy monument in a traffic roundabout, turn right, up 300 meters and there it is! Caffe Cioccolateria Al Bicerin! Now I've had coffee, chocolate, and milk mixed in just about every imaginable way, but this place is off the charts! The drink is named Bicerin after the cafe and is pretty much the drink of Torino. This coffee shop has been visited by lots of famous (and infamous) people and has been run by women since it opened in 1763. Not only is it in every tour/guide book about Torino, it is also recommended by just about every local I've met.

We consult our map again and realize that the castle is in Piazza de Repubblica, but in a town called Veneria! We ask one of the nice ladies at Al Bicerin who spoke a little English how to get there, figure out it's the number 72 bus, and head off in the direction of the bus stop she pointed out to us. We showed the name of the castle we were looking for to a couple of older gentlemen at the bus stop (neither of which spoke a lick of English), and they pointed out which bus stop we should get off at. So far, so good. A half our later, we happen upon the correct bus stop and get off. Hmm, I don't see a castle, do you?! We stop in at a little shop for directions and get pointed down the street with a cheerful farewell.

Wow, it's getting to be lunch time, maybe we should stop in for some lunch! After a leisurly lunch of lasagna, quiche, and some great vino, we decide to move along. Terri goes in to the bathroom and a few minutes later a loud alarm is going off in the cafe. Everyone chuckles and looks in my direction. "I'll take care of this" I announce to a cafe full of non-English speaking patrons. Terri lets me into the bathroom and I reset the alarm. "What the hell was that?" There are usually two cords hanging from the wall or ceiling in public and hotel restrooms in Italy. One is to flush the toilet and one is the "I've fallen in the bathroom and can't get up" cord! Sometimes it's not so obvious which is which. "But how did you know that, Karen?" Because I've done it before too- but in a museum crowded with hundreds of people!! Life is such an adventure sometimes!

Too late to make a long story short, but we find the castle , Reggia di Venaria Reale. It's a group of buildings on the grounds of Carlo Emanuele II's hunting grounds. Our hunting camps in Louisiana sure don't look like this place! It belonged to the Savoy family in the 1600 and 1700s. I tried to explain to the tour guide that I may be a decendent of the Savoy family (yep, I'm gonna get all the mileage out of that fact that I can!). I thought the word "illigitimate child" got lost in the translation until her eyes got wide, she smirked and said "mama mia!" Just another day in Italy!!!

Forget jet-lag, it's time to compete!

OK Joe, here's the hockey pictures you requested! I switched to days, so last night I got the chance to go to the men's hockey USA versus Latvia game. I scored unbelievable seats - 3rd row behind the benches! This shot was taken from right where I was sitting without much zoom on my camera.

Because of professional team commitments and lousy weather for flights, the men's hockey team just arrived in Torino on Tuesday. Without much time to play together as a team and a little jet-lag factored in there, I'm sure this Wednesay game was a tough one for the men's team. The stadium was filled with very loud, rowdy Latvians. The game ended in a tie, 3-3. Although I'm learning the game of hockey, it's hard for a Cajun girl to grasp all the nuances of this winter sport, especially since the rules have changed this season. So, I'm sitting there at the end of the third period pretty excited that it's tied and we'll get some more game-time, when everyone starts getting up. What about some overtime?! Where's everybody going? Nope, it ends in a tie. So, I left a little disappointed that it ended in a tie, but happy about having been at a very exciting game. Eat your heart out Joe, this picture is of me standing in front of my seat, that's how close I was!

That's all for now. Caio!

Quant'e?

How much does it cost? Although most of you reading this blog have lived overseas, I have lots of friends and family who have not traveled to Europe. So, I thought it might be interesting to post some prices of items out here for yall.

My dad and brother will find this one especially interesting since they own a convenience store that sells gas. The prices posted on this gas station sign is in euros per liter. Today, one euro was worth $1.19 American. So, that premium gas costs $5.62 a gallon and the regular costs $5.19 a gallon! You're not laughing at that little Smart car in the previous post anymore, are you?! Jim, I don't think you'd be driving the Charger out here much!

I got my hair washed, cut, and styled in the Athlete village the other day and it cost 31 euros ($37). A man's shampoo, cut, and style will set you back 13 euros ($15.50). A generic pair of jeans runs about 50 ($59.50) euros - depending on brand and style, and lunch usually costs about 5 euros ($6). The Italian equivalent of Walmart is a store called Carrefour. The prices are fairly comparable on the stuff we've bought so far, food is not too bad either. Most of us buy produce, cheese, and bread from local shops in our area. Cheese, bread, pasta, and wine are relatively cheap and taste amazing! Now we know why the women shop everyday for bread though - it's fresh so there's no preservatives. That means it's only good for 1 or 2 days. But man does it taste good when it's fresh! Other things that are hard to find here are peanut butter and skim milk. When I got assistance in a grocery store for latte senza grasso (skim milk), I got a look of bewilderment and was escorted to a tiny section of the milk section that obviously no one visits!

Oops, I've digressed to food again! That's all I've got for today. I hope yall don't mind that I don't always talk about the Olympics!

On NBC

The real reason I walked around this morning and didn't hang out at work was because NBC brought a crew in to tape our technology operation. I have my moments, but most of the time I don't like the limelight so I made myself scarce! The piece will air on Tuesday on NBC Nightly news. I won't be in it, but you'll be able to see what we do, check it out!

We are all the same

Since I'm working the night shift this week, I took advantage of a beautiful morning and walked around the city a bit. I cruised on down to the Olympic stadium to see the torch up close. Although not completed, the areas all around the stadium have been made into walking paths, parks, and carnival ride areas. There were lots of families out with their kids and folks just strolling along. The reason I'm putting this picture of the kids playing in the park is because it was this scene more than a decade ago that made me realize that we are all the same. I don't remember what country I was in, but I heard a little kid giggling in a park. I wasn't looking at the kid when she giggled, so of course the image of kids in my life at the time came to mind. It was a little disconcerting to turn around and see the kid and she looked so different from the image in my head. It's funny how a giggle sounds the same in any language! It was at that exact moment that I realized we are all the same. No matter the language, the culture, or the differences, we all cry, we all bleed, we all feel the full spectrum of emotions. For me a child's laugh was the unifier, the thing that made me realize we are all the same. I asked my coworker, Peter, what his "unifier moment" was- the thing that made him realize that all people are basically the same. For him, it was music. He played sax in a band and was travelling in Europe for a while. He was walking along and heard a guy playing sax. The guy let him play his sax, and in that moment, he realized that even though they couldn't communicate through language, they could through music. So, since yall have all been voyeurs on my little adventure so far, you have to participate now! I would love to hear your comments on "unifer moments" - if you've had one and what it was. Don't disappoint me!

Let the Games begin!

The flame is lit and the Games have begun! As I write this, I am taping the women's hockey game and long track speedskating 5000m event. The tickets to the opening ceremonies last night ranged in price from 250-850 euros ($300-$1000), so I opted to view the "live feed" at the USA House. Not quite the same feel as the toga party we had in Athens for the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Games, but it was still fun. It was a small, but lively group. I hate when people name-drop, so we'll just say there were some well-known former Olympians at the party also! The best, and worst, thing about the "live feed" is that there is no commentary. It's what you would be seeing if you were at the event. So it's great in the sense that there are no interuptions in coverage to give background information about the athletes or the event. But, that's also a drawback during the times you would like a little background information! Even though we were lost through parts of the ceremony, we heard from athletes and staff who were there that they were a little lost too, so we didn't feel so bad! Even though we could see the fireworks outside from where we were, I didn't take this great picture of the stadium. I would love to take credit for it, but it wouldn't be right (and illegal!). It's actually the Kodak "photo of the day."

I'll leave you with this picture of me and my friend Terri at the opening ceremony party at the USA House. I'll get back to work, but I hope yall watch the coverage of the Games back in the States tonight.

Sestriere

On Wednesday, the Sport Science & Technology staff here in Torino made a trek up the mountain (OK, actually a van ride on a toll road!) up to Sestriere to meet with the rest of our staff for a meeting and training. The Italian Alps were amazing up close - freezing, but amazing!! As I kept commenting (alright, I was complaining!) about the frigid temperatures, I was reminded that we are here for the Winter Olympics!!

The views from anywhere in the town of Sestriere is stunning and you can see quite a few of the downhill competition runs from just about any part of town. The municipality of Sestriere is at the foot of Mount Sises and surrounded by Mounts Banchetta and Fraiteve. Sestriere is actually made up of four small towns and became a ski resort in the 1930s.


The village is quite colorful and has a definite "ski resort" feel to it (or so I'm told!). Even though I live at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the Alps took my breath away everytime I turned a corner or looked out a window. Our staff is split up between the mountain and ice venues in order to better accomodate the needs of our athletes. It was great to see the mountain venues and get a feel for the set-up up there. And the bonus of the day. . . a nutella crepe (yall know I had to mention food!).

Ciao for now!

Olympic peace

Call me an optimist, but I'd like to think that the Olympic ideals can rise above all the political and religious strife in the world for just a few weeks. Part of the tradition of the Olympic Games is the "Ekecheiria" or "Truce." It was established in ancient Greece in the 9th century BC by the signature of a treaty by three kings. During the truce period, the athletes, artists, and their families, as well as ordinary pilgrims, could travel in total safety to participate in or attend the Olympic Games and return afterwards to their respective countries. As the opening of the Games approached, the sacred truce was proclaimed and announced by citizens throughout Greece. For the whole of the Games, athletes and officials can sign "Truce Walls" located in each of the 3 Athlete villages. It's a symbolic gesture by which the participants commit themselves to acting as "Truce Ambassadors" by promoting peace and understanding through sport in their countries of origin. This picture is of the mirrored Truce Wall located in the Athletes Village in Torino.

On Tuesday, there were welcoming ceremonies for each country into the Athletes Village. Each country's delegation is welcomed by the Torino Olympic Organizing Committee and presented with a torch. Each country's national anthem is played and it's flag raised in the Village. There were three countries welcomed at the same time: U.S., Armenia, and Iran. It was great to see each country's athletes remove their hats and stand in respect for each other's anthems and flags. This picture is of our women's hockey team taking pictures with the athletes from Armenia and Iran. What a great experience to see all these athletes brought together in peace.

Oh the food. . .

I saved one portion of my walking tour yesterday until I had more time to write about it. . . dinner! It's no secret - I love good food! Like all good Cajuns, memorable moments of my life are associated with great food, so I knew these Winter Olympic Games would be no different! Last night, we stumbled upon an amazing restaurant in the heart of Torino. Of course, I can't remember the name, but I do remember that it was on Via Po (Po Street), so I'm confident I will find it again! Dinner isn't served anywhere in the city before 7:00 p.m. It was around 5:30 p.m. and we were looking for some drinks and snacks to tide us over til an appropriate Italian dining hour. So, seeing the scene in this picture, we ducked in for hors d'oeuvres and some world famous Italian red wine. On this table are various olives, meat pastries, cheeses, salted breads, and the best sun-dried tomatoes I've ever had. Half of the married couple that runs the restaurant/bar was a woman originally from Sicilly who spoke very good English. She guided us through wines and foods specific to the region in which Torino is located- Piedmont.

Ever since living in Spain, I've been a huge fan of Spanish Rioja wines, but I think I've found a new favorite red. The Barolo Prunotto we tried first was excellent, but was quickly overshadowed by the Barbaresco Poro Musso that came next. Now, I can't profess to be a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but I do love to sample wines specific to whatever region I happen to find myself. In this case, I find myself in one of the most prolific red wine producing regions of Italy. So, if you'd like to seduce your taste buds, I highly recommend trying the Barbaresco.

The rest of the meal consisted of foods specific to the Piedmont region. The menu was labeled as Menu del Giorno, or 3-course menu, and consisted of an antipasto (appetizers), a first or second dish, and dessert. The antipasto was antipasto misto, which was a platter of assorted Italian meats and cheeses. I loved everything I sampled, even one item which appeared to be raw sausage!

The first dish of an Italian meal is usually a pasta and the second dish is usually a meat dish. I had a combination of both with my first dish of agnolotti al sugo d'arrosto (a meat stuffed pasta with a thin but strong, silky meat sauce) - think ravioli without a red sauce. One of the other first dishes ordered at the table was tajarin al castelmagno, which is made with pasta and cheese that are both specific to the Piedmont region. Castelmagno is a blue mold cheese with just enough bite to make this dish unique, but not overpowering. I can't remember what I had for dessert, but it was a tasty cream stuffed pastry. One of the things I love most about dining in European countries is that meals are events. It can be annoying if you are in a hurry, but without time constraints, there's something to be said for lingering over good food and lively company for 3-4 hours!

I hope that with this post, I've gotten your taste buds watering and craving some Italian food! In order to be with me in spirit on Feb 10 for the Olympic opening ceremonies, plan an authentic Italian meal accompanied by a nice vino rosso and know that I'm thinking about all of you! As much as I love to travel, I love the company of my friends and family even more! Ciao!!

Cruisin Torino

Even though the weather wasn't cooperating, I still had a great day of sightseeing around Torino. I walked around the city quite a bit trying to get my bearings. For those of you who flew with me, you know that I have no sense of direction whatsoever, so it's always helpful for me to walk around a city and get my own grid going in my head. I made my way over to the USA House for their semi-opening. Every country leases a "house" for their athletes and sponsors where they can just hang out. Victory celebrations, press conferences, interviews, and marketing events all take place here. The food is always amazing and at the USA House here in Italy, there is great coffee and wine available too! This picture of me was taken by my coworker Peter at the USA House sitting in front of a mural by Kodak of our bobsled team.

The next stop was the Mole Antonelliana (pronounced mole ay). It's one of the original symbols of Torino and is a prominent landmark in the city's skyline. The tip is 550 feet high and the building as a whole houses the Museum of Cinema. It's amazing how many American movies were filmed in Italy. There was especially a lot of memorabilla from the "Spaghetti Westerns" back in the day! My dad loved Westerns, so I have fond memories of watching them growing up. There's a glass panoramic elevator that takes you to the balcony 85 meteres above the city. The picture on the left is the city from that balcony. The one on the right is of the Mole from street level at dusk. Another place that was on my walking tour was the Valentino Castle. It was the palace of the Savoy dynasty that was constructed in the 1500s. The reason I mention this one is because this may have been home to my relatives! My grandmother was a Savoie, or Savoy, originating from France or Italy. Although controversial according to my Aunt Cynthia, my family may be the offspring of a bastard child of the Duke of Savoy!! So, this palace may have been home at some point!!! Figures I may be from the lineage of an illegitimate child, huh?!

OK, that's all I've got for now! Mom, I hope I didn't embarass you with all this talk of illegitimate kids, but you know I get a kick out of this stuff!! I'll write more tomorrow. Caio!

Out and about!

Even in Europe where large, luxary cars are rare, this little Smart car is pretty compact! It only seats two people, and is not for two people as tall as my dad and brother! It does make finding a parking spot pretty easy though, instead of parallel parking, they just pull in nose first into a spot since the length of a Smart car is the same as the width of a regular car!

It was a bit drizzley and cold yesteday, but I figured while I had a down day, I had to make the most of it. I don't have much time right now, so I'll post more pictures tonight!

In the Village

My day today consisted mostly of working in the Athlete Village. We set up video viewing and analysis rooms for the coaches and athlete to review footage right in their "house." We also set up some snacks and wireless internet and created a kind of "safe haven" away from the hustle and bustle of village life that only the USA athletes can access. This picture is of a bridge that expands over the railroad/tram tracks to the International Media area and one of the competition venues. It's unbelievable how close Athens and Torino cut the final preparations for the Games. This next picture was taken in the Athlete Village of workers trying to finish up one of the meeting areas. Athletes have been moving in since yesterday, so this is really last minute! I got an interpreter and went into the food service area of the Athlete Village and acted as a liason for the athletes and the Dietitians that travel with some of the teams. There's always growing pains in a big operation like this, so the meeting was really just to find out the progression of the operation from here.

I have to chose my words very carefully since I don't want to badmouth any of our sponsors, so I'll just post this picture of a few of the nutritional options that are made readily available 24/7 for free to athletes from around the world. For those of you that know my nutrition philosophy, these pictures speak for themselves. If this would be chocolate, however. . . !

For now Buonanotte (Good night)!

Athletes Village & Stats

Here's the Athletes' Village. It's rows of buildings similar to apartment buildings that were built especially for the Olympics. Actually, the buildings are so new, they are still finishing up some of the painting as I'm writing this! The first American Team just moved in today with the rest of the teams coming in in waves right up until the opening ceremonies on Feb. 10. Each country has its own section. As you can see from the flags hanging down, these buildings house teams from Sweden and Canada. Canada's flag is so big it covers all three floors of the building. I haven't been in the village yet, but I go in tomorrow. I didn't get many pictures today since the sun was going down when I got off work and these are the only pictures I managed to get for today. I'll take more in the Athletes' Village tomorrow.

Since I'm lacking in pictures at the moment, I'll pass on some cool Olympic stats that the U.S. Olympic Committee's press office sent to us today. The athletes in Team USA totals 211 (89 women and 122 men). Athletes will compete in 10 Olympic events with snowboardcross being the latest addition to the Winter Games. Of these 211 athletes, 87 are returning Olympians. Athletes range in age from 16 (Figure Skating) to 54 years old (Curling). There are lots of family bonds on the team this year. There are 2 sets of twins (Biathlon and Nordic Combined skiing), a set of sisters (Curling), a set of brothers (Cross Country skiing), and two married couples (Long Track Speedskating and Ice Dancing). There is even one superstar athlete who will be competing in two sports (Biathlon and Cross Country Skiing). And the kicker. . . she's 38 years old! Did I mention I turned 38 this year?! There are 33 states represented. A note to my Southern friends, here is the breakdown for athletes from Southern states: Alabama (1), Florida (3), Georgia (2), and Texas (5). So, make your kids play in ice (you're gonna have to really crank the AC for this one!) and learn a winter sport so they can represent us for the Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010!!!

OK gang, that's all I've got for today. I promise I'll have more pictures tomorrow, so stay tuned. . .

Feelin like a million bucks!

Wow, a good night sleep and a hot shower are the answer to all problems of the world! I managed to stay awake all day yesterday (after landing at 10:30 a.m.) so I was down for the count last night. I'm one of the fortunate few who have never really had problems with jet lag (I guess I can thank the Navy for that one!).

Thanks to everyone for the posts! There's not really a "typical day" yet since I just got here. Today we will be finishing up the set-up of our Performance Technology area. We have what looks like a Best Buy showroom to set up - a dozen or so video recorders, DVD recorders, flat screens, DVD burners, a mountain of digitizing and analyzing computers, as well as a variety of field recording devices. The 3-4 individuals I'm assisting all specialize in the use of technology in performance, so I'm the least knowledgable of this bunch when it comes to all these cool gadgets. My electronics background comes in handy since I'm pretty much a wire-hooker-upper right now! I'll bring my camera in later today and take some pics to post.

Living arrangements. . . There's a finite number of credentials alloted to each country that will get personnel access to the villages. Since we are support services, we give the majority of those credentials to staff that work for the National Governing Bodies (e.g. USA Speedskating, USA Figure Skating, etc). We can get access when we need it, but don't need it on a continual basis if that makes sense. So, we live in a hotel in the city of Torino. For security reasons, I don't want to say the name or location. The rooms are very nice and the hotel owners are making a huge effort to accomodate our American lifestyles. Disappointingly, even a few restaurants close by have started serving American-size portions. I'm going to try to eat at restaurants further away from where we live whenever I can!

That's the scoop for now. I will try to post some pictures tonight.