Closing Ceremony

Yes! I got a ticket to the Closing Ceremony! Wow....The Chinese just kept delivering! As I sat there, it was bittersweet for me. I had suffered from homesickness really bad this last week....and on the other hand, I had a circle of new friends that I had made that was gonna be sad to say goodbye to. The Bird's Nest was sold out and the place was filled with enormous energy. And I was in great company. We had a great group of guests for Wave 5. They were an interesting bunch and I thoroughly enjoyed the commaderie that we all felt and they were a lot of fun. I've posted new pics of the closing ceremony. I'm sure most of you saw it on TV....but what can I say....I was there! :)

Dinner after the closing ceremony was awesome. Normally, us volunteers are so tired that we get back to the AO suite, grab a bite to eat and head back to our hotel. But this night was different. It was celebration night! If there was a night to stay up all night, this was the night. To have made it through this entire was adventure, way on the other side of the planet from home, alone....yeah, I felt I had accomplished something. So instead of rushing back to our hotel, we celebrated. Memorable evening.

Then on Monday after the closing ceremony.....it was a full day. First was lunch with Patrick and Michelle at the Grand Hyatt. Mmmmmm, the peking duck was exquisite! I love it! Then we all rushed to the Birds Nest for photos with the entire AO team. There were about 300 of us. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna look pretty bad in those photos. We were facing the sun, I had had little sleep, eyes were burning from the sun.....I can only imagine the faces I made in those photos. It was a pretty painful experience standing in the hot sun while they tried to corral all 300 of us for photos. Then we all were off to buses for a 2-hour trek to the After Games Party for AO. It was held out in the boondocks and we had no idea what to expect. The drive seemed long. I was exhausted and kept wondering when we would ever arrive. But I must say, when we arrived, I was impressed. It was a major shindig of a party. Very elaborate. Live band. Lots of special effects. And the guest list was huge. Party officially started at 8 and was to go to 3 am. And everyone who knows me, knows I love a good party. But I was so tired, that I took the first bus home at 10:30. Then the bus dumps me off on the side of some freeway in Beijing. Grant it, it's 1:00 in the morning. But another AO guy got off the bus at the same time...and I must have had a look on my face that said "What do I do now??" Because he asked if he could help. I said I guess I need a taxi and did he think I could get one there at that spot or did I need to walk somewhere. He said give me a sec and he hailed me down a taxi. Thank God for angels!! :)

Tuesday, I had a little bit more shopping I wanted to do. I had started packing and it became very obvious that I needed another suitcase! So it was off to the Silk Market again and bargain for a suitcase. Grant it, when I got back to the hotel, I completely filled that suitcase. I really hadn't realized that i had shopped that much. Oh well.....when will i get to Beijing again?!?!! :)

So I arrived home a day earlier than expected. I told my husband but I asked him to not tell the kids. I really wanted to surprise them.

Adrian picked me up at the airport and he asked what I was hungry for.....and I'm sure that those of you who know me, knows exactly what I wanted.....MEXICAN FOOD!!!!! I was craving it!!!

Then at 4:30 in the afternoon, Adrian and I headed to Laytin's school to surprise him as he got out of football. I saw him exit the school but he just stayed around the front door. He called his dad's cellphone and asked if he was in the Murano (Adrian's normally picks him up in his jeep).....I get out of the car and then I heard Laytin say "is that Mom?" Then he took off running to me! It was awesome!!!! It felt so good to see my son!!!!! I think he grew 3 inches this month while I was gone! He is taller than me now!

Then at about 5:30, I heard my daughter get home from work and as she headed to her room, she sees me standing in my kitchen and she froze for a second and then burst into tears. My family didn't leave my side for hours. So much to talk about. IT FEELS GOOD TO BE HOME!!!! God is good.....all the time!

Again, I was to say thank you to everyone who followed me on this journey. It has been an amazing journey for me. I would have never dreamed that I would ever be given this opportunity. A big THANK YOU to Paul!!! Patrick Adiba asked me if I would do it again.....I immediately responded...."in a heartbeat!" I have no regrets. I met so many interesting people....clients and AO people alike. And to experience the Chinese culture was such an enlightening experience. Its such a rich culture. The Chinese that I interacted with were such gracious people. As far as the work, it was a lot of hard work with no time off. Long days. And there were times I was so exhausted, I couldn't think. But still, I would do it again.

My personal email is sdhcortez@gmail.com. Please feel free to email me and stay in touch!

Love to all!!!
Sandra

The Last Day of the Games

First, I want to say thanks to all who have followed me and shared my experience. Thank you for all the comments and prayers!

Wave 4 departed and we welcomed Wave 5 guests (the final wave) on Aug 23. Arrivals day is always a busy busy day! Up and out of the hotel by 6 am. (ugh, I hate early mornings....especially when I'm not able to sleep!) Anywho....We got everyone checked in and off to their first event. Also, Paul and Amy departed and I was really sad to see them go. It was great having them here. It gave me a feeling of being close to home. This week, the homesickness has been tough. Can't wait to hug my family!!!! Im getting tired of Skype. However, I'm not gonna complain too much about that. I'm so thankful that at least we've had this tool to communicate and see one another! :) Laytin has learned some new songs on the keyboard and guitar and because of Skype, it was as if I was sitting right there watching and listening to him. Adrian and the kids seem to be hanging in there. They've all been so strong through this ordeal. And I know that having Skype has totally been a Godsend for us! The challenge has been the time difference.

I've spent a lot of time shopping. I love going to the market! I love bargaining!! And as a matter of fact, I'm quite the pro at it (if I have to say so myself!) :) All the girls here are really proud of my bargaining skills and ask me to shop for them! Even some of the local girls were quite shocked at what good prices I was able to bargain. :)

My hotel is in a really great area......there is a huge supermarket next to my hotel that I've been to quite a bit. And there is a Pizza Hut (yes, I've had pizza in Beijing! and it was really good!), a MacDonalds, a Starbucks, a Hagan Daaz ice cream parlor, and a 7-11!!! (LOL!) Yes, I've visited them all! At the 7-11, I bought some Chips Ahoy cookies and Laytin got a kick out of the Chinese package....So Laytin, there's a pic I'm posting just for you of my cookies! :)

Yesterday I had a first.....I took the subway by myself!!! I studied the map really good before I tried it and had asked one of the Chinese volunteers to write down some notes for me. Since I'm so not familiar with a subway system, I must say, the subway system represented this scary maze of tracks and trains. And that made me even more want to conquer it!!! The have 3 main train lines and they all go different directions and they are located on different levels. I must say, I was extremely proud of ME! I went from the Grant Hyatt to the Silk Market by subway, which was Line 1, 3 stops away. I know, doesn't sound like much. But remember, the crowd of people in the subway is massive and everywhere you look, there are Chinese signs and names! It is so easy to become overwhelmed. But I did it. :)

Sourabh and Ryan were working together yesterday morning and skyped me! So I was able to see and chat with Sourabh, Ryan and Piyal! It was sooooo good to hear from them! It was Saturday night for me and I was really homesick. So to Sourabh, Ryan and Piyal, that call meant sooooo much to me!! Thanks!

Another highlight to my experience: I attended the Men's Basketball Semifinals!! On the 22nd at 8 pm, it was Lithuiania vs Spain and then at 10:15, US vs Argentina!!!!!! OMG, it was so exciting. I had a huge US flag and was screaming and waving it every chance I got!! This Wave 5 had quite a few clients and hosts from Spain .... which added to the excitement and competition among our Atos group! I was happy for the Spanish group when Spain won! It was so exciting! And then when the US team came out......what can I say.....It was electric! So during the 1st quarter, I'm standing and screaming and waving my flag.....and I look up at the jumbotron.....and lo and behold!!!!! I'm on it!!!!! And they kept the camera on me!!! So I just kept yelling and waving!! (LOL!) Whoohoo!!!!!! I made the jumbotron at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Mens Basketball Semi-Finals!!! Not gonna lie, my 3 minutes of fame is quite huge for me! (lol!!!) Good thing my kids weren't there, they would have been mortified! (I could almost hear them....."Mother, please sit down") LOL!!! (I love you Mikail and Laytin!!!) :) The final game is US vs Spain. The Atos CEO of Spain was with us and as we are leaving the stadium, he wants a picture of me and him with our flags. When I get back to Houston, I will get a copy of that picture and post.

I was so glad they played the Star Spangled Banner before the game. I had not been able to attend an event yet where US won a gold and hear the national anthem. I just wanted to hear it live before I left!!! And I did!!!! :) (hopefully, I can figure out soon how to upload the video clip to my blogspot!)

So among us Hospitality volunteers, the first of us leave today. Bee Lian leaves today and I'm so blessed to have met her. She is a beautiful Asian lady and has such a warm and beautiful smile that lights up a room. Bee Lian converted to Christianity some time back and its obvious in her smile and spirit and I told her that I see the light of Christ in her smile. Another Asian friend that I've met is Trong. Trong is another who has converted to Christianity. It has meant so much to me to have met these and learn about them and share stories. Mikail asked me last night on Skype if I was missing church. Church is such a big part of my life and I do miss it. Pastor Jim, I can't wait to hear you preach when I get back!!!! I will probably just sit and cry the entire service. However, thanks to Nicholas, I've been able to hear some good preaching while I've been here. He sent his iPod with me and it's loaded with awesome music and some good church services. Thanks Nick!

So tonight is the Closing Ceremony. I will be there. Will take lots of pictures! I promise. I've been so busy this entire month, that it really has passed by quickly. But I must say, I'm so looking forward to Labor Day weekend in Houston with family and friends!!

Ok......gonna sign off for now and hope to post tomorrow after the Closing Ceremony.

Ciao!!! xoxoxoxo

12th Day of the Games

Today has been an emotional day for me. Many reasons. First and foremost, I'm homesick. Very homesick. I love this experience, but I am homesick.

Today I worked the Hospitality Suite because it was arrival day for Wave 4. Everything went according to plan. We got all checked in and off to see their first Olympic event - Artistic Gymnastics. Paul just texted and said US won Gold and Silver. I was so tired to today that I decided not to go. US would win the gold the night I bail out! Ugh!! I so wanted to hear the Star Spangled Banner live!!!! Oh well......

Included in this wave are 8 young survivors of the Sichuan Earthquake. Atos Origin sponsored these children to come and experience the Olympics. I was there to welcome them to our hospitality suite and got the chance to chat and set them up with Olympic pins! They loved the pins! :) Their escort told me a bit of their plight and how they were trapped for 10 hours at their school. The third girl from the right is still struggling with injuries but was very excited about her trip. Honestly, I was moved to tears to be sitting there with them hearing their stories. They were beautiful children and were so excited about attending this event. I feel so honored to have met them!

I've uploaded more pics; so be sure and click on the link at the top of the right hand column.

Say a prayer for me. Really homesick!

xoxoxo to all!!!

11th Day of the Games

Sorry for not updating sooner. Its been soooooooo busy around here. Work, work and more work. Long days. Some days, I'm picked up at 6 am and return to my hotel at 11-12 midnight. Yesterday was one of those days. We escorted our clients to The Great Wall, then to lunch and then straight to a Gymnastics event, which ended at 9 pm and by the time we got the clients back to the hotel is was 10 and we had a bite to eat and back to our hotel by 11:30 pm. I was exhausted. The good news, I had off today and was able to sleep, sleep and sleep.

So, I'm gonna go back a bit..... So Paul arrived!! I met him and another one of our US clients at the airport. I must say, when I saw Paul and Amy, I was in tears. I was so excited to see them!! It has been wonderful having them here. We got them all registered and settled in and then I met Paul and Amy for dinner that night. I had my first try at Peking Duck!!! And OMG, it was soooo good. Interesting story about that dinner.......So we decided to have dinner there at the Hyatt where they are staying. And of course, we have all kinds of contacts there. I contacted them and asked for a reservation. He said got it, and then he asked how many ducks? I said What?? How many ducks? Heck, I don't know. There's three people. He said, Oh, you need just one duck. I said Ok, one duck it is. So, we get there, and lo and behold, they can't find our reservation. So I do what little magic I can, and the girl says wait one minute....She comes back and tells us "This your lucky day. We have one table. People no show." We said, great, let us have it. So we get seated and the girl comes to take our order and Paul tells them we want the Peking Duck. She tells us, "one hour. Peking Duck take one hour because you no have reservation". Paul said Fine. We want the duck. She walks away and comes back within just a few minutes and says "This your lucky day. We have one duck because people no want. But we bring right now." (LOL!) So we said, great, bring it on!! Great dinner. It was a lot of fun! They carve the duck tableside and they showed us how to fix what I call a "taco". What they call a "pancake". Ah, it was great! :)

So the next day, I attended my first Oympic event (this does not include the opening ceremony) this past week. It was swimming!! So I can say I was at the Water Cube! Which, btw, is a beautiful building. It's walls are nothing but lights. And the lights change colors. So beautiful. And yes, I saw Phelps!! :) I also attended a tennis match...US vs Chile. US lost, but it was an awesome awesome experience. Blake vs Gonzalez. Of course, if any of you watched it, the game went on forever. But it was so exciting to be there. And our seats were phenomenal!! We sat center court, lower section. AO is taking really good care of its clients! :)

My next event was track and field. The finale of the night was the finals for the mens 100m. And omg, I loved it!!!! That particular event lasted 9 secs, but it seemed to last forever!! There was so much energy in the Birds Nest! And we were on the 15th row from the floor!!

Then last night, I attended the finals for Artistic Gymnastics. Gymnastics is held in the National Stadium. And I had front row seats!!!!!!!!!!!! The competitors were just right there!! Great event. I was really banking on hearing the Star Spangled Banner at that event. And it was sad when Romania knocked Shawn Johnson to the Silver. But Romania deserved it. She was phenomenal.

I normally work at the Hospitality Suite. However, I was able to attend these events because I worked the "Coaches" (or buses) this week since Paul was here. And I'm so glad I did. I was able to attend these events with our US clients that are here and with Paul. Such great memories!!! I will never forget any of this. It has been breathtaking.

Yesterday, we we got to the Great Wall, I was almost in tears. It felt so surreal to be there. It was simply breathtaking. We took cable cars up to the wall and we came down by a Loge (I think that's how you spell it?!?!?) Great ride down. Anywho, it was so phenomenal!!

Our lunch yesterday was another awesome experience. We took our clients to a restaurant call the Ba Ha Restaurant. All of the help were dressed in these elaborate Chinese costumes. And while we ate, they put on a presentation explaining their costumes. The restaurant itself was so beautiful. And outside, it is surrounded by beautiful gardens. Unbelievably beautiful!

As I write this blog, my eyes are heavy. I just can't seem to get enough rest. I've been working everyday, and some days are 20 hour days! Today was my first full day off. Slept in, and then Laure Anne and I took off to tour The Forbidden City. Then we went to the Silk Market and enjoyed haggling and bargaining for good cheap prices!! (which I'm extremely good at!!) :) I got all kinds of good bargains. All the girls here want me to go with them so I can help them get good deals. The secret: walk away. They will come running after you begging for your business and meeting your price! :)

So, I'm adding photos to My Adventure Album. Be sure and click on the link at the top of the right side and see my photos.

PS: I will come back to China. This experience has been beautiful and I love it here. I really do. I miss home terribly and I miss my family and my job..... But I will visit this country again. I will bring my family here. :)

Ciao xoxoxoxox

Aug 9 and 10

So here is a photo of the members of the hospitality team...waiting for the Opening Ceremony to begin. Great group! Starting with the back row....Me, Zhiyao, Laure-Anne, Shin Yin...front row....Trong, William, Mung Sun, Fu Ting, Ping Sum, and Bea Lian. Missing is Ruth. Not sure where she was when we took this!

So Saturday was a busy busy day taking care of the guests. Sunday....pretty slow day for those of us manning the hospitality suite. The guests were out early to the Great Wall and then an off-site lunch, next to an olympic venue and then tonight is a late night dinner at the AO suite.

Had a little time for fun. Last Thursday evening, myself and a couple of the girls grabbed taxis and went looking for a restaurant. That was interesting. Set out looking for a certain restaurant and couldn't find it. Ended up at a place that served, Western, Chinese, French.....food was pretty good. Speaking of food.....the idea that I may lose weight on this trip....Yeah, probably not gonna happen! The food has been phenomenal! The AO suite food is soooooo good. Funny story....so the girls called me up tonight and wanted to go get a bite to eat. Somewhere quick. Because we all wanted to see the US/China bb game. Wanna guess where we ended up?!?!?!?! KFC!!!! I told them that everyone back home was gonna laugh at me. Come all the way to China to eat at KFC! LOL!!

Saturday evening, myself and Sylvia (precious girl!!) went shopping. I went looking for some sneakers and ended up buying some new heels! lol! Then we headed back to the AO suite and had a lovely dinner. The girls were laughing at me because for dinner, I put my new heels on. Dress code around here is neat casual. And they were laughing because I told them I missed wearing heels. So for dinner, along with my khaki capris and blue polo shirt, I wore heels!!!

Ok....that's it for now. Missing home really really bad.

Opening Ceremony

So today.....our guests arrived!! What a hectic day. And of course, it's Opening Ceremony Day. We scrambled to everyone checked in and settled and then get them on the AO coaches. Our Atos coach was scheduled to depart for the opening ceremony at 4:30pm. At 3:30, those of us who had been hosting since 6 am (which means I had been up since 4) were called in for a briefing. I just assumed to go over the days work. However, we were pleasantly surprised with tickets for the OPENING CEREMONY!!!!! I was soooooooo excited!!! I couldn't believe it! And......the tickets were on the 15th row from the floor!!!!!!!!


I'm going to attempt to express what i felt. However, I don't believe that I will be able to even come close to really relaying to you the feeling. I was exhausted. But I was so excited to be going that I didn't even think about my exhaustion. When we arrived, its quite a walk to the stadium from where the buses are allowed to park. By the time we all got into the stadium, I was soaked from the heat!! It was soooooo hot. And inside the stadium, it was not better. The roof was open and they had some sort of fans blowing, but it did no good! It was hot! We were in our seat by 6:30 pm and the show was to begin at 8. However, the entire time we waited, there were Chinese dancers performing on the floor to entertain. I was mesmerized by their costumes and their dances, the music.....everything was very traditional Chinese. So many children were involved in the dances as well. And of course, I loved seeing the children.


Finally, it was 8 pm. But before I go any further, I wanted to mention the Bird's Nest. The massiveness of this building was mind blowing. Most everyone has seen the opening ceremony by now and Adrian recorded it for me and I can't wait to see it again....But the feeling of being surrounded by this huge stadium was quite daunting. They had this jumbo tron that totally circled the stadium. I was blown away.

There is no way I can go through everything and you guys seen it for yourself, but for me, there were a many many special moments in the presentation that I was mesmerized and will never forget! Here are some, just to mention a few:


The 2008 drummers. I could not believe just how in sync these guys were. With the large number, their performance was so tight!! the lines of dancers were so straight. Their beats were so together. Just breathtaking!


When the Lighted Olympics rings were raised from the floor!


I also really enjoyed the Chinese puzzle performance. In the stadium, there were gasps because it was so mind blowing.

I loved the lighted men!!


I loved the "world".


One of my most favorites was the scroll! It was a "wow" moment for me!



And when the US team was announced and began marching, I screamed, screamed and then screamed some more!!!! I told Adrian and the kids that when they watched it, if they heard a wild crazy woman screaming, that was me!! As a matter of fact, I lost my voice.

When Yuan Ming came out escorting the Chinese team along with the child that helped save his classmates, it was pretty special.

And the highlight of it all.....The lighting of the torch. OMG!!! It was so off the charts that I stood there with tears. I kept wondering how they were going to light it. And I assumed the person would be raised with wires....but when he began to "run" around the edge of the ceiling, I was totally blown away. I was standing beside one of our clients spouse (who, by the way, was an absolute doll) and both of us stood there with tears.

The show was phenomenal.

I must say, as I sat through this show and as they began to call out each country and they would show the leader of that country.....I was in awe that I was sitting at this venue with some of the most powerful men in the world - Bush - Putin - President of China - Presidents of most of the European counties - South American countries.....unbelievable.


Click on the below link to view some of my photos. I took many many more but have just uploaded the highlights. My battery on my camera ran out before the end of the show. However, one of the other hosts took pictures for me at the end and she will send those to me when she gets a chance. (If I had known I was going to that show, I can assure you, my camera battery would have been totally charged!)


Enjoy the pics!!!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/sdhcortez/MyAdventure?authkey=j031qDolq2k

Emperor's Palace

So....I've been here a couple of days and jet lag has settled in. UGH!!

Yesterday when I came in for the evening, I really wanted to blog but was so tired, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

Yesterday was an interesting day:

First, we started off traveling to some of the venues that our guests will be attending. We have to know where to park, where to take the guests thru security, where to pick them up....and the list goes on...... We traveled to the Bird Nest. It's phenomenal! Pictures really don't do it justice. To see it up close and personal was an experience all in itself. It is massive. Seats 91,000. Can you imagine!?!?

We went to the swimming venue, the table tennis venue, the basketball venue and today we went to the beach volleyball venue.

Yesterday we went to the Emperor's Palace. I was so taken by it. It was breathtaking (thus the reason for all the pictures). We will be taking our guests to this tour site. We had to walk through the plan....where to drop off the guests....where the coach would pick them up....and so on.... The guests will be taking a boat ride on the boat you see in the below pics. The boat will take them right up to the Emperor's Palace and they will go inside the Palace.

Dinner last night was a team building event. We were taught how to make dumplings from scratch. Not gonna lie, that was fun! I forgot my camera at dinner, so I have no pictures yets. The other girls are gonna send me theirs. Will post them soon.

I was supposed to go to the Great Wall tomorrow. But I've been pulled to work at the hospitality suite tomorrow since some of upper management is arriving. Tomorrow is my first day to wear the uniform. Will be sure and take pics to post!

Ok....I'm tired. Gonna sign off for now. Take care and I'll be in touch again soon!!

Zaijian!

Michelle, Patrick and Myself at the volunteer dinner Monday evening.

Artwork on the Atos Origin coach

Entrance to the grounds of the Emperor's Palace

Boat at the Emperor's Palace

Emperor's Palace

Emperor's Palace

Emperor's Palace

I'm in Beijing!!!

Finally arrived! But it wasn't Sunday like planned. On Saturday, due to bad weather, my plane landed in Philly instead of Newark. After sitting on the tarmac in Philly, we were finally given clearance to land at Newark. However, I missed my connecting flight due to that little snag. At first I was totally upset. But then thought, it was out of my control, so let it go. Continental put me up at a hotel in Edison, NJ and I got there at about 3 pm Saturday afternoon. So I thought about it. I could sit in my hotel room for the evening and get some rest and manuever the remote control for the night.....or I could take off for Times Square. Honestly, that wasn't a hard decision. Times Square, here I come! It was suggested I take the train since it's WAY cheaper than a taxi. Now grant it, I've never been on a train! But I was a big girl, got on the train alone....well, not totally alone. I noticed that the girl in front of me getting her ticket, was also going to Penn Station. So, I asked for her advice for when I got to Penn Station. She told me that since she was going that way, that once we got to Penn Station, she would point me in the right direction for Times Square. We sat together on the train and by the time that train ride was over, I had a new friend!! Her name is Shushelia. Beautiful girl from India. She ended up spending the evening with me. We took the sightseeing bus and sat on the top deck and........got soaked by rain!!!!!!!!!!! I looked like a freakin' drowned rat!! They have these yellow rain covers for times like that.....however, the guy couldn't find them quick enough for us...and we got soaked to the bone. Nevertheless, we had a blast! Of course, she couldn't take the train back since she lived in a total different direction. And I knew that there was a train that left at 11. The tour took longer than expected and I had to ask the driver to let me off. It was 10:45 and I was about 10 blocks away from Penn Station. I took off running! Got there, got my ticket and got on the train and a minute later, they closed the doors! Whew! Barely made it! But I felt proud of myself! I did it! :)

Got up early early Sunday morning and took the 12 noon flight to Beijing. Arrived on Monday at 1:30 pm Beijing time. Flight was good. Not bad at all. I did get some sleep. Not a lot tho.

So far today, I've only attended a dinner for all the volunteers. Great dinner. I actually tried a lot of dishes.....and I liked them! :) It was so good to see Patrick! It had been a while and he was so hospitable (sp?) when he saw me! It was quite endearing. Met the marketing team that I've had numerous chats with. And I also met Risi from the Data Center! :)

So far.......Beijing is beautiful. I'm so impressed. The city is swallowed up in the Olympic theme. The city itself is so extremely well manicured and clean! I'm totally impressed. There are banners everyone. Not just a couple here and there.....I mean everywhere! They are huge billboards showing all the Olympic partners and of course, Atos is on each of those billboards. There are flowers and huge greet potted plants along the freeways. It is beautiful. Yes, there is smog. You can see clearly; but you can see the haze. And instead of an HOV lane, they have an Olympic lane! lol! Of course, the drivers had to obtain a special permit and they can use that lane. But I thought that was interesting.

Verdict thus far: beautiful!!!!!!!!!

OMG, I can't believe I'm here!!! So surreal! The other members of the hospitality team are adorable! Meeting them tonight was such a delight! We laughed and talked and you would have thought that we had known each other forever. This is gonna be great!

Ok....I'm beyond exhausted. Got a couple of emails to answer.....and I'm headed to bed!!!

CIAO!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

PS: I MISS HOUSTON! I really do.