Last Day of Summer

For the first time in a long time, I'm sort of excited about going back to work/school. Today was a very relaxing last day of summer for us. Jamie spent the morning taking a walking tour of Shekou with our Director and other co-workers. I was "anti-social" and didn't stray very far away from the couch and Olympics watching the 6 different channels broadcasting the games over here. It was great as I was able to watch just about every event throughout the day including women's badmitton, air rifle, judo, synchronized diving, and all of the other sports that the U.S. media usually does not show because of time constraints. Tonight dinner even consisted of going to Pizza Hut and bringing it back as we watched Shrek in English and more Olympic events. I told the little girl at Pizza Hut that Jamie and I wanted a large pizza with pepperoni and pineapple. The girl scrunched her nose up at me and looked at me like I was crazy and probably thought it was the grossest thing she'd ever heard. I received a similar response one time in Las Vegas at a McDonald's when I asked for a chicken biscuit. The guy told me plainly, "We don't put chicken on a biscuit." Truett Cathy would've fallen over dead.

As I sit here now, the Chinese basketball team is hanging with the American team. The funniest part is listening to the British commentators who know as much about basketball as I know about building a NASA space shuttle. The do appear to be able to get the names of the players correct and the score. The rest of the world has learned how to play basketball and their talent almost matches that of the Americans as is evident of the last 2 Olympics and other World Games that the U.S. has actually lost. I guess it makes the 1992 Dream Team all that more special. You have to wonder how much they would annihilate the international teams of today.

Well, toward the end of this post, the U.S. has a 13 point lead at halftime and has dunked the ball more than a child dunks French fries in ketchup. Not the cleanest basketball ever, but it'll work.

Good night America. Good day to you!