Last update: China farewell!

Hello all,

I know I've been lacking in my emails lately!! It has been a long two weeks since I last wrote. I will try to catch you up.

Since I last wrote, I started my work at the National Stadium--and ended it!! It was a whirlwind! I worked all week, and pretty much worked and slept. I met some pretty cool athletes. I met most of the USA's Track and Field Team, and got to interview some athletes that medaled--Like Jared Tallent (Australia) who got third in the 20km race walk and silver in the 50km race walk. I also interviewed the winner of the women's marathon, Constantina Tomescu.

The work was pretty crazy! I was basically working in the "mixed zone" which is the area the press waits in after each event for athletes to come through. The athletes are on one side of the barrier, and the journalists are on the other side. I was working as a journalist, basically, gathering quotes from athletes and running them back to the office to file them. All and all, it was a good time, but pretty stressful! A lot of the time, the "favorites" who were expected to win races or events didn't, and then we'd have to scramble to find the translators we needed in order to get quotes!! It was pretty hectic. It was a lot of watching from the Press Tribune and waiting for races to be over.

I wish I could write more, and I probably will once I am home, but for now, with one day left, I must anon. I will leave you with a short list of things I will miss about China, things I won't, and a list of things I am excited to come home to.


Things I will miss about China:

1. Cheap taxi rides ($5 or less--no matter where you go!!)
2. The vast array of popsicles (corn or pea flavored, and some more delicious ones including coffee flavored ice cream)
3. The Olympics in general
4. The hutongs (neighborhoods)
5. The delicious food--for so cheap!!
6. The history/sites (Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square, etc.)
7. The people (I have made many great friends, American and Chinese)
8. The embassy district (lots of good food!)
9. Local culture (the games such as mahjong, the crowds of people dancing)
10. The language (it's always fun to speak a foreign language)

Things I will not miss about China:

1. Taking showers with my eyes closed and in cold water
2. Squat toilets
3. Overcrowded subways
4. People who push/shove/spit
5. The mosquitos which I SWEAR bite harder and worse than anything I've known
6. The blank stares when I say something in Mandarin wrong
7. The smog
8. The temperature (it's so hot!!)
9. The laundry ( I swear nothing has ever gotten clean.)
10. The organization. It's terrible. I'll explain more later.

Things I am excited to come home to:

1. COFFEE YAY YAY YAY!!!
2. Clean bathrooms
3. Food, food, food. Bagels, toast, cereal, sandwiches, pretty much everything.
4. A bed that isn't so hard every time I wake up I am sore.
5. Clean clothes
6. English speaking people
7. Being in the same time zone (or at least by 3 hours) as the people I love
8. Showering and finally feeling clean
9. A comfortable temperature
10. All of you!!!


I love you all and I will talk to you soon!!!


xoxo

Jennie