September 14th, 2007

Yesterday I saw one of the greatest bus driving performances that I think that I have seen. In the afternoon, the team was going to the Radisson Hotel to use the sauna and workout facilities there. Traffic was really bad, and I think that the driver was unfamiliar with the area. In order to get to the hotel we had to take some small one way streets as well as some small alleys. There were several turns that I thought would end up with the bus smashing the cars that were parked along the street. There was one turn that the bus couldn’t make it on its own. Some of the guys got out of the bus and moved one of the cars that was in the way. They actually moved it really easily. I thought that it would have taken a lot more effort for them to move the. I was very impressed.
Some of the trips here have taken so long because of the traffic. The other day, apparently one of the driver’s friends needed a ride so he gave him one. It ended up costing us another hour on a hot bus with a bunch of smelly sweaty guys. It made for a good story though after we got back to the hotel.
Today has been pretty relaxed. We had a work out this morning at the competition site. Everything is starting to get a little more crowded now that the other teams and delegations are starting to show up. The mats were pretty busy this morning, and I can only imagine that more and more people will continue to show up. We managed to claim one of the mats this morning and our team got in a good work out. Everyone at this point is on a needs based practice schedule. Every athlete pretty much decides what we he wants to do and does it for that practice. As the tournament gets closer everybody is mostly just focusing on getting their weight down and feeling well. There are a few more days until we weigh in so the excitement is starting to build up a little more and more everyday.
Tonight we are headed back to the place where we went to sauna the other day with the massage. I didn’t really get a massage, it was more like a scrub with a brillo pad, but I am hoping that this time I do get a nice massage because everybody else got one last time. I guess that I will just have to wait and see. It was a nice place so I am looking forward to going there.
Well that is it for today. I will write a little more in a day or two. Take care.