FIRST DAY AT THE BIRD'S NEST

Yes, all caps were needed.

On Tuesday morning we met one of our fellow ONS-ers, a guy whose American name is Walter at the main gate of the campus. (Because of a slight communication snafu, we thought his name was Water...and we were all excited to have a guy named Water after the tour guide named Rock! So we were kinda disappointed when he spelled his name as we put his # in our cell phones.)

Anyways, Walter gave us our media credentials (pic above), which give us free subway and bus rides through the Games AND access to the Bird's Nest/National Stadium! We got on the subway, and it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the Bird's Nest...two changes of subway lines and one bus connection.

Once we got inside, we headed to the Press Conference room where we had an informal meeting with one of the principal designers of the stadium and he showed us all the plans and layouts. We had a chance to ask him questions at the end and I asked what he hoped it would be used for after the Games, he said probably a supermarket, mall, and stadium too. I know there has been some disagreement among the principal architect (a Swiss guy I think?) and the Chinese government over how the stadium will be used after the game...the architect really wants it to be open to the public.

After our meeting, some of the ONS staff organized a little scavenger hunt for us around the stadium. It was crazy! Nothing like the Olympic spirit of competition to get us all fired up for a 'special prize'. Naturally, my group won (hahaha) in record time! We were sprinting all around the Bird's Nest finding locations, and I snapped a couple pictures--even though picture taking is forbidden.

After our impromptu medal ceremony, we headed to lunch. If I am eating this lunch every day I may actually lose some weight here! It was pretty bad, even the Chinese volunteers agreed.

Then we had a quick tour of the media venues and a group went off to the supermarket to stock up on food for our lockers--the stadium goes into lockdown on Friday and no outside food is allowed.

Four of us stayed back, because we figured we'd never get the opportunity to just hang around the Bird's Nest ever again. So we wandered up in to the stands and took a seat. We tried to conspicuously take some pics and then we noticed all these people congregating around the field. They were doing all these preparations for the opening ceremony! AND they started a dress rehearsal! It was SO awesome. It is going to blow your mind.

After everyone returned from the grocery store, we headed out with Emily, our ONS manager and a bunch of other people who work for Infostrada, the company BOCOG hired to be ONS. We went to this excellent Mexican place for Taco Tuesdays! We had a blast and it was great to get to know the Infostrada guys and girls better and also see a fun side of Emily, too!

Now I am off to Bruce's room down the hall because he's got the Sox game on!