I can’t believe it is already day 6 of the Olympics! I am starting to get a little tired but doing well. Most of our days begin at 7AM and games are from 9AM to midnight. We get picked up from the arena at 12:30AM!!! They are long days but very exciting. After this week we will have half as many games so I am looking forward to a break in the schedule.

As you probably know, the USA men’s basketball team conquered China at Sunday night’s game and the crowd was wild. It was a very exciting game – we performed for President Bush! Unfortunately, that night a performer from the French “Crazy Dunkers Dunk Team” was very seriously injured. He fell from a dunk, landed on his neck and broke his 5th vertebrae. It was very scary and we all felt terrible. The medical squad reacted right away, though; he is still in the hospital but doing much better. Everyone has assured us that he will be fine but it will be at least a 3-month recovery. It is a good reminder to us that we are performing serious stunts and there is some danger.

On a more positive note, being at the arena during the games has been great. We usually cannot watch the games unless we are “standing by” (waiting to perform) but hanging out in our dressing room with other performers is always fun and a lot of the players hang out around our holding area as well.

The hardest thing at this time is getting tickets for other events but we just found out that we may get to see some baseball games – the baseball field is located in the same development as the basketball arena, so our credentials will grant us access to those games.

Last night I had an amazing dinner. We went back to Houhai and had a Peking Duck dinner at a restaurant called Quanjude. Wow! I am not a big meat eater – in fact, I wasn’t eating meat at all before I came to China – but that duck was outstanding! We also had plenty of vegetables and this amazingly sweet gooey date and rice ball dish that tasted like French toast. There was a performance at the end of our dinner as well which we all enjoyed. I am nearly positive we will be going back!

Next week some of the performers and I are going out for a full day of touring in Beijing. I am so excited! I am really looking forward to sightseeing and we also would like to go out more on the east side of the city. Today our schedule is wacky because we had to work the two early games and we have to go back for the two late night games – I’m going to hit my room for a quick nap but stay tuned for more updates!!!

– Jessica