6-29

Today we arrived at Serbia at about 3 pm Serbia time. the whole country smelled different – it was slightly smokey, like an industrializing country city. you could see distant smoke stacks beside the shiny new universiade buildings.

when we went to baggage claim, the luggage was gone. all of the ones we checked in boston, including the big ones that contained all the team swag, and the small duffle bags that had our emergency clothes in case the big ones got lost. i knew we should have kept them out but laziness got the best of us, the air france got the rest.

the serbian volunteers were very direct. as they talked about getting our bags back they were constantly shouting and gesturing at each other. we figured it was just the way europeans talk. and that explained the way jordan always talks. the drivers and other volunteers were basically what i imagine jordan’s friends and family are like.

we went to the “olympic village”, and even though it’s not really the olympics i guess we’ll call it that. here we saw all the different countries in their matching warmups, tshirts, polos, etc. and we, the american crew, walked through as a ragtag, nonmatching group of mavericks. i guess tomorrow we’ll get our stuff – we got one red polo, one blue shorts, one white tshirt, all way too big.

in the afternoon, after getting our room keys and credentials, we went to a nike store to train. yes, it was a NIKE STORE in which they were selling shoes and other gear, but in the back was an area with weights and an open space. since it wasn’t quite big enough for everyone to kick and do forms, we went outside to an area with a huge red carpet, and step sparred under the flags. pretty soon, a crowd gathered around us to take pictures and gawk at the taekwondo contingent. (keep in mind our ragtag clothing.)

the big adventure we had today, however, was when we all went to go to the team meeting that was on the 1st floor, with the lobby being the ground floor. coach linda buelle told us all to cram in to the elevator, but as the doors closed the elevator went clunk *CLUNK* and we would go up a foot then drop 6 inches. so for 15 minutes we were stuck in the elevator, with 13 sweaty athletes and three very sad looking volunteers. we kept banging on the doors and i thought that the oxygen would be running out, so i kept holding my breath until we finally pried the doors open. we were half way up the door and you could see the gears. i’ll upload images later when the rest of my luggage comes in.

the first day was full of adventure, i guess you could say that. losing all our luggage, kicking on the red carpet, then nearly suffocating (or imagining so) in an elevator. tomorrow should be just as fun.