Today was an awesome last day in Beijing. The weather was some of the best we've seen all summer! Sunny, blue sky, white clouds, and not too much humidity. Caroline and I went early this morning to go see Onur!!! Kristi came along too!
We met Onur at the Water Cube after he had finished practice. It was so awesome seeing him! We only spent 3 hours with him, but it was just so amazing that we were seeing him in Beijing. I just couldn't get over how he is an Olympic Athlete (twice! He went to Athens in 2004 as well!). He showed us his Athlete ID tag, it was just all so cool.
Of course, everything is on lock down, so Onur couldn't take us into the pool or the village, but life in the village sounds so fun! They get free drinks and free food everyday, they got some cool goodies bags upon arrival, there's an olympic store just for the athletes, and there is a HUGE dining hall for all of the athletes that serves a variety of foods. Onur said the dining hall is the size of three CRC's, and it's open 24 hours! He said there are so many volunteers there wanting to help, like carry his tray for him and everything! haha!
We took Onur to Houhai for lunch. Houhai is a bar district and a shopping district along a lake. It's very pretty there all the time, day and night. We ate a traditional Chinese lunch of fried rice and noodles, and then Caroline and I took him to the Silk Market. We saw SO MANY athletes at the Silk Market! Egypt, Ukraine, Italy, Canada! I was surprised that so many of them were out and about, and they were all wearing their team gear too! I thought they would try to blend in... but I guess not. I also gave Onur a list of tourist spots, like the Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City, for him and his teammates to go see when they have some spare time.
All too soon, we took a taxi with Onur back to the Village. Onur even got to use his athlete pass to get the taxi through one of the security check points. We were dropped off outside on of the gates to the village, we took some more pictures, and then we said goodbye to Onur. I wish we were staying longer so we could see him more. It was interesting how we were spending our last day in Beijing with Onur on his first day in Beijing. Good luck to him at the Olympics!!!!
When we left the village, Caroline, Kristi, and I got some pedicures in Wudaoku and ate some chicken and rice for dinner. We returned to the dorms, and I napped for a bit and then packed up my room. I got everything to fit in the bags, even with some extra space! I'm so pumped! I'm staying up tonight to check out of my room at 2:30, and then we leave for the airport, take a four hour flight to Hong Kong, a 14 hour flight to LA, and then a 4 hour flight to ATLANTA!!!!!
AAAAHHHHH! This is my last post from ASIA!!!!!! I'm so sad, it's been awesome :)
1 comment:
Ryann: I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your adventures. Congratulations on completing all your work. I wish more Americans could get this opportunity because I sure you will agree, living abroad is quite different from pictures painted while in the States. Hope to meet you again, Ron & Jenny
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