Opening Ceremony Preparations

Practice for the opening ceremony has been going on this week and despite pleas from the organizers, those in attendance have been tweeting out all the secrets. So much so that a scene with Gisele Bündchen has been cut because of it.

The same appears true for the upcoming opening ceremony party at #2 sister’s house. This picture of two young volunteers frantically playing with scissors trying to get the Olympic rings ready was leaked to E@J’s. A spokesperson for the organizers said in an email that the children were being closely supervised. Unnamed sources, however, confirm that the children appear to have been left alone while the supervisor scanned random blogs for grammatical errors. E@J’s has learned the first names of the children: the girl is said to be Julia and appears happy; but the young boy, Adam, seems to be signaling for help. Some have speculated that the circle he is holding is not an Olympic ring, but rather part of an S.O.S. distress signal.

Speaking of distress, I’d like to share an email we all received today from The Times’s local fixer/translator. She scans the local news for highlights. I know there have been many stories about the dangers of Brazil, but I would like to direct your attention to the last item. Ok, now I’m worried!

• Military forces being redirected from Rio to Natal (northeastern Brazil) to control a wave of gang violence, which included burning buses and cars. Gov thinks it’s because they blocked cell phone signals in prisons.
• Rumors surfaced that at the opening ceremony rehearsal, Gisele Bündchen (representing the Girl from Ipanema) was either being mugged or being sold a bikini. Either way, Globo is reporting that the scene was cut.
• Traffic has been awful with the opening of the Olympic lanes. Locals are taking their complaints to social media. The mayor decided to make another holiday on Thursday. There will now be four holidays — more than during Carnaval.

(Editorial interjection: I for one am quite satisfied with the Olympic lanes. On our 40-minute journey to work during the morning rush, we have a wide-open lane that lets us zip past those locals stuck in traffic.)

• Employees at the Olympic village complain about the long lines and bad, expensive food and untrained workers.

(Editorial interjection, Part II: I agree, there should be an Olympic food lane for small-time bloggers.)

• Look out for wild animals like sloths, boa constrictors, cobras, caimans, anteaters and caipivaras at the Olympic venues, especially golf and around Deodoro. There is a team to control the wild animals at the venues, coordinated by a biologist.

(Editorial interjection, Part III: BOA CONSTRICTORS! COBRAS! And the pro golfers stayed home because of mosquitos???)

The Aquatic Center.

The MPC (Main Press Center). My home for the next three weeks.

Diving. Outdoors.