this morning people got up at 6 am to go get breakfast. i don’t know why they got up at 6 am to get breakfast seeing as how we hung out until 2 am. i didn’t get up, but i didn’t go back to sleep again. for the next hour or so, i laid in bed, and the only thing that could go through my mind was taebek.

today was the first day of competition for taekwondo, and the men’s and women’s individual competitors went. we went to the training arena at 9 am. it was a huge dome with three large rings – probably more than sparring ring size. the middle ring was elevated. we tried to get around the barrier and they gave some sort of excuse for it being for spectators or volunteers but be realistic, the majority of people watching will be the teams. so jason hwang smooth talked his way in – “let us go just for the next two matches, promise.” and he stepped across without even waiting for the woman to shrug dejectedly and let the rest of the US team in to sit directly behind the center ring.

the individual competition was scary. there was a mix of super amazing people and not so super amazing people, but everyone was definitely well prepared. the scoring was somewhat confusing and many countries who we thought would score lower got really high marks. korea got the only 8.0 and above – for both men and women – and even though the women ranged between 7.0 and 7.5 and the men were usually 7.5 to 8.0 the korean girl was the only to get a 8.13.

johnny and carissa didn’t place past the prelims. they divided the 19 men into two groups of 10 and 9, and the women into 12 and 12, and instead of doing a top 16 and then a top 8 for the finals, they just took the top half each time. we didn’t stay for the rest of the poomse so i didn’t get to see the finals, or any forms after taeguk 5 and 6. one girl from russia started doing taeguk 6 when it was supposed to be 5, and that completely screwed her up for the rest of the time.

tonight we’re going to have opening ceremonies. the weather is drab and wet and chilly. it’s like we’re in boston again. it should start at 8 but we have to attend events with the US delegation starting at 4:45. hopefully the pictures will be exciting, since the event, from the inside, will just seem to drag on. but nothing can be worse than the pan ams opening ceremony, so it’ll be fine.

tomorrow (thursday) is the day for pairs and men’s and women’s teams. we are pumped up.