Better and better with each passing day.

7/31/08 12:22 Local Time, Media Village

I finally met the swimming broadcast manager today! Her name is Cathy, and the second I introduced myself, she asked if I was the one that knew Bob Costas. It turns out she's known him for 25 years, and when I was talking to her later in the day, she said that when he is at the swimming venue, they usually assign an intern to go around with him, and she said she would make sure I got to do that! I almost dropped dead. The doors this internship is opening for me are incredible, and I've only been here for 5 days. I'm so excited.

It's really going to be a slow couple of days coming up at work, because we almost have the compound completely set up already (with 7 eager interns working on one venue, things get done strangely quickly). Shannon and I had to go on the pool deck today to help with the set-up of a few of our ceiling cameras. We were literally standing behind all of the competition blocks that so many Olympic athletes will be starting from so soon, trying to make all of their dreams come true. It's a crazy thought. While we were standing there, the Canadian, Mexican, Belgian, Turkish, Cuban, and I think 1 or 2 other national teams walked onto the deck to do some workouts. Even though I had no idea who the athletes were, it was still somewhat of an unreal experience to be in their presence.

We went back to the silk market tonight after work with some of the gymnastics interns we see a lot on our compound (we share a compound since the swimming and "gymno" venues are side by side) because we all needed to find closed-toed shoes to wear to work. I got a pair of all black Pumas for like 15 bucks...crazy cheap.

A few new interns got in today, and one of them, Ben, who's working at the basketball venue, came with us to the silk market. He and I stayed there when everyone else went back because we wanted to find some good Chinese food in the area. We found this one really good place to have dinner, and we had pork and grilled pineapples in sweet and sour sauce, dumplings, and I had my first dish of duck with peanuts in this delicious sauce! I'm so proud of myself -- I'm getting so brave with my food selections! It was SO delicious, too. And we had this rice wine that smelled and tasted awful at first but actually went really well with our food. When we finished the ceramic "bottle" it was in, I snagged it off the table and stuffed it in my bag so I left the restaurant with a nice little souvenir for myself. And I had my first adventure on the Beijing subway! Thankfully, it was successful.

I have a new roommate finally, though she was already sleeping by the time I got in. She will learn soon that nights after work are the best times to explore parts of the city. It's my favorite part of the day!