Athletes weren't the only members of Penn's community participating in the Olympics last month in Beijing.
Three of Penn's chefs and food coordinators worked with 250 other employees of Aramark, Penn Dining's official partner, to serve 3.5 million meals during the Olympics and Paralympics this August.
Bora Yom, who joined Penn Dining this January as an assistant food service director, experienced her first time cooking professionally outside of the United States.
She spent two months working as a "front of house manager" at the Olympics media village, about a 15-minute taxi ride from the Bird's Nest.
Yom, who worked at Kings Court/English House last semester and is currently at Hill College House, previously worked at the Detroit auto show, the Baltimore Zoo and Philly Stadium, which gave her contacts in the sports world.
She said she got her "foot into the door by knowing the right people" but still had to go through a rigorous application process of several phone interviews and recommendations.
Tia McDonald, head chef of Penn Dining, and Adam Arrison, executive sous chef, were also abroad. McDonald is still there for the Paralympics.
The Penn trio collaborated with a diverse staff in Beijing, including local and international students and chefs.
To help overcome the language barrier, the group got help from translators and university students.
"Once you figured out who knew English you would pick them out every time you needed them," joked Yom.
The cafeteria served everything from traditional Asian dishes - such as Peking duck and hand-shaved noodles - to Mediterranean, Caribbean and European fare.
"We went through so much rice - here at Penn we're so good at portion sizing but there, we just completely disregarded it after awhile," said Yom. "They just eat a lot."
She added that she is looking forward to sharing her experiences with the rest of Penn Dining's staff.
"Working in Beijing definitely stretched my limits - I didn't know I was capable of working on one hour of sleep so many times," she said.
Arrison said he was exposed to some "really traditional Chinese recipes and I picked up a good amount of Chinese language that I can use on campus here," he said.
Despite a labor-intensive work schedule, both employees found time to explore the rapidly developing city.
"I went to the Great Wall three times - that was my favorite," said Yom, who also bargained her way through the Silk Market and toured the Forbidden City.
She also caught some serious Olympic action.
Yom and the rest of the staff were rewarded with Olympic tickets, and she was in the stands to see the Americans take the gold in women's beach volleyball and the silver in women's 400m hurdles.
Yom also rooted for her home country, cheering as men's 400m Korean swimmer Tae-Hwan Park "won gold in, like, the only competition Michael Phelps didn't swim in."
As for Yom's Olympic future?
"Aramark is bidding for Vancouver and London, and I'm trying to get my hands on that," she said.
