Since today was our day off from training I decided to check out the gym downstairs. We all headed down, but since it was Shabbat the gym was only open from 10 – 1 pm and so it was completely packed. We decided to head outside to the pool and do some warm-up stuff at the playground like some basic pushups, crunches, burpees, dips and squats. When we were finishing up we saw a massive oiled up Russian man, 6 foot 2 with a large potbelly and wearing only a small speedo, come up to my friend Ben and ask him in broken English, “Partner?” Ben, thought that he must want to be partners for pushups or something and so responded sure. Then the large Russian (Judo coach) wrapped his arms around Ben’s back and lifted him up and swung his entire body over his leg and then back and forth. It was frickin hilarious. He also did this thing where he spun Ben up in the air vertically. We were all laughing and making jokes about this Russian man having spent time in jail. It was good fun. We have a video but we don’t have free wifi so I can’t get the video from her.
Anyway, after that I headed down to the workout facility and was able to snag a precor machine. I let my team do yoga while I stayed on the Precor for 25 minutes and then on the tread mill for 20 minutes. It felt phenomenal. Especially surrounded by so many athletes. My body was coated in sweat. I got so much tension out of my body. After that I joined them for a little bit of Yoga/stretching/ab workout. I’ve got my 8-pack back 🙂
I stayed to stretch after they left, showered and met them down at the pool. We had decided to eat lunch by the pool. It was wonderful. I had a sip of Maccabee Beer, which I actually find disgusting. I’m not a beer guy. We had a great time at lunch though, and I spent a lot of time talking with one of my teammates Dad’s (Alyssa’s Dad) who happens to be our team manager. Norm (teammate) and I talked to him about all kinds of music, mainly about the Beatles and Bob Dylan.
I headed back up to my room after that to cool down and relax. Watched the newest episode of “Suits.” A show my parents and I used to watch all the time. Very fun show. Great script. Cute people and always enjoyable.
That night we were celebrating our youngest teammates’ 17th birthday and so we headed out to an Italian restaurant called “Focaccia Bar” with quite a large group. It was all of our teammates (6 including me), our coach, our team manager and Nir (Israeli teammate/2012 Olympic alternate) brought his brother, sister and her friend. It was an awesome night filled with great conversation. We laughed constantly. The food kinda sucked. My pasta was undercooked, but it didn’t matter because the people were so fun.
Rather than jump in a cab on the gorgeous night, a few of us decided to take the 30 minute walk back to the hotel. Why spend time in a cramped cab when you can see the city and enjoy the night? It was a great walk back and I had a chance to talk to Nir’s brother Tal about his job with the NBA in Hong Kong, the Jewish community in Hong Kong and hear some great stories. I told him about my interest in Biomedical Technology and what I would be doing this year in Israel. It was a really delightful relaxed night. These are the type of people who you don’t care what you do with them, because it’s simply fun to be around them.
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