What Day is It?

We have been in China for two weeks now, but time passes completely differently here. Every day feels like the next, and I bet over half the team could not answer you if you asked what day of the week it is. We just work off of “landmark” days, and count down to the next big date whatever that may be. Our next landmark day is tomorrow’s Opening Ceremony, and though we have had August 8 in our heads for over nine months now, it managed to sneak up on us all very stealthily! I was just talking to Men’s 470 crew Graham Biehl, who said he woke up today and turned on the tv to see the Olympics. That’s when he realized HE was going to be there marching; this thing he has dreamed about since high school is finally here.

Here is a shot of the message board sailors and staff read and write every day. First you see today's date so people might possibly keep track. The next landmark date in the picture is London 2012. Sports psychologists will tell you whether that sort of forward thinking is appropriate here one day before the Games, but this team seems to like the countdown, and they especially love a chance to tweak the funny bone. In this shot they get a chance to rip on our friends the Brits, and a couple inches over they dedicated some space to making fun of our eternal punching bag, Austin Sperry. That message doesn’t make the cut for this PG-rated blog. The board also is covered in motivational quotes. Today’s quote was: “Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel… is a train.” Not exactly inspiring words but at least there is no lack of humor on this team.

It’s 11:30 PM and we just did a last-minute interview with Andrew Campbell for USA Today. The work day here never really has to stop, considering I get requests from the USA all night and from China all day. I’ve only stopped to catch my breath twice in the past two weeks, (I counted). It felt great to sit down and rest, but, it feels even better to work with these sailors and to be so involved in something as big as the Olympics. It’s game time… I can sleep in September.