I am writing to you from the olympic village. First of all, I would like to express my condolences to the Mendel family. (For those who do not know, the father of Alon Mendel, the Olympic swimmer for Israel, passed away while Alon was already in Beijing). Finding out about the death of Alon's father was a shock to the whole delegation. Tragedies like this put everything else into perspective. We are here for Alon, to support and help him in any way possible.

It is a little hard to return to the routine, but there really is no choice. Our schedules are packed; I have practice twice a day at the tennis courts and I also have physical training everyday. My practices are a little different from usual tournaments since Tzipi Obziler and I are training together for the doubles tournament. In the tournaments during the year I do not specifically train for doubles, however this time we have a big and important goal and we are working very hard during practices.

I have already been in Beijing for almost three days. There was a lot of excitement before the flight; I got goosebumps trying on the Israeli team outfits at home. The flight went really well--I slept almost the entire time, especially because I was given three seats, which helped me sleep very well. Upon my arrival, they invited me to  the cockpit to watch the landing, and it was really fun.

Staying in the Olympic village is wonderful. Thousands of athletes walk around the village, with their country uniforms, switching country souvenirs with one another.  In my first hour in the village, I met Azarenka, my regular doubles partner. I saw Gassol, and I definitely saw a lot of other athletes that I did not completely recognize. Yesterday I met the Spanish tennis star Robredo and we exchanged souvenirs. Nadal then approached us and asked me for a souvenir and I told him only in exchange for one of his. He apologized and said he did not have anymore with him and promised to bring me a souvenir another day...he better follow through.

One of the biggest topics of conversation here is the weather. I do not feel anything out of the ordinary other than extreme heat and humidity, but I am used to and love climates like this.

The rooms in the village are great, really comfortable and everything I need is in the rooms. I really do not have any complaints about the conditions here.

I will continue to keep you updated whenever I have the opportunity to do so.