Packing up and saying goodbye..

Tonight as I write this I'm back in my original hotel with my big comfy bed and I am a happy gal! I was up quite early with some guests who had early flights. We are done with them all now and I'm feeling good. This last group was challenging...they were 'friends and family' of the full time staff of CoSport and we had to treat them with extra care. It was not unusual to get calls in the middle of the night...I even had a call last night from one of the guys who went to the closing ceremony and couldn't find the bus..."Elizabeth, I'm lost, can you help me?"...I was trying to get out of my sleep haze enough to tell him where to go...you know...to the bus of course.

But we are done at last. It's a bittersweet feeling. I'm so glad to be done but have had such a great time. And I have to say goodbye to some of my new friends which is a little sad. I took all of my hosts to lunch today after we were done with our last guest. We went to the most popular Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. I let them do the ordering which was a little scary for me but they did great. Everything except the duck liver was really good.

As a side note here...a few nights ago I did go down to the "snack alley" and saw the likes of beetles, crickets and snakes on a stick...and saw one young American eat a sea horse! I totally lost my appetite and couldn't eat for the rest of the night...the worst was the scorpions. They were on sticks and (if you are squirmish you might not want to read this...) and they were still alive!! They were moving on the stick...it was gross! ugh! When you order one they put it on the grill and it dies. I was just plain sick!

Back to the Peking Duck...

salad, bok choy and shrimp w/vermicelli noodle...all really good


Our duck arrived and was carved at our table....


first course, duck skin with a bit of meat on it..it's very hot and you dip in sugar and then let it melt in your mouth...wow, amazing. Not the best for your cholesterol but... yum...


Then the duck comes....the way to eat Peking Duck is to wrap it in a flour wrapper (like spring roll) with some cucumber and celery and a soy sauce mix...a Chinese burrito...yum! After I was eating one of my hosts pointed to the celery and cucumber and said, 'you eat this!...many people don't eat this because it makes them sick..'...now she tells me! (Tonight I'm listening to every gurgle my stomach makes but so far I'm okay).

Bon Appetit!

We closed down the hospitality suite and sent our office supplies back to the main office. I stopped by there to drop a few more things off this evening and the place looks close to being deserted! How fast! Yesterday they were a normal operating office, today it's all boxes and empty desks! Tomorrow we turn in our phones and computers...have a staff party tomorrow night and then I think that's it! We had to do a final report and staff evaluations, I did mine while I was watching the Closing ceremonies. So I'm done I think. Tomorrow a few of us are going to the 'dirt market'...I know! I have no idea what it is but will find out soon!

P.S. I packed up my uniform tonight...how good it will feel to wear 'regular' clothes from now on!!!