Side Note:

All the women here have very long, beautiful, and expensive-looking fur coats and hats. and handwarmers. I'm trying not to think about all the animals that were sacrificed for the sake of russian fashion. :-P I want to know how much I'd have to drop for one of their mink coats.

Saludos from Moscow

Hello All,

I'm hanging out at the hotel in Moscow. I wanted to go to the red square today, but I have to take a 2 pm bus to the venue so I can go get my weapons check and it take 40-50 minutes by metro to get there. SOOO, I'll have to see if I can go another time, which I hope I can!!! I also have to find SOMEONE with a screwdriver so I can fix my bodychords before/at the venue. The positive: I get to watch some awesome mens saber today while I'm at the venue fixing said body chords :)

I went to give the belarussians the shoes Sasha sent for them today while they got on the bus, and ended up running into them on the elevator! They seem nice but were kind of concentrating so I didn't have much of a conversation. I've been in a Russian Olympic TV coma since I've been here but have somehow managed to miss the opening ceremonies. I hope they were awesome!! Mostly I've been watching dubbed russian television and the repeating CNN feed. I know I'll need to get out sometime today so I don't go crazy inside, and maybe I'll take a walk around all the depressing soviet-era apartment buildings that surround this place and take some funky pics!

Now I am officially 11 hours off of California standard time ;) and I'm feeling more disconnected than usual. As for you guys, you will be more connected that usual! You can follow the tournament live here, if you click on 'ONLINE':

http://moscowsabre.ru/index_eng.shtml

Eileen

Hey from Charles du Gaulle

On my way to Moscow...!! Sitting next to the Uzbek Judo team and finally eating a croissant!

besos,

Eileen

More happenings

my sad lunch

My first international coaching victory -- Iceland 45- Japan 44

Inkibert (sp?) is a wolf killer-- or maybe fox killer? Anyways its real fur

My corny MySpace pose

my fridge/H&M bag

Well, Christian Bauer decided to take the entire Chinese team to Paris early so he could go to the eye doctor... leaving me to practice yesterday with Daria/Iceland/Singapore/french juniors from the Orleans club. Daria left today with Singapore so now I'm fencing with the French kids and Iceland, which actually probably isn't too bad for the last couple days.

I've been mostly just practicing and hanging out with my roommates the icelanders the last couple of days and we have taken some pictures. I have developed an interesting money-saving food system which has worked every year so far in Orleans and I feel like I may have perfected (except that now that its snowing, some of my salad froze.) Tobba and the two Iceland juniors started to call my breakfasts (cereal and milk I purchase eaten out of a cheap bowl) "sad breakfasts" and today I had a "sad lunch" of a supermarket bread (tasty!! its france!), hummus, ham serano, and swiss cheese, with a mandarin. Pretty tasty and much more economical! The Singapore girls were discovering pretty snowflakes yesterday on the way back from practice as well, which is what a lot of the pictures show.

Nona's BDay and other related happenings

Nona's Bday with Singapore and Russia (+Panama)

Orleans Final 8

Finalists Driven in Limosine Escorted by Blues Brothers Refs

6,000 seats BOUGHT for the final by Orleanaise...1,000 turned away

At The Venue w/ my beautiful flag!

mmm mussels

Hey! Just ended the team competition today-- the US won 45-44 against france in a heartstopper which ALMOST rivaled the individual final madness. I got a little bit of sparring in with the singapore, iceland, and japanese girls today as well before/after the competition. Evidently the Chinese will be staying here in Orleans until Wednesday, when they leave for Moscow, just like the Singapore girls. Decisions, decisions... to go to Paris for better fencing or to stay here?

Tonight was Nona's birthday, and we celebrated first with Iceland and then with Russia. I finally uploaded some of my pics from the final and the last few days to share with you guys.

Eileen

Orleans

Hello all!!!

I've been completely horrible about updating my blog on this trip so far, and I apologize. I haven't had a converter for my computer plug and therefore have not been online often enough to think about saying something on here. I'm still at the hotel right now because yesterday I went 3-3 in pools, and lost the Kozlova from Ukraine to make the 64. Extremely, extremely frustrating... I'm going to do my best to stay positive, and work on my fencing through this week at practice so I can make a comeback in Moscow. There's been a lot of changes in my training, fencing, etc in the last 5 months and I think I'm still figuring out how to make things work and get the best out of my current situation. I definitely think its possible, I just have to keep tweaking and adjusting, get some high level bouting, and continue believing in myself! I'm lucky to have so many supportive friends and family and coaches right now and I know it must work out!

I'll be fencing with, it sounds like, mostly the chinese team this week. That will probably actually be very good for me as they move like machines and will force me to do the same. I noticed my footwork was not incredibly sharp yesterday.

SO, in summary, MOVING FORWARD, and will try to enjoy the crazy Orleans final tonight (last year 5,000 spectators paid to come and watch.)

Eileen