I can't believe the Olympics are actually over.

I watched the Closing Ceremonies from a restaurant in Sanlitun, a popular nighttime area for locals and tourists alike. The ceremonies were fun to watch, but I couldn’t help but feel like ending was too abrupt for an event with such a strong impact on me.

I’ll have to get back to you about my final thoughts on the Olympics. I’m still processing. But until then, enjoy my last vlog from the Olympic Green.
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Remember Tim’s Texas BBQ, the Mexican/barbeque place I found down by Beijing’s silk market? Well, guess who my roommate saw there the other night?

Yao Ming!

I think he misses Houston.
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If I have to read one more story about the volunteer who stands outside the bathroom at the Main Press Center on the Olympic Green, I am going to hurl.

Finally, the New York Times got the memo and included this blurb in their story: “It was impossible to enter the restrooms at the main press center without a volunteer waving you inside, then breaking out the official Olympic squeegee to dry the sink when you left.”

This is my question: Why does the media assume that because the Olympics was “friendly and efficient” for them, that it was overall friendly and efficient?

I mean think about it: The media lives in their own, brand new village comparable to the athletes’. They have their own hair salon and swimming pool. As the rest of the city fights tooth and nail to get on the Olympic line of the subway, journalists ride in an air-conditioned shuttle bus for 15 minutes.

There is only one place on the Olympic Green to get food other than McDonalds and ramen noodles: the Main Press Center, for journalists only. No regular people allowed.

Click (more) to continue reading my rant against some of the media's silly coverage.
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So I can’t access the iTunes store. It’s disappeared behind what we call over here the Great Firewall of China.

When I click on iTunes, a screen pops up saying, “iTunes could not connect to the iTunes Store. The network connection was reset.”

It’s the same wording that popped up back a few weeks ago when I tried to access Amnesty International’s website or any Wikipedia articles about sensitive events in China’s history. Rumor has it, too many athletes were downloading songs China didn't approve of.


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Had another KRLD interview last night! Well, yesterday morning for y’all. Click the link to listen.

Right away, I talked about how nice the weather was here.  I spoke too soon. Today, I woke up to lots of fog and rain. It’s even supposed to get into the 50’s!

I’ve only got one more week to enjoy all this crazy weather…
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Yesterday, the top gymnasts from all over the world (but mostly China) performed in the Olympic Gymnastics Gala. It was like a mini-Opening Ceremonies, only everything was real.

There was singing, music, acrobats, dancing and performances from gymnasts like Fabian Hambuchen, Yang Wei, Shawn Johnson and my girl Nastia Liukin.

The Gala was a chance for these athletes to show off their stuff without any pressure. The gymnasts seemed relaxed, stopping every few seconds to clap along with the audience. All of the performers received an individual medal, and they seemed relieved to show what they could really do without judges breathing down their neck.

But for every gymnast that smiled and waved to the crowd, I couldn’t help but think of the ones who ended their routine with a fall and ended up breaking down crying on their mother’s shoulder. (That happened more times than you’d think. They don’t call it gym-nice-tics.)

After the Gala, the American gymnasts bolted, so I didn’t get to meet Nastia! But I did get to try out the beam for myself. Check out the videos:

• Nastia on the Balance Beam
• Me on the Balance Beam

It’s a lot harder than it looks.
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So last night, I got to touch my first Olympic Gold Medal!

Some friends and I went to a local nightclub teeming with athletes from all over the world. I met Dutch rowers, Canadian baseball players, German rowers (lots of rowers, actually), and some American athletes!

As I walked towards Michael Phelps’ corner, which was packed with people wielding cameras, I accidentally kicked over a guy’s drink. I turned to him to apologize, but he  just laughed it off and introduced me to his friend Henry Cejudo, the first US wrestler to win an Olympic Gold medal at the Beijing games! He was still wearing the medal, which was hilarious. One side is pure gold with a picture of a woman and the name of the sport in relief. The other side has a small circle of jade. It wasn’t cold to the touch like I though it’d be, but it was a bit heavy.

At the end of the night, I met the US Men’s gymnastics team! I felt like a stalker since I know everything about them for work, but they seemed to enjoy the attention. When I asked Justin Spring to dance, his eyes popped open. “Me?” he asked.

Yes, Bronze-medallist Justin Spring. You.

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So this is my new favorite picture ever.

On the way to work yesterday, my friend Alex gave a pin to a guy pushing a baby in a stroller. The guy caught up with us, asking for a picture.

Pretty standard here, except the guy then bent down to unbuckle the baby’s stroller. He wanted us to hold her!

I was happy to. She was adorable, although she didn’t want to look at the camera. She was far more interested in putting my Canada Day Olympic pin in her mouth.
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So I think I accidentally lied to you.

I wrote that they don’t have hot dogs at the venue. Turns out, they do, but they’re so different than US hot dogs that I didn’t even recognize them!

A Beijing hot dog is really what we’d call a “pig in a blanket” back in the States – meat wrapped completely in bread. Only here, the meat is cold, the bread is sweet, and the whole thing is covered in ketchup.

In the package, it looks like a honey bun when the icing smushes everywhere, although with the red of the ketchup, the poor think just looked like it was bleeding to death.

I ordered one from a concession stand last night for dinner and ate it while I watched Jonathon Horton earn Silver in High Bar. (Way to go, John!) I asked my Chinese friend Fiona to translate the ingredients for me: Bread, sauce (she meant sausage), potato sauce (she means tomato sauce), sugar, and “some chemistry I can’t translate.” Comforting…

It was pretty good though! The ketchup gets all over your hands, but I really liked the taste, just a bit sweeter than a US hot dog. I tried to explain to Fiona that, in the US, we put the sauce in the hot dog, not on it!
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Congratulations to hometown girl Nastia Luikin, who will come home with a Gold, three Silvers and a Bronze!

But should that have been two Golds and two Silvers? On Monday, Nastia lost the Uneven Bars Gold to China’s He Kexin, despite having the same score of 16.725. Here’s how the sports information specialist at the National Indoor Stadium explained it to me.

(Here’s what you probably already know:) A gymnasts’ score is divided into seven parts, one ‘A’ score - which measures the routine’s difficulty - and 6 ‘B’ scores - ratings from six judges who deduct points for errors. For all gymnasts, the highest and lowest ‘B’ score are dropped before calculating the total.

When Nastia’s and He’s scores tied, the judges went back into their remaining 4 ‘B’ scores and dropped the lowest set of deductions. They took the average of what was left, and He won by .033 points. It may seem a bit random to break ties this way, but essentially, He won because her scores had a lower range than Nastia’s.

As my friend John put it, “it’s whoever gets the highest average first.”

Click (more) to read my Russian journalist friends' reaction to Nastia’s tie-breaker.
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