hello from beijing!!!! -steph

Hey from Beijing!! I'm psyched to be here, and the energy here is INSANE. At the airport, there are people everywhere with Olympic costumes and garb, waving little Olympic flags (I got one =P), and welcoming everyone to Beijing. I knew they redid the airport and that it was supposed to be tremendous, but I still got off the plane expecting huge crowds and overall dirtiness. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the new airport was beautiful, bright, and clean. The taxi was clean, too, which was also a pleasant surprise. I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised... everyone on the planet has known that Beijing would bend over backwards to get itself ready for the Games.

Despite the brightness inside the airport, it was a little bleaker outdoors; it was hazy, dark, and humid. It's raining now, and it has been pouring, thundering and lightning-ing for the last few hours. Seems like I brought some bad weather :( Hopefully the weather clears up in the next few days! Well, in any case, rain and bad weather is a non-issue for table tennis players =P Anyway, so far, China and USA are tied in number of medals at 8 apiece, and Michael Phelps took the gold in the 400m medley, breaking the record by about 2 seconds. USA's men's basketball team is going to take on China's team in about an hour. Trust that all eyes will be on this game!

The first day of table tennis is on 8/13 at 10am (Beijing time), and USA's women's team will play Singapore's team, seeded 2nd behind China, in Group B in the qualifiers. The team is made up of Gao Jun (currently ranked #25 in the world), Wang Chen (currently ranked #20 in the world), Crystal Huang, and my friend and doubles partner, Jackie Lee as a back-up. It will definitely be tough, but USA certainly has a chance of upsetting Singapore.

Go USA! :D