The Olympic village here is amazing. It's basically like its own little city... behind gates and with extra security outside...haha... and everyone speaking different languages. I have heard from people that it is the best athlete village they have seen. The grounds are decorated beautifully with flowers and statues. The village is huge and has every accomodation that you could ever need. The International Zone is the area in the village that you do not need a credential to enter into. It has a bank, a full service salon (free services for athletes! I'm going to get a mani/pedi later today with Michelle!), Beijing Olympic gift shop, florist, a cafe, convenience store, dry cleaners... there is even a place you can go to learn to speak Chinese! Oh yea, and there is a pin trading store. Around the village everyone wears their country's pins on their credentials. The idea is to trade with people from other countries and get as many pins as you can from other countries. I am not very good at this, I only have like 4 so far but "pin" is probably the most universal word used and understood by everyone in the village regardless of what language they speak. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures of the International zone.
  This next picture is from inside the International zone but you can see the village where we live in the background. (I can't post pictures in credentialed areas but will email them out later). The area where the flags are is like a courtyard where concerts are held some nights. It is also the place where they do ceremonies each time a new country participates in the Olympics.
 The village is huge so there are busses that run up and down the main road to get you to where you need to be. Luckily, USA's building is near the caferia and the busses ;-) The cafeteria might be the single most overwhelming place in the entire village. I would guess that it is about the size of 4 football fields. Everyday there is a salad/cereal/bread bar, Mediterannean cuisine, Asian cuisine, and International cuisine (not sure what that means), coffee bar, dessert bar. Oh yea, and how could I forget- there is also McDonalds inside as well. You would be suprised at how many athletes take advantage of this complimentary service. I have not tried it but I hear it is good :)
Inside the village there are multiple entertainment areas. Arcades, rooms filled with pool tables and ice hockey, wireless internet cafes, computer labs, outdoor swimming pool. There are movie rooms/lounges where you can rent movies in any language. There is really no excuse to be bored here.
The U.S. teams (all sports) are mainly housed in one building with most of our staff in a second building. It's kind of cool to walk by the different buildings because each country hangs their flags outside their buildings. We are in apartments with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The rooms are pretty small but honestly I am only in there when I sleep so it doesn't bother me. They clean our rooms and do our laundry daily- I might struggle with these things when I get back home ;-) We also have our U.S. trainers/doctors/massage therapists on the bottom level of one of our buildings, and our U.S. athlete lounge on the 2nd floor of one of our buildings. The athlete lounge is nice because we have our own computer lab separate from the others, wireless internet, snacks and drinks, and also a place where we can make free phone calls back to the U.S.
 Ok, that's it for now. Look for more pictures of the village on email later.
Only 2 more days until I compete!!!! I am really excited to go, but my nerves officially started today. I am so excited for my family to arrive in China tomorrow!! My parents, Ron, Tsehaye, Kamilah, and Jamie will all be here at 3pm!!! I am going to meet them at the airport and help them to stay awake all day :) Which reminds me, I promised Ron I would give him a shot out in my next blog... Ron, I miss you and can't wait to see you tomorrow!!! I love you!!! :)
I'm off to get my mani/pedi- talk with you all tomorrow!
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