One Busy Sunday

Sunday was the first day of tennis competition. Aaron had a singles match in the morning while I had the day off of tennis. I was able to watch Aaron play tennis. After the match, we took some pictures with the Deaflympics sign. The Deaflympics sign is really funny and we decided to be goofy in the picture. Here below are a few pictures:

Me with the Deaflympics sign

Aaron and me with our security ladies

We headed back to the hotel around 2pm and I had the whole afternoon and evening free. I decided to tour and shop at the Taipei 101 building/mall with Aaron's family. Aaron decided to chill at the hotel so I just went along with the family for the afternoon. They were kind enough to have me tag along with them. It was a lot of fun! I was able to go to the top of the building on the Observatory Deck to see Taipei City. I was amazed how beautiful the city looks. Taipei 101 also has the fastest elevator in the world! I videotaped a lot of Taipei 101 especially the view from the top. I could also see the tennis courts from the top of Taipei 101 by zooming in very closely with my videocamera. It was pretty cool. Aaron's brother, sister and I took a funny picture with the Taipei 101 building. I was laughing so hard at the picture. After visiting Taipei 101, I headed back to the hotel and chatted with a few soccer players from the men's team and went to bed. BIG DAY TOMORROW! I have my first ever Deaflympics tennis match! :)


Taipei 101 up close

The view of Taipei City from Taipei 101

Another view from the top. Taipei city and the mountains

Another view of Taipei with the bridge and tennis courts

Aaron's brother and sister (Mason, Tiffany) and me. Ahhh! I'm so scared of Mason! haha!


Tomorrow I will post about my tennis matches and add pictures.

Until next time...

OPENING CEREMONIES!

The day of Opening Ceremonies was very busy! Aaron and I had a morning tennis practice session at the Olympics tennis facility. I thought the practice went good and I was happy with the way I was hitting. The tennis facility is very nice with 16 outdoor tennis courts. We were able to practice for about 2 hours then we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. Aaron's family arrived here on Friday so they have been with us watching our tennis practice and going out for lunch.

Tennis facility at the Deaflympics

Pizza delivery moped

My athlete ID card

After tennis practice and lunch, I headed back to the hotel to get ready for Opening Ceremonies! We had to meet at the lobby at 5pm to take the bus over to Taipei Stadium where the opening ceremonies was held. The USA team had to wear the ceremonies outfit which was a nice blue shirt with tan pants and sandals.

Aaron and me getting ready for Opening Ceremonies

Roman and me on the bus to Opening Ceremonies

Once we arrived to the stadium, we paraded through the crowd of fans giving them high fives. We kept walking through the crowd until we arrived to a room in the Stadium where there was a big screen TV. All the athletes from around the world was seated in this room watching the Opening Ceremonies on the big screen TV. Towards the end of the ceremonies, we were able to march to the stadium, waving to all the people, country by country. I videotaped almost ALL of the Opening ceremonies and the country march to the stadium! It was the coolest experience that I have ever had!

The opening Ceremonies Stadium

Aaron, Kyle and me getting ready to watch the Opening Ceremonies on TV

The USA crowd watching the Opening Ceremonies

Me giving a thumbs up after walking out on stage at the Opening Ceremonies

Some of the fireworks being displayed at Opening Ceremonies

After the ceremonies was over, we headed back to the hotel to rest for another fun day on Sunday.

Until next time...

TAIPEI

It's hard to believe that I have been in Taiwan for a week and the Olympics haven't started yet. We left our training site in Chiayi this morning for a 3 hour bus ride to Taipei, the host city of the Deaflympics. When we finally arrived in Taipei, I was amazed how big the city looks. There are a lot of different looking buildings that I have not seen before. Here below are some pictures:

The city of Taipei

The Danshui River and Taipei

The Grand Hotel

Taipei

One of the coolest buildings that I saw was called Taipei 101, a 101-floor landmark skyscraper. It is the world's tallest building measuring at 1,474 feet from ground to roof. I was able to see the building during the day and at night.


Taipei 101 during day

Taipei 101 at night


Once we arrived in Taipei, we were checked into our hotel. The security here is amazing. On every floor of our hotel there is a 24 hour security cop on each end of the floor. Aaron and I met our security people for tennis in which they will follow us everywhere we go. I was amazed on how much security we are getting. The hotel we are in is beautiful. We are the only team staying at this hotel while the other teams are staying at various hotels around Taipei. We had a very nice dinner at the hotel lobby. They serve all kinds of food, fruits, etc. After dinner, we took a bus to the Accreditation Center for the Deaflympics to receive our ID badge. The processing took about 3 hours long. The ID that we have to wear at all times looks so awesome! I am starting to feel like an Olympic Athlete! :)

The Accreditation Center


I will try to get a picture of my ID badge that I have to wear and will upload a picture as soon as I can.


Tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us. A 2 hour practice in the morning and a 2 hour practice in the afternoon. Also, OPENING CEREMONIES starts at 7:30pm Taipei Time tomorrow!!! (6:30am Saturday Morning back in Wisconsin) I will try to let you know if the ceremonies will be broadcast online. Otherwise, check out updates at the US Deaflympics website.

Until next time...

So long Chiayi

I had a very relaxing and enjoyable last day in Chiayi City where we have been training for the past week. Aaron and I decided to take the day off of tennis and I was able to just chill around the hotel for most of the morning. In the afternoon, I went to see another Men's basketball scrimmage against the National Chung Cheng University "A" Team players. The USA team destroyed the University players by at least 40 points but overall the game was much more competitive than the first scrimmage. We headed back to the hotel for a Party. The hotel decided to throw us a party because it was our last night in Chiayi City. At the party, the hotel manager had a slide show presentation about the Mid Autumn Festival that is very popular in Taiwan. We were able to try the famous Moon Cake and Oolong Tea that is used during the festival. The cake was pretty good but the tea tasted funny. I decided to pass on the tea after I had a sip.

Moon Cake

Oolong Tea

After a nice relaxing day, I headed to bed. We are off to TAIPEI, TAIWAN tomorrow!!! :)

Until next time...

Last day of practice in Chiayi City

Yesterday was the last day of tennis practice at the National Chung Cheng University training site. We had a morning practice session and an afternoon practice session. It was just the two of us hitting and we worked a lot on serves and returns as well as volleys. In the morning practice session we just worked on polishing our serves and placement of returns. I was having a tough time returning serves on the backhand side during the mixed doubles match so I had Aaron hit serves to my backhand. It was a good, hard practice and I felt that we accomplished a lot after the morning practice.

Aaron and I decided to go to McDonald's for lunch which is just across the hotel. I had a fish sandwich and Aaron had a chicken sandwich. It was quite delicious, almost tasted the same as back in America.

McDonald's in Chiayi City


We had a short afternoon practice where we worked on serving and volleying with overheads. We did this drill where I serve and volley and Aaron feeds me 3 balls as I come in the net. Two volleys and one overhead. It was a very good drill and we were able to work on coming into the net for doubles. Since we only had an hour practice to work with we decided to focus just on one drill and I felt that we had a really good practice. We headed back to the hotel for dinner and a tennis group picture. I was in bed by 9:30pm.

Aaron and me with Coach Howard

Aaron and me


Tomorrow we decided to take the whole day off of practice. Aaron was hurting a little in his arm and we wanted to rest and refresh for 2 more practices on Friday and Saturday in Taipei, Taiwan. We leave for Taipei on Friday and Opening Ceremonies is on Saturday! I can't believe the Olympics is almost here! I am getting excited and am ready for the games! :)

Please check out the USA Deaflympics Website. There are a few articles on Tennis and there will be a video posted on the website soon.

www.usdeaflympics.com

Until next time...

A fun filled day!

Today was a great day of tennis! At the morning practice session, I was able to hit around with a Chung Cheng University guy player and could really play well with him. It was a lot of fun to hit around with different players and I was happy to be able to keep up with his hitting. We were lucky enough to get an afternoon practice in just before it rained again. Aaron and I played mixed doubles again and we lost but it was much closer and we both were happy to see an improvement with our doubles game. Overall, today was a great day of tennis since both of us were happy with how we played. Below is a picture of the tennis group:

Some of the University players and their coach with Aaron and me

For lunch, Aaron and I went to the same place where we had the noddles and beef meal at the food court mall and ordered the same meal again. It was delicious as usual! While we were eating, there was a group of 3 younger Taiwanese teenagers kinda looking over by me and smiling. They would get up from their table and wave and smile as they walked past me. Then they would still be glancing over at me as they sat down to the table next to us. I was wondering what was going on. After awhile, Aaron and I got up to head back to the hotel and I walked past them and one of the teenagers said are you Jennifer? I said yes and they wanted a picture with me. The whole time they knew who I was and why I was here in Taiwan. It was pretty cool. I guess I'm kinda famous here. It was just a neat experience especially being recognized in a completely different country.

This afternoon was a lot of fun. Besides having our afternoon tennis practice session, Aaron and I and a few sports teams decided to watch scrimmages of Men's basketball, Women's volleyball, and Men's soccer. We watched the teams scrimmage against the National Chung Cheng University players. The volleyball players actually scrimmaged against the Boy's volleyball team and not the girls. All 3 USA sports teams won their scrimmages!!! GO USA!!! Here below are some pictures and a video of the basketball game:

Team USA Women's Volleyball(in Red)

Team USA Men's Soccer(in White)

Team USA Men's Basketball(in Dark Blue)

Team USA Men's Basketball

Team USA Men's Basketball


A short clip of the Men's Basketball Scrimmage


It has been a long and exhausting day but a lot of fun! I am hoping for another good tennis practice tomorrow and another beautiful day in Taiwan!

Until next time...

Day 3 at National Chung Cheng University

Another day in Taiwan...Another day of tennis. Yesterday, I woke up and had a very nice breakfast buffet at the hotel again and got ready to practice at 9:30am. The weather was decent, still hot and humid, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I have been adjusting quite well to the weather and Aaron and my coach were impressed how quickly I adjusted from the first day. I think it has to do with my fitness because I am able to stay out there in the humidity and not feel like dying. I am very happy about that. When we arrived at the tennis courts we saw a couple of university players there ready to play with us. Aaron and I were so happy to see them because we really wanted to play with other people. I got to play a set against a girl from the National Chung Cheng University. She was a very decent player but I played extremely well and beat her 6-2. I was very happy with the result of the set. It gave me a lot of confidence for the future matches at the Olympics Games.

The National Chung Cheng University player and me

After tennis, I looked around campus and took a few pictures of the different sports facilities that the other USA athletes are training. Here are a few pictures...

Swimming Pool

Gym (Basketball,Wrestling,Volleyball,Martial Arts)

Soccer Field


Track and Field Stadium

Track and Field

Aaron and I were so excited that it didn't rain during the afternoon so we were able to have an afternoon practice. We got to play some mixed doubles against the University players. Unfortunately, the mixed doubles match was terrible. The opponents we played were very solid and we couldn't get anything in the court. We both are hoping for better results tomorrow against different players. Once the match was over, it started to rain again. I think I could be the weather girl in Taiwan. Good morning Taiwan! Morning sun, afternoon rain! That's all for the weather. Thanks for tuning in to Weather girl Jen... Haha! We headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner and I was up in bed by 8:30pm. I was exhausted. Another fun filled day awaits...