Not exactly dog related, but I promised

As the GollyLog's loyal readers know, I volunteered to work at the World Boxing Championships for three days. What an experience! I was able to put my very rusty Spanish to good use to help out a few boxers, and I became a much better Charades player. Since English and Spanish are the only languages I speak even marginally well, the only way I could communicate with the Russian, Czech, Polish, Ghanian, etc., etc., team members was by making some sort of motion to get the point across. Even some of the English and Welsh team members were tough to understand! No problem with the Canadians, though!

The Venezuelan team manager had to shake everyone's hand when he came into the Guest Services office.

The Colombian boxers were real characters - mock fighting with the guys from the Dominican Republic over computer time in the Internet Cafe. At least I think it was mock fighting...

A very attractive volunteer made friends with one of the Georgian boxers, who wrote her a very sappy love note.

And three boxers disappeared! One called his teammates from Canada. Three boxers from Rumania were caught shoplifting at a major department store and were sent home in disgrace - banned from amateur boxing for life.

On a more uplifting note - the boxer who knocked out another during a bout wanted to make sure he was OK the following day.

So, there you have it - some of the good, the bad and the ugly.

You Left Me!!!

Yesterday was a long day for the pups - all of 7 1/2 hours! I had to be downtown (Chicago) pretty early for my first volunteer shift at the World Boxing Championships - more about that later - so I left the house very early. And Hope left later, but I didn't get home until about 4:30 in the afternoon. (The reason that this is exceptional is that we leave the kids almost every day but the longest is usually five or six hours. We're really lucky!) The greeting when I got home was unparalleled! You would have thought I'd been gone for days! Even Ceilidh, who usually makes a beeline for her toys, was jumping all over me! Maybe I should be gone for longer periods more often, to get a welcome home like that!

About the Boxing Championships - it's an Olympic qualifying event for the 2008 Games in Beijing for some countries, so it's a big deal. I was assigned to Guest Services in the home hotel, where all the athletes and their support staff are staying. The first thing I saw when I got to my assignment was a bunch of half-naked guys, getting ready for their weigh-in. Not bad, huh? Women were not allowed in the Weigh-in area itself, but Guest Services room is near the dining room, the Internet Cafe, and the Weigh-in room. Lucky me. I was able to help sort out some problems, using my very rusty Spanish. I have two more days of volunteering there next week, so I'll have more stories then!