I didn't know what to expect when I came here. This is my first olympics and everything so far is a dream come true. The weather is like the weather in Louisiana. Its hot and humid. Yesterday was cooler and clearer than usual. Today is back to the hot and humid daytime. The smog isn't so bad. It's like you can see the humidity in the air but its not that bad. We got to see Yao Ming at opening ceremonies when he came to talk to our basketball players. I haven't seen Michael Phelps yet because I don't think he is even staying at the olympic village. Oh and Yao Ming is extremely tall. Well training is okay, its been tough getting adjusted to the time change so some days are harder than others. But I have been doing all my routines in practice. So far, I only bought a plate for my mom and a piece of artwork from the forbidden city. I still have many gifts to get for my family and friends. It's called the forbidden city because when Zhu Di became emporer and built the palace, no one could enter or leave without his permission. It's a really cool place.  In the village it is. If you don't have your credential on, you can't get in anywhere.. not even to get food. Anytime you come back into the village, you have to scan your credential and go through a metal detector and put your bag through an x-ray scan. It's just like airport security. I plan on going to the Great Wall before we leave. I also want to go to the market and get some presents.

Well training is going pretty good.  I have adjusted to the time change and I'm having fun callling people around 4 in the morning cause its like 5 p.m. here.  The training venue is pretty nice. It's the middle school number 8 and it has four tramps for us. We have been training with Ukraine and we are suppose to be with Russia but they have not arrived yet.  The venue is very clean and the people working there are so nice.  We have an athlete lounge with drinks, food, and internet.  The venue we are going to be competing at though is the gymnastics venue. We are in the same place as artistic, I believe we are going to be were the floor is.  The Olympic village is awesome. They have stautes and pounds and all sorts of plants every were i need to take pictures.  The rooms here are nice. I have my own bedroom but I am sharing a room with two shooters and we share a bathroom and living area.  As far as running into people, it is really random.  I think I have met at least one person from about every sport.  And so far the only other sports I have gone to watch was 10 meter syncro diving men.  Well I am going to go walk around the village, so have a good one.

Training is good. The training venue we are in is a middle school gymnasium but it looks like it was built especially for the games because it is very nice and looks really new. We haven't trained at the competition hall yet, but we have been in the stadium we are competing in and its huge. It's really awesome. For opening ceremonies, the president came to take pictures with all the athletes, so we got to meet him, his father, and his wife. We also got to talk to some of the basketball players, like Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron James. We also got to talk with some of the track atheletes, and tennis players. Every day is different, you always see someone you want to meet. Well, most of the day when we are'nt training, we are either on the bus coming back to the village or going back to the training venue. Sometimes we have enough time in between to go watch other competitions. Today we went to the Forbidden City and shopping. I try to just relax and rest inbetween practices. The olympic village is huge. It is also AMAZING! The workers keep everything very clean. It's pretty quiet for as many people that are here. Also, all the athletes are really calm and relaxed here. It's a pretty laid back environment. I love it. We've had a chance to watch diving and gymnastics so far. We have access to tickets to every sport that USA is competing in. So if we get a chance, I really want to watch the Men's Basketball, and Boxing and Track. Everything is cool. It's really cool to watch USA teams compete live instead of on TV. I hope this helps! I'm glad people are interested in what's going on with Chris and me. See ya!

Sorry I haven't written back, I've been kind of busy adjusting to the time change and all but everything is going pretty good over here.  Last night was so awesome walking into the stadium.  I got to meet lots of people and even met the president of the USA.  We should be getting the picture we took with him in the mail in the near future.  Well, I will try and write a more detailed message a bit later but right now I am going to my room to watch some of the other sports on tv and go to bed.

Well so far I have finished processing and I got so many clothes. All of it is pretty nice.  I also recieved three bags (suit case, backpack, and gym bag) so the bag I orginally brought here I am having to mail back with some of the clothes I don't think I am going to have to use.  Everything is going well and I cannot wait to leave for Beijing tomorrow.  Hope all is going well, take care.