China Update 6: Hair cuts and athletes

Hello everyone!

I hope this email finds everyone well. I am only here for another two weeks, which means these updates are going to be winding down!! I can't believe this trip is already almost over.

This week was not that eventful, but I did some pretty cool things. Firstly, on Monday I went to the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball venue and watched 6 matches. It was amazing! It rained at the venue for part of the time, and during the other half of the time it was stifling hot, and I got sunburnt, but it was worth it. The matches were (winners in bold):

9 am -- Argentina v. Latvia (men's)
10 am -- Australia v. Angola (men's)
11 am -- China v. Belgium (women's)
12 pm -- Cuba v. Netherlands (women's)
1 pm -- Brazil v. Georgia (men's)
2 pm -- Norway v. Switzerland (women's)

It was an excellent day! Beach volleyball is a fun sport to watch, because there are only two people on each team, so its a pretty intense, and pretty fast, game!

Secondly, on Tuesday and Wednesday I pretty much did nothing. I had two days off, and I hung around campus because the weather wasn't nice and spent time updating my resume, and cleaning up my room. On Wednesday I did venture out for a bit and got my hair cut! I decided to hop into one of the hutong (neighborhood) streets and get my bangs cut, since they've become so long!! So I walked into a hair salon and explained in broken Mandarin what I wanted. In the process I ended up with some shorter-than-bargained-for bangs and a neat trim. I've attached a picture with my new hair for your viewing pleasure.

On Thursday, I worked in the Bird's Nest, and I finally got to interview some athletes! I interviewed a coach from Kenya, as well as a decathlete from Latvia. It was quite exciting! I also covered a press conference in the Main Press Centre with Allyson Felix, a USA sprinter. Thursday was fun because we were walking to the MPC and it started pouring. By the time we got there, the three girls I was with and I were SOAKING wet. We had fifteen minutes to clean ourselves off and get ready to cover the press conference, and our notebooks were wet! Needless to say, it was a very coat and kind of sloppy press conference. But I finally have my quotes on INFO2008, the wire website used for journalists at the Olympics. It's very exciting.

Today I went with my friends Anna and Seth to get Seth a tattoo. It was a good day--the sun was shining, we went to a new part of town we'd never been to, and Seth was happy that he got to get a tattoo in China. The place was really nice, and Seth got the Arabic symbol for "Peace" on his neck below his t-shirt neckline. It was really exciting and I took like 200 pictures. I will be posting them soon.

That's it! This week was pretty slow. Starting tomorrow, athletics is in FULL SWING. I work for the next 8 days, straight, and then the Olympics are over and I come home!! I'll try to update more often so you guys can know who I am interviewing this week!!

I love you all, and hope to hear from you soon!

xo

Jennie