Arriving in Moscow
at Dynamo Gym

We had a long, good trip from LAX in Los Angeles to Atlanta (where we met some of the other girls and moms).
Then we had a long trip to Moscow. We tried to get some sleep but didn't do very good!

This is the entrance the Dynamo where we stayed. Behind the gym is a large soccer field.

They have a wonderful gym. Our room was up above the gym overlooking the whole gym.
We were all so surprised at how nice it looked!!

Our room was "camplike" with bunk beds. We all brought our own blankets and sheets not knowing what we would need.

All 21 of us had access to two bathrooms. That was probably the hardest part.

Some of the gymnasts and parents stayed down the hall. One bathroom was by them.
The other one was downstairs by the one shower.

Here was our dressing room and our one shower that we all had to share.
It was hard but we all adjusted very well.

We all spent some time here on the phone with our phone cards!
We had no cell phone access over there. The ones that did have access, it costs a fortune!

We were very well fed but we had quite a walk for our meals.
We had Breakfast at 8:00, Lunch at 1:30, and Dinner at 7:00.
We walked down a walk and past the tennis courts.

This was the place that we ate our meals.
We didn't know it at the time but we found out that there is a major soccer field in back of this building.
They had a big soccer match while we were there and there were tons of people.

They tried so hard to please us with food.
It was still quite a shock to us all at first as we adjusted to different food.
They always served a soup at lunch and always had cucumbers and tomatoes but no salad.
They always served meat for lunch and dinner with potato, rice, or noodles (which was Shireen's favorite)
Shireen aquired a taste for their wheat bread which is very heavy. Michelle is missing their yogurt!

Our cook Ulga scared us all at first.
She didn't smile (as we found many don't) and seemed to talk so rough
although we didn't know what she was saying.
We were told to not be late for our meals so we tried hard to be on time.
By the end of our trip, we found out how wonderful Ulga was.
She even searched all over Moscow to find us peanut butter
(which was so funny for us because we all brought it with us but never had to use it!)
She was worried for us going to St. Petersburg and not having food
because she wouldn't be there to cook for us!
We loved her and think she was one of the highlights of our trip!

Here is a good example of our food. We had lots of food!

The girls had two workouts a day. They worked out from 9:00 - 12:30.
Then they had a lunch/rest time.
The afternoon practice was from 3:00 - 6:30.

Their afternoon practice included "ballet". We all liked them having this and learning technique.