Nei Hau from China!!!

September 4, 2008 (September 5th in Beijing Time)

Greetings from Beijing, China!!! Today was the Paralympic Academy's first day on our journey to Beijing. My mom and I got up at 5:00am and caught our flight to Chicago. The flight was only an hour and a half but we had an hour delay on the plane. Chicago's airport was very cool and I was so excited to meet everyone! It was hard sauing good bye to my family. They just told me to have fun because I would only be in China a week.

In Chicago, I met the rest of my group. It turned there were two other people on my flight from the Academy and they lived near me! Small world! We hung out in the lounge because our flight to China was delayed three hours. The most amazing thing happened next...I was in the bathroom and a nice lady came up to me asking me if I wanted to meet some Olympians. I said "sure" and believe I was thrilled. I was confused though when the lady just left the bathroom. Little did I know...My Mom and I decided to go for some lunch while we waited. Along the way, the same lady from the bathroom told me that the Olympians were having lunch in a private room and wanted me to come say hello. I ran to get my autograph book! Was this really happening to me?! Once in the room, there were cameras everywhere taking pics of me with the athletes. They were so charistmatic and friendly. It was a great experience for me. Before I knew it, I was shaking hands with everyone around the table and even got to try on some Beijing Silver and Gold medals!!! I met athletes from Swimming, Volleyball, Tae Kwon Doe, Water Polo and Boxing! My mom even got to greet the athletes. They were all on tour and had recently appeared on the Oprah show. Thank you photographers and the nice lady for giving me the chance to meet the wonderful athletes!

The flight to Beijing was 13 and a half hours. I spent most of the time reading, watching TV, talking with my Mom, writing in my journal, and more reading...The Twilight Series!!! Oh, and I slept quite a bit! Once the plane landed, I jotted in my journal, put my leg on and rushed to meet the rest of the group! China was great looking from the airport. The airport was amazingly architected! The Chinese at the Visa Station were all very friendly and we mainly talked about how cute Michael Phelps was and how psyched we were about the Opening Ceremonies!!!

Out hotel was lovely. I learned more and more that the Chinese are very into synchronization and cleanliness. In the bathrooms, a lady stayed to clean the toilet after each person used it, and ladies greeted you on every floor. Dinner was delicious and the rest of the day, I spent time getting to know everyone!!! From then on, I knew this was going to be an awesome trip!!!

I will update again...