Now that Gymnastics is officially over, I have a lot more free time to do things like go to the NBC compound, watch gold-medal championship matches and go out in Sanlitun.
This is Whitney, Lauren, me and Ryan inside the NBC studio.
I guess I shouldn't say gymnastics is completely over with ... read this article by Juliet Macur of the New York Times about the questionable ages of some of the Chinese gymnasts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/sports/olympics/22age.html?ex=1377057600&en=038451ec531ad9d6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Juliet sat in the press tribune where I worked and got to meet her several times; she is great.
With only a week left in Beijing, I am trying to make the most of my time here and not think about the jet leg I will undoubtedly have when I return, the 8am classes I will have to endure Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the hours I will be spending in the library this semester. This trip has seemed completely unreal and looking back on it, I don’t know how I got so lucky quite so often. The other night was a perfect example of the great things that have just happened to come my way.
After coming into work at 6pm and thinking I would be there until at least midnight, my supervisor told me I should leave and just enjoy Beijing. I was confused, but happy to not have to be working during handball, a sport that not even NBC thinks is important enough for broadcast. My friend Lauren was invited to go to the gold medal women’s soccer game by a friend of hers who is working for NBC. He invited me, Lauren and Whitney to come visit the NBC compound. We had no idea what we were in for: tours of the broadcast studios, free dinner (salad bar, panninis, gelato) and the best, FREE Starbucks! Aside from all the free, cool perks, we were surrounded by broadcast legends! While trying to eat my yummy salad, I couldn’t help but look around at the familiar TV faces walking around the cafeteria. As if that wasn’t enough, a friend of mine called to say soccer ticket’s for the gold medal game were going for 200 Yuan, roughly $30. I didn’t hesitate and before I knew it, I was sitting inside the Worker’s Stadium watching the USA play Brazil.
Whitney and I were sitting pretty high in the stands but Lauren called at half time to say there were some empty NBC seats.
We ended up watching the remainder of the game, including overtime and the medal ceremony, from the seventh row! It was basically amazing and even as the clock ticked past midnight, I was high off the game, the people and the free Starbuck’s I had enjoyed previously in the evening.
Last night my friend Lauren was invited to go to dinner with Jason Stallman of the New York Times. She was nice enough to let me tag along and he took us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant down the street from the Olympic green. After dinner we went to Athletics and I got to go inside the Bird’s Nest for the first time. It was truly incredible.
We were on the third (and highest) tier so I got a pretty good workout coming up the stairs. We saw Jamaica take the gold for the 4x100 meter relay and set a new world record! Australia's chant was in my head all night after their pole vaulter took the gold and set a new record, too. It was a great night.
Tonight our plan is to go out for one of our last nights together in Beijing. I cannot get over the fact that this trip is coming to a close. I really feel like I just got here and really have gotten used to things I never thought I would adjust to: the random horrid smells, chopsticks, low water pressure, not being able to communicate with taxi drivers. The list could go on forever. I am excited to see all my friends from home and can't wait to see my mom when she picks me up in Columbia on Thursday. I am not too thrilled about getting in Thursday night at 11PM and waking up for my Broadcast I class the next morning at 8AM. It will be great though.
XOXO,
P
This is Whitney, Lauren, me and Ryan inside the NBC studio. 
Whitney and I were sitting pretty high in the stands but Lauren called at half time to say there were some empty NBC seats.
We ended up watching the remainder of the game, including overtime and the medal ceremony, from the seventh row! It was basically amazing and even as the clock ticked past midnight, I was high off the game, the people and the free Starbuck’s I had enjoyed previously in the evening. 
We were on the third (and highest) tier so I got a pretty good workout coming up the stairs. We saw Jamaica take the gold for the 4x100 meter relay and set a new world record! Australia's chant was in my head all night after their pole vaulter took the gold and set a new record, too. It was a great night. 
Being a broadcast journalism major, I feel almost equally excited by the gymnastic events taking place below me as I do by watching the NBC sportscasters doing their on-camera report. 
This is a picture of me and Sarah French in front of the Bird's Nest. The torch is so amazing ... even when it is smoggy outside. 
She was so kind and gracious, just how she seems on television. I told her I was coming to the taping of the Today Show later that night (they tape at 7pm for the 7am show in the states) and she told me to yell at her so she would know I was there. That night, she recognized me! 
I was so excited and we even got a picture with her, Matt and Al! 
It was great. 
After brunch we decided to take Sarah to get a pedicure. We had seen a place that looked good while walking on a street near HouHai Lake a few days back. We got to the street and it was so hot ... almost like walking through a cloud of stinky steam. We walked up and down the street but couldn't find the nail place. After asking around, we discovered that it was closed for the day! Disappointed, we recalled yet another nail place near the Workers' Stadium. We hopped in a cab but once we arrived we discovered that we needed an appointment to get our nails done at Sheela's Nails. An American woman who has been living in Beijing since April told us to go to the Yashow Shopping Market to get our nails done. We walked a few blocks through the heat but when we got there, we decided we would rather not get our nails done at all than go to the crowded, unsterilzed nail salon in an open bargaining market. We walked around a little and ultimately decided to leave. Just as we were walking out we looked to our left and saw: a nice-looking salon with foreign women getting their nails done in big, comfy red chairs. 
Obviously, we decided to join them. For 60 yuan ($8) we got much-needed pedicures and had the chance to relax a little before our big night watching the Opening Ceremony. My friend Lauren blogs for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and they invited her to watch the Opening Ceremony at Club Bud (Budweiser). She invited a few of us to tag along with her and we were all really excited by the invitation of free Budweiser and free food. 
The Heineken people were a little upset when we asked them where Club Bud was but we certainly were not disappointed when we arrived on their Red Carpet!
It was so amazing inside: tons of media and journalists, free Budweiser, crab cakes, steamed vegetables, kebabs and tons of plasma TV screens to watch the Opening Ceremony on! The best part were the outdoor cabanas and TV projector screens. We felt like celebrities and it was so nice to be surrounded by Americans, many of whom were from St. Louis. It was a great night and an amazing Opening Ceremony. I am so excited to go into work tonight from 6pm until 1am! Yay gymnastics and the 2008 Olympics!
This is a picture of a woman trying to figure out what exit we needed to go to. Suddenly, our bus arrived and a woman decided it was her duty to escort us onto the bus! Two people in the front seat got up so that Lauren and I had a place to sit. It was so cute and we were happy to be heading in the right direction! 
This is us on the bus. However, we were much happier when we saw the big red numbers: 798! 
This is us at the restaurant. 
And this is us on the subway ride home. 
This is a picture my friend Rosy (that is her English name) took the other day in our staff training room at the National Indoor Stadium. I am getting really excited about the Olympics starting and cannot believe they are just four days away! All the journalists are beginning to arrive so it has been really exciting to be at the Olympic Green the past couple of days. 
This picture shows just how big his muscles still are (he is very proud of them) and his kind smile makes him a friend to almost everyone - even if he doesn't speak the same language. {Check out Yalcin's website: http://www.koeln-peking.de/}. The night we met him, he told us he had two friends coming from Belgium. Sarah and I were a little nervous about what we had gotten ourselves into, but we were still standing on a very well-lit street corner in a public place so we decided we were okay. When we met his Belgian friends (Noel and Veerle) we decided to join them for a drink at a nearby restaurant. We talked about the Olympics, their travels in Russia and Mongolia, all the while, attempting to conquer our language barriers: German to Dutch to English. We decided to meet the next evening at my favorite cafe in Beijing, The Vineyard Cafe. It was crowded with foreigners (many of whom I suspected were journalists) and great food and wine. We were the last ones to leave and got to meet the owner, a British guy named Will. 
This is a picture of me, Noel, Veerle and Sarah at the Vineyard Cafe last night. I told the European group that I would be studying abroad second semester of this school year and they insisted that I come and stay with them in their home which is just an hour from Brussels. I told them that I would definitely be there! 
I know I will stay in touch with all of my new friends when we are back in Columbia and that makes me so happy! Above is a picture of me with Sarah French and Sarah Orscheln (my roomie) with some of the hotel security guards. They, too have become our friends on this trip. They are always so friendly when we come in and give us high-fives and big smiles while attempting to say "Hello" with their best American tongue. 
