Technical Difficulties

(posted by Stephanie) Adam finally got through to me using Skype to call my cellphone, but apparently internet access is hard to come by at the hotel... he thinks things may improve when the athletes arrive and he moves into the main hotel (he's currently staying in a villa, which sounds like it should be more exclusive, but apparently at this hotel it just means sidewalk-hard beds.)

Internet connectivity is not the only technical problem he's having. Among them: communication to the hotel staff about Adam's arrival got muddled, so no one was at the airport to pick him up. Although he knew the English name of his hotel, he didn't have it written in Chinese so had quite an adventure getting there. At the hotel, he was told, the head cook spoke English, but in reality his English is very minimal, and the menu that Adam developed for the athletes had not been translated into Chinese. He said that he spent 16 hours trying to communicate about the menu to start the process of ordering food. Then there's the biggest problem: the track and field association shipped food from the US (donated mostly by Tyson & Kellog) and it has not cleared customs yet. There's no telling when or if it will show up, so Adam has to order local food without knowing whether to expect his American shipments.

I know they picked the right man for this job - Adam's a wiz at improvising in the kitchen, and he'll make sure those athletes are fed right. But, he says that it is taking quite a lot of patience and humor, and he hasn't slept much since he left home. There are people from the Track and Field organization at the hotel, but they are mostly focused on the coaching and coordinating the athletes.

Weather report is that it is quite humid, like we experienced in Singapore, and that the coastline is quite beautiful.