Competitions in the Bird's Nest

I'm back on U.S. soil! I'm blogging this post from the San Francisco airport as I'm waiting for my connecting flight to San Diego. I'm actually feeling pretty good relative to my previous return flights from Beijing.

I figured that since I was at the Paralympic Games that I should do at least one post with pictures from a competition venue! This first picture is of the wheelchair 5K. For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that I don't post much about work. It's a TRAVEL blog after all, not a WORK blog!

Even though I don't like being in large crowds, I accepted the ticket given to me to attend a Track & Field event. It was pretty cool to be in the National Stadium (AKA Bird's Nest) to see our athletes compete. It was awesome to see a packed stadium for just about every session. Some of the races have gone our way and some haven't, but that's the nature of the beast. There may be favorites and underdogs going into each event, but you never know what the outcome will be once the drama has unfolded. Some dreams fulfilled, some dashed. Some will be back to try again, others won't. It's all part of the big show.

I had been running around so much since I got to Beijing, I hadn't taken the time to take pictures of the Bird's Nest and the "Cube", so I caught these pictures before I left. We could actually see the Bird's Nest from our hotel room we were so close. As the old saying goes "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I can appreciate the architectural marvel that the Bird's Nest represents and it is impressive all lit up at night, but I personally don't find the structure aesthetically appealing. To me, it just seems out of place in a city full of ancient and historical designs. I understand that it's meant to represent the modernization of Beijing, but when it blends in with the ever present pollution, it seems to represent the harmful consequences of China's economic growth instead of the benefits. Again, just my opinion.


It's hard to believe that all the planning and preparations for the Beijing Games are behind us and that I'm already scheduled for meetings to continue the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 planning. The Olympic calendar continues to progress, always moving towards the next Games.

Although this wasn't a particularly arduous trip, I'm looking forward to a few days off to catch up on laundry and household tasks before jumping back in full force at work. Although I'll be heading out to Colorado Springs next week to discuss plans for the next couple of Games, the Paralympics are still in full swing and I'll be following coverage on the internet. How big are the Paralympic Games in comparison to the Olympics? Well, it's all a matter of perspective. I heard the Olympics referred to as the "warm up" Games several times from Paralympic athletes, coaches and staff! The Paralympic Games will be televised in the U.S. sometime in October, so I hope you'll tune in!

Local living

After the great experience I had in Italy taking a cooking class between the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2006, I decided to try my luck again with a Google search of cooking classes- this time in Beijing! My colleague and friend Susie decided to accompany me on this foodie sightseeing experience. Although we couldn't spare enough time to take the full-blown cooking class, I was excited to find a market tour and seasoning lesson offered in a historic hutong in downtown Beijing.



A hutong is a narrow street (pretty much an alley really) that is lined with traditional courtyard residences. You can't really see the courtyards or residences because they are all behind stone walls with gates. Dating back centuries, these neighborhoods started disappearing in the late 1940s to make way for high rise buildings and wider boulevards. The cooking class I found was offered by a woman named Yi (http://www.hutongcuisine.com/) and was in the historic Shajing Hutong. As our tour/cultural guide, she escorted Susie and I through the hutong where we saw and heard evidence of this hutong's reputation for being "artsy." Drama schools lined the street and women on bicycles rode by singing in seemingly professional voices.



Yi turned out to be a soft spoken yet knowledgeable cook who had migrated from the southern China countryside to Beijing for a more cosmopolitan lifestyle. We walked up to a local market where she took us section by section explaining the different foods and how they are traditionally prepared. China is a huge country and each province has its own tastes and food traditions. Just as those of us in the southern region of the U.S. eat differently than our countrymen in the northeast or west coast, those living in the south of China have different food preferences than those in the city of Beijing. Of course, preferences in each province is usually dictated by availability of ingredients. The market had a variety of spices catering to tastes from all around China. Seafood such as fish and eel was fresh and still alive in tanks built on the floor. Meat was hung from the ceiling out in the open and unrefrigerated just like I've seen it being sold in markets from Morrocco to Oman. There was an impressive array of noodles, rice, fresh produce along with soy and tofu products of every imaginable form.

Once our education at the market had concluded, Yi brought us back to her home in the hutong and prepared tea and an appetizer for us since we weren't staying for a cooking lesson afterwards. Susie and I were quite fascinated with long, fat tubes of clear gelatin that we saw at the market so Yi had bought a roll for 1 yuan for us to try (about 15 cents). The tube actually was a gelatinous form of soy that had been rolled into a tube shaped object. She sliced the tube and unrolled each slice to produce long, thick noodle-like strings. She then mixed light soy, rice vinegar, fresh chopped garlic and parsley, sugar and sesame oil with it. What you see in the picture was the result of her efforts and served as our snack as she explained basic Chinese food seasoning to us.

Yi explained the difference between dark and light soy, which has nothing to do with sodium content like it does in the States. She was slightly traumatized to hear that Japanese dark soy sauce (Kikkoman) was standard on Chinese food restaurant tables around the U.S. First of all it's Japanese, and second of all, dark soy sauce would never be used alone (always mixed with light) and third, it would never be used with food with such a light flavor as seafood! Next she explained the qualities of Chinese cooking wines and vinegars. We ended the lesson with different oils used in traditional Chinese cooking.

Although she seemed well informed about nutrition (she commented that chicken eggs are considered much more nutritious and tasty than duck eggs), she could not understand how anyone would chose nutritional value of a food product over taste. Susie and I chuckled as we recognized this as a common trait of chef's worldwide!! She thought chicken breast was bland and should never be chosen above the leg or wings and that chicken feet have excellent flavor. She told us how women are often encouraged to consume chicken and pigs feet after giving birth in order to regain their strength! Chicken feet are usually fried and eaten like chicken wings are in the U.S., you just eat the crispy skin off the bone. The pigs feet I saw by the butcher's block looked similar to those that can be found pickled and in a jar with boiled eggs in any corner store in South Louisiana! Having grown up with boucheries (social events where a hog or two is slaughtered and cooked) and a grandmother who kept a bucket of lard next to her stove for cooking, there weren't too many things I saw in the market that I would consider inedible. I'll admit though that some of the seafood I've seen on menus here in China would require a strong sense of adventure to consume (e.g. sea cucumbers!) by most Westerners, including myself!

That's it for now. A couple of Track & Field competition sessions are on tap for me so I'll fill ya'll in as soon as I can!

Forbidden City- Take 2

With today being Opening Ceremonies day for the Paralympic Games, security has tightened up significantly. Unless you're a credentialed athlete or coach, it's near impossible to get into the Paralympic Village. With lock-down in full swing, axillary staff like Kim and I are left on the outside. I've had full access to the Village up to this point, but today I had to run errands for Team USA outside the gates.

After the errands were completed, Kim and I made our way to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I had gone there on a previous trip to Beijing back in April 2006 and posted my adventure then.

We arrived in the Square and passed through the mag & bag (magnetic baggage screening) fairly quickly and took in the recently added landscaping. Although beautiful, the cranes in the background of just about every photo op and the heavy pollution made it hard to fully appreciate the scene. This picture overlooking the Forbidden City shows how thick the the pollution was; it was truly hard to enjoy the afternoon of sightseeing with my eyes and throat burning so much. We've heard that the even-odd license plate driving protocol is still in effect, but today was some of the worse pollution I've experienced in my four trips to Beijing.

The lack of any color in the sky made for drab pictures, but you can still get a feel for the remarkable architecture and paint schemes. It was great to see all the disable access that has been added to this city due to the Paralympic Games being held here. All of the Olympic signage has been switched over to Paralympic and the city seems fully engaged in the upcoming competitions. In fact, the whole city seemed to be shutting down to get ready for Opening Ceremonies tonight.

Although I had the option of going to the Ceremonies tonight, I'm watching them on TV from the hotel room as I'm writing this post. I'm not a huge fan of large crowds, especially for such an extended period of time. I can see the "bird's nest" stadium from my hotel though and I'm excitedly awaiting the fireworks display that I know will be the finale.

That's it for tonight. I hope you will go to the IPC website (International Paralympic Committee) to watch live coverage and learn a little about Paralympic sport.

Duck and tea

For our second night in Beijing, a few of us took a cab to a Peking Duck restaurant recommended by our interpreter. I had done a post back in 2006 detailing the tradition of Peking Duck in more detail, but I have better pics this time!

The last time I had gone, it was an arranged organizational dinner, so the menu was preset. This time, we were presented menus and had to order a la carte! Thankfully, there was a menu with pictures for us to order from!

Ordering and eating this dish is quite the process. As you can see in the pic, the duck is carved right at your table so you're able to watch the whole process. The servers expertly wielded their knives to produce perfect bite-sized slices of duck with just enough skin to give flavor but not so much that it became greasy. We were also served a platter with the duck's head sliced in half and the choice meat from the back.

As you have probably guessed, I was quite curious with the head! The beak was removed, but the rest of the head cavity was intact and contained little separated compartments of meat/tissue. I inserted my chopsticks and tugged on a little nugget of meat. As soon as I realized it was the eyeball I had chosen, I picked another piece of the head cavity to try. You see, I'm not as adventurous as ya'll think! I tried a tiny piece of a different meat; it just tasted like the rest of the duck though.

The funnest part of eating Peking duck is that it comes with fixins kind of like a taco would. We got a little warmer dish with 6 inch "tortillas" that we were able to stuff with duck meat and the condiments of our choice. In this case, we chose sliced cucumber, a sweet soy paste, shallots, crushed garlic and sugar. We were all pleasantly surprised at how well the garlic and sugar went together, especially with all the other fixins too!

From the duck restaurant, we strolled up the street to hail a cab. At first I wasn't sure in which part of the city we were since I'm so easily turned around (with or without a map!). Once we walked about a block though, I recognized a tea shop that I had visited on my trip in March. Kim and Toby were curious, so we ducked in to take a quick look.

Long story short, the quick look turned into about an hour tea tasting session! We were seated and were given a demonstration and tasting of some really nice jasmine tea.

That bulb with a flower on it you see in the picture is actually a ball of green tea leaves, jasmine pedals and a "thousand days" flower. When put into a small glass vase and combined with boiling water, the bulb blooms into what you see in the last pic. The pic with the flower is actually of a bulb that contained a jasmine flower instead of the "thousand days" flower. The aroma was quite pleasant and the flavor even better. I'm a die hard coffee drinker and have never been one much for tea, but even I have to admit that this stuff was pretty good!

We hailed a cab and returned to the hotel satisfied with our little adventure for the evening. Our days are quite busy, filled with many errands and tasks to keep the finely-tuned machine of the American Paralympic delegation running. The pollution has gotten to my sinuses (I'll do a separate pot later about the air quality) but I'm still managing to enjoy my time here. Thanks for checking in and stay tuned. . .

Leaving Okinawa

In another well-executed exercise by our military friends at Kadena AFB we loaded up our 100+ athletes and staff and made the 3.5 hour flight to Beijing. After having already experiencing the downloading procedure, we reloaded athletes and gear in no time at all (relatively speaking!). As the ambulatory folks climbed the stairs to the aft section of the aircraft, the "wheelies" rolled onto a huge loader that lifted them up to the forward access door. Each athlete was assisted to their seats, as a bunch of us staff took their wheelchairs and passed them out the opposite door outside to another huge loader. We had already loaded all the luggage and gear prior to the athletes arriving at the aircraft, so all we had to do was load their wheelchairs and we were on our way.

Due to a tremendous show of support through volunteer workers, we had all the luggage tagged, transported from lodging and loaded into the aircraft in an hour and a half! That's Dave and Kim on the loader as we're riding it down to load the chairs into the cargo hold.

It was a bitter-sweet departure for the athletes. The training camp was a huge success in terms of Paralympic Games preparation. Everyone's training continued on schedule in a relaxed environment without many outside distractions. The weather held up nicely and allowed them to depart for Beijing fully acclimated to the heat and humidity and with an initial exposure to Asian culture without being totally submerged just yet. And of course, everyone was well fed! The bitter part was that they enjoyed it so much, they wanted to stay! Being the true competitors they are though, they were ready to test all that training on the field of play.

I witnessed one of the most touching displays of respect as we taxied down the runway for take-off. The flight crew told everyone to look out the windows to the right where the flight line staff had formed up and were rendering salutes. My eyes watered a bit as I marveled at how so many of these folks saluting us had just recently returned from, or were departing for, extended deployments in harms way. Yet here they were paying tribute to these Paralympians with the most respectful of military customs. A lot of our athletes are too young or too far removed from military life to fully appreciate all that these military service members did for them, including the departing salute. Having been in the shoes of those standing along the flight line, I was truly moved by the sight and was proud to be a veteran of their ranks.

The arrival in Beijing was smooth and well run. Most of the folks who arrived we bussed to the Olympic Village while a handful of staff, including myself, we transported to a nearby hotel for the duration of our stay here in Beijing. It was a bit of an adjustment to go from a suite complete with a kitchen and living area to a cramped, shared hotel room with Kim as a roommate. It's a good thing that Kim and I get along pretty well, because it's going to be close living quarters for the next 8 days. As we explored our little room, we were half worried, half amused by the amenities provided by the hotel. Along with the standard small vials of shampoo and lotion was a pack of condoms. We opened the "closet" door a stood facing 2 gas masks! Wow, a hotel that provides condoms and gas masks, what more could a traveler want?! We joked with our colleagues staying at the Hilton that they may be living in luxury, but our hotel prepared us for a broad array of situations! As you can see in the picture, we couldn't help but pay the 50 yuan (approx $7) to open the gas mask box and put it on with the robe and slippers also provided! The gas mask amounted to safety goggles and a plastic cup with cloth filters that fit over your mouth. Not sure what it would actually protect you from, but a great souvenir nonetheless!

Our first full day in Beijing was pretty busy and I'll try to fill you in as soon as possible. Thanks for checking in!

Scuba diving the Kerama islands

After a full day of sightseeing on Saturday, I was feeling a little guilty about the dive trip I had planned for Sunday. Senior staff reinforced their opinion that we should enjoy the time off while we had it before heading out to Beijing in a couple of days though, so we followed through with our plans.

Although it had been over 10 years since I had been underwater with a tank on my back, Kim and I had signed up for a two tank boat dive earlier in the week. I got certified in Hawaii when I was stationed there 15 years ago, but it had been so long I couldn't remember through which organization I had gotten certified. After a discussion with the marina dive locker manager, it was decided that the quickest way for me to be able to do a dive here was to get a refresher class in the pool with a dive master and then do a supervised dive on Sunday. After a couple of hours in the pool one night this week with Liz, dive master extraordinaire, I relearned the safety basics and felt comfortable enough to go deep in the ocean again.

So, bright and early yesterday morning Kim and I along with Scott, one of the throws athletes took a cab out to the marina to catch the dive boat. The boat captain briefed the 20 or so excited divers that the winds were pretty strong so we'd have to head out a couple of miles to see how choppy the waters were going to be before he made a decision on whether the trip was a go or not. The destination for the dive was the Kerama Islands which are a chain of subtropical islands located about 20 miles southwest of Okinawa. Only four of the 22 lush islands with pristine beaches are occupied making it an ideal getaway for divers and snorkelers alike. Although a bit choppy, the hour and a half boat ride was actually quite enjoyable. I love being on the water and we all commented that even if we couldn't dive once we got out there, the $75 we paid for the trip would be worth it just for the boat ride!

As luck would have it, we made it out to the dive site and were ordered off the boat by the captain. He didn't have to tell anyone twice as we all suited up and flowed out the back end of the vessel. Scott snorkeled while Kim and I dove down the 40-50 feet with Liz. Here we encountered lots of live coral with starfish, tropical fish, sea snakes, eels and urchins. We even caught a glimpse of a sea turtle off in the distance. Kim and I had brought down some cheap disposable cameras that allowed us to capture some of the sea life. Liz dove with a nicer digital (that's her with Kim right under the boat) and and she gave me this one of Kim and I giving the OK sign.

After about an hour of bottom time, we surfaced and ate sandwiches as the captain maneuvered us to the next dive site. The day and water was comfortably warm, but it still felt good to sit in the sun as we waited out our surface interval before going back down. The next dive took us down to around 70 feet in and out of coral reef trenches full of sea life. Kim and I didn't find out until later, but apparently there was a white tip shark swimming with us for the majority of our dive and we never saw it. The other divers all told us they had gotten pictures but we were still disappointed that we didn't get to see it in real time! We did a drift dive and popped up about an hour later wherever the current brought us and the boat captain brought the boat around to pick us up. Even though we still had air left in the tanks, the waters down at that depth are chilly and we were ready to surface in order to warm up a bit. Although we couldn't stay down as long as we would've liked, it was still worth it to dive in a bikini and t-shirt! Now that I've gotten the dive bug again, I'll have to keep reminding myself that diving in the 7 mm wetsuit with boots and hoodie required for the chilly California waters do not make for an enjoyable dive. For now I can only dream of the day I'll live near warm waters again. . .

That's it from Okinawa and Kadena. We have a farewell dinner tonight then fly out tomorrow for Beijing. Not sure how much I'll get to post from China, but I haven't had many problems on my three previous trips so I anticipate being able to keep everyone up to date. Still watching Hurricane Gustav's path and anxiously awaiting word on how my family and Houma make it through the storm.

Okinawa Ocean Expo Park

On Saturday, a handful of staff accompanied a few of the "wheelies" of the Track & Field team to Okinawa Ocean Expo Park on the northern part of the island. The bus ride along the western coast of the island was beautiful and filled our time with ocean and shoreline scenery. After a quick bite of Japanese bento box lunches, we headed down towards the Churaumi Aquarium.

As you can see in this picture, the aquarium is HUGE (second largest in the world!) and actually contained two whale sharks along with several hundred other species of marine life. Notice the folks standing on the ground along the bottom looking up at the tank for a perspective on how big the tank and the whale shark are! Along with various smaller tanks containing sea life specific to Japan and Asia, there was also exterior dolphin, manatee and sea turtle pools.

Next on the sightseeing list in the Expo Park was the Native Okinawan Village. It's a reconstruction of a traditional village from the 17th to 19th centuries and represents architecture from the Ryukyu Kingdom period. I loved all the raw wood and paper screen walls that slid open to allow a breeze to blow through the whole structure. I wouldn't be so thrilled about sleeping on the wood and mat floors though! The cooking area was unique, but we had to chuckle at the full circuit breaker panel just behind the wall to this hanging tea kettle room! The whole place was so peaceful with incense burning and little shrines scattered throughout. The village is also used as a cultural center and there were some classes of weaving and string instruments going on with what appeared to be some middle school groups.

From the village, we strolled through the botanical garden to the Tropical Dream Center. I wouldn't have been able to pull my mom from this place had she been here! It was filled with tropical flowers, shrubs and trees. I had never seen so many, nor so many different types of orchids in my whole life. Absolutely beautiful!

We spent the last bit of our time going for a dip at Emerald Beach. The water was so warm and inviting, we didn't want to get out to catch the bus back to base. I would say that it was a relaxing day, but the staff did so much walking and the athletes did so much pushing in their wheelchairs in the heat that everyone was pretty wiped out by the end. All in all, a great day of sightseeing though!

Arduous duty?!

OK, I hate to admit it but this trip has felt more like fun than work! Yes, I'm still doing my job, but everyone here is bending over backwards so much to accommodate us that my job has been pretty easy. I've really been able to take advantage of the snippets of time between duties and enjoy being on Okinawa.

I boasted to Mariko, one of the managers at the dining facility that I had gotten out and experienced some "real" Japanese sushi. When I told her the name of the restaurant to which we had gone, she kind of smirked and asked me what I was doing later that night. Um, I guess going with you? She and another manager, Chikara arranged for me to have dinner with them and a long-time friend of theirs at a restaurant called Uokura. It was about 15 minutes away, halfway between Kadena and Naha but so worth the drive!

They were both born and raised on Okinawa and were excited to facilitate a real dining experience for me. There wasn't another American in the restaurant! We sat at the sushi bar where a conveyor belt of dozens of sushi options continuously flowed pass us. Chikara guided me through all the options as I'd point to something passing by and ask what it was. Once he realized that there was nothing that I considered off limits, he excitedly started ordering and educating me on the different types and species of each option. Seafood salad, green tea, miso soup, cold soba noodles (purple ones!), sea urchin, eel, several types of tuna, mackerel, seaweed, fish eggs, octopus and tempeh comprised the dinner. Just about everything was raw with an amazing array of textures and tastes. I pointed to and inquired about one dish in particular. He told me that that specific sushi was considered advanced and wasn't sure if I was ready for it yet. I grinned and asked if we could order it anyway. It turned out to be raw sea urchin. I cautiously broke off a tine piece with my chopsticks to taste. The texture was similar to liver pate but my vocabulary lacks an adequate adjective to describe the taste. I actually liked it and and commenced to eat the whole bitesize portion. After sampling so many different dishes I finally had to admit that I was stuffed and to asked them politely to quit ordering!

Today Kim, Beth and I walked out the gate and over to a place called China Pete's. This is where I had bought my set of Noritake China table setting when I was here 15 years ago (which I still have and use!). Kim and Beth loved the place and purchased several sake sets and chopsticks. As I've become a minimalist over the years, I've stopped buying trinkets during my travels that will require dusting and will eventually suffer the fate of a Goodwill donation during one of my many moves. It was fun to look around though and I got some great pictures of local pottery and China. Instead of buying things to take home, I simply take pictures of subjects that I can have enlarged to hang in my home to remind me of places I've been.

Today ended with a leisurely dinner at the Kadena Marina. One of our staff members, Mark has a vehicle here so we took a couple of athletes down to the waterfront to dine at the base marina as the sun set. Robin and Mallory are a couple of track & field athletes and thoroughly enjoyed feeding the fish and the view that accompanied our dinner.

We've already started the meetings to discuss logistics for us to move from here to Beijing. Time has flown and it won't be long before we find ourselves in the midst of Paralympic competitions. As the athletes taper down to peak we have some sightseeing trips planned so I should have more to post about soon so stay tuned!

Off base

Lots of activity the last few days! Training is going well and everyone has pretty much fallen into a steady routine at this point. The athletes are getting acclimated to the time zone, heat and humidity and are peaking for their competitions. Won't be long now until all their hard work pays off!

As for staff, we manage to sneak an hour or so whenever we can to leave base and see a little of Okinawa. Kim and I went out to a nearby beach and jumped into the wonderfully warm ocean water. Unlike the chilly waters off the California coast, the water was warm and inviting and it was hard to pull ourselves out of it!

As we walked along the boardwalk, we discovered several of these vending machines offering cold beverages. For around 100 yen (approx $1) you can get just about anything you're thirsty for. We also stumbled across a few amusing public announcements like this sign informing folks to pick up after their dogs. Even though I've seen a ton of these literally translated signs during my travels in Asia, they still make me chuckle!

On another quick outing, I journeyed with another two-wheel enthusiast in our delegation the 3 miles off base to an Okinawan Harley-Davidson dealership. It was small by American standards, but about the same size as the one I visited in Beijing last March. We all joke in the States that HD stands for "hundred dollars" since there's not much for sale with a price tag of less than $100 at HD dealerships. That is most certainly true here. . . I paid $68 for a Harley-Davidson t-shirt. I know, I'm crazy for paying that much, but it's a pretty sweet shirt!

Last night, a group of staff went out to eat at Kitakaisen sushi restaurant out in town. It was authentic Japanese but with a Western twist (there were pizzas on the menu!). I had a crab and rice soup that reminded me of seafood gumbo back home, complete with a whole half crab in the bowl. I'm pretty proficient with chopsticks at this point in my life, but peeling crabs is still a hands on endeavor in any culture! I talked Beth into getting the yakisoba and she wasn't disappointed. Everyone ordered different dishes and we tasted a bit of everything. My goal of having sushi everyday while I'm Japan is still on track- 5 days running!

That's all for now, I'll keep posting as time allows. Thanks for checking in!

Paralympian arrivals

I apologize for not having pictures to accompany this post, but it's been pretty busy around here! The advance party and at least a hundred military personnel greeted the plane full of athletes and staff upon its arrival. Although their transportation was made as hassle free as possible (loaded in Colorado Springs and landed right on base without having to disembark anywhere in between), the passengers were tired and dazed upon arrival. In an enormous show of support and efficiency, the Kadena folks got everyone and their bags unloaded and to their rooms in an hour and a half. Considering we unloaded dozens of wheelchairs, that was quite a feat! The amount of support from this military community has been monumental and inspirational. Each athlete was paired with a military "sponsor" to give them assistance during their stay here at Kadena. At a place and time when these military service members are all facing their own significant personal and professional events, they greeted each athlete enthusiastically and genuinely excited to be part of the Paralympic movement.

Now that we have a day of training, eating and logistics under our belt we have a better feel for the flow of the upcoming days. I'll try to post again as soon as possible, hopefully with some visuals!

First day on the ground

Luckily, I've never really had a problem with jet lag. I'll admit that I feel the effects more as I get older, but I still don't seem to suffer with it as much as my colleagues. After almost 30 hours of wakefulness for the trip over (I had a great book!), I fell into bed the first night and slept soundly. By 7:00 a.m., I was out for a morning run in the already hot & humid day that was to greet us. By mid-morning, it was already in the upper 80s with 85% humidity! Loved it!



There are 6 staff that came out early on the advance party to get things ready for the disabled Swimming and Track & Field teams for their training camp here on Kadena AFB. We each broke off to spend the morning with our respective contacts here on base. I had breakfast with Lou who runs just about every dining establishment on this base plus the golf course, marina, etc. He and his staff took me through their plans for the teams' arrival and stay. Now, he and I have been emailing for weeks about the menu and logistics in preparation for this camp, but the amount of work and preparation they put into this effort blew me away. After rallying back up with the other staff members of the advance party for lunch, we all marveled at how much these folks have bent over backwards to make sure this camp is successful and that the athletes are as prepared as possible for their competitions in Beijing. I can't comment enough how amazingly enthusiastic and hard-working both the military and civilians on this base are as they continue to go above and beyond for our athletes.



Of course, a lot of my excitement about being on Okinawa involves the food! For lunch, I revisited the meal I practically lived off of on the flight line for 6 months while I was deployed here back in the day- yakisoba! Okinawa has it's own variety of soba (noodles) that is stirfried (yaki) with meat (chicken, beef, or pork), cabbage, tofu and vegetables. It was still just as tasty as I remembered it!



After more meetings and base touring, we finally ended up at an off-base restaurant in the evening for dinner. In the picture is Kim and Tina sampling some of the Awamori, a type of sake unique to Okinawa. It's an alcoholic beverage made from rice, but it's distilled instead of brewed like most sakes. It was served to us in a small ceramic pot with a large bucket of ice and bottled water. You fill the small glass with ice, pour Awamori until the halfway mark, then top it off with bottled water. Unlike sake, it was surprisingly smooth and mild- quite nice!





For dinner, I ordered nigiri sushi. In this picture, you can see the array of fresh seafood I was served. Fresh raw slices of ahi tuna, albacore tuna and mackerel sitting atop lightly vinegared sticky rice with a thin layer of wasabi (Japanese horseradish) were accompanied by lightly cooked shrimp, pickled ginger and some type of scrambled egg cake. The salad had raw seafood and roe with a slightly tangy soy-based dressing. The black and orange item you see at the bottom left of the long white plate is gunkanmaki (vinegared sticky rice surrounded by a strip of nori, AKA dried seaweed, and topped with large, plump roe, AKA fish eggs). Click on the picture for a closeup view of these delicacies!

The seashell plate contained some type of edible mollusk that tasted somewhat like an oyster but had the rubbery consistency of pickled calamari. The blue bowl contained what I thought was a warm flan for dessert, but after sticking a spoon it it and stirring it around I discovered what appeared to be gizzard and unidentifiable seafood bits. Undaunted, I tasted it and confirmed that yes, it was a gizzard in a yellow, gelatinous mild custard-like consistency. Not terrible, but not worth another biteful!


Day 2 will involve a little sightseeing and preparation to receive our 100+ athletes on the airlift from Colorado Springs!

Okinawa, Japan

Just a quick one to let everyone know I made it safe and sound to Okinawa. As always, the flights to Asia are long, but I'm feeling pretty good. Got a tasty meal in my belly, all I need now is a hot shower and my pillow! I'll post tomorrow after I get out and about.

Time is ticking. . .

It’s quite the process, but once we get all our athletes out of the Villages and headed back to the States safe and sound, we palletize all our equipment for shipment back to Colorado Springs. By equipment, I mean all recording electronics, medical supplies, strength and conditioning gear, desks, chairs, office supplies, etc. Not quite as bad as a 6 month military deployment, but a daunting task nonetheless. There is only a skeleton crew at this point, so those of us that are left have quite a lot to do. As you can see from these pictures, we pack it up, stage it all on pallets, and bring in a shipping company to do the rest. Now that this is done, we will have a farewell dinner tonight and pack our personal stuff for the flight home tomorrow. My flight leaves at 6 a.m. (3:30 a.m. airport run), and the journey home begins. We already went to our favorite local restaurant, Gaspare’s, and had a good-bye lunch and exchanged email address and bid farewell to the whole family. Gaspare’s wife had a baby just a few days ago, so we’re all anxious to see some pictures!

So, if all goes according to plan, the next post will be from the States! I stop off in Louisiana for some Daigle family lovin before I go back to Colorado. I've enjoyed my time here in Torino, but I'm ready for some clean (OK, cleaner) air and some much warmer weather!!!

Paralympic Closing Ceremonies

What a crazy day Sunday was! Instead of staging the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremonies at the Olympic Stadium like all the other ceremonies, it was held at Piazza Castella (better known as Medals Plaza during the Olympic Games). There were a few tickets for sale (if you wanted to sit down), but other than that, it was free and open to the public. Needless to say, it was a logistical nightmare for our security department! After starting the packing process of equipment for most of the day, most of us went to Closing Ceremonies to assist our athletes. This picture is from the U.S. Olympic Committee website (yet another great picture that I didn't take!).

The Closing Ceremonies themselves were quit interesting. I didn’t really understand the progression of tunes from “Singing in the Rain”, “It’s Raining Men” (with strategically placed assistants opening umbrellas in the crowd and squirting perfumed water over the spectators), to a bunch of children singing “Another Brick in the Wall.” A bit strange, but overall amusing! The confetti and fireworks were great and made up for some of the confusion!

Due to transportation logistics, most of our athletes had to be on a bus headed for Zurich only 3 hours after the Closing Ceremonies ended. So, imagine trying to round-up a group of athletes who have just had an experience of a lifetime, to get them to their planes, trains, and automobiles on time so soon after the experience has ended. Actually, it wasn’t that bad, and everyone was where they needed to be when they needed to be there.

Now, we have to finish packing up all the equipment and personnel required to put on an event (actually two events) of this scale, and head home.

A day in the mountains

Today, I drove up to the mountain venue in Sestriere with one of our Athletic Trainers to watch the Disabled Alpine Ski events. Today was a light video taping day, so I wanted to go up and watch some of the Giant Slalom events. Today was the “stands” – athletes with disabilities that allow them to ski upright under their own guidance (as opposed to athletes who compete sitting or with a guide). I’ve done physiological testing a few times a year on this team (sits and stands) since working for the USOC, but this was the first time I’ve seen them compete. Granted, it’s my own fault - I’m too much of a wus in the cold to go stand on a hill for a day to spectate. Well, today I redeemed myself and went out on the hill for a day and watched them compete!

For those of you who wonder what I do back in the Springs, here’s a little insight into the role of a Sport Physiologist for you. Physiological testing for the Disabled Alpine Ski team consists of a Wingate test and max strength & conditioning testing. A Wingate test is done on a specialized type of stationary bike (or upper body ergometer for the “sits”) and is a test of anaerobic strength. The athlete pedals the ergometer at a steady cadence, we give them a countdown, then we add a certain percentage of his/her bodyweight as resistance (dependent upon level and type of disability), and the athlete cycles all-out for 30 seconds. From that, we can determine absolute and relative total power produced, average power over the 30 seconds, and fatigue rate. Now, you may scoff at 30 seconds, but a Wingate test is pretty tough and usually produces near-maximal heart rates, lots of lactic acid, and in some cases, a substantial amount of nausea! Although it may seem like it, this test isn’t just for kicks to torture the athletes. The test results are used by the coach to monitor progress over a season or multiple seasons and to alter training programs. The athletes aren’t particularly fond of the test, but they like getting the results, especially when it shows improvement over the last season!

So, I froze out on the hill (although everyone else was quite comfortable on this bright, sunny day), and watched our “stands” compete. I also went up the gondola into the Italian Alps for a great view of the mountains and the town of Sestriere. At the top, a Chinese Paralympian and his friends wanted to have their pictures taken with the American. We couldn’t speak a lick of each others’ language, but it’s pretty cool that most of these athletes just want to share the experience of these Paralympics with everyone – without regard for nationality or role in the Games. Most of the athletes’ families were cheering just as loudly for all the other athletes as for their own. I have to admit, I shook my spectator cowbell for every athlete that came down the hill, not just for the Americans. The stands were packed, so it was a lot of fun to be a part of so much positive energy at once.

Just another day at the Games!