Great Finish

I made it home last night around 10 pm after traveling for about 29 hours. It was nice to see my own bed and bathroom! My vacation was officially over when I headed back to work this morning, but the day went by fast.

I had an amazing last day in Beijing! For most of the day, I spent my time finishing up tasks, cleaning, packing, and finished my shopping.

I headed to the Olympic Village for the last time to see 3 finals in gymnastics. When I got to the Olympic Village, I was planning to meet my friend Ying (who went to NSU) for a few minutes because she was at the Olympics too. I was walking along and saw a big mob of people near the Omega (timekeepers) building. I looked up on the second floor and there was Michael Phelps doing an interview! I finally got to see him! I took a couple of pictures and moved on.

I got to meet Ying for a couple minutes and went to the gymnastics finals at 6. I met Whitney, Jordan, and other girls from our group there. We got to see the men's ring finals (China gold), the women's uneven bars (when Nastia got robbed of her gold during the tie), and men's vault (Poland won). We were so mad that Nastia got second and that we had to hear the Chinese national anthem again. We did get to see a bonus event - women's trampoline gymnastics finals. There were 2 Canadian girls competing and one of them was in the lead, before China came and won it again. We were getting excited to hear the Canadian national anthem, but then when she lost, we just left.

Whitney, Jordan, and I took a few pictures around the Olympic village and then we wandered over to where they were filming the Today Show. Michael Phelps had been interviewed earlier, but we only got to see the last hour of the show. We got to see Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Meredith, and Ann Currie...got pictures of them working, but no autographs. We were standing along the gate, but I'm not sure if we actually made it on tv.

It was so amazing to spend so much time at the Olympics. I hope I can go watch them again sometime. I had an amazing trip for the most part...some frustrations with lack of volunteering and discomfort among my group, but otherwise everything else was great! I enjoyed China a lot more this year than last year and I think it was because of the Olympics and having my friends there.

Beijing has really changed in the last year and I'm not sure how they are going to handle it after the Olympics are done. The city has really cleaned up a lot...there are colorful banners everywhere, the streets are cleaner, the city smells better and there aren't street sellers everywhere. The Chinese are very proud to have the Olympics in Beijing and they really stepped up to prove they were worthy of this event.

Thank you to everyone for reading my blog. I will attach a link for pictures later. I heard from a lot of people that it was really difficult to post messages on here, so thank you to everyone who tried. I hope you enjoyed it!

Awesome seats but still no US gold

I went to watch track at the bird's nest tonight with Whitney and others. We got front row seats!!! The triple jump finals were right in front of us, so maybe you'll see us on tv! There were some incredible times on some of the events and some Olympic records were broken. It was a really neat atmosphere to be in!!!

Whitney and I also met guy from MN while we were in the concession stand. He was decked out in American gear and I was wearing a Twins shirt. He is actually from Moorhead! We also met a guy in line who is from NY and he has been to 12 Olympics so far. He was telling us how his buddy was scalping tickets a couple of days ago and got caught and put in Chinese jail for 24 hours.

The Olympic Village is so cool at night! I wish I could stay to watch more events or even be at the closing ceremony!

So apparently tomorrow night (Monday morning at home), Michael Phelps is going to be on the Today Show in the Olympic village and anyone with an Olympic ticket for the day can get into be on the show. However, the show stars taping at 6:50 pm and our gymnastics finals start at 6:00. :( I think that might have been my best shot to see him in person, but I would really like to see a US gold in gymnastics, if possible.

This afternoon, I hung out with my NSU friend, Jing Jing again. I got to see her apartment and we went out to eat and did more shopping on Wanfujing street. I'm glad I got to spend a little more time with her since I didn't get to spend much time with her while we met all together.

I also got to see a couple of fights today! One was on Wanfujing between two older guys pushing each other around. The other fight was 2 ladies in the Olympic Village fighting over a table at McDonalds. It was hilarious! Their families and volunteers were trying to pull the one lady back and finally they got her away.

Too many people in this city...I miss rural life :)

3 days left in Beijing :( It will be nice to leave the crowds and heat though.

I joined Jordan and the rest of the group going to the Forbidden City today. The Forbidden City is where the Emperor used to live and all of the common people were not allowed in until the emperor was overthrown. It was neat to see all of the buildings and beautiful painting/architecture again.

Amanda Crockett-we also went to see the Hall of Clocks and Watches...I have lots of pictures to show you :) They were a lot of clocks inset into big figures.

After leaving the Forbidden City, Jordan and I went shopping at Wangfujin and checked out the night market (more bargaining). Jordan also went into a crazy Olympic store to buy more souvenirs. It took her over an hour to find her stuff and pay. I waited outside for her. There was a lady sitting beside me but I hadn't talked to her. When Jordan came out we were talking about how crazy the store was. The lady started talking to us and then we found out they were from Rapid City! Crazy how you can always meet people from back home!

I also joined half of the girls from my aparment for Peking Duck for dinner. It was delicious!

The GREAT Wall

On Friday, I had the morning leader meeting and then tried to meet up with Whitney and the rest of the group at the Great Wall. It was the only touristy thing I wanted to see again this year. I took a taxi and then a bus on my own and finally met up with the group around 1:00.

We went to the Great Wall at Badaling and there were a lot more tourists than the section I went to last year. We didn't walk very much of the wall at all...maybe a mile. It was very crowded and a lot of Chinese people wanted to take pictures with us...that was a little annoying after awhile.

Around 6:00, Jordan, DJ, and I met up with some of our Chinese friends who studied at NSU. It was so good to see all of them, but it's sad we couldn't spend more time with them. We went to eat and sing at KTV. KTV is a Chinese version of karoke, except you sing in a room with a group of friends and you eat buffet style in a super nice (almost hotel- like) building. I'm really glad we got to spend some time together, even though it was just a couple of hours.

Shopping-good, Olympics-great!!

Another eventful day for me! I went to the Men's Individual All-Around Finals today featuring the top 24 from previous competition. Alexander Artemov and Jonathon Horton competed for the US. It was a very fun competition to watch...especially seeing how strong they all are. As I'm sure you've heard, China's Wei Yang ended up winning, while Japan got second and France to got 3rd. Artemov got 11th, I believe and Horton got 15th. I got to see another gold medal ceremony for China. I really hope I can see a US gold medal before I leave.

When we came out of gymnastics, it was raining...hard. I decided to leave the group and wander to the Olympic super store near the stadiums. Luckily I had an umbrella and free poncho to keep me somewhat dry. I spent quite a bit of time in the store, but surprisingly did not buy much at all. It was extremely crowded and extra busy because of the rain.

I decided to do more shopping and went to Yashow silk market...one of my favorite shopping areas from last year. I got a couple of good deals, but the place where I really wanted stuff, the lady would not bargain with me at all. I still came home with some goodies though!

Tonight I am the leader on call, hence why I am finishing this update. Hopefully the rest of the night is quiet. Talk to you all soon!

No pictures today :(

Sorry I guess the pictures aren't working right now. Let me tell you about Wednesday and I'll share pictures later. After another CCI leader meeting, Min Jun, Grace, and I went to eat lunch at KFC. I think I eat more American fast food in China than in the US!

In the afternoon, Min Jun and I went to the Men's 3M Synchronized Springboard Diving Finals. There were 8 pairs of men competing. Of course China won and America got 4th. I'm sorry I really don't have any pictures from diving because my camera battery died. It was pretty neat to see a medal ceremony, although it would have been much better to see a USA medal.

Min Jun and I, along with about 40 or 50 other volunteers from our group, attended the CYCAN cultural event last night. CYCAN is a group of college volunteer students who are working to control and survey the climate and air. They are helping our group get around the city and taking care of us. We went out to dinner with them and then walked about 10-15 minutes to their college. They put on a cultural show, featuring their special talents like kung fu, calligraphy, musicial talents, etc. It was a really neat show. I think my jet lag finally caught up with me because I was pooped around 9:30 and headed home.

Tuesday, August 12

Hi all! Sorry it's been a couple of days since I updated this.



Tuesday morning, I had another leader meeting and also went grocery shopping for my apartment. I also discovered Auntie Jane's bakery near our aparment complex. I stopped in for a peanut butter smoothie. It is a cute little shop that reminds me of home.

I was free on Tuesday afternoon, so I decided to go volunteer with some of the girls from my group. We got assigned to work at the hotel helping Cartan tours greet guests. It was not a glamorous job, but it was fun to people watch. I also got to meet some Olympic mascots!

There was one thing that made my day - I was waiting in line and this lady next to me was acting kind of weird...kinda nervous. Then she told me she was waiting for her boyfriend. She told me she had never met him before and she met him on the internet. I didn't even get to ask her how long they had been dating and he came. It was so fun to see them meet for the first time! I took a picture for them and they spent a lot of time hugging and talking. It was such a neat thing to witness and I hope it works out for them.