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Yesterday I went with my aunt’s niece Fei Fei to Bei Hai Park. Very foggy weather all of yesterday but it was nice to have some sun cover. The park was cool, I mainly wanted to see the Nine Dragon Wall which was pretty cool. We walked around the area and then went to meet my aunt for lunch. More mango shaved ice!! Love it. Then had another foot massage for 38 RMB (~5 or 6 dollars US) for half hour. Awesome. Last night we had hotpot at this Mongolian place called Ding Ding Xiang. Really good thinly cut lamb and lots of other yummy veggies.

Last night Auntie Jennifer took us to this super nice restaurant called Capital Garden that her friend owns. Really fancy place with three huge levels. We had all this really good food…the dumplings and noodles are to die for. Her nieces came with us. Afterwards we went up to the spa and got foot massages and lay around in big comfy couches and ate dessert. Pretty excessive…but hey I’m on vacation and it was FREE!

Today the plan is to go to Bei Hai Park and maybe Shi Cha Hai. Then not sure what…probably eat hot pot and some other really good food. Yay!

So I’m in Beijing!! Surpringly smooth flight. The new Terminal 3 at Beijing airport is really nice. It’s HUGE. And I saw a lot of athletes and Olympic representatives there. Passed the entire Egypt Olympic team at baggage claim who came in from Cairo. Surprsingly the air quality is quite good, or at least not nearly as bad as i thought it would be. Visibility seems good and I really haven’t noticed anything… traffic is not bad either because they are limiting who can go on the road. Depending on your license plate number, you can only drive on certain days. They also have several new subway and bus systems….but people are not seeing the real china. After the olympics everything will go back to what it was and they can stop putting on this facade. They got rid of the selling of pirated and fake stuff. I thought the taxi drivers were supposed to speak English but so far not much luck, though I haven’t had to deal with it cause my Aunt is doing everything for me. We’re staying in a really nice condo in the 4th Ring East of the city.

Today we did the Forbidden City and went by the square too but they closed off a good chunk cause of the Olympics. Couldn’t see Mao’s Mausoleum which was too bad. Ah well. Walked around the Wangfujing area as well. Tomorrow going to Bei Hai Park and Wednesday probably the Summer Palace. That’s probably going to be about it for siteseeing this trip, I want to do more of the local stuff since I have the advantage of being here with my aunt who knows all the good stuff. We may go to Chengdu and/or Li Jiang later this week.

Craziness. Yesterday was my last day in office and tomorrow I am heading to CHINA. So pumped! I’m going to eat gobs of good food and get massages Also got tickets to see one Olympic event - opening round of tennis on the 10th. My aunt is probably going to take me to Chengdu as well. We had planned for Dalian but she has friends in Chengdu and it’s closer. I’m ready for Hawaii too! Gonna get me some sun. I will have pics!

Also starting to pack up my crap to move…will have about 5 boxes to ship. Fly out on the 24th! I’ve been running around trying to see friends and get stuff. It’s insane.

check ‘em here

Tom and I spent last weekend down in Santa Cruz. We also went to Monterey Bay Aquarium and San Jose. It was real good to see Jenn and Tris again!

Also, my ANA buddies were in town this week Coolest people ever. We took them out on Queen Anne to Kerry Park, Peso’s, and then to Ozzie’s. What a freakin blast.

I don’t care what people think who don’t give a crap about sports in Seattle or the Sonics - Having been a fan since 1995 I am still pissed off about the whole Sonics situation. And why the hell it took so long for politicians in this city to realize that yes, having an NBA team in Seattle actually does bring a lot of money in. But most of all I hate Clay Bennett for planning to steal our team all along and David Stern for being an A-hole about the whole thing. I like how during the NBA draft last week he didn’t say Seattle when he referred to the Sonics. He just called them “the Sonics” when at the podium announcing their draft picks rather than the standard script where you say the full team name. *#$( THAT!

Bleh, sorry. I had to rant.

I think they’ve created so much bitterness in this city in will take a lot of calming down and PR work to make people warm up to the idea of getting another team. The potential teams who may be looking for new homes are: New Orleans Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks. Personally, I’d like the Hornet or the Grizzlies (of course they would be renamed to Sonics) - because of the players. The thing that sucks most about losing the Sonics even though we get to keep the name and logo and history etc is that we are losing the PLAYERS!! Durant, Green, Westbrook - all high draft picks and now gone to waste. It made me sick hearing Clay calling them “our” players on the news last night after the decision.

up on flickr

I’ve also started a one-pic-a-day upload from my phone which is displayed on the front page of my website. Wherever I happen to be that day

Crap…this blog is so behind! I feel bad. But you guys can read my facebook to find out daily updates of course - I promise I will definitely be posting once I get to New Haven this fall. There’s just so much going on until then. I will update a little here on what I’ve been doing.

I’ve been attending a lot of BEAN and NAAAP events. Of course since I’m leaving in August I handed off the Eastside social officer to my friend Bernice The position was fun while it lasted - though it was getting tough towards the end to find good places to have a social on the Eastside that can accomodate large groups. Seattle just has so many more choices and I don’t really go to bars on the Eastside. Any way, attendance was good though and I had fun doing it. I’d like to get an officer position in NAAAP, but of course not until I come back after grad school. I want to do more community service. Been doing a lot of community service projects for both BEAN and NAAAP and those are always the most fun events in my opinion. 1) it’s social and you get to meet people 2) you’re doing something productive 3) it doesn’t involve alcohol like everything else seems to do. Overall I have met a lot of new people in both organizations - it’s been cool!

Preparing for a few trips coming up. Two are mini trips that Tom and I are going on. Next weekend we’re going to Oregon. We’ll be going to Cannon Beach for one night and then to Portland to visit and stay with friends. Then in July we are going to try and make it down to Santa Cruz to see Jenn and Tristan. Hopefully hit up the San Jose bon odori as well which I heard is bomb. The August 1st I leave for China!!! OMG I’m so excited!!

I have been watching a lot of the Olympic trials on TV which is exciting and getting me pumped up. I don’t know that I’ll get tickets to any event as it’ll be really expensive and hard to get but we’ll see. Either way it I just plan to hang around the Olympic village and just be there amongst the mayhem that is Beijing 2008. It’s going to be sweet, I’m going to take lots of pictures and post them. And most of all I’m going to EAT. YAY!! Asian food is the best. I’ll be staying with my Auntie in an apartment in the middle of Beijing. We may go to Dalian or Shanghai if we can get round trip train tickets. Getting back into Beijing during the games is going to suck but oh well. Then after Beijing is Hawaii!!!! Need sun.

I got a blackberry for work! They gave me a phone so I can call into meetings and stuff from the east coast. Work is going well…I have been at Boeing 3 years now and I still like it. I am not sure what the future has in store for me post-grad school but I have a ton of ideas flying around inside my head - including the idea of living and working abroad. But who knows!

The surprise party for my mom’s 60th and parents’ 30th wedding anniversary went over really well!! It was perfect - my mom had no idea and pretty much everyone showed up. The venue was great and everything was perfect. We had it at Cutters on Saturday. Plus we got this awesome white chooclate strawberry cake from Simply Desserts in Fremont which was the shitz. Yay! My mom was so shocked and happy.

So my wireless certificate class finished up today…it was kind of a joke. Very high level and nothing terribly interesting…but I guess I’m glad it wasn’t too intense cause I’ve been so busy with random other things I don’t know how much time I would have to devote to it. I was thinking about taking a business class this summer but I think I will not do that since I’m going on vacation in August and would probably miss the final…so instead I’ve decided I’m going to take the GMAT for the hell of it. UW offers a Technology MBA that I’m thinking about doing once I complete my masters. I don’t know if I will but I figured, hey, why not take the test any way. Then I can apply if I want.

Man I’m getting the travel bug again and I want to go somewhere I love traveling, it’s sweeeet. Can’t wait til August when I head to China and then Hawaii!!

My friend’s Jill and Ruben are moving to Sydney Australia so Tom and I are planning to go visit them either next summer or the summer after. I’ve been wanting to go to Australia - it sounds sweet.

It’s BBQ season! So far I have been to one - and I’ve got another tomorrow. Love it. Jessie and Arpi are in town from grad school so we are hanging out this weekend too

I’ve been going to a lot of BEAN and NAAAP events which has been a lot of fun to say the least. I’ve met so many new people in this last year. It’s too bad I’ll be leaving all this behind - but I won’t be gone for long! And I’ll be back next summer too. I’m going to try and find a similar organization if I can at Yale. We’ll see.