The Glorious Adventure of Last Night!

WOW!!!! Last night was quite the adventure and something I will remember for the rest of my life! It all started with the preparation and putting on our lovely opening ceremony outfits (which actually this year compared to years past apparently was MUCH better looking on everyone). The trickiest part of the attire for our team ended up being the lovely scarf that you had to tie in a rather particular way around your neck so that everyone would look uniform.... turns out our team is not so good at tying them and it somehow turned into me having to tie everyones scarves!! It was quite funny, I was later nicknamed Jimmita since the Ralph Lauren representative that fit us into our outfits and was quite particular about the tucking and the scarves in San Jose was named Jimmy! So good times before we even got going.... then team USA headed off in the buses to the fencing venue which was right next to the stadium and this is where we met the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!! Thats right George Bush and George Senior were both there along with the first lady! Our team took a picture with the president, then I was able to also snap a shot with George Senior and the first lady!!! REALLY COOL! That whole process ended up taking a lot of time, so while we were waiting we snapped a few pictures with some of the other team USA athletes including some of the basketball players and my favorite volleyball players! YAY :) After that long deal in the fencing stadium it was off to another stadium to wait for the parade of athletes. We sat in the gymnastics stadium for quite a while and had a snack that was in a bag labeled in Chinese then translated into English as "food bay".... hahhaha oh China! Alright, at this point during the night we are ALL sweating profusely and starting to get a little antsy as they start to line up the teams in alphabetical order using the Chinese alphabet (and boy is that a confusing order to line up in)! While that happened Opening Ceremonies had begun in the birds nest (the giant stadium next door) and they would show us clips of it when they could, but a lot of the screen time was used announcing the next team to stand up and line up. Eventually it was our turn and we waiting in the enormous line, then cheered as we walked through the tunnel in a GIANT mass "USA USA!!!" Sounds really cheesy but while we were there it was actually really cool. Then it was into the stadium, around the track for a lap, then into the middle of the track to wait for the rest of the parade. The lap was pretty amazing, it was sooooo cool to see the US flag here and there waving about and people so excited to see us and see us wave! It is hard to describe that feeling of walking into that stadium, but what really ended up getting me was the lighting of the torch! First of all, if you didn't watch opening ceremonies it was the COOLEST way I have ever seen the torch lit (and I have watched my fair share of Olympics)! They seriously lifted a guy from the floor of the stadium all the way up to the top (torch in hand) and had him run a lap around the brim of the stadium where pictures of the torch relay were being projected behind him! He ran the full circle then lit the torch (which sat at the lip of the stadium), signifying the beginning of the games!!!!! I'm going to be honest that almost got a tear out of me! It was really neat! Then immediately following the lighting of the torch, we were rushing out of the stadium in order to get back to the village quickly (because let me tell you there was a LONG line of people all trying to go to the same place), so we made a train behind Kyle (our very tall assistant coach) and maneuvered our way out of there with great speed and grace (surprisingly)! We were actually on the 3rd bus back!!! Impressive, I know! hahaha, but honestly it was already really late and we needed to get back and go to sleep, so it was a great success! We returned sweaty and smelly beyond belief! I kid you not, the jackets that we wore smelled like an old horse as soon as they got sweaty and let me tell you WE WERE!!!! Once we got into the apartments we threw the clothes outside onto the balcony (where they will stay the remainder of the trip) and jumped in the shower! Wow it was a great night and something I will remember for the rest of my life!!! Hope you guys got a glimpse of us on TV.... still no reports on whether any of the water polo athletes were spotted in the mass of people on team USA (but if you are watching, look towards the back of the group, in front of the basketball team.... that is where most of us were by the time we walked out onto the field). Now I can't wait until Monday when the games begin!!!!!