day 1 > 16th > thursday

Looking back on everything I've done in just 24 hours, it feels like I've been awake an entire week.

In Kaohsiung ("cow-she-ung") I tried to take off my shoes at security. "No no." The man motioned me to put my bag on the conveyor belt, so I pulled out my laptop. "No no." He was exasperated, and motioned me along again. I walked through customs without being accosted by questions, searched by hurried hands, or even the hesitating glance at my passport.

Enter Rowting: she's a World Games volunteer who's helped me through the city since she scooped me up at the airport. And helping her protect me are two officers, Zeke and Kai. Zeke just got his braces, and knows the best place to buy shampoo. He works in traffic accidents and taught me Manadarin words. Kai ("ky") is shorter than I, with glasses. And one scary badass. She figured out the origami cube I made for her in two minutes. They've saved me from saying hello to someone's bumper at least twice, and even from one of the numerous mad scooters that scoot here. (Imagine getting totally scooted just before a competition. Ouch.)

With the three Austrians - Jacob, Johanna, and their coach Heiko - we hit the Ambassador Suites "catering center" where athletes could indulge in brilliant buffets, e.g. soup, roast duck, salad and guava slices with sweet yogurt water. Over the course of the day, in that large room, I met Espanans, Italians, Hungarians and a really good fish dish. With Venezuelans I floundered in spanish, which was really satisfying, like, think of having a handful of goji berries after years of angrily abstaining from all forms of antioxidants.

I'm going to rent an old bike, weave and swerve through the traffic to try to get over to the Lotus Pond, where some new friends in the Dragon Boat Racing are competing at 9 in the morning. Then I ping over to the market for postcards and pong to the post office to mail them to friends and friendly strangers.

It's 4:02AM in Kaohsiung. Someone just handed me a box of guava pieces. Score!
I don't feel sleepy, probably because have been curling up on the bus seat and catching solid 20-minute naps. I was so tired earlier; I almost fainted walking into the humid soup they here call the "open air", which is muggy and wraps itself around you like a giant, sopping wet and soggy wheat flake the size of a buffalo.

Speaking of spicy wing dishes, I'm a part of the sumo wrestling team! A worthy opponent in the ring and 5-time title champion, Dan offered to give the hoops and ladders on training to be a professional female sumo wrestler. He also taught me how to start a match.

And I learned a freaking ton about other sports, too, like sky-diving: this guy Nicholas told me about the tactical stacks and formations - and that there are different disciplines, and their trickiest performances can last a bare seven seconds. They'll be jumping from helicopters today or the next day. Sketchy business, especially with reports of a typhoon possibly hitting.

I'm so overwhelmed. The best part, though...the best part was simply lying back on the thin turf of the monsterous stadium beside a sumo wrestler, smack in the center of a ring of bleachers, filled to the lip with hundreds of thousands of cheering people. And then being there at the moment when every one of them grew quiet, hearing the bursting peal of throaty opera. Then the fireworks for the opening ceremony began.

Four more days of this epicness? I can't wait to sleep again.