First Olympic win–check. Nerves exorcised–check. Pollution and general haze over Tianjin dealt with–not quite. We woke up this morning feeling a sense of accomplishment and relief, happy that we got our inaugural Olympic Games off to a grand start with a win over Argentina.

So…now what? Well, of course we are deep into our preparations to face China on the 9th–but beyond that, what to do with ourselves? We are essentially trapped in our hotel in Tianjin, and we’ve pretty much exhausted the entertainment that we brought with us.

However, most of the girls on the team are addicted to “Bubble Breaker”, a game that is featured on the cell phones we received from the COC. I will turn to my teammates at any given point during the course of the day–whether we are on the bus, the elevator or in our rooms–to initiate a conversation, or even worse, I will launch into a passionate diatribe about the latest thing on my mind, and then realize that they haven’t heard a word. They are too busy breaking #@&% bubbles in an attempt to break Matheson’s all-time record of 1120. But I digress.

Another important part of our down time is either Guitar Hero (seen on this very blog during the Peace Cup) or Rock Band. I am partial to Rock Band, because it bridges the gap between the hard-core quasi guitarists (Matheson, Gayle, Tancredi, to name a few) and the wannabe singers and hangers-on. I am part of the latter group.

The first time I saw the game played, I wasn’t that keen on participating, as I generally find most video games to be a waste of time. However, I liked Guitar Hero, so I first jumped into Rock Band playing the bass. That was cool, so then I tried the drums. Bad idea. I was terrible, and it made my shin ache.

Not a drummer, then. So what next? Ah, yes, the vocals. I never pegged myself as much of a mic hog, but let me tell you, I wasn’t handing it over to anyone once it was firmly in my grip. I was hooked. Robbie, D, Kara and I played the other day, and we had a blast. It was Kara’s first ever Rock Band foray, and she was a natural. Check out her sweet Rock and Roll stance, but please ignore the grimace on my face. Not sure what song I’m singing…

Another diversion on trips, wherever we are in the world, is Starbucks. I know we always sound like caffeine addicts when we talk about our coffee runs, but going out for a cup of joe is a part of our everyday lives that we miss when we’re cooped up in a hotel. Strangely enough, it makes us feel like we’re still close to home even though we might on the other side of the world.

Today we were in dire need of a coffee break, and a few of us had discussed maybe hopping in a cab and going to get our fix. Our crafty manager, Les, had another idea: We were all going to pile onto the bus and head over as a team and staff. Now, this isn’t out of the ordinary either, as we frequently make our bus drivers do U-turns or crazy maneuvers in order to get us close to a Starbucks. However, today was a completely different story.

We had a police escort and roads shut down in order for us to get a cup of coffee–that’s what it came down to. After I shook my head in disbelief–and slight embarrassment–it was pretty cool to witness. We hung around for a while, sipping our drinks, content to be somewhere other than the hotel.

One thing about this team, though, is we have a blast wherever we go, and we seem to be having more fun hanging out with one another with each passing day. We are lucky to have such great, talented people together on one team, and fortunate to also to be surrounded by equally talented and caring staff. On that note, I would like to wish our fabulous massage therapist, Nicole, a happy belated 29th birthday.