Sickly Ritornello

21 days to go!

15 days until our first complete dress rehearsal!

KSU! With a Ukranian, American, and Canadian!

Plan for the day: Get my Olympic credentials
Status: pending...

I am extremely frustrated.  I do not have my Olympic credentials because someone didn't translate my middle name into Cyrillic characters on an important document.  I spent hours of waiting at the Olympic Credentials Center, and I have nothing to show for it.  I also have a cold.

Accreditation Center 

Waiting...

Either everyone is to blame, no one is to blame, or I am to blame - as has been the refrain all day.  Of course none are true, and yet the truth can't be found evidently.  And this stupid cold won't go away as well!
After a very difficult day of managing my own temper and pushing aside the many "that's Russia" phrases - I still don't have my credentials.  I have been assured that they will be available for me at 9 am tomorrow though!  AND IT BETTER BE!  I can't even attend my own first rehearsal at 7:30am because I can't enter the Olympic Park.

From left to right: my interpreter from Canada - Alena, the person helping me with my accreditation problem from Russia - Misha, and a dancer of ours with the same problem as I am having from Hong Kong - Elmo

Thankfully, once I receive my credentials, I will have a tour of the stadium and an overview of the on-site production.  And, I am so thankful for one of the producers for the Closing Ceremony, an Australian, who will help me sort through this bureaucracy.

After a nightmare of a day, I went into Sochi.  The Olympic Games are held in Adler, not Sochi, by the way.  So this was the first time I have been to the actual city of Sochi.  It is beautiful.  It is wealthy.  And frankly, it looks exactly like Los Angeles.

Some international members of the ceremonies team on the train to Sochi

Train Station at Sochi

Walking in rainy Sochi

It just reminds me of LA...except rainier...

On top of everything, I discovered that my bank won't let me use my bank card.  They received a nice email from me and it was fixed this morning.  Although I'm expecting the unexpected (since we're in Russia...as the locals say), I will surely have a better day tomorrow and FINALLY be inside the venue.  Even though it may seem like a small part of this venture, it will be one of the most exciting moments of my life.

UGH! Stupid cold...