Competition Begins!

Saturday: Today was a bit more exciting since competitions actually started for the wrestlers. I had the morning shift and was late, of course. And today the construction started on my normal route so I had to take the longer one. But it was fine and there was a lot to do once I got there. Just setting up the mats and area of competition for the matches. And then after that: I got to watch! :) It was very exciting to watch, and then my shift was done. It went by really fast and I hardly did anything.

After the shift I went downtown London and explored Harrod’s, which I had been told is a London experience. It’s a huge store, and as soon as I walked in the doors I felt overwhelmed and wanted to leave. It was huge! Six stories and out basically as far as it went up. It was way too much merchandise for me to handle. Afterward I went back to “the flat” and just relaxed for a little bit. Uel and Nina were there and had waited to have dinner with me, but before we went to dinner they took me for a little tour around London. They drove me around and told me a lot about the city. It was great! And so pretty because it was dark out so all the lights in the city and decorations were up, I loved it. Then Uel and Nina took me to dinner at an Authentic Turkish restaurant. Delicious is all I can say about that!

Sunday: Today was great. I went to church with Uel and Nina; “All Soul’s church in London”. It’s beautiful and big. I liked it a lot. Then I started my last shift. :(

I did basically the same work as I had done yesterday, still fun. Watched some wrestling, and then ran over to the weightlifting to watch my friend lift. She did really well and I was proud of her.

Fortunately, the group that carries the country flags in front of the athletes when they walk in was short today so I got to do that a bit. For basically 3 hours. I also was able to present medals at the medal ceremony. So much fun! After the competition was done my team was in charge of clean up which took an hour or two and then we were done! Goodbye’s, exchanges of emails and customary goodbye traditions followed.

Monday: Flight back to the US.