MOSCOW, Russia - One of the misconceptions about Russians is that they are not friendly.

In the week I've been here, the people have been very nice. We had a young lady help give us directions at the train station. She went out of her way to walk us down to make sure we boarded the right train in Moscow's massive, Metro underground train system. It would be very easy to get lost here.

The people in the hotel and the venue also have been very friendly and polite. Many of them are eager to try out their English when they see an American.

The people here have helped us feel very comfortable here. That makes a big difference when you are here for a seven-day tournament.

We returned to the hotel last night and received some bad news. The Internet was down in the entire hotel. We still had some work to do, plus I was hoping to talk to a friend on Skype. It was a little frustrating, but you have to expect things to go wrong when you are halfway around the World.

The shuttle buses from the hotel to the venue have been very helpful. I rode over this morning with Jake Fisher and his training partner Cheney Haight, along with the entire U.S. women's team. I didn't recognize Keith Wilson, one of our women's coaches, until he pulled a white towel out of his bag and wrapped it around his head.

This tournament can be a grind. The days are long - very long - and sleep is a precious commodity.

Gary Abbott and I arrived early at the venue this morning, so we could get online and catch up on a few things. I've traveled overseas enough times now to know the drill when things go awry.

The U.S. is 0-for-6 in medals so far in this tournament. Hopefully, the Americans can change their fortunes today with Jake Fisher, Alyssa Lampe and Jessica Medina taking the mat in Moscow.

My old buddy, Bill May, is back for his 999th World Championships (actually he guesses it is around 20). The veteran journalist grew up in Minnesota and is part Japanese. He now lives in Prague, Czech Republic. He covers the Japanese teams here and knows everything about this tournament from a media perspective.

Bill also is fluent in Japanese, and just had a question about a Japan women's wrestler answered for me. I was asking him why six-time World champion Hitomi Sakamoto had moved down a weight class from 51 kg/112.25 lbs. to 48 kg/105.5 lbs. Sakamoto, 29, reportedly is moving down to prepare for a run at the 2012 Olympics. Her weight class of 51 kilos is not an Olympic weight class.