Had a bit of an immigration scare in IAD when I realized that my Greencard expired in July and I had forgotten to bring paperwork to show that I had applied for a new one! Fortunately the immigration officers were able to locate my files in their system and saw that my paperwork for a new greencard was indeed underway and let me through just in the nick of time. I had to run almost 800m with my luggage to the gate for my connecting flight -- the marathon training helped!

Now back in and catching up with work!

August 26^th, 2009

It has been hazy and gray here in Beijing since I got here 2 days ago. Apparently the air quality has been declining since July, and it is perpetually smoggy even in the evenings and early mornings. I managed to get 2 runs in while here, but struggled with air thick with moisture and particles – neither of the runs were as long as I had hoped they would be.

My hotel was right by the Olympic stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest on account of its design. It is a pretty massive and interesting structure, but has gotten rather dirty over the past year. The Olympic Park area is quite large, with a massive Forest Park on the northern end, which I run around yesterday morning. It is easy to forget that one is in Beijing in that park since there are no views of any buildings in there (quite a feat in Beijing), lots of greenery and lakes. The only thing working against it was the hazy sky… I can only imagine how beautiful it would have been even a few months ago.

I’m now waiting at the Beijing airport to board the flight back to the US…looking forward to being home with Marc again soon.

~ Shuwen