Well, we got here. First reaction was: oh my God the smog! Asthma flared up just looking at it from the plane and by the time we'd been bussed in to the athlete's village my eyes and chest were burning.
Eddie and Thomas are both here already too looking fit and raring to go so fingers crossed for a big performance. It's a little different from last year when we had a full team of 5 and hopes of a team medal if three of us managed to have a very good day though. With just the bare 3 this year, it would be a miracle, but hopefully we can do ourselves proud at least. Thomas took the last 6 weeks off work to get himself into the best possible shape and if he gets the distance is a genuine medal hope. The air quality and weather are the big imponderables, but Thomas at least has local form, coming 6th in the World 100k's here two years ago.
First impressions of Seoul is that it's spectacularly ugly and chaotic. Street names don't seem to exist here much. The locals are all extremely friendly, although English isn't widely spoken or understood, leaving us to communicate through the international language of smiling and pointing at stuff.
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2 comments:
Good Luck Dara!
Sounds a wee bit different than Killarney!
A truly international language? Yes we need one!
I notice that Barack Obama wants everyone to learn another language, but which one should it be? The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese, and the Americans prefer Spanish. Why not decide on a common language, taught worldwide, in all nations?
It is signifcant therefore that UNESCO will meet in Paris, on 15th December, to acknowlege Esperanto, as a living language, in conjunction with the International Year of Languages
An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670. A glimpse of the language can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
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