Day 24 - Visa House

Trafalgar Square

I now feel fully in a groove with my role here at SportsDock at UEL.  My daily activities are getting the gyms ready for wrestling, taekwondo, badminton, volleyball, fencing, trampoline, and basketball.  It's going really smooth.  It doesn't take all day so there is plenty of time to bum around but mostly just fill in the gaps and accommodate any other requests.  That part doesn't seem to be consistent but not stressful either.  I decided that something was lacking from our whole Olympic atmosphere here.  There was really no update on medal count and results being displayed anywhere.  The emails are quick to show a result but the athletes needed a way to see and get a full feel for the Olympics.  I spent a good chunk of the afternoon coming up with a way to show Team USA's medal totals.  The volunteers were very helpful in putting ideas together with me and we came up with some displays in the lobby and Ops office.  Everyone is always curious to see how Team USA's battle with China is going.  Later in the afternoon Rob, Ryan, Paul, and I headed to Mile End to try to catch another practice before the team started training at the official venue.  Not as many athletes were there like the other day but we gathered along the fence and witnessed some amazing explosiveness and speed as a few athletes trained.  One was Sanya Richards-Ross.  She suffered a heartbreaking defeat in Beijing in the 400 meter dash as she faded at the very end and lost her medal.  She constantly flashed smiles at us during training and politely asked how we were.  It's always amazing when an athlete shows such grace, especially in track where egos are big.  I'm really pulling for her to do well these games.  I like to stay updated on track and by following her over the years I know she is a great role model for many.  Peter told us about a place called Visa House that is accessable with a certain Visa card.  It just so happens that Rob has that card so we decided to check it out.  We got off the tube at the area called Covent Garden.  It is a beautiful area of town with old stone buildings and tourists in the streets.  I recommend it to many visiting London.  From there we passed through Trafalgar Square.  Another popular area with lion statues, fountains, and monuments.  Tourists galore.  We found the Visa House.  It was a great place because the TVs were everywhere displaying Olympic coverage with an area to get drinks while you waited to get into eat.  The chef preparing the food is world renown Chef Masahara Morimoto.  I'm sure my cousin Rick recognizes his name.  There were many different kinds of food including his sushi and asian specialties to go with his delightful American dishes.  The food was absolutely amazing.  After stuffing ourselves we headed back to the bar and lounge area where the 100 meter freestyle final was on and American Nathian Adrian narrowly beat "Missile" Magnuson from Australia.  It was an epic finish and everyone was going nuts.  We met a lot of people throughout the night.  One encounter that was cool was a woman and her sister.  She had been working with the group who organizes the Torch Relay.  It was great to hear her insight on that whole process.  We went out on a limb tonight to try and find the place based on word of mouth but it worked out.  Everyone was so excited.  I hope I'm creating a blog that shares the many experiences and some candidness blended together to keep things entertaining.  I'm trying not to skip a beat.  Always wear your cute pajamas to bed you’ll never know who you’ll meet in your dreams! Nightly Night everyone.

Day of the XXX Olympiad: 6