Wednesday, September 8, 2016. My first full day. Rio Paralympics Opening Ceremony.

It was a terrible night of sleep. Tossing and turning the whole night. I couldn’t get the AC to turn on since I didn’t have a remote, which made it muggy and hot in my room. On top of that, my bed was like a wooden plank. Stiff and hard. Beyond uncomfortable. I literally woke up feeling sore from the hard bed. I had no clue what time I was supposed to be in the office, but I thought 8 sounded good to me. I got up and went for an early morning swim – a refreshing way to start the day! The fresh crisp outside air made me rejuvenated and ready to start the day with a new positive perspective and outlook. Rather than my first groggy busy day, which hadn’t been the best welcome to the Village. This finally felt like I had arrived. 

I went down to our USOC office space and the Village Director gave me the lay of the land and of the office. An overview of important people to know (maintenance, housekeeping, etc), where keys were, office hours, different rooms, and all of that. The office was just another apartment (without living furniture and beds of course) and transformed into an office, with different rooms for different work spaces and/or storage of things. There were a ton of tables set up as desks in the “living room” area. My office space was in a back room, and it would be completely mine as no one else was set up here. I set up my stuff from the window that overlooked part of the village housing and mountains peeking through. I opened the window as I pulled out my computer, and let the fresh breeze keep it cool. Having a window and fresh air was everything that I had been yearning for in Houston, and now I had it! I spent the morning catching up on work. My work here was to be “on call” if there were any athlete issues, help with any random tasks, and just keep up on my regular day-to-day work from back home. A few people informed me/kept me in the loop about athlete issues, but no action on my part were necessary immediately. So, I just got settled.

I took a break at lunch and wandered around the Village a little bit. The Village is complete with a huge dining facility, medical facilities, post offices, bank, general stores, Rio-merchandise store, entertainment center, tennis courts, a soccer field, ponds, and everything you could need to get by while living here. After a couple wrong turns, I finally made my way to the incredibly HUGE dining hall. Literally at least two football fields long. And it was bustling. I watched all the athletes, in all their different uniforms, headed in all directions waiting in line for various food selections. There’s technically two parts to it that are identical, so it doesn’t have as many options as you may think. And, a lot of the stations have the exact same thing. Although it looks impressive, the food was far from that. I had tried a little the day before and knew this, but it was even worse. The salad bar is dismal at best. Some wilted iceberg lettuce, corn, cabbage, brown onions, and tomatoes. It tasted as good as that sounded. The grilled chicken breast wasn’t too bad. I was quite disappointed. When I went back for dinner that night, it was the exact same food as lunch, and as the day before. I was already beyond sick of this. I missed my grilled salmon and fresh salads and meals  from when I lived in the Copacabana area for the Olympics. I already couldn’t wait to get out of the village for another meal. Thankfully, I had brought snacks with me, so I am sure I will be enjoying those from time to time. The thought of cafeteria food for the next two weeks made my stomach churn. 

Today was the Paralympics Opening Ceremony. The official start of the Games! All of the athletes got dressed up in their matching Ralph Lauren uniforms and headed out at 3:30pm (for a 6pm start). We cheered them off. Then, with the Village finally quiet, I went for a jog around the perimeter of the Village. When all the athletes are here, it is bustling! I can’t imagine the Olympics with more than twice as many people and how crazy it must have been here. People are just all over, walking everywhere, and walking into you. People from some other countries aren’t used to common courtesy of moving over, or around you. Instead, people bump into me all the time. It’s extremely noisy too. From my room, even with the sliding door closed, it sounds like people are in my room. The Village is a very special place to be, but I can tell you that it’s not the most peaceful place to be.

After my jog, I went back down to the office again, but I really didn’t have much work to do. I knew this about Village life. Even if you are done with work for the day, you feel guilty for heading back to your room and calling it a night. You feel like you should stay around because other people are staying around. However, near 8pm, my eyes were beyond fading and I had to excuse myself. I know people don’t really judge if you do that, but that’s how you feel. It's just that I want people to know that I am there and ready to help with anything. People were watching the Opening Ceremonies on TV, but there were no chairs left in the “living room” area, so I didn’t even watch. I didn’t feel yet like I was part of our team here. Although the Games were underway, I felt distant from it: I hadn't really found my niche here yet. I am sure I will eventually, so I was more than okay with heading up and trying to get more rest. I still felt like I was lagging from my travel and needed to settle in. This was only my first full day here. Another 2+ weeks to find my spot. I couldn't get too hard on myself yet. 

View from my office window

The massive dining hall -- the entire thing didn't even fit in a picture

Team USA athletes headed out to Opening Ceremony

And they are off! Let the Games begin!

Tuesday, September 6, 2016. Arriving in Rio.

I woke up on the plane right before it landed, and despite being a little groggy, I was excited for this next adventure at the Paralympics. This go-around, I would be living in the Athlete Village, with all the Paralympians, with a role of being their first line of support for advice about any Paralympic-related rule. My boss Kacie would be supporting me from a hotel outside of the Village. I was on the plane with at least 20 athletes in wheelchairs (and about 40 others with disabilities), so you can imagine that it took a bit for us to all get off the plane, get our bags, and onto the bus. The bus ride was only about an hour, which I mean in all sincerity, it was great that it was only an hour. We had no traffic, and if we did hit any, it could have caused upwards of another hour. Then, we all unloaded from the bus, and we all walked/pushed through the Village, on a brief tour. And a meeting with a general overview of a few key important things to note (where the laundry service was and what the hours were, where the USOC offices were and the athlete lounge, info about the dining hall, and all those other logistical things that would help athletes, and staff, get around their living quarters for the next two weeks).

Then, stupidly, I asked if I could help with anything. I will always ask if I can help with random tasks to step in where needed. However, this probably not the best time to offer my services to help. I was tired, exhausted, it had already been a long day of travel, and was already 1:30pm. I was asked to push a cart of garment bags from the Welcome Center to our USA building. Easy enough. Or, so I thought… Then, apparently I had to deliver the bags to respective rooms/teams. I first thought I just had to deliver them to one room. Not a problem. Well, the first hurdle was waiting for a free elevator… which took a very long time since the elevators are extremely small and many wheelchairs users had to utilize them. And, of course, I would let all the wheelchair users go before me. When an elevator finally opened up, I pressed the button to the floor I was to go to. Unfortunately, when I got to the floor, the doors would only half open and I was stuck in there! I could have gotten out myself, but the cart that I was pushing would not fit out the half-open doors. I tried to push and kick them open, but to no avail. Then, the elevator started “ghost” going to other floors. Great. I called the Village Director to get some help, but it finally stopped at a floor where some people were and they were able to help kick the doors enough to open it. Whew. I started handing off the garment bags for Cycling, and then realized that there were two more sports of garment bags underneath there. Wonderful—now I had to get back in elevators and find those sports. Luckily, I knew where Rugby was, but finding an elevator that was not already occupied (and working) took longer than expected. I was beyond tired, exhausted, and hadn’t even been able to bring my own bags to my room. I finally got to the Rugby floor, and had some Track and Field bags left over. I just brought it down to the main floor for more guidance (since I had no clue where it was supposed to go). I just wanted this task to be over before I broke down. This was not the best start to my Paralympic journey.

There are times here where it’s great to offer to help, and other times where you need to know when to ask for help. This was a time when I shouldn’t have offered, and I should have asked for help. It was just too much for me upon my immediate arrival. Finally, I was able to carry my luggage up to my room, but had only about 10 minutes to quickly put down my things before heading out to the Team USA Welcome Ceremony that started at 3pm (notice, that I had landed at 9:30am and just got to my room by 2:50… not an experience like just getting to a hotel…).

The housing here is arranged in an apartment style. My apartment had 4 rooms in it, and LUCKILY, this apartment had individual rooms. In many other apartments, people had to share a room, two to a room. I was so thankful to have my own privacy in my own room, even if I would have to share the bathroom and common area with others. And, I would have to say that my room (that I had been assigned to) was the best one. We had a balcony off the main living area, and, my room was the only one with a glass sliding door connecting to that balcony! And with a beautiful view looking out over the mountains. It was an unexpected pleasantry after a hard day of travel! I had no time to get my room together or even take a shower before I had to attend this Welcome Ceremony. This is NOT opening ceremony, just a Village acknowledgment of all the different countries and welcoming them to the village. A lot of our other Team USA staff living outside the village got visitor passes into the village just for this. It was okay, but really nothing special. They gave a plaque to each country, played their national anthem, and then did a little show. Maybe it was a good showing, but I was too out of it to take it all in. After it was over, we all went over to the dining hall (finally I got lunch! Or even breakfast for that matter). After lunch was another tour. The Village is spectacular—4,500 athletes would be living here along with another 2,000 delegation/staff. A mini city. However, once again, it was hard to take all this in when I was just worn out. I felt more frustrated with my travel and doing all of this stuff than be able to appreciate it. I just didn’t get the excited feeling of being here. Or, at least, just not yet. I knew it would get better once I rested.

Finally around 7pm, I got back to my room. I rearranged my room so my bed was facing out with a view of the mountains (which is awesome), and I unpacked my suitcase. I brought my own sheets, my own pillow, and my tea pot. I knew that having these little comforts would ease my time here. It wasn’t as early as I wanted to get to bed, but finally finally was able to close my eyes in my new home for the next 2.5 weeks.

Team USA Welcome Ceremony

Welcome Ceremony

View from my room/balcony

Another view of my room, overlooking the tennis courts in the Village

View from room showcases one of the apartment buildings (there are at least 20 in total around the Village)

MY JOURNEY TO THE PARALYMPICS. Monday, September 5, 2016. Leaving Houston and Heading to Rio.

I woke up with a sigh of relief. My last day in Houston!!! Between Olympics and Paralympic Team Processing, I have been in Houston for 22 days this summer. Why Houston? All the athletes headed to down to Rio for the Olympics and Paralympics had to stop in Houston for a day where they went through “Team Processing,” which consisted of going through a presentation called the “Team USA Ambassador Program (TUAP),” which was my role, and then they got all their super cool Team USA Gear. The TUAP presentation highlighted the following topics: overview of Rio, how the “Games are Different” from any other competition, understanding not to be affected by any “ripples of disturbances” that might arise during the Games, rules that they have to abide by while in Rio (my presentation… and probably the least exciting part of the presentation for them), social media, media, legacy, flag etiquette, and then talks throughout the presentation from the “Ambassador” (a past Gold medal Paralympian) to inspire the athletes when headed down to Rio.

We had to give this program every single morning at 8am for 10 straight days. Oh, and I had done it for 12 straight days the month before for the Olympic athletes. That is where the 22 days comes from. To say the least, it got monotonous. It was great by the end that I could just go on auto-pilot since I knew the presentation like the back of my hand, and I knew all the rules with ease so that I could answer questions quickly. But, still… Not the most exciting thing. We were also cooped up in a windowless conference room all day, with blazing freezing AC (no fresh air). I helped out the Nike station for a ton of the days, and I did get some pretty cool extra gear from them ;) A highlight of working there, and for the USOC.

This last day of our presentation, a few athletes spoke up about personal stories (most athletes are pretty shy during these presentations, so it was good to hear a few of these on the last day). One athlete on the Para Cycling team talked about being hit by a drunk driver in a truck at the age of 9 and getting paralyzed. It took him another 7 years before he heard about the Paralympic movement and started cycling (on a hand cycle). It became an outlet for him that has helped him undeniably cope with his horrific accident and terrible condition from it. He says that he is fortunate to be alive, and doing what he loves. Then, there was a story by a powerlifter who explained how he grew up in Iraq with polio. He had found powerlifting as his sport to excel at, yet when he didn’t win, he would be jailed and beaten. One time, he was jailed for 18 months, and beaten over and over. He was finally able to escape Iraq and become a refugee in the U.S. in 2001. He gained his US Citizenship and enrolled in the US Army. He is a solider who believes in America and who represents his new country that took him in with open arms, with pride. He started tearing up when he was speaking about how much this country means to him and with all the opportunities it provides him with. We all started tearing up as well.

It was wonderful to hear these stories on the day we were leaving. It was a wonderful reminder of what all the Paralympians have gone through in their life to get where they are, and how proud they are to represent Team USA. Every single athlete going down there has a story of hardship that they have gone through in their life. Whether they are paralyzed, or without a leg (or legs), or without an arm (or arms), or without both legs and arms, or blind, or have a deformity, or some other disability with little mobility, they have all found their spot in their love for sport in the Paralympic movement. I know there isn’t much interest in the US about the Paralympic movement, but let me tell you: what these athletes accomplish is beyond incredible. Watching what they can do in wheelchairs, or without sight, or slight physical functioning is so inspiring. I am honored to be a part of the “team behind the Team” helping to support Team USA at the Olympics.

I headed to the airport extremely early because I had to get on a call—for the election of the Opening Ceremony flag bearer. The worst thing would be trying to check in and go through security in the middle of a phone call. Each candidate for the flag bearer had unique and incredible stories of overcoming hardships and excelling to the top of their sport. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear many of the stories from the poor reception on the phone, but I will get the updates soon. These are inspirational stories than any able-body person should hear and feel grateful for everything that we have, to go through life in ease.

After that call, I was on a group text with some of my friends from back in college, and there was one guy on that group text. He sent a picture of a glass of wine from what looked like an airport. I had known that he was to the going to the UCLA football game out in Texas and so I asked if he happened to be in the Houston airport. He was! Such a small world sometimes. I went over to his terminal to meet him for a drink. What a fun person to run into for a little bit, and a reminder of friends outside of this bubble that I have been living in.  

Then, I headed back towards my gate thinking I’d maybe grab a quick dinner on the way. I walked by a restaurant and I saw the CEO of the USOC eating by himself. He does know me, and so he waved me over and I sat with him and had a glass of wine with him. Okay, I have to admit that I may have had a few glasses of wine at this point prior to that, and was a little tipsy and maybe it wasn’t the best decision to talk to him. Ultimately, I told him about all my aspirations of growth/upward mobility at the USOC, what my absolute dream job would be, etc. I probably blabbed too much. But, he was very receptive actually. He also opening up to me about some personal things in his life, and I really couldn’t believe it. Look, I doubt anything would come from this, and I am a little embarrassed (and hope I didn’t come across as too open and blabby, and tipsy), but it was good to have an open talk with someone like the CEO, just person to person. Interesting experience, and maybe it could lead to something to positive. However, it was just positive in itself. It made me feel closer to the Olympic/Paralympic movement and share my love for it with him. Yes, I get frustrated by work sometimes, and I get so sick of my commute, but at the end of the day, I do have a pretty cool gig going on. I walked on the plane with a commitment to doing whatever I could to support Team USA with pride.

This was a TEAM USA Poster-- it is comprised of little squares representing real post cards from all over the USA with people writing good luck notes to the Olympians and Paralympians

Houston... I'm okay with saying goodbye

This is a picture of the last day of our TUAP presentation 

USA flags that the Paralympians signs that will be saved in archives, and given away for various things

Me with a signed surfboard. This is being given to the President and First Lady when the Paralympians go on their White House Visit. Did I sneak in my initials on there somewhere??? Hmmmm.... shhhhh...