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Hi everyone

opening ceremonies last night - marching into the new open stadium  
built within the past year - beautiful stadium. Fireworks, flags,  
Malaysian musicians and dancers - it went on for hours. We riders  
selected Jan to carry our flag - all female riders were given massive  
bouquets of flowers to carry (really huge bouquet) - we marched in  
all six riders with our Chef and Vet (Becky and Jim) - we looked  
really nice with our white competition shirts and navy pants. We knew  
we had to be there at 8:00 pm with festivities starting at 8:30, but  
around 5:30 Becky received a phone call saying that we had to be  
there by 6:30 because traffic would be bad and parking hard to find  
(believe it or not, they filled that stadium with people - literally  
filled to capacity! school children were everywhere) - so we  
scrambled to get something to eat (nothing opens in the hotel until  
6pm, and that's the old restaurant that serves only Malaysian food)  
and our crews ready,since they had just come from the stables and  
hadn't even showered. Becky made the decision to have all riders,  
with Jim and herself, go in one vehicle so we would at least all be  
together come hell or high water (meaning getting stuck in a traffic  
jam or lost on the way to the finding the stadium - since we also  
found out at noon that the only shuttle buses going to the stadium  
were leaving from the venue, not from the hotels! - so we all piled  
into the truck - 8 people in one vehicle. Val was on my lap, poor  
Becky ended up in the back of the truck, somehow both men got the  
primo seats up front.....I think we should have been on their laps  
and Becky drive - she's the wild driver in our bunch!

anyway, we get to the stadium - there is no traffic, there is plenty  
of parking, and we hang around and stand around for an hour and half  
before others start to arrive and fill up the place. I guess that  
traffic and parking did become an issue as you got closer to 8pm -  
but at 6:30, we Americans were first on the spot - hope that is the  
way the rest of the event will go - first on the spot! Each country  
was herded into their spots behind our Malaysian escort, and we got  
to stand another 2 hours while introductions were made, the dancers  
danced, the music played....then we got to march. Then we got to  
stand some more in the heat before we were "let go" and we made our  
way up into the beachers/seating to find our crews and watch the rest  
of the show. Lorenzo from France with his horses and more music. The  
fireworks started after 11pm and rocked the place....we left in the  
middle of the fireworks because we needed to get some sleep - as it  
was, wedidn't get back until almost midnight and it's now 5:30 am -

very short night with so much to do today.We have our vetting in  
between 9-12 today - the vet-in is done by stable, and we are stable  
5, so we will be later in the morning - but we need to ride for a  
half hour to warm our horses up and then bathe them and get them  
spiffed up for the vetting. We have official photos taken around 10  
am and we need to pack our crew boxes before tomorrow - we have more  
photos taken after lunch and we have a meeting with Becky at 1pm, and  
then more meetings for the crews and our captains (we have a road  
crew and our vetting crews - each of the riders has a "captain" for  
our vetting crews) and then another meeting for the riders...we have  
our pre-ride technical briefing with Zulu and the OC at 3:00pm today,  
and tonight we have a drive around of one loop with the OC - riders  
escorted in a vehicle by an OC member - so we can see how they are  
illuminating the course and what the led lights will look like at  
turns and on arrows... phew! long day. Then tomorrow wewill try to  
sleep a little later, and then get our horses exercised and warmed up  
and our crew boxes taken to the the crewing tents before 2pm - we  
start at 5:30 tomorrow afternoon.So much went on yesterday I can  
hardly remember what we did - but we started the morning with a mock  
vet inspection by Jim and Todd, and then we rode for an hour with our  
partner (Val and I are riding together, John and Cheryl, Jan and Meg)  
and a practice road crew check and a practive vet check - getting  
water on the horses, pulses, saddles off, and then the vet exam  
(again by Todd and Jim) with trot out - then we saddled back up and  
rode back to the stables....all that before noon. Then more clipping  
and fine tuning of our equipment, and some of light riders had to  
take our saddles up and make sure we will make weight (which we  
barely do, but Val, Cheryl and I just top the scale at 75 kg - so we  
will squeak by).

After lunch, Val, Cheryl and I took off for the hotel to try to get a  
nap in before all the activities, with our grooms staying behind to  
walk horses again and feed up for the night. Into the toaster we go,  
and Val needed to go into town to pick up some elastic she had  
ordered from a fabric shop (to make a belly band) and we drove into  
the old part of town to get this done. While Val was waiting to get  
her elastic, Cheryl decided she needed another gift to bring back to  
the states, and I wanted to buy some carrots - so we headed off into  
the old market....of course with FLIP FLOPS on our feet - now this is  
the market of my infamous foray into the fish stalls in flip flops  
last year...I was really, really careful about where I went to get  
Tee's carrots - and bought a whole bag full without any  
incident...until I went looking for Cheryl - who wanted to find the  
shop I had bought some batik shirts in a few days ago... I went up  
the stairs, where somekids were playing and didn't watch where I was  
going and bang! I tripped up two steps (these steps are made for  
small feet, not big American feet) and the carrots went flying, and I  
managed to slice off the pad of my left big toe....blood was  
everywhere - the kids were picking up carrots and I was trying not to  
think about the bottom of my toe being subjected to all the grime and  
slime all over the place...arggghhhhh - I found Vonita and Joe (you  
just never know who you will run into these days!) and Vonita got  
some tissues for me to staunch the blood...I went hobbling off to  
find Cheryl, still bleeding, and finally found her in the shop we  
like a lot in this old market - buying more clothes. She was  
horrified with my bleeding toe, so rushed me out to get to the car  
and out of the germs (too late for that) - we got to the Toaster and  
Val was waiting for us - so we piled in and I drove to the hotel,  
where Dr. Cheryl cleaned and dressed my foot - I have this big  
bandage on my toe now. Walking in my riding boots during opening  
ceremonies was not comfortable - standing for 3 hours on the hard  
floors didn't feel great either - but hey! we are endurance riders  
afterall....I might not get to another update until after the  
race...I will try to let you all know how vetting in went...but in  
any case - wish us all luck and send good vibes....

Kathy

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Posted By Kathy to USA: Kathy Brunjes at 11/06/2008 05:05:00 PM


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