Thursday, August 14, 2008

Welcome to Beijing!!

Hello All! I know everyone is wondering if I possibly was lost out in the middle of Mexico somewhere since I haven't posted since then.  I actually got home a little over a week ago and have been the busiest person ever. Everyday my planner was filled was to-do lists ( I am slightly obsessed with making them and crossing things out when they are finished ;) ). I had a couple of sessions, many emails, and a birthday party to plan. Happy belated birthday Tony! I swear I was going to blog that day, but I was too busy on your scavenger hunt! 

Anyways, for those of you who know ... my best friend, Shani Marks, made it to the Olympics in triple jump. SO... being the BFF that I am... I just got into Beijing with her family.

I stayed up the ENTIRE night before we left trying to get ready for the drastic time change. 
(13 hours different from home) Although I did sleep through most of the 13 hour flight, I did get a chance to see that we flew over the North Pole.. at one point the water was completely covered in ice. It was beautiful.
When we finally arrived, we took a loooonnngg cab ride to pick up tickets and to the hotel. I think we finished out at about 2 and a half hours. Here is Mena checking out the sites.
Shani's husband, Ron, has a "Chinese for Dummies" book and was set on speaking to the cab driver. It was quite amusing as the cab driver was happy to teach us the correct pronunciation for things. Quite entertaining! 
I think the most entertaining moment of the day was when Gloria, Shani's mom, was looking through Shani's camera at all of her cool pictures from the opening ceremony and fell asleep in like 2 seconds.. camera still in hand. She was a narcoleptic and couldn't control it. I guess thats what jet lag does to you.
We did finally make it to the hotel. Had some dinner... $36 for 7 people. I don't have any idea how.. but yes $36. Now I am going to finally go to bed. Side note..if these beds had a sleep number it would be 500. Ha. They are very hard. I think I will be so tired that I wont notice tonight.

Women'sgymnastics individual all around in the morning and Shani's triple jump in the eve. I believe it will be televised so check on nbc.com. I will update you tomorrow night!

4 comments:

Melissa Koehler said...

Wow, I am so jealous. Gymnastics is my fav! Have a super time!

Anonymous said...

Go Jame Go!

Sorry to hear bout Shani! She is still the best athlete ever!

Enjoy your experience in China

Anonymous said...

she is the top story on startribune.com

hope that you have a great time in china! cant wait to hear about it :)

Anonymous said...

Wow- must be an incredible trip!! Wishing you well and loving every minute of the Olympics on TV. Love to you and Shani... I will be watching for her on TV.. Dad